THEATRE ROYAL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4320, 25 January 1875, Page 3

THEATRE ROYAL.

"Madeleine, the Belle of the Faubourg," produced on Saturday night for the first time in Wellington, is a translation from the French of a career of domestic discomfort which is too frequently observable in the lower strata of English as well a* French society. Madeleine is the wife of Bertrand (Mr. Bates), an artisan, who becomes debased by association with Kemi (Mr. Hydes), a worthless scamp who exercises considerable power over his boon companion. Bertrand is easily sway .d. He has an evenly balanced temperament, very subjective to external influences, and therefore an easy prey to the designing Remi. His weakness culminates in the theft of a small sum of money which Madeleine's thrift had enabled her to save from her own earnings, and which was to be devoted exclusively to procuring nourishment for their child. She is a confiding, hopeful, trustful woman, and after trying in vain to reclaim her husband from degradation, and feeling that his last act has destroyed all ties of love, she abandons him, and places the infant in a foundling hospital. At this instant, Bertrand is thrown i» her path, and in a burst of passion she bids him farewell, but not before receiving a promise from Bertrand, who is stung with remorse, that she will rejoin him upon his reforming his method of life and reclaiming their child from the hospital. Strong in their affection, they both strive to attain the same object, when Madeleine learns that the child has been clandestinely removed by the highborn rascal of the play, Mr. Burford, who obtains possession of it to carry out an independent plot of his own. She denounces him and is placed in a madhouse, where she is discovered by Bertrand, who has become a respectable member of society arid a worthy husband. Thus the plot ends felicitously. Mr. Bates played Bertram to the life, and Mrs. Bates was equally excellent. As a lesson to men who destroy their happiness by a species of vice which creeps upon them in a slow and sure and deadly manner; the play formed a forcible picture, forcible chiefly by reason of its truthfulness. Mr. Hydes had a little opening to indulge the humorous vein in .the last scene of the play, and he availed himself of it to the extent of creating roars of laughter. " Toodlea" brought the performance to a conclusion. " CASTE." The piece for thi3 evening is " Ca te," one of Mr. W. M. Robertson's series of finished satires upon the customs and manners of the times. "School" gives a fair insight into the author's style, but "Caste" is more popular because of the realistic nature of the plot, which may be told in few words. There are only seven characters in the play, namely, the Marquess, a pompous old lady of high-flown sentiment (Mrs. Stoneham) ; George Dalroy, her son, a captain in the army (Mr. Burford) ; Hawtrey, a foppish captain ; Hester Eccles and Polly Eccles, two ballet girls, Mis 3 Stoneham and Mrs. Bates ; Old Eccles, their drunken father, Mr. Bates ; Sam Gerridge, Mr. Hydes. George Dalroy is a young man, full of life and impulse and love, but he is a man who is also sincere and steadfast. The first act tells how he goes to the theatre and sees the two girls, Hester and Polly Eccles, perform in a ballet. As is common enough amongst young men of the period he falls in love with them, but not with any sinister design. He tells Hawtrey of his love for Hester, and contrives to find his way to " the little house at Standgate," where the girls live, out Hawtrey endeavors to persuade Dalroy to destroy the attachment by travelling abroad. He is seized with a fear lest Dalroy should carry his love bo far as to marry Hester, and asks " what his mother would say ?" Dalroy pointedly inquires what is to prevent him marrying Hester? and is then for" the first time faced with tho terror-imposed by "the social laws of caste." Hawtrey contemptuously interjects the remark that marriages between high and low people are all very well in novels, and in plays on the stage where the people do not actually exiet, but that to real people, real mothers, real relations, real connections, it is quite another matter. It is utter social and personal annihilation ! To Hawtrey this is a great bugbear. Dalroy meets it with the prompt response,

True hearts are more than coronets, And simple faith than Norman blood. And this declaration he follows up by a piece of manly advice, to the effect that no gentleman Bhould be ashamed of the woman he loves. This high-toned feeling is developed a little further, for the purpose of affording the contrast between the two men, and the act is brought to a conclusion. Dalroy proposes to Hester, and is accepted; but to divest the play of detail, the marriage is celebrated in the interim between the first act and the second, which discovers George and his wife in fashionable lodgings. He is restless and uneasy on account of having received orders to leave for India with his regiment, and is in a difficulty how to communicate thenewstoHester. In a subsequent conversation with Hawtrey, the latter advises George to unfold the matter at once to Hester, or to send for her sister Polly to convey the unwelcome message. Polly is sent for, and by a coincidence she and the Marquess arrive together. They all ad-, journ to an adjoining room, where the Marquess speaks of George's approaching departure, and in that way Hester becomes aware that she and her husband are to be parted. She swoons, and is taken from the room. When she recovers, George addresses his mother, telling her that as she might never see him again, it was only proper that he should introduce her to hiswife. The Marquess is shocked.and affects to bo deeply wounded by the thought of her son marrying such a common person. The serious and the comic are still more forcibly contrasted by the appearance of the drunken father (Old Eceles). The confusion being over, tho time of parting arrives. Hester .wishes to see her husband leave England's shores, but he explains- that the roads are unfavorable for travelling, and that they must part there and then. Accepting this as final, she attempts to buckle George's sword to Ins belt, but her emotions overcome her and she faints. The act concludes with this scene, and the third introduces the audience again to the little house at Stsndgate. Sam Gerridgo and Polly aro in tho house, Hester being absent endeavoring to make an engagement with a theatrical agent, to obtain means to support herself and her child. They had heard of George's death in India, and Captain (now Major) Hawtrey, who lias just returned from the Mast, confirms tho sad intelligence. At this moment Old Eceles, who has written secretly to the Marquess for money, shows the old lady into the house. She asks the sisters if they recognise her. Of course they do, and sho then tells them that she has been informed by letter of their straightened circumstances and of " Master Dalroy being in want." The sisters repudiate all knowledge of such a communication and scorn her proffered assistance. The Marquees offers to settle a

sum of money upon them if they will allow her to take the child away with her. This adds insult to injury, and amidst warmth of feeling and warmth of expression the Marquess is induced to withdraw. Major Hawtrey, Polly, Old Eccles, and Sam sit down to tea, and while thus engaged they are surprised by the entrance of George Dalroy, who explains that three days previously he forwarded a telegram to Hawtrey, informing him of his arrival in England, which, however, must have miscarried, as it never reached Hawtrey. George is, of course, anxious to see Hester, who is in an adjoining room, but Polly, with feminine forethought, thinks the news should not '.ie communicated too suddenly, and undertakes herself to tell Hester, which she does'iu a manner no less discreet than original. She begins by reciting a piece called "The Return of the Soldier," in- which she and Hester had often performed. Tho story is dwelt upon with becoming tenderness and point, and slowly the reality dawns upon Hester who, with ecstatic glow, rushes forth to receive her husband. Dalroy explains how he escaped death when everybody thought he w,v massacred, and the finale is as happy as thf conclusion of a romance should be. Sam Gerridge and Polly get married, Old Eccles is p-o----vided for, tho Marquess is forgiven for her want of charity, and the curtain falls.