THE ANDERSON DRAMATIC COMPANY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2722, 16 May 1906, Page 61

THE ANDERSON DRAMATIC COMPANY.

A large audience on Saturday night greeted at the Princess Theatre the appearance of the Anderson Dramatic Company in another play from its melodramatic repertoire, and " The Orphan Heiress" was received with many manifestations of satisfaction by those present. It is a drama that caters well for the lovers of the sensational, not to say improbable, and well holds its own as a revelation of the ingenuity of the plots and machinations of a class of bad people only found, it i 3 to be hoped, upon the stage. There is no more satisfying quality about the atage villain than his absolute, unmitigated badness. If he attracted one iota of sympathy he would not fulfil his destiny. He has not altered for generations. Moreover, surely never among the daughters of Eve has ther3 been one whom jplot and subtle villainy have

more endeavoured to encompass- than t!is orphan heiress She is always either to be appropriated or removed. In the play under discussion the orphan heroine is Mabel Air.sley, daughter of Lord Ainsley. and heiress vo his fortune] In the first act the final scenes in the life of Lord Ainsley are witnessed. His nephew and niece. Douglas and Olive Kingston, have, in the hope of themselves coming into his wealth, kept the old gentleman for long Feparated from his wife by their wiies, and have put the child heiress away in a foundling hospital The eld nob'eniiVn is blind, and is an easy dupe Despite the vigilance of the schemers the ■IT. judged Lady Ainsiey at last leturns. in the hope of seeing her chiid. is reconciled to hei lusbarsd, s^nd rein^tatsd, and things look black for Douglas Kingston and lr.s sifter, who are to be turned on* of the house. Kingston finds it necessary to do something, so inserts cartridges into a gui: belonging to the old man that had be?n sent for. and the latter, thinking it of course unloaded, toys with it, and obligingly shoots biinse't dead. Kingston keeps his place, and A.i.i be heir if tho missing heiress is not found. The rest of the play is taken up wiih the s-earch for and discovery of Mabel the heiress, aud the various and intricate schemes adopted by Kingston and his sister to get rid of her. They do not stick at trifles. In the second act Lady Ainsley, who is most d^igent. vi the -^TBearch. is driven over and kuied by the plea-sant pah-. When the heiress is found she is bound by the terms of the will to 'ive uuder the care of Kingston and liis sister, aud when the fotrner finds that his overtures of marriage arc rejected with scorn his efforts to get rid of the heroine are extraordinary. Baffled in many schemes, he finally negotiates with a, circus and menagerie proprietor, as a result of which, for £10,000, the orphan heiress is to be- deposited within the cage of a ferocious and voracious lion. The would-be heiress-eater bounds about in its cage at the back of tho stage, a grotesque form, and the heroine shrieks in a manner to make her the admiration of all her sex. and sufficiently to so work up the feelings of any, seli-respacting wild bsast that one feels the lion is badly .treated in this case. Rescue there is, of course, for pretty well all the hcioine's friends are on the staff of this par-, ticular circus, and the herojne|s trpub'.es are] at last presumably over for good. The villain disappears , in fhe grasp of gendarmes, and he is using very naughty words. Those wfio expect coherence or dramatic merit about such a play as " The Orphan Heiress" will be disappointed. Those who desire to have their easily-stirred emotions administered to will' be well satisfied, and will, no doubt, as so' many others, laugh and cry- and hold their' breath. They will find humour uni pathos, sentiment and sensation in plenty. The play is excellently staged. Mr Stirling Whyie made a good deal of the part of Tiord" Ainsley. and Mr ' Walter Dalgleish made a -satisfactory hero, the only justification for the inclusion of this geiitieman in the plot- being the necessity that he should effect many rescues and marry the heroine. Mr H, Diver's impersonation of Kingston was a very telling and finished performance, the very personification of melodramatic venom, aud Miss Helen Bnrdette's heroine was winsome and natural — a very fitting contrast. Special commendation is merited by Miss Daisy Strathmore, who acted the part of Olive Kingston, worthy sister to the villain, in a most effective .and natural manner. Miss Edith Leech was well east in Ihe part of Miss Mowbray. a housekeeper to Lord Amslsy, and sort of general protectress of the heroine, and had no difficulty in artistically making the most of the role. Mr Fraak Beis supplied the bulk of the humour as Ginger, an impossible sort of person ; and Miss Maxwell assisted, as usual, ia creating amusenient. Mr Geoffrey William's gave a rather good study of a circus proprietor, Mr Crosbie Ward made an admirable v-car, and Mr Max Clifton, Mr Crossley, and Miss Conway filled other of the more prominent parts with satisfaction. The scenery w&s a feature of the production, and the audience, was extremelj appreciative. I