HIS MATESTY’S.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1304, 22 April 1915, Page 34

HIS MATESTY’S.

“SEVEN LITTLE AUSTRALIANS.” There is a refreshingly natural and wholesome flavour about the “Seven Little Australians” that appeals. It is “neither too old for the young, or too young for the old.” Mostly every child has laughed and cried over Ethel Turner’s story of the family at Misrule, and no play could have been dearer to his or her heart. The sadness has been eliminated bv the cutting out of poor, brave little Judy, while the borrowing of “Miss Bobbie” from a second favourite book, makes up the required number —“We are Seven.” An expectant audience — mostly juveniles—watched the opening performance at His Majesty’s on Saturday afternoon, and fairly revelled in seeing the children of their imagination in flesh, hailing them audibly as old friends. Even if the story—as they knew it—did side-track, it only meant, an additional charm for them, and they were outspoken enough in their appreciation +o compensate Mr. Beaumont Smith for his enterprise. Miss Bobbie is the daughter of a drunkard named Lennox and is brought up by the Rev. Dr. Wallace with the rest of his motherless children. Lennox attempts to rob the doctor, is caught by Bobbie, who insists on his making restitution, and is found by the doctor with the cash-box in her arms, her father having escaped unmolested. She takes the blame and is sent to a boarding-school. Eventually she runs home and learns that her father has repented him of his dissoluteness and has d’ed after earning the V.C. for bravery in the South African war.

Miss Vera Spaull (who will be remembered for her clever work in “The Blue Bird”) played the part of the tomboyish Miss Bobbie with natural charm and understanding, nutting in the necessary dramatic and comic touches with commendable skill. Miss Cecil Haines, the talented little Wellingtonian, showed remarkable aptitude as the irrepressible Suds, captivating everyone with her easy air and naturalness in expounding the misdeeds of that most precocious member of the doctor’s family. Superior Pip had a worthy counterpart in Olga Agnew, who knew how to get her noints home. Bunty. with his penny dreadfuls and his stutters, and Dumps, with his grumpy ways were admirably realised by Fred Carlton and Hector McDonald, while Veta Flannagan, as the nicely-behaved Nell, and Esma Cannon as dear little baby, who could likewise play the viol'n very nrettily, made up the bunch of happy, healthy, deliciouslv naughty children. There is a delightful homely touch in the homework scene, and in the “dinna forget” episode at sunper. when the constable’s dinner disanpears mysteriously under the table to feed Bobbie: while the model behaviour of the family when the circus is coming strikes a famPiar note to all who know anything about the subtleties of children Mr. Harrington Revnolds (Father Kelly, of “The Posary” fame) was excellently placed as the Rev. Dr. Wallace, indulgent, henijrn. imperturbable in the face of his seven tr’als. M’ss Maisie Carte made the most of the part of Bertha, the housekeeper, and secured a good round of laughs for her handling of her unruly charges, not to mention the policeman. The latter was brightly represented by Mr. Gi’bert Emery, with Mr. Vincent as Lennox, and Mr. CyrH French as a reporter—with whom news is a secondary consideration.

A goodly portion of the whole show consisted simply of Daisy Jerome, (writes a Dunedin critic on ‘ The Babes in the Wood.”) Things were not. complete until her astoundingly vivid head dashed from behind the scenery, and the glib, clever girl, who was so popular recently in vaudeville, delighted her audience with her racy songs and smart talk.