HIS MAJESTY’S THEATRE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1652, 19 January 1906, Page 3

HIS MAJESTY’S THEATRE.

MR. J. C. WILLIAMSON’S DRAMATIC COMPANY.

Who says the ago of chivalry i past? Ono could not (says a Mel bourne critic) help asking that quos tion aftor tho second act of “ Monsioui Boaucairo ” at tho Theatre on Satyr, day ovoning. Tho masquerading French Princo had run his adversary through in a duel, and truo to his promiso to tho woman ho worshipped, Monsieur Boaucair, gay, dobonnaire, and happy, was bringing the old Countoss of Greenbury to tho suppor room, Tho beauty and fashion of Bath, in their admiration for M. lo Duo de Chateaurien—for that was tho incognito in which the hero was intro- • duced to Lady Itollerton’s ball—, showered him with red roses. The crowd and enthusiastic audience, carried away by the skill, the gallantry, and the daring of Monsieur Beaucair, cheered to the echo, and the curtain was only lowered to be raised again and again. While red roses were falling thick and fast around tho picturesque couple, several occupants of the stalls throw bunches of violets upon tho stage. What mattered it if Beaucair was a Frenchman ? Ho acted as Britons would have a man act, and he completely won the sympathies of the whole house. It is a delightfully romantic play, set in the eighteenth century. Everything combinod to take the audience back to the year 1735. The men in knee breeches, smart coats, embroideredVaistcoats, and laco ruffles, and the ladies in costly brocades j and satin petticoats, with powdered hair and black patches on the cheeks to accentuate their beauty, were pleasant factors in this direction. Then the stately minuets played no unimportant part, and indeed everything on which the eye rested was true to the period. The atmosphere was perfect, the movement of the drama was exquisite, and over it all was the scent of red roses. Mr J. 0. Williamson’s Knight-Jeffries Company thus realised - a triumphant success on their first appearance with Booth Turkington and [ E. 0 Sutherland’s comedy, dramatised from the book of the former. Playgoers'may judge from the foregoing the treat that is in store for them when this company, with precisely the cast, produce Monsieur Beaucair at His Majesty’s Theatre on Thursday evening. The seats for both this performance, and also that of “A Royal Divorce” on Friday evening, and Davy Garrick, bracketed with Comedy and Tragedy, on Saturday night, will be available at the Theatre on Mon day morning at 10 a.m., when the box plan for the season will be opened by Mr W. Miller.