HIS MAJESTY’S THEATRE.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVII, Issue 964, 27 August 1908, Page 16

HIS MAJESTY’S THEATRE.

CHARLEY’S AUNT. “Men may come and men may go” but “Charley’s Aunt” goes on for ever. Revived again and again the lady “from Brazil where the nuts come from” never seems to lose her popularity. On the play’s original production in London it ran for two thousand nights, a record never likely to be equalled, and made a fortune for its author, Brandon Thomas, and for Penley, who first appeared in the leading role. Just how many times Frank Thornton has enacted the role of the aunt it is hard to say, and probably the popular actor could not te l us, but it must run into thousands, yet despite it all there seems a perennial freshness about it that appeals irresistibly to even the most hardened theatre-goer. On Saturday night “Charley’s Aunt” replaced “When Knights were Bold,” and rarely has the theatre witnessed such a scene of continuous hilarity as was then the case. It was the writer’s sixth time of seeing the famous comedy, yet it proved just as mirth-provoking as on the first visit. As for some of the audience, their sides must have ached for hours afterwards and one lady sitting close by seemed as though she would need medical attendance when the imitation Dona Lucia was being chased by old Spettigue, so irresistibly comical was the scene. • Mr Thornton, of course, resumed his old role of Lord Fancourt Babberley, otherwise Charley’s Aunt. He must surely have learned the secret of perpetual youth, for he looked not a day older than when he first drove us to the verge of hysterics with his conception of the ancient but coquettish dame, and many moons have waned since then. Nothing more genuinely funny has ever been shown on the stage. Miss Belle Donaldson (Kitty Verdun) and Miss Lily Willis (Amy Spettigue) were the two girls and played very brightly. Miss Harriet French, who has become quite a favourite, made a state y Dona Lucia D’Alvadrez, the real aunt from Brazil, and Miss Clara Manifield was a very winsome Ella Delahay. Miss T. Powell and C. Stone played the parts of the college chums, Jack Chesney and Charley Wykehan. Mr Douglas Hamilton was Sir Francis Chesney, and Mr K. Stephenson the college scout Braset. Mr Harry Ashford imparted a good deal of humour into the role of the unctuous solicitor, Stephen Spettigue, all the members of the company playing up to the lead capitally. Altogether the revival was a great success, and each evening saw a good house.