THE "CALLED BACK" DRAMATIC COMPANY.

Kumara Times, Issue 2959, 26 April 1886, Page 3

THE "CALLED BACK" DRAMATIC COMPANY.

THE STRATEGISTS. There was a fair attendance at the Theatre Royal on Thursday night to see and hear the " Called Back " Company in the laughable comedy of " The Strategists." It is such a mixture, such a confused and confusing "' iiedy of errors as to almost baffle one to think out a sketch of the plot; but it has been described as follows: Nellie Howard and Jack Rutledge are lovers, anxious to enter the married atate, but their fathers are against the match; to overcome their parents' antipathy they resort to strategy, Jack agreeing to iin person sate his father and .Nellie's for the better furtherance of his scheme, while Miss Howard is to disguise herself as a Scotch lassie, Miss Kilmarnock, and befool her lover's father. Capsicum Pepper, a chemist, overhears their plan, and determines to frustrate, but only succeeds in making "confusion worse confounded." A maidservant and her German lover, a "raw, bloodthirsty Irishman," aud a subscription-collecting parson, together with the wife of Major Howard are also added to complete the list of characters. During the progress of the piece, Jack, while endeavouring to adjust difficulties generally, ends by being "hoist with his own petard." It is needless to say that the various characters were most ably and amusingly sustained. The two or rather three principal characters—if indeed tbe word " principal" may be used where all had so much to do—were Nellie Howard and Miss Kilmarnock, both of whom were represented by Miss Juno, and Jack Rutledge who found an able exponent* in Mr C. H. Taylor. The two were engaged in a series of strategies mutually agreed upon beforehand, and having oue common object in view seemed endowed with so keen a sense of humour that neither could refrain from enjoying the scrapes in which the other occasionally became involved in carrying out the campaign on which they had entered. Miss Howard (the Major's " better half") was ably pourtrayed. Miss Ella Oarrington, as Araminta, made the most charming and piquante little maid servant that ever won the heart of u stalwart sergeant. Mr Kennedy as Terence O'Ham (in search of a cottage and trouble), and Mr Reg. Rede as the Rev. Mr Mil may (a collector for the poor little heathen) were both amusing and pleasing. But " Jack Rutledge " was the life of the piece, always either in a scrape himself or getting somebody else into one, and although he gained his end at last he had his full share of troubles to bear, and the worst of it was that, much as tho audience liked him for his drolleries and jovial ways generally, they could not refrain from laughing most heartily at him when he came to grief, as he so often did in the tortuous course he was pursuing. Mr W. Forbes, as the irascible militiaman, gave clear proof of his ability as an actor, and his furious passions caused intense amusement, as did his return from his club in a painful state of anxiety lest his wife should not yet have gone to bed. Of the other characters, it is sufficient to say they were all thoroughly up to their work. The performance terminated amidst the laughter and applause of the audience, which had been frequent and well-sus-tained throughout. The company took their departure on Friday for Hokitika, where they p ! ayed on Saturday night tho farcical comedies of " Mixed" and " O'Callaghan on His Last Legs."