BLAND HOLT'S AUCKLAND SEASON.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVI, Issue III, 18 January 1896, Page 69

BLAND HOLT'S AUCKLAND SEASON.

•saved from the sea.’ AS the end of the Bland Holt season in Auckland has drawn nearer, and his departure for Wellington and the South becomes more imminent, the public have displayed their enthusiasm for melodrama more and more markedly. It is perfectly astonishing where all the monev comes from. The houses during the season have always been of the best, but during the past few days there has not been a seat to be had for love or money after a quarter to eight, and the old hands at the Opera House declare that such business has never been done in Auckland before either by Bland Holt himself or by the Comic Opera Company. ‘ Saved from the Sea,’ which was played for the concluding four nights of last week, proved immensely to the public taste. It certainly affords the scenic artists and mechanists admirable chances for the display of their art. The explosive scene and the subsequent tableaux are as good, if not better, than anything of the kind given before in Auckland, and were applauded with the utmost enthusiasm every evening. The fun and jollity of the picnic scene, and the fine opportunities afforded Mr Holt and his ever charming wife for comedy, were also much appreciated. And also since the public loves to have its flesh creep on occasion, the gruesome scene in Barchester Gaol, where the hero is led towards the scaffold pinioned, and with the funeral procession, hangman and parson complete, proves very popular, and is probably one of the strongest draws of the melodrama. I do not object to murder scenes. Why should I to this mimic representation of an execution ? After all the woman's reason—l object because I object—is the only one I can advance. •the fatal card.’ On Monday evening, before the largest audience of the season, save that of Boxing Night, * The Fatal Card ’ was produced for the first time in Auckland. This fine play—for it is a play and not a melodrama —is mainly the work of Mr Haddon Chambers, the brilliant young Australian playwright, who in the last few years has given the stage some of the most powerful dramas and plays of his time. In ‘ The Fatal Card ’ Mr Haddon Chambers and his collaberateur have reached a very high point of dramatic art. They have written a play as full of moving incidents and sensations as the heart of the most devoted worshipper of oldfashioned melodrama could desire. But these incidents, these situations, these stage pictures are not, so to speak, stuck on to each other with a thin paste of inferior dialogue, but spring naturally from the grim and stirring story which unfolds itself—a story which for strength, truth, and power I have never seen equalled in any production of the sort. lam sure no offence will be taken by Mr Bland Holt if I say, as the easiest way of expressing what I mean, that * The Fatal Card ’ is one of those plays which would seem to fall more naturally into the repertoire of Brough and Boucicault than his own. It is essentially not a melodrama, but a drama, and indeed but for the comic relief it might easily be styled a tragedy. Rarely have I seen a play which excited me so keenly and moved me so deeply. From the rise of the curtain on the drinking saloon ‘ out West ’ to its fall on the cottage devastated by the terrible explosion which takes place before our eyes, the interest is enthralling ; the mind as well as the eye is requisitioned. While the demands made on one’s love of beautiful things is at least equa' to any of the spectacular and scenic wonders Mr Holt has presented, the intellectual enjoyment provided is of so entirely different an order, and of so much higher a quality, that ‘ The Fatal Card ’ stands apart from all other productions of the season. In the main the acting was well worthy of the play. Mr A. Norman’s Marrable claims, I think, first atten tion. The part is a fine one, and the character complex —one of those very human mixtures of strength, sin, and loveableness which Mr Chambers first introduced us to in ‘ Captain Swift.’ Mr Norman’s impersonation was altogether worthy of the part, and when I have said this I don’t know that I can praise more highly. Incomparably the most interesting figure in a play where every one is interesting to a greater or less extent, Mr Norman as Marrable carried the audience’s sympathies through the entire drama. His was in every way a fine impersonation, a piece of work of which any actor might be justly proud, and for which Mr Norman may be well satisfied. Mr Baker is a fine actor, and has been the central figure of the season, deservedly reaping the greatest share of public applause for a brilliant series of masterly impersonations. In • The Fatal Card ’ he has an exceedingly fine part, and on the whole he makes a great deal of it, but here and there Mr Baker seemed to me to fail to convey the depth of character there is in young Marrable. In the quarrel scene with his father he scarcely, so it seemed to me, changed sufficiently at the mention of his mother. The deepest note of emotion was struck, but Mr Baker scarcely fully succeeded in bringing out the fullest and deepest tone. The Jim Dixon of Mr E. C. Corlesse was a very finished and admirable bit of acting, and must be singled out for special mention. The other male parts, and they are many, were all well filled. Miss Ross, as Margaret Marrable, made an impression on playgoers that is not likely to be effaced. It was a Channing and extremely fine impersonation. The Mercedes of Miss Watson was unconvincing to me. Her accent was overdone, and moreover, it was not the Mexican-Spanish accent. Miss Ansted transformed a good high comedy part into burlesque. As for the Holts themselves, they have never done anything better. They played into each other’s hands in the most admirable manner. The play was from every point of view a veritable treat, and the public evidently appreciated it as such.