MUSIC ART AND DRAMA

Fair Play, Volume I, Issue 16, 17 February 1894, Page 14

MUSIC ART AND DRAMA

The Brough and Boucicault season concluded at the Opera House on Tuesday night, with “ Caste.” Saturday night “ Diplomacy ” was staged and on Monday there was a revival of “Niobe.” We thank the company for a very enjoyable season, taking it all through, but the good avcrago that they had maintained up to the end of last week was very considerably lowered by the performance of “ Diplomacy ” and “ Caste.” The first piece put on by the Company (The Village Priest) was an excellent exhibition of the ability of the Company to interpret really high-class drama, and the quick change to “Niobe,” a classical parody, gave evidence of their marvellous versatility. “The Idler” an entirely different type of production showed the Company in another phase and each succeeding piece seemed to lend an added lustre to their popularity, until “Diplomacy” and •< Caste ” were put on and then we were constrained to admit that they were not as perfect as in our heart of hearts we had imagined them to be. We were a little bit shaken and began to feel a critical spirit move in our bosom when Tithcradge attempted to play the Dean in Dandy Dick, but it subsided when we reflected on the marvellously clever performance of Mrs Brough, but when “ Diplomacy” came on, the still small voice of regretful disapproval would be quieted no longer and we were obliged to admit that the performance was distinctly bad. Mr. Brough’s ■ Count Orloff was entirely different from any Orloff we have ever seen, and Mr. Ward’s young atache to the Embassy gave one the impression that he would have been more successful in the character of “Claude Melnotte” played in a booth at a country fair- Mr. Titheradge too seemed cast wrong some how or other and in the great scene with the Countess Zicka, when her treachery is 'discovered, distinctly failed to come up to expectations. Miss Bomer’s Marquise was the one redeeming feature of the production and he. “ Oh 1 Don Alva” never failed to evoke a round of applause or a burst of merriment. Of course the role of Zicka is not a particularly prominent one, but it affords opportunities for clever acting which we regret to say Mrs. Brough did not take full advantage of. Her final exit is a splendid one, when crushed by defeat and tricked into admitting her guilt she goes of heart-sick and humiliated. We recognised this not so much, through Mrs. Brough's acting as by the cleverness of the playwright. The piece was of course well staged and splendidly dressed, but judging the company by its own standard it was not equally well interpreted. The revival of “Niobe” on Monday night was welcomed by Wellington theatregoers, and was greeted with a crowded house. It is a great pity that the produc-

tion of this piece could not have closed the season, for the contrast between “Niobe” and “Caste” was as distinctasthat between black and white. Mr. Brough’s acting in “ Niobe ” is that of a polished comedian, nothing could be improved upon, and, in our opinion, next to his “ Lord Chancellor,” it is his best impersonation. Mrs. Brough also leaves nothing to be desired, and the average man in the audience feels disposed to offer Boucicault fabulous millions for his purchase when as “ Tompkins” he comes to reclaim the statue.

“ Caste” was very evidently put on because it required but few appointments to mount it, and most of the scenery had been taken on board ship preparatory to sailing on the next day. In putting on a “ stop-gap’’ piece to finish a season with it is not always]wise to choose a production so well known as “Caste,” and'especially so if the company is not fully equal to interpreting it in its best style. “ Caste” as given by the Brough-Boucicault Company on Tuesday night was far and away behind the rest of their performances and left a bad impression in the minds of many who had previously •thought the company perfect in every detail. Clever actor as Mr. Boucicault is, he cannot play “ Eccles,” his versatility is far reaching but it certainly does not include this character. His “business” was either slummed or forced, and in the scene when he hunts for tobacco to fill his pipe he was decidedly “ off.” George Anson's performance set the standard for this character throughout the Colonies. It has never as yet been surpassed, and Mr. Boucicault’s characterisation lags painfully behind it. Miss Emma Temple’s “ Polly Eccles” was also, comparatively speaking, a poor performance. This young lady may in time become a clever actress, but she is at present the weakest feature in the company, and it was certainly ill-advised to entrust her with so important a role. Mr. Titherage made only a fair “ Captain Hawtrey,” although at times his acting was excellent. Mr. and Mrs. Brough as “ Sam Gerridge and Esther” respectively, were the best features in the production, and carried the applause and sympathy of the audience from start to finish. We regret the termination of the Brough and Boucicault season, but regret more the fact that they should have finished with “ Caste.”

The Payne Family have been doing very good business at the Criterion Theatre during the week. We have expressed our opinion of this clever troupe in previous issues and can only add that if anything they seem to have improved since their previous visit to Wellington, Frank Clark’s Alhambra Variety Company under the management of Messrs Allan Hamilton and Joe St. Clair, will open at the Opera House on Monday evening next. The Company includes a number of well-known variety artists and also a carefully selected corps of dancers. The troupe comprises altogether some forty-two or three members and as

every thing that Mr. St. Clair has as yet piloted through New Zealand has been acceptable to the public we may expect a treat on Monday evening. The recent decision of the Kesident Magistrate in the action brought against Gunn, for an infringement of the “ Lotteries Act,” seems to us to have been unnecessarily severe. It was stretching the law a point to bring him under its provisions as the prizes he gave were really only part of a gigantic system of advertising the medicine he vends. Immediately on receiving notice from' the police he closed up his show, and expressed himself as willing to conform with the law in every particular, notwithstanding that he was cited before the Court and fined £25 for doing in a small way what almost every Church bazaar does on a larger scale. Bumoured that Lawrence Cautley intends revisiting the colonies. B. S. Smythe, the “ much-travelled,” who has been seriously ill in London, has so far recovered as to be able to see his friends. Bland Holt seems to have met with a “frost” in Tasmania, and is leaving that little island, with considerably less money than when he entered it.

Signora Majeroni expects to shortly open a Theatre in Melbourne. We hope that if this talented lady decides to go on tour she will visit New Zealand as many of her old friends and admirers would be pleased to see her again. Fillis' circus has had a very good season at Auckland. The company proceeds to New South Wales, and after visiting the country towns will go to Queensland. Another novelty entitled the “ Garden of Eden ” which had a very successful run in Australia is to be produced at the Criterion Theatre on Saturday next. The entertainment is both interesting and puzzling, and is well worthy of the patronage in New Zealand that it was accorded on the other side.