HISTORICAL PAGEANT.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1888, 24 October 1913, Page 10

HISTORICAL PAGEANT.

9 — The tenth group of the Pageant brings us to the Elizabethan period. We aro shown a tableau' recalling , a picturesque event which has lived long: in history, though not being strictly of historical importance. Messrs. Kirkcaldie and Stains, Ltd., have spared no time nor expense in portraying the knighting of Sir Walter Raleigh (Mr. W, Turner) by Queen Elizabeth (Miss M. Low). The costume of the Queen is considered by some to be tho most elaborate and costly in the whole Pageant. The scene is laid at Sayes Court, Deptford, in a.d. 1583. 'Wo recognise here many famous personagesSir Francis Drake (Mr. A.'Cleave),' Sir Francis Bacon (Mr. N. Williamson), Sir John Morris (Mr. T. P. Cooper), Admiral Sir John Hawkins (Mr. I. Lynex), Lord Burleigh, Essex, Leicester, Lord Howard, and many others. Tho Yeoman of the Guard aro resplendent in their scarlet uniform. The Queen is accompanied by the Countesses of Essex, Sussex, Nottingham,_ and Northumberland (Misses B. Lissack, Walter, R. Major, and Vincent), the Duchess of Somerset (Miss Percy), and Marchioness of Dorset (Miss Neeley). There is also an escort of pages, and tho Queen's chair is carried by four stalwart bearers. . , At this period literature was closely allied to martial prowess—Raleigh, Sir Philip Sidney, and other famous explorers and soldiers being also renowned as poets. It is therefore appropriate that the next group should represent William Shakespeare (Sir. E. D. Caelie•maille) and representative creations of his wonderful imagination, revered as much in Germany as it still is'throughout tho English-speaking world J Anion"- these we see Desdemona (Mrs. C. H. Stephens), with Othello (Mr. Lovvny). Beatrice and Benedick (Miss Hardingc-Maltby' and Mr. Godfrey), Mrs. ' Pago and Falstaff (Miss H. M'Laurin and Mr. Bock), Katherine the Shrew with her Potrucchio (Miss C. Simpson and Mr. Macnamara), Malvolio and Maria (Mr. Eastham and Miss E. Myer), and many others of equal fame,' and equally suitably impersonated. The organisation of this group has been talwji up England owing to the illness of Mrs.^Darling., The remaining episodes bring things nearer to the present day. They include a group of well-known figures of the Georgian era, a tableau of which Florence Nightingale is the central figure, and one showing costumes of Queen Victoria's reign. '