" QUEEN OF THE RED. SKINS."

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1747, 12 May 1913, Page 6

" QUEEN OF THE RED. SKINS."

THE MARLOW DRAMATIC COMPANY. "Queen of the Redskins," a melodrama in four acts. Cast:— William Lyndhurst, jun. Mr. Herbert J. Bontley fieorgo Lymlliurst Mr. Billiard Vox V. liuam byndhurst Mr. Arthur Shirlev llatawiih Mr. 11. C-i. L'urr .;nnibo Mr. John Howard Crreat JJe.u-' Mr. Gilbert Kmerv Louis (1 l-.rvMi Mr. John Kirby Mcetfoot Mr. Arthur Cross »»>'a - ailss JTcllie llolroyd Uahueetah Miss Gwendoline Dories I.ittlo Queenic Little liurton Miss Oriel llotson Melodrama occupies a place in the catalogue of theatrical entertainment corresponding to that of the "shilling shocker" in literature. Both cutei ior those whose taste runs lo dramatic high lights indiscriminately applied to a fearsome cataract of desperate deeds carefully calculated to harrow tho emotions and disturb one's faith in his fellow-man. it is regrettable that plays presented nowadays under the general heading of melodrama do not nearly coincide in- quality—dramatic or literary—with those of the type presented, say, twenty years ago, not. even those which bear the hall-mark of Drury Lane Theatre. No one with any claim to dramatic or literary perception would dream of comparing such baual inventions as "The Girl who Took tile-Wrong Turning," or "The Face at the Window," with such sturdy melodramas as "Hoodman Blind," "The Lights o' London," or "The Lyons Mail." The trend is regrettable, a» il _ would seem to indieato that whilst modern stage resources all favour better productions and performances, the melodrama of tho order we arc invited most to see is, in the race for the sensationally unreal—in the oll'ort to outHerod Herod—steadily losing its cieim to consideration .15 a sound department of the drama.

As modern melodramas go, "Tlie Queen of the Redskins," produced by the -Marlow Dramatic Company at 'the Opera House on Saturday evening, is distinctly interesting, and though there are hurdles for the logician to leap, the story '/t tells is fairly coherent ami original, the setting is distinctly picturesque, and the characterisation not at all bad. IVit, Lyndluirst, a wealthy old twice-married man, has lost his first wife in an Indian raid, made on .a coach in Western Canada twenty years before the play begins. In the same raid his infant son had bean carried off or killed—he knew not which. ■Now, at the whim of his second wife, he has come West again to satisfy her curiosity as to Indian life. There Mr. Lymjliurst and his wife light upon Matawah's camp and the chief's much-loved adopted son "Broncho Bill," a white who is the' idol of the tribe. Old Lyndhurst's curiosity is roused by the white man's position among the red people lie hares so cordially, and he- invites Bill to fell his story. It reveals the fact that (lie cowboy is the long-lost son and heir. Bill is invited to return to civilisation, but 011 ascertaining that his father would not welcome his Indian bride in prospect, declines to return to city life. The troublous person turns up in George Lyndluirst (a cousin of Broncho Bill's), who manages to win the heart of Matawah's daughter, the fair Wall jieetah, whom Bill had designed to v/cil. Finding his cousin's treachery past reparation, Bill forces him to marry Wnline'etah. George ill-treats the ■ girl, and her child shockingly, whilst sponging on his uncle, aiul as the culmination to many acts of brutality lie, for a price, allows a wealthy Frenchman to attempt her abduction, which Broncho Bill's timely intervention prevents. De.-perale for want of money and now an alcoholic degenerate, George Lyndluirst, who is in ieague with his uncle's second wife, attempts to poison his undo and failing that, shoots him in order to prevent him making Bill his heir. But before the murder tlio papers liavo changed hands, and Bill is away to shejjhird the (lying Wahneetah and her child back to her tribe. Villainy follows hot upon tlio trail. George Lyndluirst, to achieve liis nefarious ends, makes bad blood between Matawah's tribe and that of Great Bear. The latter raptures Matawali and will only make terms in the presence of Broncho Bill—a ruse to take the cowboy's life—but on Bill's arrival, and his subsequent exposure of his cousin's treachery, Great Bear turns 011 George Lyndluirst, and shoots him dead; gives the'eaptives their liberly and bums the hatchet like the decent Indian lie is. The play is adequately cast. Mr. Herbert Bentley gives 11 thoroughly consistent. and ingratiating performance as Broncho Bill, admirably hitting off the oIT-hand nonchalance of t'lie "Western cowboy. ill'. Hilliard Vox figured as usual as the dispenser of wholesale villainy, and apart from a certain natural affection of speech, skilfully earned the hearty imprecations of the good and pure. Capital, too, were the performances of Mr. Arthur Shirley as Win. Lyndluirst, and Mr. Gilbert Emery as Great Bear. Mr. John Howard raised shrieks of laughter as Sambo (whose speech was Yankee rather than negroid). Judging from his assumed acccnt the Louis d'Ervan of Mr. John Kirby must havo made his inillions as a Hebrew pawnbroker. It was not nearly so French as his excellent make-up. Wahneetah was impersonated by Miss Gwendolino Dories on conventional lines. -Such a character I would be graced by a greater affectation of absolute simplicity and mute appeal. Miss Nellio Ilolroyd whs pert and pleasing as Julia, a parlour-maid, and Miss Gladys Barton as Wnhncetah's _ child, spoke her lines clearly and intelligently. Miss Oriel Hotson thoroughly succeeded in making Olive Lyndluirst the objectionable person the author intended her to be, The play is capitally mounted. The two Indian camp scenes (in the first and last acts), with the tepees in the foreground, and the pine-fringed lake and mountains nil tlie distance, were particularly pleasing to the eye. The beautiful dawn effect in the final scene is a triumph of stage lighting in combination with the art of the scene painter.