THE LATEST THEATRICAL SENSATION.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXI, Issue 11758, 12 April 1888, Page 2

THE LATEST THEATRICAL SENSATION.

. « THE PKI3TOE AND THB PLA3T. ,- ; v { «• -- .. (By the, lond'on. Correspondent of lho . '. . Argus) i London, February 10. All th? omens point to tha conclusion (hat in London" the hoar of the Australian has "stack." As we bare had an Amerioan conquest of London, so we may. hsv« an Australian annexation. ' The air is full of rumours of Australian siugtrs, Australian 'actresses, Australian heiresses. An Aus» tralian author (ilra Oampbeil .Fracd) hsi . given London thelates-, theatrical Boiißiition, 'in a drama founded .on lor novel,. "Tb» Bond of Wedlock.'.' The. play is fiercely , assailed by mosb of the orities, .headed by Mr Clement Soott, of the Daily Telegraph » who is always said, no ono knows why, to be the first oritio in EogUnd. Mr clement Scott is a convert to Cutholiaism; and a man whs combines much practical religion and charity with his Bohemtanisib: He- ii nothing if not moral, and his charge against Mr» Pcaed is that>" Ariane;" for co her'plajr is called, is not one wnich it would be good for a girl of fifteen to witness. This ib true, and the result is that seats are now booked for it right away do the middle of Land. ' " Tr.e play waaprodnced on Wednesday last at Ihe Pr-era pjmiquo by Mrs Barnard ' Boere, ehe being in the tit'e-rele. Th „ Campbell Praeclg bad no groat expectation, of its 3UCCPBS, tb£ authoress having at first' given the play ajhappy'ehding 5 but it waa perceived in good time that this would cauao the interact to end with the penultimate act, and wbul ! , moreover, flioilr, the oon-cienoeof an aud'ence ma'way whioh a similar ending d'oea cot shock tho nilent and lolitary leader. The story ,a» those who hive read the book will remember, is that of Ihe dau^htsr of an adventurer (represented as » Frenchman in tbe play in brde- to suit Monsieur Mariuj' broken English), who is marriei to a drunken, unemployed, .and, embkrwssed husband," She has a wealthy baronet • for an admirer, and her husband suggests (o her that she should borrow money f rom.him.to. pay the family bills. M.s Bernard. Beere, lavish io all her stage management, m lies'the bundle of bills about as voluminous'as.tiie accounts for the 1 building of an ironclad. Shs/spurni tha ; ah.Mn;.-ful suggealian of her huabmd, who, thereupon, strikes her, thus establuhing .■- --i' half tbe oass, whioh our benighted law ■ makers— lngoing bns; behind the legijlat^re". : .'••' • of NewSouih Wnle— have laid down; as , a requisite for a womsn who Beaks 6iv"otoi'^ ■ ' The other half^of the.caße is supplied by"* 1 conspiracy between her father and tie baronet who bribe a retired actreja to I consent to, or at all events, to stimulate ' guilty relations with the drunken husband. Both the conspirators had known thu 1 yoang lady when in a condition of " greater ' frotjdom and lees re p inability," but at the ' period of the play she is tbe wife of a i fashionable Grermsn artist ; and • ' oharacteristio >keloh is given of a iparty at . the artist's, wierj a peer, a;ceeress,a pesr's i daughter, a fiddler, on archdeacon, and a Bad Republican professor and deputy from Paris j )stle ono snothor in one of thojo in* congruous medleys which uro such a telling feature of I/ondon life. In the last act th* wife has obtained her divorce, and has just returned from the church where she has be n nwri icd to th>i baronet Just as their happiness is reaching its summit tbe discarded husband wa.'ks in from out ihe sujw, and haviug ex:o ed the plot of his supplanter to his wife, begins to ahoofc, and he hits — not his rival — butr,the heroin 1 , shooting her apparently in the legs, like 1 , Kerry moonlighter. Then he goes off an • ehoota hims-lf. " The play was {decidedly wordy, but it gave recurrf nt opportunities to Mrs Bernard Bcero of displaying the explosive depths of her nerve-force as an '.'unsympithetio heroine." The "flrtt night audience " wbb ex-eptionally brilliant, all the well-known faoaa being there except that of M<rellMftokoEzis, who was at San Bemo, preparing. for the operation of the following day.- The Prince of Wales waa present with a jovial narfcy, and although his behaviour showed little regard for 'the fair lady on tha stage, his pi esonco probably saved the piece from bein^ damned in tie first two aots. If his Eoyal Highnsrs had not been there the •' first nighter?," would not have jetood tbe long speeches without such an outburst as would have disconcerted and disabled the aotbrß ; but the most invariable consequence of the presence of Boyalty in any English assembly is to reduce all present to.par.tia!, dumbness. The Prince, however, "niftde up for the ailenOß of his subjeo'a by . a studied inattention to tbe piece, and hy carrying on a conversation with his companions in so distinct a voice as to suggest 'the idea that he wanted to set an example to those beneath him in the stalls. But everyone "eat tight,", rolling their eyes from 0110 ii> another, and scarcely daring to brentho. Thus the play wunt sileutr on until tho ! climax of eaoh act, when tbe audiencw 1 zaamtes ed iti sympathy for Mr« Bco.-o iv [ her tryioy: nUaalipn. b? hearty applause

»nd so the Australian lady> play, gained, what it most needed, a patient l-.e&ring,' bnt by no goodwill on the part of .ts fereatest " natron. I do' not think that there was aby other cause for the Prinoe'a deportment tLan a momentary resentment at the tediousness of the earlier «p6eohes; .- He haß gone out of his way of late fo"" distinguish^ ." Mrs Beere as an actresn, and.he Bpeoiauy named Wednesday for t^e.gpening ; night m order that __. he might be prfsent before starting for the V Riviera. The criticß charge Mrß Praed with libelling Knglish human nature, every character in herpUy being absolutely nonmoral, with -the possible exception of the : '--heroine, and'eleiß no great things in the region of conscience and feeling. But, after all, thaipiqture'iis .true to a certain section of society, and that is a section whioVa high priestess of the refined and affluent Bohemian weuld be likely to have come ifftentaot;; \]d-&' : , HAIK BALSAM. If tray, restbres. to original colour. An elegant dressing, softens and, beautifies. No r—oU nor grease; A Tonio Restorative. Stop, hair ooroing outs strengthens, cleanses, heals aoalp. v.'-s ■■;■■• •' - ''.BKINHY MEH.!* . " Welh 1 Health Benewer" restores health and vigour, oures Dyspepsia, Impotence, Sexual DebUity.-i At ohemists and druggHts, Kempthorne, rProsser & Co., agents, Wellington, t'i-': ! '•'■ ' .