WELLINGTON WING WHISPEES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2651, 4 January 1905, Page 60

WELLINGTON WING WHISPEES.

By P. ftoMPTEa December 29.

; Dear Pasquin. — The legitimate has ronie to i its own again, the Opera House having been re-opened by the Williamson Dramatic Co: last Friday night. The company, as you ar» aware, has Miss Maud Jeffries (Mrs NottOsborne) and' Mr Julius Knight at its head 1 , and opened the season with "Monsieur Beaucaire." The play is a charming dramatisation of Booth Tarkington's -well-known and popular} novel, and has for scene and setting Bath in the days of 2sas r h. The following- cast will give you an ide"a. of the personnel of the com- , pany: — i Monsieur Beaucaire Julius Knight Duke of Winterset Arthur Wontner Major Molyneux Harry Plimmer? Lord Townbrake Nott-Osborno j Mr Bantison Norman Jeffries Mr ■Rakell Frank Stirling • Mr Bicksett George Chalmers j Bea.u Nash G. P. Carey ; Captain Badge*- Leonard! WiUey j Marquis de Mirepoix Herbert -Lieigb Francois Tl.T 1 . Gardner Legga Joliffe Percy Walshe Lady Eellerton Miss Kate Towei Lucy Mabsley Miss Rose Pendennis Miss Pressbury Miss E. Guilf ord Quin Miss Padtelot Miss Marie D' Alton Countess of Greenbury Miss Viv. Spenco Lady Mary Carlyle Miss Maud Jeffries The presentment oi the play is altogether delightful, and in the leading roles Mr Knight and Miss Maud Jeffries achieve great successes. The story? The Times critic sets it out in this manner: — "In the gay circles of f&shionJ ab'.e Bath, the chivalrous Beauoaire, with hist j easy, dignified repose and aristocratic bearing-, •: is a commanding personality ; the exquisites of Belgravia are no match for him in his brilliant* wit and satire, or his ability as a- maker o£ courtly phrases and pretty compliments ; expert fencers are confounded by the adroit play of his rapier; and the men who., sit over the cards with him and' gamble for* high stakes are equally baffled by his skill. Then cornea j the discovery that the accomplished stranger ! is an adventurer; a man of lowly birth, a. barber, who is masquerading as a JTrench gentleman, in-| order' to gain -admittance into the exclusive circles of the elite, and to offerlove to the haughty beauty, Lady Mfucy Carlyre. Only one result is possible.; he is expelled •iron* the high society 1 of Bath. Discovering ohe'of the social leaders, the "Duke '-of Winter-, set, cheating at cards, he compels him', under | penalty of disclosure.' to introduce him as a. duke at a fashionable ball, and -so recovers his position. 'I -will/ out -of compliment •to you,' he says to the reluctant Winterset, "with mock politenes3, 'assume the same rank as yourself. I will be a> duke also/ and then with a whimsical play apon words he adopts as his title 'Chateaurien,' to indicate that his castle isS nowhere. After a series of adventures ! the supposed \barb_er is revealed as c royal prince, confuses his enemies, and Vina the hand of Lady Mary." ■• Needless to say, big business was done during the week's run of "Beaucaire." The first change of bill is to be made to-morrow, when Hall-Caine's dramatisation of his own "dramatics tale, "The Eternal City," goes on. This play ! has a cast of 22 characters, with Mr Knight as j David Rossi and Miss Jeffries as Donna Roma. Miss Jeffries's brother, Norman, is in ths company, and' her' husband 1 , who is an Australian, is making the tour of New Zealand. Next Wednesday the Knight-Jeffriea Dramatic Co. is to give a matinee performance of the old English play "Everyman!' in the { Town Hall. .This play was given with great . success in Auckland a few weeks ago. i Fuller's Entertainers reopejoed at His Majesty's Theatie last Saturday"*night for the "holiday season, and have don© good business. The stars of the- new firmament are the N«wns. Dixs Gaiety Co. also re-opened the Thea-tra Soyal, the stars of 'the combination beingMiss Lizzie Kirk and Mr Frank Leon. One of the Wheelers, has put on a sensational turn yclept "Looping the. Wheel." A wheel about 15ft in height is suspended at the back of the stage, on. the inside of the tyre of which one oi the performers mounts a bicycle. The wheel iß> set in motion, and the cyclist, by pedalling hard, at the part; of the wheel nearest the-Jloor of the stage. 'Suddenly the rider ceases -to • pedal, and with the nioi rae-ntuni of the wheel, is carried right round its | inner circumference. The act only ' occupies three or four , seconds, but it is nerve-racking-and exciting, says the Times. Thus the Auckland. Observer, referring to the election of Mr Alfred Hill, late of Wellington, as conductor of the Auckland Liedertafel :> — "There was need of an energetic man to help along ths cause of music in Auckland, and on his records in Wellington and Sydney, Mr Hill ought to be just the man to do it. At anyrate, in the positions of conductor of both Orchestral Society and Liedertafel, Tie haa the chance to make his influence felt in regaoxl to both instrumental and vocal music, and in both respeots he has left his mark on the towns where he has lived." Received : Seasonable greetings per medium of interesting post cards from George Barnes and tho Stewart-Ashton-Royle triumvir. Sam* ! to you, gentlemen!