AMUSEMENTS.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12475, 27 February 1909, Page 2

AMUSEMENTS.

maskblyne and devant's Mysteries. The' great London Company opens at tHe Theatre Royal on , Friday aiext. The entertainment is. of a novel and peculiar kind, says a contemporary, and the stage has all the appearance of a hall of marvels, and the wonders worked there are worthy of the high reputation of the principals. Mr Owen Clark, who. opens the proceedings, is'an expert conjurer, and he does extraordinary things with such commonplace accesories as handkerchiefs, guinea pigs, doves and playing cards. He closes his contribution to the attractions of tho ; evening by prcducing a sxibstant.iaWooking Diogenes from an empty tub in such a deft way as to completely mystify the audience. The little sketch, "St .Valentine's Eve," in which Mr ; Mayne, 1 Miss F: Barclay, and Miss Marie Curin startlingly acculate ways the nartis take part, ends with the transformation of a forty-year-old newspaper and a faded love letter into "a rare and radiant maiden" before the eyes of the astonished spectators. Mr Barclay Gammon entertains > the audience % song and story, with occasional recourse to a piano, upon which he plays notes of music illustrating in a startling accurate way the narrative he is relating. Mr Gammon is excruciatingly funny, and there is a novelty about his anecdotes and his business which is refreshing. The second part of the programme consists for the most part of the comicaj sketch, . "Will, the Witch, and the Watchman," An old w.atchhouse on the village green. is represented.: by the famous cabin which has figured many thousands of times in various parts of the world as the central feature of Maskelyne and Cook's phenomonal illusions. There is also a wonderful trunk, a skilful exhibition of top-spinning, balancing, and juggling by the Japanese Gintaro, who is responsible for some wondrous feats.The show is so uncommon and interesting that the -opportunity should not be missed, for it is a chance to see one of the. established institutions of the Old Country, where Maskelyne and Devant's name is as well known as the Bank of England. The box [ plan is at. Jackson's.