THEATRE ROYAL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5325, 22 April 1878, Page 2

THEATRE ROYAL.

This theatre was re-opened on Saturday evening with a three-act sensational drama entitled “ Forsaken,” being the occasion of its first production in the colonies. The lower parts of the house were filled, and there was a tolerably good dress-circle. Special care had been taken in producing the piece, and there was accordingly nothing in the manner of its presentation co detract from its merits, the two essentials to the success of a play a good corps dramatique and perfect stage arrangements—being rigidly observed. The scene presented on the rising of the curtain represented the interior of a London banking house, with the clerks at work. Goldfinch Granger, proprietor of the bank, mistaking illness for indolence in Phillip Melford, a clerk, discharges him, but is shortly after confronted by Mabel, his daughter, who proclaims her secret marriage with the banished clerk. Granger, full of passion, strikes Melford to the floor, and disowns his daughter, who, after wandering about, dies in the streets, her child being taken by a sympathising stranger to a foundling hospital. The child grows to boyhood, and is apprenticed to a sawmill owner ; but the elder Granger, being filled with remorse at the fate of his daughter, seeks for her child, while Reginald Laxburne, a nephew of Granger’s, fearing the boy may inherit his grandfather’s fortune, seeks a means of putting him out of the way. He bribes the engineer of the mill to accomplish the deed, and a thrilling sensation scene follows. The men are at work in the interior of the mill ; the machinery is in motion, and the timber being cut by circular saws. The boy is left in charge during the lunch hour, and the engineer stuns him with a hammer and places his victim on a plank which carries him towards the saw, but help arrives in time to save the boy. The play ends by the boy being restored to his grandfather and retribution falling on the engineer and his accomplice. This piece, like “ Under the Gaslight” and “ After Dark,” abounds with thrilling incidents. The scenery throughout was new, and possessed artistic merit, Mr. Briggs the scenic artist being vociferously called before the curtain several times. The London Royal Exchange was painted with great fidelity, and the other scenes were likewise truthful and natural. The first act closed with a pretty tableau, showing the interior of the Foundling Hospital, with the little children singing their evening hymn. The characters throughout were impersonated with almost faultless accuracy. Mrs. "Walter Hill appeared as Mabel, Miss Edith Pender as the boy, Mr. Dillon as the waif, Mr. Musgrave as Goldfinch Granger, Mr. Graham as Reginald Laxburne, aud Mr. Clinton as Jenkins. Mr. Sam Poole, as Joe Mugby, also had a part congenial to him. “Advice Gratis,” a very excellent afterpiece, concluded the evening’s amusement. The same programme will be repeated this evening.