LONDON DRAMATIC LETTER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5730, 25 November 1896, Page 1

LONDON DRAMATIC LETTER.

[Prom Our Correspondent.J LONDON, Oct. 3. Wilson Barrett sold the provincial rights of his new religious play, " The Daughter of Babylon," for ,£SOOO down the other day. If it is another " Sign of the Cross " this should leave the buyer a good margin of profit. But what a risk. Great successes, one knows, seldom follow each other. Mr Barrett, by the way, has converted the "Sign of the Cross" into a novel. If Mr Barrett takes to fiction Miss Corelli will have to look to her laurels. " Long and diligent study of Roman history," says one paragraphist, "must certainly have given Mr Barrett an intimate knowledge of the necessary local colour." Hum! I certainly shouldn't have said Roman history was a strong point in the " Sign of the Cross." Antipodeans who have seen the Daly Company either in London or -New York will read with regret the news of James Lewis's death. He was an admirable "old man," but very "Amurrican" and decidedly original in Shaksperian voles. His best part I considered the Professor in " A Night Off," perhaps the most characteristic of all the Daly comedies.