MR. AND MRS. HOSKINS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4294, 24 December 1874, Page 3

MR. AND MRS. HOSKINS.

Mr. anti Mrs. Hoskins continue to play in Sydney, we observe, with the greatest success. Tile herald says ;—At the Victoria Theatre the engagement of Miss Florence Colville and Mr. Hoskins has proved a stroke of fortune for the management, the houses having been crowded every night ; even the dress circle.— ordinarily so hard to people—being largely patronised. To the credit of the theatre-going public the attraction has not been trashy melodrama of the modem sensational school, but sterling comedy, well played and decently mounted. There has been a change of programme every night, and Mr. Hoskins has appeared in a round of his favorite characters. This gentleman is so well-known amongst the patrons of the drama in Sydney that it is needless to say more than that none of the versatility, humor, and study which characterise his impersonations has failed him. He is the same Mr. W. Hoskins that he always has been—a sufficient commendation. Miss Colville has very greatly improved since hexabsence from New ,South Wales. An actress possessing great personal advantages, and always of much promise, the experience she has gained has given her the finish that was formerly requisite in her, and there can be little doubt that she will attain to the first rank of her profession. Last night the play produced was Sheridan Knowles’s charming drama, “The Hunchback,” in which Mr. W. Hoskins and Miss Colville sustained the parts of Master Walter and Julia respectively with great success. Mr. B. N. Jones as Modus and Mr. H. N. Douglas as Clifford also deserve mention. The Evening News remarks ;—“ The • Heir at Law' drew another crowded house at the Victoria Theatre last night. The place was as full and looked as gay as it docs in the height of the opera season. To-night the “Love Charm” is played, and to-morrow that great favoi-ite, Miss Colville, takes a grand complimentary benefit. Miss Colville is a native of Sydney, arid is a credit to us, and no doubt the opportunity will be seized to pay her substantial compliment. The piece selected is the “Unequal Match,” a comedy that has not its superior in the range of dramatic productions.” Punch gives, as an initial letter, a clever illustration of the last scene in “La Tentation”—in which Miss Colville and Mr. Hoskins are sketched and says :—“ Barely has Mr. Punch had greater delight than in witnessing the play of ‘ La Tentation.’ After the two weeks' delicious old comedy and drama of the very best school, which has given to our theatre a season of dramatic festivity of un-exampled-brilliance, he did not think he would be able to invito bin friends, the public, to witness any novelty in the sensational style, but ‘La Tentation' is sensational only from the dramatic point of view; no hairbreath escapes, no leaps for life, or miraculous interpositions, but highly wrought dramatic situations, convoyed in the most refined and elegant language ; it is a play that surprises you into admiration ; and excellently acted as it is by our visiting planet Miss Colville, —who shines

far brighter in the evening in her transit through this piece than does Venus at mid-day across the face of the jolly old sun, together with Mr. Hoskins, Mr. B. N. Jones, Mr, Douglas, Miss Andrews, and others, this play is something to draw the ladies to the theatre, and to bring the gentlemen after them, as soon as they can hurry in after the fury of the election meetings.”