AMUSEMENTS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 61, 7 March 1912, Page 5

AMUSEMENTS.

MISS LANCASHIRE, LIMITED. A large and laughter-shaken audience left the Hav.era. Opera House on Monday night at the conclusion of the performance of “Miss Lancashire Limited” by Miss Marie Baines and her clever company says the Star. It is claimed for the piece that it is “a farce, with music, in two acts,” and the description is apt, but it is clever farce and, as interpreted by Miss Baines and her companay, supremely mirth-provoking. As Mary Ellen Them.pson—the “lass from Lancashire,” who coming to London under engagement to act as a domestic, is persuaded to impersonate the heiress Mias Lancashire, while the latter assumes Mary Ellen’s dress and duties— Miss Florence Baines perpetrated the atrocious gauoheries demanded by the part with the most winning of (laughs and in the broadest of Lancashire dialect. The support accorded her by the remaining members of the company left nothing to! be desired, each contributing his or her proper quota towards producing the general and spontaneous merriment so evident amongst the audience throughout the performance. The song contributed by Miss Hettie Peel (as Eva Lancashire) was well received, as were also the two songs rendered by Mr Dan Llewellyn (John Henry Thompson) k. his fine tenor voice. Miss Baines’ tuneful reminiscences concerning on£) “Billy” got a great reception, while her imitation of a Tittle girl on railway journey to Blackpool was inimitable and almost convulsed .the audience with laughter. The mission of the piece is merely to cause laughter, and, as played by Miss Baines and her company, can hardly fail to accomplish it even with the most austere member of the audience.

BJARTONhS KJIEOUS. The public evidently has a good memory. A year ago a practically unknown organisation, by name Barton’s Circus, visited Wanganui. Although the season on that occasion Was intended primarily for two nights only, the teqt was packed on three occasions. - The cdroUs then established ifoolf, as far as Wanganui was concertlcd'. Last ev&ndbg (says a local-pa-*' .per) the': firrn’sj second, o|, •nights was commence !,, and i it) .flpokiq .'Volumes for 'what |the public thought "df’lhst ybai’s 1 ’ 'jiihtforttia’iibe! thaUfthh tent oil this occasion was absolutely crammed, almost to stifling point. Barton Bros, brought round a fine combination on their first visit here, but in. the inter vail they have secured much new talent. , For two and a half hours there is not a dull moment. It is ofto continuous succession of mirth, iskill"or isonteation. There "aiCt'djf, course, the ’ well-trained N and • ,well-groomcd horses, which, flexter- . ously guided, go through devious evolutions. 'There are Expert Jugglers, a' lady trick cycKist, a boy’ oOhtortion-' isit, a jumping' greyhound, a clever’ tight rope walker, and numerous other excellent items. Tyhcll and Pedro per- ■ form some sensational gymnastic feats on the trapeze. It is in Mourner and Franz, however, that the firm has its “star” item. These two models of the ancient Roman gladiators supply ■a “turn” which would grace a programme of the highest class vaudeville entertainment in any theatre. They gave an exhibition, novel in these parts, of Japanese jiu jitsu. The concluding item of the entertainment was a very exciting bareback horse race'. The circus will show in Stratford on Saturday night. HIS MAJESTY’S THEATRE. There was a good house at His Majesty’s Theatre last night, when two new pictures were added, to take the place of “The Double Event” which has gone on to make fresh triumphs elsewhere. Chief of These was a drama entitled “The Drunkard’s Reformation.” Such a subject is one that requires skilled handling to make it anything but a hackneyed representation of a wornout theme. But the cinematograph proved equal tq the occasion, and the drama was quite above the average. In this case the drunkard is reformed by viewing at the theatre a case similar to his own. The acting of the principals on the stage is magnificent, while the effect obtained by turning the camera occasionally on the audience and revealing what they thought of the piece considerably strengthens the interest in the picture. It would he difficult to find a more thrilling film than the “Switchman’s Tower.” The piece is set among the engines, with grimy stokers, engine drivers, and the switchman and his wife as the principal actors. To-night an entirely new change will be given, when the “Queen of Nineveh” (star drama), “Gamblers of the West,” “A Little Rebel,” “The Heart of an Actress,” and “Sea Coasts of New Zealand” are among the finest of the films.