THE WILLOUGHBY-WARD COMEDY COMPANY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2744, 17 October 1906, Page 68

THE WILLOUGHBY-WARD COMEDY COMPANY.

' " THE MAN FROM MEXICO." " The Man From Mexico " was introduced to a large and appreciative audience at the I'rinc-'S9 Theatre on Thursday evening by the members rf tho WiHoughby-Ward Comedy Company, and niaeje a very pronounced impression. It is quite a long time since a comedy of this crder was last placed before Dunedin theatre-goers, and the advent of so eminently successful a laugh-stimulator is therefore the more welcome. There is a limit even to the possilrilitieß of laughter, and last evening's audience contained, it may safely be conjectured, few who did not reach it according- to the various capacities of their nature as the farcica. comedy in question unfolded its many ludicrous situations, and travelled its courE© with unflagging vivacity through three acts of tho most irresistible absurdity. " The Man From Mexico " is a real tcnic, cannot justly ba said to contain a dull moment, is abundantly smart in its dialogue, exceediugly bright in setting, full of variety even to the introduction of vaudeville items, novel in its theme, and, which is as imporiant as anything, is most capably acted. In comedy one is accustomed to see the hypocritical husband landed in situations of dreadful risk, with reputation hanging on a thread, but the nove.ty in " The Man From Mexico " consists in the fnct that the dramatist, Dv Souchet, introduces that heroic gentleman actually " doing time " not as a guest of the King, but at the expense if the great Republic^ for the scene is laid in New sfork. The Mexico of the play is literally a eell — that is to say, a prison cell. The story is otherwise something of the accepted order, ludicrous to a degree, and ingenious in its situations. The trip to Mexico itself is but a subterfuge, and " The Man From Mexico, ' Benjamin Fitzhugh, never goes there at all. The origin of the trouble is his night out with his friend Roderick Majors, and his anxiety to conceal its results from his wife. He lias assau'te-d a. cabman for refusing io drive him to the sea coast to see the sun rise at 1 a.m., has had a fight with an excitable German, and has been sentenced to 30 days' imprisonment by an enraged magistrate. Next morning, having sown the wind and begun to reap the whirlwind, he finds himself at his own house in charge of a gruff detective, and after many absurd complications he persuades his wife that he must leave- at once on a holiday trip for Mexico. Instead he makes an involuntary trip to Blackwell's Island Gaol, where his condition and appearance deteriorate with the donning of the chaste, zebra-patterned prison dre&s, and where he acquires various accomplishments, such as mastery over the graceful performance known as " the goose step," and insight as to how to shovel coal. Thanks, however, Tb the highly gentlemanly behaviour of Warder Loveall, who treats him to various little things reminiscent of a freer, and less simple, life, the sufferer's lot is enliveneel a trifle. The prison scene of the second act is one of intense humour throughout, and not least so by reason of the elaborations arising from thefact that Mrs Fitzhugh visits the prison as one of the ladies of the Flower Mission, who present bouquets to prisoners, anel flirts with Loveall while the prisoner husband grins ruefully through adjacent bars and makes interruptions. Tlie c'.imax of absurdity is reached when Fitzhugh changes clothes with his friend Majors, and thus disguised is consulted as a solicitor by the eccentric German already referred to. who contrives to make the forlorn husband believe that he has been visiting his house in his enforced absence, and gets nearly choked for his pains. In the last act the pcene is a?ain at Mrs Fitzhugh's abede. Her drawing room has been decorated in the Mexican fashion, she herself is in the dress of a Spanish dancer, arel a supper has been ordered ficm a Spanish re&taurant to that her husband, who is expected momentarily back from Mexico, may net ba subjected to a sudden change of diet. Fitzhugh entering in gaudy Mexican gala attire (purchased hard by in Murphy street) is hailed with acclamation and interrogated by the ladies as to what he has seen and done in Mexico in po searching a manner as to drive him into hope.ess complication and embarrassment, and so the merriment is kept up right to the finish, for " Tlie Man from Mexico" is a comedy that has the merit of holding the interest sustained to the end. Ingenious side issues and mistakes of ulentity too numci-ous even to indicate keep the audience continuously on the tip-too of expectation. The chief inteiest of the pioduction is centred natural! v m the appeal ance of the tlnee principals— Miss Giaee Palotta, Mr Hugh Ward, and Mr Cleoige Willoughby Animation, a pleasant \oice. grace, and striking personality are the valuable natural endowments which Miss Palotta brings so persuasively to bear in all her stage work, and it is safe to say that all the high expectation with which her appearance was looked fonyard to was =ati°fied. Miss Pulotta looked charming in her pait, and acted it with vivacity, showing a genuine capacity for comedy, ull-sit the requnements of the role were not very exacting. She maele a very picturesque figure in the striking costume of the third act. and gave, with Mr Ward, a highly successful contribution in the phape of a Spanish dance full of graceful j poses, besides appearing with Messrs W.iril j anel Willcughby in a characteristic Indian | &ong and dance, quite one of the most sue- j cesstul of the introduced items, the trio, the Indian maid and her lover duels, looking very picturesque in coloured blankets Ihe most onerous part in the comedy was taken by Mr Hugh Ward, who in the role of the unfortunate Fitzhugh -showed himself a comedian of high order. Mr Ward attained his ;;ieat success in the second, and funniest, att of the play, anel boie the burden of work here most capably. His delineation was en the whole agreeably restrained and irre->istibly droll, and the dramatist must be given credit for having taken pains with the part. A very expert dancer. Mr Ward also in ths humorous song " Nobody" assisted by some ludieiously c-cccntric orchestration earned for this fascinating contribution a double recall. Mr George Willoughby is as brisk and amusing as ever, and had a highly congenial and well-drawn part as Majors, the stout and fu6sy friend who is always interfering in other people's affairs in the laudable desire

io " fix things up." Mr Majors brings difr aster in his track wherever lie goes, fixes nothing up, and is a friend to be preserved from. Mr Willoughby was excellent in -the part, and besides introducing a clever little song, "' The simple life," full of telling allusions, shared with Mr Ward the honours of the duet, " Nightmare land, another novelty something in the manner of a burlesque of the coon serenades of the variety stage. A number of subsidiary parts are very capably suatai led. Mr Edward Bonneld made quite » lot of the not otherwise important part of Loveall, the ideal gaol warder from m prisoner's point of view ; Mr J. W. Hartman. as yon Bvlow Bismark Schmidt, the ill-usetl German, was consistently humorous; and Mr Reginald Wykehani gave a rather striking and certainly entertaining study of the part of Timothy Cook, a detective "of awful and rare type. Mr C W. Gamble and Mr Artlnir Cornell, Miss Olive Wilton and Miss Gillian Scaife played parts of sufficient importanc* to show that the cast is remarkably fre« from weaknesses ; and the same might ba said of Miss Edith Warren (as a maid ser vant), and Messrs H. Yeomans, H. Ovefton, and C. Knight, who completed the list of characters. A word of praise is due to the excellent orchestra that discoursed the indidental and other music. " The Man from Mexico is one of the- most reasonable excuses for a sustaired laugh that has come, berc for a long time.