PRINCE OF WALES THEATRE.

Auckland Star, Volume I, Issue 77, 7 April 1870, Page 2

PRINCE OF WALES THEATRE.

Last night the American dra&a, «Th e Pledge ; or, the Blessings of Tfc?totaiism," was produced at this theatre; and if we are to judge of the success of the Permissive Bill from the patronage afforded*by the discing of Mr. Fox to this "great moral teacher" o f the blessings of teetotalism, we should say the prohibitory measure will not be enacted, with popular acclamation. We certainly did expect that the water-drinkers would hare mustered in greater force, but perhaps the night was too cold for them. The delineation of the ruin caused by drunkenness, and of the contrasts in the prosperity and peace that flow from temperance, aided by a succession of tableaux viva»ts, with illumina. tions from blue and red lights, was really effective, and at times affecting. Mr. Musgrave, with his usual force, was the jolly merchant, the ruined drunkard, the prisoner in delirium tremens, and the reformed and happy father. Mrs. Newton was the heartbroken daughter, clinging to and defending her degraded parent with a woman's tenderness and faithfulness j while Mr. Eyan, in the most effective manner, represented the low drunkard with a bad extension, but a good heart. It must be owned, however, that the illuminated " living pictures" contributed greatly to the success of the piece; and during the singing by Mr. Stuart O'Brien, of that most plaintive of straini. " Father, dear Father, come Home,'7 the sudden appearance of the child pleading with her father in the tavern, the unhappy mother watching over her dying child in the lonely home, the agony of the returned father as he gazes on the death-bed of " poor Bennie," constituted a series of pictures affecting in the extreme. To-night the Auckland Garrick Club perform in aid of the funds of the General Hospital,