THEATRE ROYAL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 293, 18 December 1878, Page 2

THEATRE ROYAL.

Twenty-three years ago we remember seeing the late G. V. Brooke and Miss Fanny Cathcart play together in Hamlet. Time has slipped along imperceptibly. Poor Brooke went bravely to his death years ago in the wreck of the London, seudiDg by the survivors kindly words of farewell to those who had appreciated the man and admired his talents. But old Father Time has dealt kindly with Miss Cathcart, or rather Mrs Darrell. She is just the high-class accomplished actress she was long ago. Iler itn personation of " Ophelia " was always one of her best characters, and used invariably to fill the Theatre Royal in Melbourne, and it is gratifying to find from the good audiences that Nelson people can appreciate as much as their neighbors really first-class acting. Mr Darrell played Hamlet with care and good taste; he was, perhaps, a trifle too boisterous now and then, but on the whole his acting wa3 very good indeed Mr Clinton and Mr Hooper played the "King" and " Horatio " respectively, and did full justice to these parts, whilst in "Polonius" and "Ist Gravedigger" that painstaking actor, Mr Howe, so well known to all theatregoers, sustained the character with his usual ability. Miss Jennie Nye as " Osrie," and Miss Bessie Vivian as the "Queen" sustained those parts with great credit, whilst MissVernon's "Player Queen," Misa Vincent's " Guildenstern," and Miss Lambrette's "Rosencrantz" were all exceedingly well done. Upon the whole " Hamlet " was produced in a style never before seen in Nelson. To-night " Uocneo and Juliet" will be performed, and we hope a bumper house will satisfy Mr and Mrs Darrell and their talented company that Nelson people do enjoy anything that is really good, and that they are grateful for the opportunity afforded them of seeing Shakespeare's masterpieces, performed by competent actors.