Theatre Royal.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6695, 7 November 1889, Page 3

Theatre Royal.

. There was a large audience afc the Theatre /Royal laat evening, and they demonstrated by their frequent expressions of approval, that " Hands Across the Sea" has lo3t none of its popularity. The piece will be ' repeated for the lost time this evening, ' and to-morrow evening " Dora" and "The Barrister" will be produced. Speaking of those playa, an exchange saya:— "The piece it6elf ('Dora') cannot be too highly praised. Its whole tone is of the highest possible standard; it belongs to the class of plays which, if once the people can be educated up to them, will so raise the tone of the drama that even the strictest Calvinist will begin to forget there ever was a time when Church and Stage held aloof from each other. It is utterly free from morbid sentiment — as everything taken from Tennyson's earlier works must be — and conveys the highest teaching. Mr Charles Warner, as Farmer Allen, the stubborn old farmer, quick to anger, slow to forgive, whose word was law, and who ruled his house with a rod of iron, may well be said to have aohieved a gigantic success. Never before haß suoh acting been seen in Dunedin. As a contrast to Farmer Allen in ' Dora/ Mr Charles Warner appeared as Mr Arthur Maxwell in 'The Barrister,' a three-act farcical comedy hy Messrs Fenn and Glenville, and scored a decided success. A greator contrast than the idyll ' Dora' and the comedy 'The Barrister,' could not well bo conceived. Everybody mistakes everybody else for some other person's husband or wife. It is a whirl of the most ludicrous complications, and mirth-compelling incidents. If you want a laugh, or a hundred laughs, by all means Bee Mr Warner in 'The Barrister."'