"THE FATAL WEDDING."

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8132, 12 June 1906, Page 3

"THE FATAL WEDDING."

AN IMMENSE SUCCESS. The wedding bells rang out ever so gay on Mondiiy night at the Theatre Royal, and a packed house gathered to see " The Fatal Wedding " plaj'cd by Ifcynell and Gunn's combination of " star " performers. The events that led up to the wedding were of such a nature that oue was almost f >rccd to laugh and to weep at the same time. Thrilling and hoart-rcuding scenes were carried almost to bursting pomt and then some happy, unexpected der velopmcut restored the crowded house to a ripple of good humour. Never has the Theatre Royal held a big audience so completely captivated, so won* drously sympathetic, so cleverly and so pret'i'y am used. The story of the play tells of a woman divorced from Iter husband through the treacherous eons-piracy of two of her reputed friends, how she abdu.-ls her children, toils for them through poverty, illness, mil distress, until by a convenient but none the less thrilling chain of circumstances villainy is unmasked, and she is restored to her husband and to affluence just at the moment when he is being wed to the woman whose villainy caused the divorce. Then follows the tragedy. The bride-elect is shot dead on the altar steps by her villainous accomplice, who then turns the pistol against himself as husband and wife arc re-united.

The piny is remarkable for the prominence given to the children. The principal character is a marvellous child of about fourteen years, Miss Maisy Posner, who stood out as much from the attractiveness of her acting as from the attractiveness of her part. In sorrow or in lighter vein, she was the centre of attraction. Her little mates, the " kiddies Erom the alley," provided a novel twenty minutes' entertainment, with the "tin-can band." These children are very highly tmined, and their singing, dancing, and while appearance surprisingly successful. Miss May Congdon played the part of the spurned and suffering wife and mother in a way that raised a big lump in the throat Miss Diija Cooper, an accomplished actress drew a storm of disapproval when her clever acting led the people 10 dispise her. No less successful were the men actors, the principal of whom were Mr Charles Vane as (he duped husband, and Mr Herbert Leigh, the villain, i'he policeman, the comic I Toto, and the humorous Irish nurse kept the laughter rippling. There was | not a second-rate artist on the stage —all were good. The staging was magnificent, and the scenery and dressing superb- more especially the interior of the church and tlie arrango* ments of the " fatal wedding " which brought to a close tile brightest, yet saddest, the cleverest, the most exciting, and the most elaborately mounted melodrama ever seen in New Plymouth. " The Fatal Wedding " will be repeated to-night.