Theatre Royal.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 7076, 23 February 1893, Page 2

Theatre Royal.

—l/ w THE STfißCf-SMITS COMPANY. There was a miserable attendance at the Theatre Royal Inst evening, but fay uo means miserable attendents, for those present manifestly enjoyed greatly the mysferiou< entertainment provided for them by Professor and Madame teteoo, and the amusing element supplied by some of the supervising committee, and by the ventriloquist, Mr Oscar Hmith. Jhe principal part of the entertainment consisted of the mystifying formancos of Madame Steen. A committee of half-a-dozen was selected from the audience consisting of Messrs G Watts, L. Btorrier, M. Salek, J. G. Cox' Gibson, and the representative of this journal. Madamo Stocn, seated on a chair on a stage, was blindfolded by Mr Sfcorrior, who took care to lie a thick handkerchief on tightly, and made assurance doubly sure by putting on his own ever it. The committee were invited to do their best to fool ” Madamo Steen, and Mr Btorrier announced his determination to do it if possible. He was the pronounced sceptic of the comraitte o , the proclaimed believer io the " code signal ” explanation of the feats alleged to done by “ thought rendingand Professor Steen gave him plenty of opportunities to break through the " code,” if. any ; but ho never succeeded in "fooling” the lady, A variety of tests were applied, and somehow or other the right answer was always forth comine, even to questions only thought of ny a member of the committee. A sum m addition was done, figures pointed to at random and quite rapidly were called out, and this even when the sceptical committeeman did the pointing ; names in a list written by one of the committeemen were similarly treated. A pack of cards, birthdays, watches tho knight’s tour, supplied further tests of a mysterious power of some kind, the nature of which may have been indicated by an " aside ” of Madame bteeu to her husband, after an absurdity meant to be amusing merely “you should not make me think such things.” It was a first rate performance. Professor Steen then “ exposed ” tho " slate writing ” of the spirits as practised by Slade and others. This was made amusing by one of the com mitteo defending true spiritualistic doings, and on the whole there was plenty of amuse meut as well as mystery in the entertainment Mr Oscar Smith closed the programme with some clever ventriloquism. The company appear again to-night, when the programme will be varied by now feats being performed The entertainment is one of the most interest ing, tho most puzzli -g, ever in th-- ( colony, Clever slei’bt-of band and magic < feats performed by the aid of apparatus are i in good hands surprising enough, but the i Steens employ neither band noy apparatus, < and the rapidity and correctness with which » the blindfolded lady announces things is f positively startling. The company deserve a i crowded bouse, c