THE WALTER BENTLEY COMPANY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXI, Issue 15, 10 August 1894, Page 19

THE WALTER BENTLEY COMPANY.

We alluded last week in a note to the play " The silence of Dean M«itland," with which this company began their seAson on Wednesday, the Ist inst, at the Princess Theatre, Dunedin. We have nothing to retract of what we then said of the story dramatised. Mr D. G. Wingfield, however, is the play-wright not Mr Walter Bentley as we wrongly assumed — and bis work has been cleverly done. The play, although the subject in itself is heavy, and as we still think, offensive, is by no means tedious. It is, in fact, even though there may be Borne contradiction in the Hea, bright, and in some par to lively. The tragic conclusion is of very considerable power. The religious leaning of the piece, nevertheless, is most unwholesome. There is nothing to chow that tbe religion of the culprit is not siocere On the contrary, it seems to enter largely into the motive of his heartleßS conduct. As in the book, in a word, the hypocrite is not like Moliere's Tartufe — a hypocrite from without, but from within. Nor is the charic'er consistent. The man, for example, who is so impudently cool and collected in his interview with the youth claiming, and, as be k lows too well, truly claiming to be his son is not tha man to break down finally and avow his guilt. There is too mach strength for the weakness of the character, and too much weakness for its etrength. In both situations, notwithstanding, Mr Bentley's acting was admirable. Tha sang-froid and cynicism shown ia tbe one were, in their own particular way, as fine as the emotion and passion— fully expressed, but not over-straioei, of the other. The members of the company wbo Bupport Mr Bentley in his part which is, necessarily, that in which all the interest centres, are very competent for tha task. All act with spirit and intelligence.

A play of a diff irent kind is tbe farcical comady, " Friends and Foes " This is a translation and adaptation from the Frenoh of Victorieu Sardou. The scene, however, is laid in England, and tbe characters — wi h two exceptioDß, an Anglo-Frenchman, and a Ch nese Irishm in — ueEigliah. The youug Parisian retains something of the morality of the boulevards, an i in the marring of his evil design the pot of tbe play consists. Toe Chinese Irishman ia of the ua ial stage pattern, though more amusingly than offensively bo, and indeed, he shiaea by comparison with tha Anglo-Saxon odditiPß with whom accident agqoTutes bim How the brogue enters into a translation from M, Sardou remains a mystery that the translator alone c»n explain. la this play Mr Biatley takes the p»rt of a doctor, a man given to tha new saieuces, yet withal — though more over dry and matter of fast— not without a touch of kindliness. Mr Bentley plays the part capitally— sustaining throughont the half-sar-castic, hilf-go>d-natarel tone. Miss Ida Gresham, as Cecile— a young wife, wh i fortunately recollects herself in time — sets with intelligence and grace— and all the other characters are well represented.

Tbe play for the last two nights— Monday and Tuesday — has been the Silver King, in which Mr Bantley has one of his best parts The character of Wilfrid Denver gives bim scope for varied and most eff jctive acting. The play is too well-known to need our description, and i s lasting popularity testifies to its meri's. The other principal parts have been well rilled by Miss IdaGresham (Nellie Denver), Miaa Tempest (Henry Corkett) ; Mr Rede (Jaikes) ; Mr Boothman (" Spider ") ; Mr Mario Majeroni (Geoffrey Ware ; Mr J. H. Martin (Cocmbe ; and Mr Johnson Weir (CJnppsO. The minor characters ha»e bean also suitably represented, and, in every respect the piece has bee a creditably produced.