THEATRE ROYAL.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3240, 18 November 1881, Page 2

THEATRE ROYAL.

•THE LADY OF LYONS. The production of this well-known and favorite play by the Pomeroy Company was not attended with the success it deserved. Among modern dramas it stands almost unrivalled for its hold upon the public taste. Ingenious in construction of plot, and abounding in most chaste and poetic language, it has for long ranked as an especial favorite with both performers and playgoers. Last night it was presented with all the care and splendid dressing for which this company is remarkable. All that we can say of Miss Pomeroy as Pauline is that she deepened the impression that ehe had made in other characters, that she is one of the most sterling and fascinating actresses that has ever appeared on the colonial stage. In the earlier and later portions of the play there is ample room for the display of that tenderness and love which Miss Pomeroy knows how to depict so well. In the scene where, finding that she has been duped and betrayed into a marriage with the gardener's son, the force of the scorn which fills her was magnificently pourtrayed, aud the gradual melting away of the scorn into a feeling of love for the husband who is about to leave her wae equal to anything we have seen on the stage. Every change of feeling in the mind of the distracted girl was marked with a degree of power and effect almost surpassing anything Miss Pomeroy has yet achieved. During the progress ot the piece the feelings of the audience were shown in frequent and loud applause, and at the close of each act Miss Pomeroy was called before the curtain to receive the acknowledgements of her success, and a number of floral tributes that were indeed well earned. Mr Flemming's Melnotte was not altogether an equal performance, although at times he showed there was material in him that may * enable him yet to achieve greater triumphs in his art than the delineation of the character of Claude Melnotte. In the portions where Melnotte displays his repentance for the part he had taken in the betrayal of Pauline, and his scorn of those who had tempted him, there was exhibited a remarkable degree of power. His efforts met with full recognition by the audience. Mr Hamilton as Colonel Dumas was a oareful and effective piece of actirjg. The Madame Deschappelles of Miss Kate Arden was a very admirable portraiture of all the petty troubles and anxieties which afflicted that old lady. All the other characters were thoroughly well taken. To-night" East Lynne," with Miss Pomeroy in the double character of Lady Isabel and Madame Vine, will be produced. A special train will leave Hastings at 7 o'clock to convey visitore to Napier, returning immediately after the performance.