AMUSEMENTS.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16038, 31 January 1920, Page 12

AMUSEMENTS.

IMPORTANT DRAMATIC ATTRACTION.

MURIEL STARR'S FAREWELL

Something altogether novel in the way of dramatic effect is promised, in “The Silent Witness,” the enormously successful mystery drama to be seen at the Opera House next Thursday evening. “The Silent Witness” has succeeded phenomenally both in America and England, and more recently in Australia. The drama opens with a prologue, in which the necessary complications are worked out. These are that Bud Morgan, who is born out of wedlock, follows on the lines of his father —who was separated from the mother through a misunderstanding—and goes to college to study law. Whilst there he is taunted with his birth by a fellow student, whom he knocks down. Apparently the student is killed by the blow, and Bud is compelled to fight for his life in the law courts. The State attorney, who is Bud’s father, in ignorance of the son’s identity, entrusts the conduct of the case for the prosecution to an unscrupulous deputy. At the eleventh hour he discovers who Bud really is, and from then on the situations are tense, as he “man handles” the law, and finds in the existence of blood stains on a tree stump the truth of his son’s innocence. The role of Bud Morgan’s mother is in the hands of Miss Muriel Starr, and its emotional character gives this clever actress plenty of scope for displaying her ability. It is said that no one has a better opportunity than Mr Frank Harvey, as the father. Without any over-suggestion in any way, he shows the inward struggle as the feelings of the parent who began to combat the ■prejudices and training of the State attorney, until every other consideration but the saving of his son is swept aside. The production will be under the personal supervision of Mr E. W. Morrison, the firm’s principal producer, who came over from Australia especially to produce this play in the Dominion. The box plan will open at Messrs H. I. Jones and Son’s next Tuesday morning, at 9 o’clock.

. GRAND THEATRE. “MAID 0’ THE STORM.” To-night will bo the last screening of the present programme at the Grand, starring Bessie Barrisacle in “The Maid o’ the Storm,” also the Gaumont Graphic, “Railroad Raiders” (No. 3), and Billy West in “Bright and Early.” Monday next, Tom Moore in “A Man and His Money.”