MR. J. C. WILLIAMSON’S NEW COMEDY COMPANY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2003, 12 February 1907, Page 2

MR. J. C. WILLIAMSON’S NEW COMEDY COMPANY.

“THE SQUAW MAN.” Playgoers have heard a great deal about the, remarkable success of the dramas entitled “The Squaw Man,” “The Virginian,” and “Under Two Flags.” Both in Melbourne and Sydney, and more recently in Dunedin, Christchurch and Wellington, they aroused marked enthusiasm and attracted audiences that packed the theatres during their respective runs Consequently it is no wonder that the approaching productions in Gisborne by Mr Williamson’s Dramatic Company are being looked forward to with exceptional interest. The season will commence at His Majesty’s Theatre to-morrow ("Wednesday) evening, where “The Squaw Man” will bo presented for the first time in Gisborne. This piece was originally played at Wallach’s Tliea’tre, New York, last year, and scored such a splendid success that it ran right through the theatrical season, a matter of 250 nights, to packed houses. The play, while having a strong British flavoring, both the hero and heroine being English, is largely redolent of American ranch life, introducing cowboys, Indians, and others peculiar to . the Wild West, consequently it was necessary to engage artist? specially fitted for the ponrtr.ayal of these characters, and Mr Williamson secured them from the various leading theatres of the United States. His principal engagements, however, were Mr C. Waldron and Miss Ola Humphrey. The former had hold a similar position for some time at the Alcazar Theatre, San Francisco, whore he was very popular, and it was only on account of the terrible earthquake and fire by which all theatres were completely wrecked that Mr Williamson was able to secure his services. Miss Humphrey is an actress of high reputation in New York', and had just completed a starring engagement prior to sailing for the colonies, where so far she seems to have fully justified the enviable reputation which she won in other lands. “The Virginian,”, which will be staged on the second night of the season, is also a very famous success, and peculiarly suited to the present company Mr Clias. "Waldron is said to make the fine manly hero of Owen WispeFs popular novel live and breathe in very life before his audiences in a manner only possible to artists of the highest calibre. Miss Ola Humphrey .as Mollie Wood is said to succeed by her intuitive, grace in quite captivating her audiences, ami to give a most human and most realistic picture of feminine sweetness. The marked evenness and excellence of the whole performance has evoked unstinted praise from Southern and Australian critics, but the cast is too long for our space to allow of any other quotations from exchanges. On Friday night the season will conclude with a production of unusual interest, viz., “Under Two Flags,” a most successful dramatisation of Ouida’s world-famed story of romance and chivalry.