Realistic Horrors on the Stage.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 2713, 26 January 1892, Page 4

Realistic Horrors on the Stage.

The live animals and real water, which a few yes»*s ago were cons’cJered g”eat achievements on the 8- ge, are now entireiy outdoae by more receDt dtamai : c realists, aod the follow *Dg Jescr’ptioa of real'sdc Leosatiooalism at i n American theatre shows to what lengths th ; s deveffipment of the drama has been car-ded. The play, we read, is cr-Hed “Blue Jeans,” and the principal scene represents the interior of a sawmill, with a bcgh circular saw, moved by SLeam, whirling round and cutfc'ng in two a tb‘ck board pushed by a roecopoical contrivance s ] owl / towards it. At a g'vea moment the 8 age is deserved, the workmen having left their work. Two owners of the mill come forwa *d. quarreling angrily High words are fol owed by blows, and whilst one is stretched on the ground, the other ra'ses him up, places him on the moving plank, and then quietly walks a way, leaving his enemy and unconscious victim to his fate. We read further, that at this critical condition of things the excitement amongst the audience becomes intense—“ men trembling, women fainting.” The man on the plauk does not stir, however. An inch more, and he will be caught by that terrible saw ! Cf course, he is not cut 1o ] ieces, the workmen rushing in just in . me, and stopping the machinery. But he might have been ; and the thrill of horror is apparently delightfi 1 to the spectators.