AMUSEMENTS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 21, 18 February 1909, Page 3

AMUSEMENTS.

THE AUSTRAL UNISCOPE. The Austral Uniscope Picture Company opened a three nights season at the Theatre Royal last night. The pier tures compared favou.«Jiy with any yet produced to New Plymouth audiences, being very clear and llickerless. The films included some of the latest from Pathe Freres (Paris), and were project edon to the,screen by a powerful ejtv, light, the company using their own 8-h.p. dynamo. The humorous pictures were an exceptionally fine lot, and the colorou films were also good. During the evening Miss Maud Fenton, who possesses a clear soprano voice, sang "If all the Stars were Mine," and was encored. The juggling and balancing leats oi Levarto were uuique, and he at once jumped into favour with the audituce. His performance was also new, and his turns proved him to be an adroit and clever entertainer. The company appear again to-night, when another set of films will ne snown.

THE KILTIES. The Kilties will give their grand theatre entertainment in New Plymouth on Saturday night. The indoor performance of this famous combination provoked the greatest enthusiasm here >. December last, and it had the same effect ill Wanganui. The Herald reports:—".i great audience assembled at the Opera House to greet the celebrated Kilties, and rarely has such unanimous enltmsiasin been shown to a,.y body ol musicians a» was shown to tliis versatile combination. The name, the Kilties, would naturally lead one to anticipate little else but bagpipe music, but instead on." has the pleasure of likening to a purely military hand, with an occasional bagpipe selection, intermingled with beautiful selections bv the Kilties' choir, cornet solos, a:id seeing all the national dances of the Empire. A'l the artists are stars in their particular lines, and no waste time is permitted lM'twccn the items (all of which were vociferously encored),and the entertainment througli out is of such a nature thai a dull mo- | incut is impossible, and Hie brief hour and a half occupied in rendering tin programme seemed but a few minutes to those who were present. . . The harmonic throughout were magnificent, and the crescendo and diminuendo pnssii"e» were a marvellous 'exposition of what thev should be, and roused the feelings of the audience to a nig!i pHch of enthusiasm."

••'fllETlilEl'V Not for many years has a play been produced in New Zealand which has ex cited more thoughtful and animated discussion amongst discriminative theatregoers than " the Thief." which is to be staged on Jlondav next by Mr. J. C. W HliiHiison's latest dramatic company. The reason, it is said, lies partly in tut? play, partly in the player--: but from whatcv-i side ' one approaches the production. whatever may be one's opmons ot tinlitcrarv and dramatic craftsmanship ol the plav, or the impersonations of those who take part, there is, it is said, :m question but that it grips the attention and the intellect of the audience as in a vice, and to provide food for speculation and thought as few dramas hav done since those masterpieces of nine tceiith century dramatic art ■•The Second Mrs. Tan.iueray" and " J be \ illagc Priest" " The Thiel "is said to be a telling play, a play that elevates the sta"e, that »et.s dramatic art on a higher pl-inc bv having lieen written, and improves the theatre-lover by being staged 11 is a plav that has a moral, but t.io „,„ral is not forced, it is left to l-h* audience to see and think over, the moral is the danger of once allowing untruthfulness, deception and dishonesty to take Hold of the character, lest it soon ],„ve,i the whole. The box plan for this notable production will be opened this morning at nine oclock at tne wilier aad Colonial Piano Company s.