BANNOCKBURN ENTERTAINMENT.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 201, 16 September 1873, Page 6

BANNOCKBURN ENTERTAINMENT.

(communicated.) Reading an account of an entertainment is not unlike listening to an old miner or colo- ! nist giving a recital of his experiences in the I ship he came out in. Generally speaking, people have become so familiar with such i narratives, that they not nnfrequently peruse j or listen to them with an air of listlessness or resignation. But, if these lines prove dull I and uninteresting, the same cannot be said of the evening’s amusement of which this is a description; for the pleasure-seeking folks who mustered so strongly on Friday night last at the Schoolroom) were liberally compensated for their visit there. The attraction which drew so many together was apiece written by Mr Richard J. Gee, an “ Original Monologue Entertainment," entitled the “Seven Ages of Man." The performance was one of an unusual kind for this district; unusual, in the fact of an audience being agreeably entertained throughout the course of the whole of an evening by the Unaided efforts of a single performer. To beguile one’s hearers for such a length of time, and to keep them in a constant state of good spirits and merriment, must not only be an arduous task for any actor to accomplish, but plainly attests that he possesses considerable powers of pleasing, and sufficient vigour and address to exorcise them effectively. Taking his cue from the melancholy Jacques, but displaying a thorough originality in the conception of the characters, Mr (lee depicted the different stages of life from infancy to second childhood in an exceedingly clever and commendable manner. With the exception of the plaintive story of “Poor Little Jem,” which was given with touching effect, but little of the pathetic or sentimental was introduced, yet many a time during the evening scarcely a dry eye was to be seen amongst the audience. As a versatile humourist, Mr Gee was so irresistibly droll in holding the mirror up to nature, that the risible faculties of those present were provoked and protracted to that stage in which tears and laughter commingle. For the bettor delineation of the different parts he had to sustain, a number of songs were interspersed throughout the performance. They were chosen with a wellarranged consistency, so that the audience had to draw but little on their imagination for a complete apprehension of the characters the actor was pourtraying. One marked feature in Mr Gee’s singing was, that he uttered the words of the various songs so that they could be understood. Ho does not mince and clip his words, or month them like a dog chewing a hone, as Churchill says, and as many popular vocalists do. Ho has a rich pleasing voice, with a very distinct articulation, and evinced considerable adroitness in varying and modulating its tones so as to suit and harmonise with the manifold representations he assumed. The difficulty of procuring appropriate costumes for giving the desired effect to the various impersonations, was effectually surmounted. Much fun was created by the local news and songs, a sly rub being given to several of the notabilities and old identities, but in such a manner that no offence could be taken, oven by the most fastidious and thin-skinned.

The intervals were enlivened by Messrs Moore and Feako, who also acted as acconrpanists during the evening. These gentle*toen are Always to the fore in giving their Services, when they can be instrumental in conducing to the success of any undertaking for the furtherance of a worthy object. It is a pity that some means cannot be found of arranging the lights so as to give the stage occupants an opportunity of reading the smallest print. The necessity of such a thing was painfully evident to the actor and musicians on Friday night last. The Committee might also leave a little less work on the hands of the person most likely to be censured should any hitch occUr. But, fortunately, nothing occurred Calculated to dis--appoint the wishes or expectations of those assembled. Their anticipations were more than realised, not even a fiddle-string becoming broken to disturb the harmony of the evening. The night was wound Up in the UsUal manner. A speedy removal of the seats and other movables left the boards of the Schoolroom clear for those inclined for a dance > and the strains of the violin and the tread ot many feet might have been heard till far into the morning. The proceeds of the entertainment uill be given in aid of the Dunstart Hospital, the actual amount not yet being ascertained.