EGYPT'S CHARMER

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 178, 18 October 1927, Page 15

EGYPT'S CHARMER

“ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA” The tragic love story of Antony and Cleopatra was unfolded before a crowded house at His Majesty’s Theatre last night. Impressively moving toward the poignant closing scenes, the play was a fresh revelation of Shakespeare’s dramatic force, and of the sharpness with which he has pictured every human weakness and emotion. Antony, triple pillar of the world, forgot his empire under the spell of Egypt’s queen. Mr. Allan Wilkie’s vigorous Antony was a commanding figure throughout, and Miss Hunter-Watts’ (Cleopatra) invested the regal siren with an appropriate degree of passion and fire. Miss Noel Seaton (Charmian), Mr. John Cairns (Enobarbus), and Mr. Denis Barry (Caesar), were excellent m support. Taken all round, the cast is of striking merit. The festive drinking scene, when the triumvirs and Pompey sealed a treaty with.wine, was a colourful and jovial picture, memorable along with the stately death scenes, in which, at the end of the play, gloom and tragedy descended on the highest of the earth. To-night the able company will produce “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”