THE PAULTON-STANLEY COMEDY CO.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XIX, Issue XIX, 30 October 1897, Page 595

THE PAULTON-STANLEY COMEDY CO.

IT is unfortunate that an unavoidable delay in Sydney has shortened the stay of the Paulton - Stanley Comedy Company iu Auckland to one week, for the enthusiasm with which the opening piece. 'My Friend From India,’ was received by a crowded audience at the Opera House on Monday evening gives an assurance of popular favour for a dramatic season of unusual length and brilliancy. The promised production of the ever-popular ‘Niobe,’ with its versatile author among its dramatis personae, is in itself a sure draw for several nights. Instead of laying the stores of Greek mythology under contribution, the author of ‘My Friend From India’ has invaded the field of modern mysticism, and the live Mahatma, not this time from Tibet, but from the shades of some cockney hair-dressing saloon, frisking about the stage in a yellow silk counterpane, negotiated that easy passage from the sublime to the ridiculous. Mr Paulton. who appears as a Mahatma, for the nonee played upon the risible faculties of his audience by saying the wittiest of things, while preserving a most serious demeanour. The unconscious humourist, unless he knows his business, may encounter a torpid audience or find the laugh following some minutes after the joke has been perpetrated. Mr Paulton shared no such melancholy fate, for bubbling merriment prevailed from his first appearance on the boards until his retirement for the night. Miss Alma Stanley, as Marion Moxon, a stately damsel whose professed faith in the occult one was inclined to suspect, acted the part of a rather bizarre hanger-on to the fringe of society admirably. Her majestic proportions served to dwarf still more the stature of the diminutive author-comedian. The grace, of her carriage and excellent dancing were worth a quarter's tuition in deportment at any academy . for young ladies of fashion. ’My Friend

From India’ is not a play with an Ibsenite moral, but it is not without its lesson. It teaches that the element of success in the role of priest or prophet consists chiefly in the gullibility of humanity. Augustus Frederick Dredge, like some more illustrious predecessors, became a wizard and seer in spite of himself, and the facility manifested in seeing the marvels which were not perceptible to himself surpassed even the alleged imaginative fertility of the lover when contemplating the nonexistent virtues of his adored one. Mr Oily Deering was well suited as the self-made Erasmus Chignell, an old gentleman from Sheffield, fired with a vain ambition to get into society, and Mr Cyril Keightley, his son, did justice to the part. The other members of the Company, Messrs Ilans Phillips, Fred Cambourne, Carden Wilson, Albert Whelan, W. J. Beresford, Miss Lena Braseh, Miss Lila More, Mrs Edouin Bryer, and Miss Minna Phillips, all acted very creditably. Indeed, the fact that the production in New Zealand is under the direction of Messrs Williamson and Musgrove is guarantee enough that all the members of the Company are equal to their work, and the scenic appointments are up to date.