IRISH COMEDY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 298, 5 September 1918, Page 7

IRISH COMEDY

Iffi. SUES DOONE IN " LUCKV O'SIISi'»

"Lucky O'Shea," a play in a prologue and three acts, by Tlico Burt, Sayre. .Cast— Thaddous 31'Jlicliaol .... I'rank Cullinano I Kuderick O'Toulo (His Crony) Tom Bueldey Phelim Jl'Nair George Hewlefc ltoso - .M'Jtichael Edna Keclcy j Larry O j yiiea Allen Doone Captain Aubcrt Onslow Edgeworth Lieut. Ln Sallo lack Dcaney Nancy O'Dowd Ethel Basliford Dnnny Jl'Nabb Maurice Lynch Julius Caesar M'Ginnis .... "Prank Cotter I Colonel Do Vigny ... Harrington Reynolds.;! Palsy • Elsie Mitchell Micky ■ Gilliooley .Teait M'Coll Hheilah Gilliooley Connie Ityto Mrs, Gilliooley Ethel Grist llr. Allen Doone lias returned to Wellington after long absence with a piny that is most happily suited to l.is stage method and personality. The part of Larry O'Shea, light-hearted soldier ol' fits him to a nicety, and provides him witli the widest scope for those qualities of gaiety, humour, and tenderness that long ngoc'won. liirn ihe •affection of New Zealand' audicnces. It probably is not too much to say that in Iris new play he has scored his greatest success. Ho has some capable support, particularly from Miss_ Edna Keeley, but the honours are his easily. Larry I O'Shea, in the prologue, is serving in the ariny of Napoleon on Prussian soii, and while disguised as a crazy gipsy lie enters tho camp of a Prussian guerrilla regiment. The colonel iias captured an Irish girl, and in the German manner is seeking to vent Kis brutality upon her. He believes that lie ,c"an humiliate her to the dust by marrying her forcibly to the gipsy, and so Larry finds himself wedded to a maid whose blue Irish eyes have won his heart at the first glance. The pair separate dramatically without the girl learning tlio true name or seeing the face of the man she has wed. Two years later Hose M'Michael is the belle of. Dublin, and among the admirers in her train is Larry, happy and penniless, determined to win her love without disclosing the fact 1 that he has already gained her hand. Rose has been led to believe, that the. gipsy is dead. Larry's chief rival is Captain Aubcrt, a Frenchman who first plant" Larry's financial ruin, and then, having learned of the forced marriage, tries to wiu Eoso by telling her that lie was the 'disguised officer "who,'.by wedding her, saved her from a worse fate iu the German 'canip. The plot develops ingeniously, and reaches eventually a pretty climax. But before that end has attained Larry has been in many, scrapes, and has done his love-making amid discouragements that nono but an Irishman Icould face with a _ smile. Thero is a delightfully funny incident v/hen the Frenchman plans to have • Larry arrested publicly for one of his many debts. Larry disguises himself as a bailiff, and by a whimsical trick not only wins a confession of affection from the waywarclly winsome Rose, but induces the real bailitf to arrest no less a person than the captain himself. In fact Mr. Doone kept his audience in a ripple of laughter almost from first to last, and did it always with the light touch of genuine humour. He found occasion to give one or two of his tuneful songs, including the rich Irish ballad of tho "Kilkenny Cats." Miss Edna Keeley played well and looked charming. Jler Irish brogue was not always so convincing as that of Mr. Doone, but she had the gay vivacity proper to her part. Sir. I f '. Ctillemine and Mr. T. Buckley, as two old Irish gentlemen, played soundly and consistently. They preserved-, the atmosphere of the play admirably. Mr. '.Edgeworth, as the French captain, played uncomfortably, and it was vain to listen for any suggestion in word or voice that he had over seen France, Miss Ether Basliford made a pretty, •sprightly Irish actress, and MivMaurico Lynch gave a really clever character impersonation as Danny M'Naao. a Dublin bailiff. Among other members of the company who did good worlc wore two. small girls, Elsie Mitchell and Jean M'Coll, who performed more than creditably as a pair of mischievous Irish children. The staging and mounting were excellent. "Lucky O'Shea" will be repeated at tho Grand Opera Houso nightly. Later in the season Mr. Doone intends to revive some plays ho has already mado popular.