MRS. SCOTT-SIDDONS' ENTERTAINMENT.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 322, 4 May 1877, Page 2

MRS. SCOTT-SIDDONS' ENTERTAINMENT.

It is seldom that a larger or more appreciative audience is attracted to the Masonic Hall than that which greeted Mrs. Scott-Siddons last evening. Such a fact speaks volumes for the taste which the people of Oamaru display for really high-class entertainments. Long before the doors were opened a large concourse of people gathered round the entrance to the Hall, and when the doors were thrown open there was a rush for seats, and within a few minutes the whole of the available seating-accommodation in the body of the room was taken up, the gallery also being well filled. Throughout the evening there was the best of good order, and Mrs. Sidclons was listened to with an amount of attention and earnestness which showed clearly how much the audience relished the very great treat which Mrs. Siddons afforded them. We venture to assert that there are very few professional readers who could, unaided in the slightest manner, succeed in keeping their audiences so thoroughly attentive and so highly pleased as did Mrs. Siddons last evening. To succeed in so doing is a difficult task, for, as a very general rule, what is termed " singlehanded business," is apt to become wearisome and monotonous ; but Mrs. Siddons succeeded in doing so to the fullest extent, and this fact fully proves the greatness of her talents. On making her appearance upon the stage she was greeted with an amount of enthusiastic applause that clearly showed the people of Oamaru still bore in memory the very great treat which they had received from her some months back. The entertainment commenced with scenes from Shakespeare's charming comedy, " As You Like It," the scenes selected being where Rosalind, dressed in boy's attire, meets her lover in the forest, and rallies him about his love ; and the scene where, still dressed as a boy, she compels him to make love to her in order to cure him of his love. These' were given with so thorough an appreciation for the superb humor of the immortal barb, that we were wont to regret that an opportunity had not been afforded us of seeing Mrs. Siddons, with the aid of a company, perform this best of Shakespearian comedies in its entirety. Hood's " Bridge of Sighs " followed, and was, to our thinking, the best thing in the programme. It was recited with an amount of feeling that sent a thrill through the audience, and showed how great an artiste Mrs. Siddons undoubtedly is. At its conclusion, the fair artiste was rewarded with a genuine round of applause, and, indeed, the same may be said , of each item 011 the programme. A reading from one of Lover's works, entitled " The Gridiron," was next given, and the racy manner

in which it was rendered, convulsed the audience with laughter. The concluding item of the first part was M. G. Lewis' descriptive poem of "The Maniac." This piece was given with great dramatic force, and may fairly be said to be one of the very best items contained in the programme. Mrs. Siddons gave the recita- | tion in a most realistic manner, and worked well upon the feelings of the audience. The second part commenced with the courtship scene from "Henry V." This was given with a fine appreciation of the ludicrous attempt of the English King to make" love to the Princess Kathrine of France, the comical situation of the two lovers, neither of whom knew much of the others language, being admirably pourtrayed. After this followed the recital of a poem which was entirely new to us, Bungay's " Creeds of the Bells." This poem, which is by an American author, can scarcely be considered of equal merit in a poetical sense, to Poe's poem of " The Bells," of which ii partakes somewhat of an imitation. As given by Mrs. Siddons, it was capital; the tone of each of the bells used in the various Protestant churches being beautifully imitated. On the conclusion of the recital quite a shower of bouquets were thrown upon the stage, and the audience loudly applauded the efforts of the fair artiste. Mrs. Siddons then introduced an extra item, in the shape of a reading entitled "The Senator Entangled," from James de Mille's satirical book, "The Dodge Club." Braliam's wellknown piece, " The Jackdaw of Rheims," from the " Ingoldsby Legends," concluded the enter!a : .nment. It was given with capital effect, and Mrs. Siddons well merited the applause which was bestowed upon her. On the fall of tlxe curtain, there was a general call for Mrs. and on her reappearing upon the stage, she was loudly applauded, and received another shower of bouqets. The enteitaiument altogether was one of the n;ojt enjoyable tha: we have had in Oamaru for a long time, and the only matter of regret in connection with it is that Mrs. Siddons could not remain longer in the town, and give the public another opportunity of listening to her.