MARLOW'S DRAMATIC COMPANY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2985, 31 May 1911, Page 69

MARLOW'S DRAMATIC COMPANY.

The public had presented to it at His Majesty's Theatre on Saturday evening by Mr George Marlow's Dramatic Company "The Bad Girl of the Family," a four-act drama, by Frederick Melville. Previous ■visits by Mr Marlow's companies have established a reputation, not alone for themselves, but for Mr Marlow as a purveyor of what possesses powerful attractions for the theatre-going portion of the public, and this, no doubt, accounted for the fact that before it was time for the curtain to rise a great many intending patrons had to be turned away. "The Bad Girl of the Family" belongs to an order of play that has become very popular, especially during the last few years. People like their theatrical dishes highly spiced with love and adventure and sensational incident, and "The Bad Girl of the Family" meets the demand exactly, and is.safe to have a successful run. There is also plenty of humour about it, and if it not always particularly clever, and some of the wit is not exactly new, it produces boundless merriment among the audience, and therefore thoroughly accomplishes its object. No audience could have been more completely amused than that of Saturday evening; poals of laughter following on the heels of each other in rapid succession. Nor did the play make less successful headway in the estimation of those present in its serious aspects. The audience was entirely sympathetic with the hero and heroine in their trials and persecutions, and was even moved to expressions of resentment at the atrocities of those actively engaged in endeavouring to bring about their downfall. The success of the opening performance was phenomenal.

" The Bad Girl of the Family " is in most respects very far from being a bad girl. She apparently sacrifices that which women hold most dear, but it is to provide for her aged father and mother she takes the step—that and love for an utterly worthless man. Bess Moore is her name, and when the story opens her sister Honor, more from jealous motives than anything else, charges her in very plain terms with improprieties with one Harry Gordon, the eon of a usurious Jew money-lender of great wealth The result is that Bess is driven from her home. The next step_ in the drama is that Lord Erskine, an impoverished nobleman, whose nobility does not, however, prevent him trafficking his daughter Gladys away to Harry Gordon in order to rehabilitate his finances, consemts to a union with that, young man, the inducements on the other side being- that, as Gordon senior puts it, thev will be able to mix with the " snobs and nobs." Unfortunately for my lord, there is ''another," a certain naval lieutenant, named Richard Marsh, whose suit the young lady, who has a wili of her own, favours, and as the lieutenant is a man of resource and action, everyone is quickly embroiled in trouble. An attempt to blacken /Marsh's character fails, but, Marsh beimg away with his ship, the young lady is compelled to save her father from financial ruin by consenting to a marriage with Gordon. Just as all aeemlil lost Bess comes to the rescue, and taking Gladys's place at the altar, heavily veiled, is married in duo form to Gordon. It would seem at that stage that everything was straightened out. but the dramatist has dipped his pen into the ink again, and created fresh troubles. _ Boss shoots old Gordon in the arm, owing to his insulting propositions, and falls into th© hands of the police, but with the aid of one JerryHolmes, with light-fingered proclivities, her sister Honor is popped into the cell and Bess escapes. J©rry does a bit of housebreaking, and in a struggle with young Gordon his revolver goes off, and Lord Erskine is shot dead. Marsh, who is on the scene at the time, is accused of having fired the shot, and is imprisoned, and condemned to pay the forfeit. While in prison he is married by th© chaplain to Gladys, whoso faith in his innocence has never wavered for an instant. Jerry, who has again been indulging his " pinching" propensities, is also in th© prison, and is implored by Bess, for whom be has always had ajti affection, to assist Marsh to escape. Tho escape ia effected through filing th© bars of Marsh's cell, and an exciting pur-

suit by the gaol authorities follows, in the course of which Jerry is wounded. The two escapees succeed in getting away, a.nd there is a general! assembling of conspirators and conspired against at the close, when Jerry makes confession, and everything is set right The principals of the company, with hardly an exception, sustained the characters entrusted to them with marked ability. On the score of representation there was but little opening for adverse criticism. Miss Ada Guildford gave unmistakable signs of being a talented actress" in her presentation of the somewhat exacting part of Bess. For a brief five minutes she was the bright, laughing girl; the tomboy of the family, with a strong tendency to slang; then, when the trouble of Bess s life commenced, she was the serious woman fully seized of the responsibilities that rested upon her. Miss Guildford was consistently good in the trying experiences Bess has to pass through. Miss Adele Kelly, before Gladys Erekine becomes broken-spirited and weakened by misfortune, gave the character all the force and strength written into it; thereafter, while still exhibiting flashes of resolution, she pourtrayed with fidelity the subdued, hopeless state to which Gladys is reduced. The Sally Smithers of Miss Lillian "Wiseman had infused into it all the lighthearted froliosomeness evidently in tne mind of the dramatist when ho created the character, and Honor Moore found ia satisfactory exponent in Miss Ida Gresham, who was, however, apt to be a trifle inaudible at times. Mr Herbert J. Bentley played well as Lieutenant Marsh. While ha had one of the more prominent parts to sustain, he was never on the stage for any great length of time. It.was a series of entrances and exits with him : most of his entrances naturally being made at a critical juncture in order to give effect to the situation. Harder work rested on the shoulders of Mr Bert Linden, who was cast as Harry Gordon. H© had some rather difficult scenes, and came out of the ordeal very creditably. Mr C. B. Stanford's representation of the cunning old Jew was not at all times as good as it might have been, yet it could not well be regarded as open to serious stricture. Mr Stanford succeeded admirably in one direction, and that was in making his audience laugh. Lord Erskine was satisfactorily presented by Mr P. V. Scully, and the Jerry .Holmes of Mr T. E. Tilton was commendable. Samiry Shozzle found a representative in Mr Tom Curran, who, while he was amusing to his audience, trod some well-worn paths in the realms of comedy, and was not, therefore, strikingly original or novel in his methods. It has, however, to be remembered that the author may have been largely responsible for a rather goodly stock of chestnuts. There was quite a number of smaller characters, which were satisfactorily represented.