“KLEPTOMANIA.”

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 875, 6 August 1910, Page 2

“KLEPTOMANIA.”

When the Education Department reduced the capitation grant to school committees, the local committee found that the amount to be paid them by the Department was barely sufficient to meet current expenses, such as school cleaning, lighting, etc., and left absolutely nothing for any other work. The school grounds required attention, the fences being out of repair, and the grounds themselves were really an eyesore. An appeal was made to the Wanganui Education Board for a grant towards this work, which was eventually obtained, the Board agreeing to pay the cost of the fencing, amounting to something over provided the local committee undertook to find the necessary money to level and beautify the grounds, which they promised to do. The Education Board have completed their part of the contract, the iencing being now all done, and the Committee was faced with the problem of how to find the money—about ,£60 — required for the ground improvement scheme. An appeal was made to the local Amateur Dramatic Society for asssistance by staging a play in aid of the project. The members of the Society were unanimous in acceding to the request, and the farcical comedy, “Kleptomania,” was immediately put into rehearsal. The members ot the caste, recognising that “ he who gives quickly gives thrice,” decided to produce the play as early as possible, and started rehearsing in earnest, and • in order to get the production off at the earliest possible date rehearsed on every night they could. The financial part of the affair was undertaken by the School Committee, and as soon as a date was fixed for the production, tickets were printed and put on sale, by doing which it was hoped that a large number of seats would be disposed of before the night of the production. However, when the tickets were called in at midday yesterday the Committee were greatly disappointed on finding that very few tickets had been disposed of, the amount realised in this connection being only 19s. At this time the weather was tar from promising, and members of the Committee, although hopeful, were prepared for a small house. The weather from midday on did not improve, in fact it got worse, but the citizens of Foxton show the interest they take —which they should—in school matters by rolling up in fairly strong force, and the total receipts for the production amounted to 16s. Considering the state of the weather, the amount taken is extremely satisfactory, and shows the Committee that the Foxton people are with them in their endeavour to beautify the school grounds. Unfortunately, the expenses of running a show of this description are fairly heavy, and although the cost of the production was kept as low as it possibly could be, the amount eaten up by expenses will be between £7 and £S. Had the weather been anything like fine, it is considered that the door takings would have been increased by fully The play produced was a farcical comedy which abounds in situations that one only finds in plays and books, and the chance of anything of the nature occurring in real life is, to say the least, highly improbable. The plot of the play is briefly, as follows : Lady Josephine, wife of MajorGeneral Blair, is afflicted with kleptomania of which malady she is totally unconscious. Her husband, whilst desiring to cure her, does his best to keep the truth from her. He confides in a distant connection of the family, Dr. Watly, who is in love with the general’s daughter, Violet. Violet is, however, at the wish of her mother engaged to Professor Smalley. Dr. Watly devises a scheme by which he hopes to cure Lady Josephine of her malady, by obtaining for her a companion afflicted with the same complaint. This theory of Dr. Watly’s is the cause of all the trouble, the three men “in the swim ” of course being unable to satisfactorily explain to Lady Josephine the reason of the presence of a number of women—-applicants for the position of companion—in the house. Things from this out go from to worse and in the end the Profes*

sor believes that Violet has also inherited the dreadful malady from her mother, and asks to be released from his engagement. This leaves the road open for Dr. Watly, who steps into the breach and when the curtain falls the end is that usually associated with novels everything comes out alright. One thing that was very noticeable throughout the production was the voice of the prompter, which, unfortunately, could be heard all over the hall. The necessity for so much prompting was on account of the players, in their anxiety to assist the school committee by getting the production off as early as possible, not giving themselves enough time to thoroughly rehearse the play. Had they given themselves another couple of weeks, this small failing would no doubt have been obviated. The music was supplied by an orchestra headed by Mr Betty and was greatly appreciated. At the conclusion of the second act Mr Hornblow, chairman of school committee, thanked the audience for their attendance, and also expressed the thanks of the committee to the dramatic society for their kindness in staging the play in aid of the school ground improvement fund. He paid a well-deserved tribute to Dr Adams

for the interest he had displayed in the affairs of the society. He also thanked Mr Walsh, of the Phil Walsh Dramatic Company for the assistance he had rendered during his stay in Foxton, and expressed the hope that the Foxton people would show their appreciation of his action by giving him a bumper house when his company appeared the following night.

We entrusted the critique to Mr Phil Walsh, and append below his humorous satire, which we hope will be taken in the spirit it is given:— “Early this morning I remarked to my friend, the Inspector of Nuisances, that I had been at the Public Hall last night, and he wanted to know if I’d lost anything—quite a natural query when you come to think of the number of light-fingered gentry which were represented on the stage —a general’s wife, a host of females, all anxious for employment as kleptomaniacs, and also the wife of a respectable pork-butcher—oh, that insatiable thief, her very waddle suggested concealed goods, and her eyes invited police inspection, She carried the bag of a petty larcenist and the mind of a Jabez Balfour. Her maiden efforts were confined to the abstraction of various small articles of virtue, but under the influence of a timely “ pint,” her herculean endeavours to stuff the parlour sofa into a carry-all were truly colossal. Mrs Gathermoss was the lady’s name, and she assuredly gathered moss and any other old thing that was lying around loose. Mr Ken. Furrie wasentrusted with the portrayal of this character, and he certainly did extract the juice from the orange. He was kittenish to a degree, and had the grace of a baby elephant. A pretty drawing-room, handsomely furnished and tastefully decorated with some sketches after Rembrandt several hundred years after, in fact, so long after that they didn’t seem to have any hope of catching up—lent artistic versimilitude to the ancestral walls of the home of General Blair, The General is afflicted with a wife who is a kleptomaniac, and the lady’s desire to annex other people’s property is the cause of the delightful nonsense, which gave us all so many hearty laughs last night. Handsomely gowned, and of the right deportment and calibre for such a character, Mrs Clemett was admirably suited. How fortunate her husband was that the first grey hair was discovered in a finger ring, and not in the soup. The battle-scarred hero, General Blair, was represented by Mr Simmons, as a man who expected the family skeleton to rise from the cellar at any moment, and nothing but a powerful porous plaster on the back of the neck would have drawn the warrior’s eyes from the carpet. This vigilence to detect the uprising of the apparition caused the General to present the top of his head to us during the entire evening, and conveyed the impression that he was suffering from the ‘hump.’ I wonder how a real policeman feels when he sees the imitation article on the stage. That young man who represented the police officer had evidently studied the local model and looked quite prepared to catch anything. I don’t believe that even Mr Read could lose him in a half-mile sprint. Did you see the gentleman who looked like a cross between Polorus Jack and a cockatoo with side whiskers, well, that was Mr Bullard as the butler. He did good work and displayed his calves to great advantage. He should be seen later on in better parts, for he has many of the qualities that make for good performers. Talking of calves, Mr Imrie, as the butcher hit the popular fancy and sharpened his knife with the touch of one to the manner born. In fancy one could hear him say “two pounds from the brisket, and a yard and a half of our early spring sausages.” And what’s the matter with little Jack Golder as the professor ? His was a good performance, a little “preachy” in places, but on the whole a well sustained and clever piece of work. Well done, Jack ! May your main-spring never rust, and may the watches of your friends become clogged with dust. “Dr Watly,” (a highly diverting character) gave Mr Boyes an opportunity of “ extracting ” laughter without “stopping,” he did not lose his “ grip ” in order to take a fresh “ hold,” but his lovemaking was nothing like the real thing and he knows that better than I do. He was about as warm as a chunk of ice and as passionate as the figure-head of the Hyderabad. Rosina, the maid and the bed-makers daughter (Misses Levett and Cook) made their initial appearance last night, and are released under the first offenders act. Violet (Mrs Boyes) is convicted of being a delightful and fascinating little.buudle of femininity, whose daintiness, artistic work and pretty frocks, warrant her being declared a particularly clever and graceful young actress. The music, was not the least enjoyable feature of the evening’s entertainment and the orchestra, under the conductorship of Mr Betty, merited all the kind things that were said and some of the things that were left unsaid. Dr. Adams, the stage manager, struck me as a particularly busy and anxious man, he was more concerned about the players than they were about themselves, and it was to his untiring energy and cheerful, capable direction, that much of last night’s success was due. You may remember a statement being made by the late iGeorge Snazelle, that a certain Bill Adams won the battle of Waterloo. We don’t

know whether he did or not, but Dr. Adams bad considerable to do with the victory achieved by “Kleptomania,” Its a thankless position as a rule and I was glad to hear the kindly tribute paid to the doctor by our local editor in the little impromptu speech which he carefully rehearsed some days ago. And now the most difficult part of this letter has to be written, “ Good-bye.” It means a lot to a man who came as a stranger to your gates and you took him in. I hope you have not been disappointed in him, and that the budding Thespians who graced the local boards, will be encouraged by my few remarks to continue the good work, for in the words of a late theatrical poet — interred at Stratford— ‘ there is good in everything.’ This being so, who will hesitate to agree that there is good in this little Society of Thespis, who amongst its warmest admirers numbers no more sincere friends than myself. P.S.—Light refreshments were savagely devoured after the show by the performers and their friends, the business manager of the Walsh Co. being particularly noticeable. The mazy waltz was also indulged in and I noticed the “general’’ deporting himself with all the grace of a cross-eyed man trying to kiss a girl with a bad lip.