An Extravagant Pantomime.

Gisborne Times, Volume VII, Issue 362, 12 March 1902, Page 3

An Extravagant Pantomime.

The “ Gaiety Theatre,” Anglesey Castle, as the privato theatre is called of the Marquis of Anglesey, has probably seen some more costly performances than any similar edifice in the world. The stage was built before the Marquis’s histrionic ambition had proceeded further than small amateur performances, so that in staging a modem pantomime the chief effect has to be sought in the brilliance of the costumes. The Marquis himself, assisted by a completo company of twenty-six provincial actors, recently took part in “Alladin,” with performances of which

his tenants and neighbors were entertainer night after night for a whole month. A > quarter of a million pounds’ worth o diamonds, rubies, emeralds, turquoises, and other rare and precious stones, were among the stage properties. In the final scene the Marquis wears a costume which is valued at anything over £IOO,OOO. It is formed of thousands of glittering diamonds of the purest water, strung together in a transparent network cuirass, fitted on over his ordinary silken fleshings. Diamonds and precious stones scintillate from his arms, legs, hands, body, feet, and head. Tassels of diamonds make sparkling, dancing points of light as they dangle from his knees and wrists. At one point of the cuirass tho design i 3 a great rosette, whose centre is a ruby as large as a shilling, magnificently rod, set in rings of diamonds; at another, the centre of the diamond circle is a splendid emerald ; at others are huge turquoises of purest color. His head is covered with a sort of golden helmet, ablaze with diamonds, and his very shoes are studded with diamonds and pearls. This is the most magnificent of his costumes, but every time he comes upon the scene he wears another which almost', vies with it in gorgeousness. As an actor, he sings one song, takes part in two duets, and executes a butterfly dance. Often when he forgets himself and dances with too much vigour, pearls and other jewels drop from his costume among the feet of the other players. Tho theatre, it is understood, is to be ruado a permanent institution, and “ Sinbad the Sailor” has been fixed upon as the production to be staged next Christmas.