THE SOTHERN DRAMATIC COMPANY.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 70, 12 June 1878, Page 2

THE SOTHERN DRAMATIC COMPANY.

Mr Sotliern and his Dramatic Company made their first appearance m the Foresters' Hall, Palmerston, on Monday, the pieces chosen on the occasion being " David Garrick," and the " Loan of a Lover." In the former, of 'course Mr Sothern took the part of the hero, and auceededed m securing well-earned applause for his delineations of the love-struck actor. Notwithstanding the manifest disadvantages under which the company labored on account of the smallness of the stage and the want of scenic! and other accessories, the piece passed off m the most creditable manner, the scene m which Mr Ingot's City I friends are insulted by the quasi-drunken Garrick, evoking considerable amusement. Perhaps the two parts m which Mr Sothern appeared to the greatest advantage were two the most radically opposite — his personation of drunkenness at the party, and when giving advice to Ada to return to her father. In the former he was sufficiently real m his personation of the vioe to make him eligible for the position of "a frightful example ;" while m the latter, the feeling and pathos displayed at his supposed severance from his love, by contrast was a convincing proof of his versatility. Last night Dion Boucieault's welt-known play of •• Our American Cousin " was presented, Mi* Sothern enacting the part of " Lord Dundreary," a part which has not only made his father's name known all over the world, but has been the means of piling gold into the pockets of the lucky playwright. The elder Sothern made it a feature to give that inane slide or skip which makes the character of "Dundreary," so intensely ridiculous, and, as should be expected, tho son has followed closely m the footsteps of so great a model. The version of the play given last night — m which, by the way, we have seen Mr 'Sothern else-where-—differs m some respects from that generally seen on the Colonial stage, hut more particularly m the part m which the noble peer reads the letter from his brother Sam. JSTo doubt, however, the reading is that given by Sothern pere, and as that gentleman can claim to have changed tho characters m the drama from the positions intended by the author, and by his magnificent' rendering made' 1 ••pundreary" the first, and '« Asa Trenchard" but a secondary character, any m« novation is entitled to be received with respect. As m order to suit the accommodation at the hall, some of the char*

aeters had to be omitted, a greater strain was put upon " Dundreary," and consequently a deal of both the dialogue with his inamorata and his soliloquy while reading his brother Sam's letter was a very wide deviation from the author's text. Still it must be admitted the additions were exceedingly ludicrous and amusing. Unfortunately the attendance on both occasions was meagre, but certainly those who did patronise the company had ho need for regret, the eccentricities of the noble lord being calculated to force a laugh from Niobe herself . .