HIS MAJESTY’S.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1384, 2 November 1916, Page 32

HIS MAJESTY’S.

“PEG O’ MY HEART.”

Hitherto the name of J. and N. Tait has been associated with celebrities in the world of music, and the firm have been the main providers of our greatest treats in that line. With their launch into straight-out theatrical enterprise, it was only to be expected they would handle nothing but the tip-top. As proof of their discrimination they send “Peg o’ My Heart,” the play which made a wonderful hit in New York, crowded London theatres for two years, set up a record in Australia, and has made golden good' all along. It is just a plain, simple little story of captivating charm, turning on a simple roguish Irish girl by the name of Peg. The opening scene introduces a narrow, conventional English family—Mrs. Chichester, her daughter Ethel, and her son, the monocled Alaric. News has come of the failure of their bank, and so dire is their distress that the pampered Alaric threatens to go to ■ work.” But this awful calamity is averted by the timely arrival of a letter from Mrs. Chichester’s brother, directing that his yo mg niece, in order to have the advantages of an English education, should be sent io her aristocratic aunt, who is to receive £lOOO a year for “making a

lady” of Peg. Consternation in the Chichester camp at the indignity subsides into grudging acquiescence when weighed with the monetary consideration. And so Peg—idol of her father, a scatter-brained Irishman —descends on her arrogant relatives. With an ungainly slouch and a weird outfit, with her bundle of clothes in one hand and her loved dog Michael in the other, does she intrude on the polished household and set the members in a ferment with her gaiucheries. But she is not her father’s daughter for nothing, and her native Irish humour and glib tongue hold her mistress of many a situation. Her father is her bitle, and she quotes him at every turn. “My lather knows more about motherhood than any man in the world, ’ she clinches one argument with. She makes her father a living presence so eloquently does she memorise his utterances. A stormy month she puts in with her supercilious relatives. But in that time she has proved a good Samaritan to her cousin Ethel by pre- \ cntmg the latter’s elopement with a married man. She has rejected proposals from Alaric and from the .u,wyer, has broken down some of the Chichester’s insularity and acquired a ntt.e polish, and ends with the knowledge that “there’s nothing half so sweet in life as love’s young dream.” Miss Sara Allgood is an ideal Peg. With her infectious merriment and charming naivete, her daring mimicry, her tearful moments and her delicious brogue she captured the affections of her audience, who joined in her mirth, sympathised with her longing for home, and enjoyed with zest her passages-at-arms with her haughty relatives. The spell of her personal witchery is cast on her escapades, and her rare artistry is expressed in her subtle sense of comedy and her emotional appeal. In the second act she sings delightfully, revealing a sweet, expressive voice. Mr. Gerald Henson as Jerry makes an earnest and likeable lover, thoroughly enjoying Peg’s unconventional ways. Mr. Cecil Brooking gives a cleverly amusing study of the part of Alaric Chichester, his wellbred eccentricities evoking many a laugh. Miss Doris Gilham lends distinction to the over-bearing Mrs. Chichester, and Miss Beatrice Yaldwyn as the disdainful Ethel furnishes an excellent portrait. Mr. Ernest Ruston as the placid lawyer, Mr. A. L. Pearce as the flirtatious married man, Mr. Thomas Sydney as the well-trained butler, and Miss Betty MacMillan as the maid fit admirably into the picture. Peg’s Irish terrier Michael fulfils his role with an understanding sense of his value, and Ethel’s tiny dog, which Peg mistook for “Ethel’s knitting until it moved,” adapts itself to surroundings. The piece is beautifully staged and costumed. It will be

presented for several more nights, and a matinee will be given on Saturday.