THE SATGE

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XII, Issue 717, 3 December 1903, Page 18

THE SATGE

(By

“Comus.”)

OPERA HOUSE

* ROBBERY UNDER ARMS.”

Nothing- could be more gratifying to Mr Dampier than the enthusiasm with which his latest production has been greeted nightly by the large and overflowing aucTienc.es. On Saturday night it was simply impossible to obtain standing room at eight o’clock, and after that hour hundreds had to be turned away and the ticket office closed. On Monday night, despite the deluge of the house was again crowded, and of Tuesday and last nights the records are eminently satisfactory. 'This goes to prove that the theatre-going . public of Auckland are prompt to recognise a good play. Robbery Under Arms ” is undoubtedly one of the best dramas of its kind yet presented here. It is full of sensation of a wholesome sort, and embodies sufficient realism to satisfy the strongest taste. Mr Dampier, better than any other man, knows how to stage an Australian play, and he does 1 it well. The scenery and properties are admirable in every respect, and the most trivial details are carried out with a thoroughness that is surprising. With trained horses', ponies, a real coach, and a downpour of genuine rain, all that is wanted is capable acting to give life to the story presented, and this the Dampier Company can supply. Mr Dampier’s Starlight is a splendid piece of work right through, and the Warrigal of Mr Alfred Dampier, junr., is an extraordinarily clever character study, outrivalling anything of the kind the present writer has seen in a fairly wide t'xperience. The other characters are all good, and none are sustained perfunctorily. Miss Katherine Rus'sell’s Kate Mottison, Miss Rose Dampier’s Adeem MrRolfe's Dick Marston. Mr Holloway’s Dan Moran, and Mr Neville’s Inspector Goring are all powerful conceptions, while the comic policeman business of Messrs Roche and Ebbsmith is provocative of genuine mirth. The remainder of the long cast is well filled. A word of praise is also due to the orchestra under the skilie I direction of Miss Abbie Taylor. “Robbery Under Arms ” ought to enjoy a long run. The next production of the Company will be “ The Merchant of Venice,” which is now in active preparation.

THE CITY HALL.

FULLER’S ENTERTAINERS. This excellent vaudeville show continues to rise in popular favour every week, and the weeks are now totting up so rapidly that it will soon be the more convenient to reckon John Fuller’s season by months. The marvellous Franz Bros, have gone, after tuning up the nerves of the Auckland public and thoroughly testing the strength of the City Hall stage, but they have left no aching void behind them, as they might easily have done if Manager Fuller knew less about his business than he does. The show does not, and never did, depend upon the attractions of any one item, and the ensemble continues to keep to the same standard. Amongst the new “turns” are the vagaries of the “ sad-eyed shriek,” Will Stevens, the fine singing of Mr James Williams, long a member of the Steele-Payne Company, and the humorous songs and dances of Dennis Carney. Amongst the other favourites are Miss Tillie Dunbar and Miss Millie Herberte, and there is now a quartette party, including Mr Fuller, which sings negro melodies and choruses in a manner calculated to warm the heart and make a garden of the memory. It is a good show all through.

HIS MAJESTY’S THEATRE.

MISS ADA CROSSLEY. Miss Ada Crossley, the world-famous ’contralto, gives two concerts at His Majesty’s, on Saturday and Monday next. Some interesting notes on the great singer’s appearance at Dunedin, from the pen of my correspondent, will be found in another column.

After a very successful tour of the "Waikato and goldfields districts, the Hawtrey Company returned to Auckland on Monday and left by the Waikare next day for Gisborne and the South. They may return for a season at Auckland in January.

“ Wang,” writing from Palmerston North, wishes to know if Maude’s “ History of the Haymarket Theatre ” is procurable in the colony. So far as .1 can ascertain, it is not. The extracts that appeared in these columns were taken from “ The Stage ” (London).

The Woods-Williamson Company have been doing first.class business at Napier.

My Christchurch correspondent writes : —The Frawley Co. winds up a season at the Royal this evening with “The Girl I Left Behind Me.” About the best thing they have produced g date was “Brother Officers,” in which Mr Frawley, as the Tommy Atkins who has earned' his V.C.. was immensely effective. His shyness and awkwardness ■when he finds himself introduced vpolite society, kept the house intensely amused. Without a doubt he is an artisi of rare ability. He is admirably sunported. Miss Van Buren is a charming

actress, and little Miss Eva Dennison, too, has made herself very popular here It is seldom such clever all-round Companies come our way John

F. Sheridan and Co. open at the Roya l on sth December. The “Widdy” will get a warm welcome Met Ben. Fuller the other night. He had run up from Dunedin for a day or two on business. He reports the Fuller Show in Dunedin is blooming. It’s the samestory here.

DUNEDIN NOTES.

MISS CROSSLEY’S CONCERTS. My Dunedin correspondent writes :— The inhabitants of this colony have much to be thankful for. Despite the fact that we are at the extreme end of the wheel spokes which diverge from the hub of the world, we, if only sensible enough to avail ourselves of the opportunity, nevertheless hear- and see many of the artists who in the musical and theatrical world are safely perched on the top of the pinacle of fame. Even if the worst comes to the worst, the artist (with a big “ A ”) who are too expensive an article to import across the wide expanse of water which intervenes between us and the “ Mecca ” of merit, sometimes called London, whose hall-mark all

pilgrims of art and science endeavour to stamp on their reputation, we at least, through the kindly columns of the illustrated press have the one-sided pleasure of making their acquaintance through that medium, although the pleasure may be leavened by the sordid fact that the paper may be capable of telling us of what the artist’s favourite dish consists. As a beneficient Fate will have it, some of our; present day world-famous artists have had the audacity or luck to be born in yornig Australia, and hence it isi after astonishing and capturing the fancy of the Old World they are frequently desirous of returning to their native land and with pardonable pride exhibiting their talent belore the persons who in bygone days by their physical superiority made them carry their books and slates home from school. The natural inclination which makes one desirous of pleasing or mortifying our youthful acquaintances may be partly responsible for the return of our Melbas and Crossleys to their native shores, but it was ever thus, and everyone who after journeying afar successfully taps and takes up the wealth of El Dorado has an irrestible impulse to return to his native village and flaunt his laurels before those old familiars who are sometimes guilty of remarking after not-

ing some exceptionally brilliant work, “ Who’d a thought it of one who was such a fathead at school.” The hero soldier returns for his sword of honour, actors, artists and vocalists for the approving pat on the back and its generally accompanying spoils of war, and even the prodigal failure returns for his share of the fatted calf, or to borrow a shillingafter his unsuccessful pursuit of fame and fortune. It is utterly immaterial to us who form the rank and file of a pleasureseeking public what brings along the success of the day —whether it is the magnetic attraction of the desire to re-visit a native land, a search for health, a satiated old world public, or the cash and courage of a venturesome theatrical managei, so long as the “hall mark” is indelible and undisputable, that is all that is lequired, a success, which, if it is not one artistically, it is at least one financially.

The paragraphic puff, the spend-a-penny-catch-a-pound cable, the climaxing billing and advertising, and the Lo, behold! we have arrived, were the poles which proded Dunedin out of its comfortable homes on the red-letter night of the Ada Crossley concert season, and despite the fact that bitterly cold and wet weather also foisted its unwelcome presence upon us, the holding capacity of His Majesty’s Theatre was taxed to its utmost when the contralto Queen of Song granted

audience (for a consideration) to those who were prepared to do her homage by their presence and applause. Even the stage was forced into use, and over one hundred persons seated there gave evidence that coin was hard to refuse, but if the presence of those non-performers behind the footlights was pleasing to the treasurer, no doubt it was painful to many of the audience, and my artistic soul (ahem) revolted when through allowing the eyes to stray off the artist on the stage they alighted on someone who, owing to being in unaccustomed prominence, tried to g-et behind themselves in their efforts to efface themselves, or appear unconscious and at home, whilst collectively they converted what should have been a temple of melody into what resembled the platform of a political, a temperance, or a mother’s meeting-. When, however, Miss Ada Crossley occupied the boards the eyes or attention did not wander far afield, but remained riveted by the magnetic talent of the fair vocalist, who rightly ranks as one of the foremost songbirds of the world. Charmingly gowned, and displaying a modest absence of jewellery, she takes the stage, and acknowledges the enthusiastic welcome with a winning smile and a comportment that is grace personified, whilst her entire manner is conspicuously void of that brazen assurance born of success with which some of our famous artists carry themselves. Her voice possesses that highly desirable quality of sympathy (the absence of which in otherwise magnificent vocal organs which we have heard makes effoi’ts to please merely grate on the artistic ear), and that being so Miss Crossley is particularly successful in old-time ballads and songs which other vocalists have made famous by the expressive qualities of their great vocal powers. Other songs given by the gifted cantatrice during the evening may have served to display the timbre, volume, and flexibility of her voice, but it was for her rendition of the “ Banks of Allan Water,” _ “Weed Better Bide a ee, ■ and similar songs which call for expressive singing that stirred the audience most and called forth the imperative applause which asked for repetition of the item. Ihe North will have opportunities later of indulging for itself, and it it is perfectly safe to advise patronage, for if one has an atom of music in one’s composition one can be sure of receiving good value for money. Supporting- Miss Cross-ley is a numerically small, but qualitatively great company of musicians, foremost of whom may be ranked the violinist Jacques Jacobs, who by the clever bowing and exquisite melody of his instrument (said to be a genuine Strad) quickly established himself as a pjime favourite with the audience. Mr W. A. Peterkin, considering the manner in which he won his audience, is a vocalist at whose powers it may be hypercritical to cavil, but there is no mistaking the fact that occasionally there is the breath of suspicion of a nasal intonation, ami also that his voice lacks the volume which one had been led to expect. His greatest success and applause was won by the buffo song-, Long Ago in Alcala,” from the opera “ Mirette.' He is a singer who does not strive for effect, and relv solely on a top-note effort to win his audience, but renders his numbers throughout as a true vocalist, and without stagey mannerisms. Mr Percy Grainger is a pianist possessing great delicacy of touch, and an artistically executive ability, which marks him as a worthy part of a highly distinguished comoany of musicians.

Wirth’s circus is touring Victoria. A Melbourne season will be commenced on Boxing night.

Mr G. W. Anson, while crossing one of the very badly lighted Manchester side streets recently trod upon a loose stone, which resulted in his falling heavily with his foot doubled under him. He proceeded in a cab to the theatre, and, although in great pain, went through the part of Ben Kershaw in “A Snug Little Kingdom.” A curious fact is that Kershaw in the play is supposed to have met with an accident while crossing a street, but has completely recovered.

The bitzmaurice Gill Dramatic Company. after a successful tour of the Commonwealth, will return to New Zealand this month, and will re-open at the Opera House on Boxing Night.

“ A COUNTRY GIRL ” IN SYDNEY.

The Sydney critic of “ Melbourne Punch ” writes :— “ A Country Girl ” has entered upon what is termed the “ boom ” of popularity and prosperity at Her Ma;esty’s', and if crowded houses for a week are an indication of the disposition of the public t wards the latest “ laugh raiser ” it will take rank with "Florodora” as a luckbringer. Already, despite _its triviality in the musical sense, and its thinness in regard to dramatic form and development, the new production has attained the popularity of “ The Toreador.” The "musical comedy ” and the “ musical play ” have now advanced to so high a point in public favour that there is nothing for it but to recognise in a cheerful manner the new species of successful entertainment. One condition of appreciation and enjoyment is that the ordinary rules of criticism must be left outside the theatre when you go to a “ musical play ” or > a “ musical comedy ” of the kind that is now accepted without question, and applauded without stint. ou must be prepared to surrender yourself to two or three hours"' amusement without bothering your head about plot or scheme, or about scientific structure or continuity. You must not poke your nose into the kitchen to find out how the “ dishes ” are made, and of what they are composed. In short, “ A Country. Girl,” as a production of this peculiar and privileged class, must be measured and appraised on points other than those upon which. we ordinarily base our judg’ments in matters dramatic and musical. The “ musical play,” which, for a time at least, .has driven comic opera and opera bouffe into exile, demands that it shall be accepted on its face value. The constructor of the " musical play it is hardly right to dign fy him by the honoured name of author—contracts to supply a theatrical manager with " something light, and laughable.” The entertainment thus provided may be wholly without “ rhyme or reason.” When the manager presents the jerry-built “ musical play ” the protests of criticism are smothered in the happyhearted merriment of those who rightly or wrongly look upon the theatre as . a place of amusement, not as a place of instruction and elevation. There is nothing more triumphant than a success of laughter. The “ musical play ” pleases the public, and the public is content to pay and pay again so long as it pleased. In thia condition of things the management of Her Majesty’s may reckon upon crowded houses at “ A Country Girl right up to Christmas week. There may be a great difference of opinion with respect to the merits of “ A Country Girl,” but there cannot be any with respect to the manner in which Nr Williamson has staged “ the most fas>cinating musical attraction ever witnessed by a Sydney audience.” The mounting of the “ musical play ” leaves nothing to be desired.

More church and stage. The new act drop at a London theatre depicts a wellknown cathedtal.

Dion Boucicault the elder made £lO,OOO out of the “ Colleen Bawn ” during the first run of that piece.

Miss Maggie Moore has gone on a Queensland tour with her company. -X- -X- * * Mr William Anderson will have four shows running on Boxing Night. At the Sydney Lyceum, "The Great World of London” will form the attraction. At Wellington he will stage "Her Second Time on Earth.” At Newcastle, " A Woman of Pleasure” will be presented, and at His Majesty’s, Ballarat, " The Worst Woman in London.” Mr Harcourt Beatty, and the other English members of Mr Musgrove’s Dramatic Company, left last week by the homeward bound mailboat from Melbourne. Theatregoers would like to hear of Mr Beatty's return in the near future. * * * * Mr George Musgrove leaves for America by the next 'Frisco boat should the Slapolfski-Musgrove case in Melbourne conclude in time. Miss Nellie Stewart goes by the same boat, and expects to return about the middle of next year. » * * * It is, perhaps., rather early to discuss the nature of the entertainment that will be given at the Lyceum when that theatre is turned into a variety house ; but (says a London paper) it is expected that it will develop on the lines of the London Hippodrome —that is, in spectacle and "ring” turns. The trend of entertainment now is for elaborate effects, which need elaborate surroundings, and really elaborate stage machinery. Simple “numbers” without display are fast becoming obsolete in large variety theatres, where the eye has to be studied more than the ear.

A dramatisation of Tom Gallon s ”Tatterby” is in active rehearsal by the Hawtrey comedy company. Mr Hawtrey will make a fine study of old Caleb Fry, who personates his deceased servant in this famous "story of a dead man.”

Someone tells the yarn how the notorious Connor, a would-be tragedian used to play "Hamlet,” behind a wire netting. The public used to come armed with decayed vegetables and ancient cats., and keep up a constant cannonade, while the Danish Prince strutted and fretted his brief hour upon the stage. Sometimes a stray 7 brick penetrated the netting, and bumped into Hamlet. Then the crowd rejoiced exceedingly.

The prohibitionists of New Zealand mig-ht do worse than consult some of the companies on tour as to their treatment at the hands of the local hotels (says the Sydney "Newsletter”), who, knowing the little, accommodation,the traveller can obtain owing to the reduced number of licenses, treat the pros, with great discourtesy. In Napier recently the sitting rooms were locked up altogether during ;a company’s visit, also no smoking allowed except on the ground floor, and a membpr of the company, expostulating because breakfast could not be obtained after 9.30, was rewarded five minutes later with a cup of tea from the kitchen containing several spoonfulls of Epsom, salts. On Sunday the dining room was locked at 5.45 p.m. Tea could not be obtained later, as the servants wanted tp go oi|it early. *

Mr Bland Holt re-appears in Sydney at the Theatre Royal at Easter. Mr Mm. Anderson goes to the Melbourne Royal.

In twelve small towns in the North Island the " Are You a Mason?” Company cleared £lOBO.

Female Hamlets seen upon the colonial stage : Louise Pomeroy, Louise Crawford, Rose Evans, Mrs Lewis, and Mrs Cleveland.

Probably the best stage duels are to'be found in " The Corsican Brothers,” " The Swordsman’s Daughter,” and " Women and Wine.”

Me W. H. Denny, the comedian of Mr George Musgrove’s Shakesperian Company, was originally a dancer, and only took to legitimate work when one of his legs gave out.

Few theatrical people visit Ballarat (Vic.) without going to the cemetery to take a look at and place a few flowers on the grave of " poor Bob Lawrence” (husband of Carrie George).

Mr Arthur Lissant in the Directoire costume worn in the second act of "A Country Girl ” looks the very reincarnation of Robespierre, "the sea green incorruptible,” as Carlyle called him. » * *

Old Bill Reinno has a great theatrical family, Miss May Renno having done excellent work with the Majeroni Company. Then there is Miss Daisy Renno, who as a dancer and a musician can, if she likes, out-distance all competitors.

Olga Nethersole, after being prosecuted for her performance of " Sapho ” in America, has gone in for another startler in the / Gordian Knot." Her part is spoken of as "a terribly fascinating and desperately wicked person, the path of whose past is strewn with the bodies of her victims

Sydneyites (says the " Newsletter ”) will remember Bland Holt’s shocker " Saved from the Sea,” in which was shown the procession to the hangman’s scaffold. This was bad enough, but in Jarman’s new play, “ Under the Czar,” the audience witness an actual execution, with the man’s body disappearing dows the trap. It is a gruesome spectacle, and the application of a knout in a preceding scene does not lessen the horror. But doubtless there are audiences for this sort of thing who evidently enjoy it. * * * ♦

The following notes are hung framed conspicuously in 'the passage of the Theatre at Napier, and surrounded by a deep mourning black border • Dear Sir, —"Owing to the limited capacity of this Theatre, and the extraordinary demands ■of the play-going public for seats, the management is reluctantly compelled to decline acceding to your request for tickets for free admission.” — Yours truly. P.S.—The. marginal darkness which surrounds this note but feebly expresses the grief we feel at not being able to oblige you.

In the Windsor Guildhall last month, before Lord Francis Godolphin Osborne and other Berkshire magistrates, Harry King, the proprietor of a travelling theatre, was summonsed for presenting a stage play without a license at Ascot on September 16. Police-Constable Collett told the story of the plot of " Leah ” as produced in a wooden booth elected in a field at Ascot. The magistrate’s clerk said gravely that there was no doubt that " Leah ” was a tragedy, and according to Act of Parliament a license was required to play it. The defendant, who assumed a dramatic attitude in the box, said he had been travelling for 39 years with a portable theatre and had never been asked for a license before. The magistrate inflicted a fine of £l.

Mr W. Brown, once chief warder at Winson Green Gaol, Birmingham, and the original of the humane " Evans ” of Charles Reade’s " It's Never Too Late to Mend,” died at his home, New Handsworth Road, Birmingham, on the 9th of October. His name came prominently before the public in connection with the Royal Commission of Inquiry in 1853 into the barbarity 7 perpetrated by the governor of the gaol, Lieutenant Austen. A lad named Edward Andrews, fifteen years old, who had been sentenced to three months’ imprisonment with hard labour for petty larceny, was put to the treadmill, and being unable to perform hia task wasi, by the governor’s orders, put on bresad-and-water diet, deprived of bed and light, and finally put into the straight waistcoat and strapped to the' wall. The lad fainted when released, arid three days afterwards committed suicide by hanging. At the inquiry Mr Brown was complimented by the chairman of the commission for his humanity, and Lieutenant Austen was tried at Warwick Assizes and sentenced to three months’ imprisonment.

Sarah Bernhardt is very much displeased with her Paris public. During her provincial tour, she determined to keep her Paris theatre open with a revival of " L’Aiglon,” in which her latest protege, young Max, w r as to play the hero. But Sarah has worn L’Aiglon’s breeches so effectively that the Parisians refused to accept any mere man in the role. One of the critics wrote :—" After the remarkable non-success which has greeted Mr Max’s appearance as L’Aiglon, we have no doubt that next season, out of the goodness of her heart, Mme. Bernhardt will promote him to her other great role, Marguerite Gauthier.”

Herbert Fleming, Harry Friedman, W. J. Holloway, and other erstwhile Australian theatrical managers, made a lot c.f monev in South Africa during the war.

A proof of the soundness of some theatrical investments is shown by the report of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane (Limited), which recommends a further dividend of TO per cent., making 20 per -cent, on the year. During the six years of its existence the shareholders of this company have received three dividends of 20 per cent., two of 15, and one of 10 per cent.

AMERICAN AMUSEMENTS.

(Special to the “ Era.”)

Mr William H. Crane is fulfilling his annual engagement in the metropolis, but not in the character of David Harum, the horse trader. Mr Crane’s success in that role during three .'seasons almost warranted the expectation that he would be identified with it for the rest of his life, like Denman Thompson, in “ The Old Homestead,” for instance, or Joseph Jefferson, in “ Rip Van Winkle.” But “ David Harum ” was cast aside, and, in looking around for a success, Mr Crane’s choice fell upon Henry L. Wilson’s novel of New York and Western life, “ The Spendersi,” dramatised by Edward (E. Rose. The central figure of this story is Peter Bines, a typical American, who has made his first appearance here in this character with great success at the Savoy Theatre last Monday. Peter Bines after prospecting for years has ” struck it rich ” and developed several mines in Montana. Upon his son’s death the old man undertook to look after the latter’s family. His grandson and namesake, young Peter, has been educated in the East, and his only interest in- the part of the country that his grandfather loves is due to the fact that Montana has furnished him with unlimited meansi. During a visit to New York whilst coming out of a theatre young Bines has rescued'a young woman from a carriage accident, and has l returned home with thoughts of the girl running through his head. When the play begins a party of Easterners are inspecting the “ One Girl ” mine, and Alice Milbrey, she of the carriage accident, is amongst them. The youthful Bines meets her again and decides io follow her East, taking his mother and sister with him. Once in New York he gets into a fast set and frequents, fashionable gambling houses. His sister is pursued by fortune hunters and taught the rudiments of “ bridge ’’ whist at considerable cost, and the family part with so much money that they are termed “ The Spenders.” All this time young Peter’s love affair makes no progress, and in matters of pocket-book and heart he goes from bad to worse. Finally old Peter Bines in Montana learns the condition of affairs, and appears on the scene to knock a little sense into his grandson’s head and straighten things out. To do this he advises the lad to speculate, and through a certain banker brings; him to financial ruin. But the banker happens to be young Peter’s rival lor the hand of Avice Milbrey, and the wellmeaning grandfather plays into his hands. The great scene of the play comes when the old man discovers this 1 , and by swift action clears l the way for his grandson’s happinesfei. ‘The dramatist has constructed a very interesting play, and Mr Crane’s Peter Bines is a lifelike portrayal of a character in which hard commonsense and a bright geniality are harmoniously blended. Mr Crane is supported by

an excellent company, and Mr Charles Frohman has given the play a lavish

production. “ Hearts Courageous,” a dramatisation by Franklin Fyles and Ramsey Morris of Hallie Ermine Rives’s novel,,in four acts, has met with a favourable reqeption at the Broadway Theatre. It is; another story of the American Revolution, the scenes being laid at Yorktown, Williamsburg, and Winchester, in Virginia, and in Independence Hall, Philadelphia. In the latter scene is shown the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Patrick Henry is a conspicuous character in the play, and delivers his famous " Give me

liberty or give me death ” speech. Mr Orrin Johnson enacts the role of the hero, Louis Armand, with complete success, this being his first appearance at the head of his own company. Armand, Marquis De la Rouerie, is sent to America as the secret emissary of Louis XVI. He is charged with offers of aid to the colonists, addressed to Benjamin Franklin. Things go smoothly until the ever vigilant Tories suspect that his mission is not friendly to them, and try in every possible way to prevent him from carry-

ing it out successfully. While the schemes of the Tories for getting rid of him are in progress the Marquis finds time to fall in love with a pretty American girl named Anne Tillotson. In the height of his love-making, and while his mission is yet unaccomplished, he is thrown into prison. This is where the love interest and dramatic situation blend, for Anne, full of adoration for her lover, and imbued ;with a deeper devotion to her country, comes to the rescue and at no little risk carries the precious papers to Franklin. The love story of course ends happily. 'Miss Maude Fealy plays the heroine, Anne Tillotson, delightfully.

“ Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall, a play in four acts, by Paul Kester, was produced at the Lyceum Theatre, Scranton, Pa, on the 22nd ult., and the local newspapers bestowed unstinted upon the play and Miss Bertha Galland’s impersonation of Dorothy Vernon, the red-haired, hot-tempered, self-willed, but thoroughly lovable heiress of Haddon Hall. The play is based on Charles Major’s novel of the same title, and is redolent of the robust, romantic England of Elizabethan days. The story is fraught

with interest and is prettily told. Considerable liberty has been taken with the original narrative. Dorothy Vernon has the mettle of a Katherine and the lovable qualities of a Juliet. Her moods) vary swiftly from melting- tenderness to towering passion ; from comedy to intense emotion. She has been betrothed in childhood to Sir John Manners, but long before she has reached her eighteenth birthday a feud has sprung up between the houses of Rutland, Sir John Manners’ family title, and Sir George Vernon, of Haddon Hall, Dorothy's father. Dorothy has been promised to Sir Malcolm Vernon. Sir John appears, and by a trick woes her at first as his cousin. It is a case of love at first sight, and she decides to stand by her choice. An elopement is planned but frustrated. The father of Sir John Manners, the Earl of Rutland, is harbouring Mary Queen of Scots. Elizabeth hears of this, and gives Dolly the choice between seeing her lover tortured or obtaining from him the whereabouts of Queen Mary. Dorothy chooses the latter alternative, but afterwards bitterly regrets that she has been compelled to betray the hiding-place of the Scottish Queen r and hastens to warn her. By impersonating Mary she enables her "

to escape from the soldiers, and fights! a duel with Sir Malcolm Vernon when she learns that he has acted treacherously. Finally she cajoles Queen Bess into sparing the life of her sweetheart and then goes with him into exile. Miss Galland is supported by a very strong company, which includes Mr Mark Losee (Sir Cverge Vernon). Mr Sheridan Block (Sir Malcolm Vernon), Mr William Lewers (Sir John Manners), Mr George Lesoir (William Cecil, a dwarf jester), Miss May Robson (Queen Elizabeth), and Miss Kate Wilson (Lady Vernon). Miss Galland is starring this season under the direction of Mr J. Fred Zimmerman, junr.

Rogers, the author of the “ Ladder of Life,” once turned out a costume melodrama yclept, “The Days of Cromwell,” which met with the usual indifferent luck of plays usually written round the Protector. Democracy on the stage docs not flourish : on the other hand Royalty does, “Charles 1.” is a money spinner to Irving, while the “ White Rose, an Adelphi costume play that included Cartwright, well-known in Sydney, as Cromwell, nearly ruined Gatti Bros., and a quick return to plays of “In the Ranks” type was necessitated to save them from the 'law’s delav” of the Official Ass.

Her Majesty's ’Theatre, Melbourne, cr rather the spot on which the fashionable playhouse now stands, was one time rhe scene of a “meeting” presided over hv an ex-M.L.A., David Gaunson. Said meeting was held with a view of securing a reprieve for Ned Kelly—this the night before the execution.