AMUSEMENTS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 25, 23 February 1909, Page 3

AMUSEMENTS.

"THE THIEF." A large crowd attended the Theatre Royal last evening to witness the above emotional drama staged by one of Mr. J. C. Williamson's combinations ,nuw touring the Dominion. "The Thief" is a very strong play in three acts, and as staged by Mr. Williamson's company of slur artists is one that will remain long in the memory of those who witnessed last night's portrayal. The acting, in the second act particularly, was most able, the highly strung tensity of the' actors holding the audience enthralled. The story of "The Thief" is well conceived. The scene opens in the hall of Monsieur Lcgarde's country house. Among the visitors to the house are Mr. Richard Voysin (Mr. Henry Kolker) and his wife Marise Voysin (Hiss Olu Humphrey). The hostess of the house, Isabel Legardes (Miss Susan Vaugbsin), is the second wife of Raymond) Legardes, a part which was capably taken by Mr. James Hazlitt—Mr. (J. S. Titheradgc being indisposed. The hostess' one and only fault is the careless manner in which she leaves her money lying around. Sums of money are missed from time to time, and the services of a detective (Mr. Sidney Stirling) are called in to clear up the mystery. The son of the house, Henri Legardes (Mr. Dion Titheradge), much beloved by his father, 'alls in love with the wife of Richard i'oysin, and takes every opportunity of secretly entering the rooms of the Yoy--Ins, situated in the same part of the louse as that of his stepmother, and eaving epistles declaring his attachment Hie detective discovers Henri's visits to hat portion of the house to hh father nd mother and the guests. Marise 'oysin offers to go out into the garden md bring Henri before his accuser.. Maise returns and states that she canlot see Henri, but in reality lias seen lim. Henri enters the room and is axed by the detective with tile crime, nd admits his guilt. Henri's father is tricken with grief at his son's confesion. The SKco-.ul act depicts tli'' liciloom of the Voysins. Richard Voysin is ;reatly troubled that his friend and lost's sou should have been guilty of urfi a despicable crime. He goes to his fife's cabinet and tries the act of openng one of the dlrawers with his penknife, vhich he succeeds in doing. His wife heomes alarmed and begs him not to go hrough the drawer. Voysin jocularly icrsists, and discover* a small purse in fhicli is a photo of himself. Investigatng futher he discovers a large sum of nancy in the purse. He asks his wife /here she obtained so much money, and he declares that she has saved the mount through practising rigid econoly in household expenses. Voysin sudenly becomes alarmed, and demands hat his wife, whom he trusts implicitly, lake a better and more tangible tale, 'hen the whole story comes out—how he adores her husband, and, in his nxrety to please him, drpsscs in fasinating and expensiw costumes. She is pressed by her milliners and dressmakers for payment, and seeing the ' careless manner in which her hostess leaves money about, she surreptitiously steals the funds from time to time. Then >er husband, in angjifch, demands to .now the reason why Henri confesses to

lie the perpetrator of the crime. Mstrise makes a clean confession, stating that Henri was deeply in love with her, and how she has prevailed upon TTenri to shoulder the charge of theft. The acting in this scene is powerful and full of tragic emotion, hoth Mr. Henry Kolker .Iml Miss Ola Humphrey sustaining their difficult roles in a manner that stumped them as stars of the first magnitude in the world of drama. As the curtain ranc down, the audience, whose feelings had"been worked up to a high pitch, proclaimed their appreciation with prolonged applause. The third act is short and ends somewhat abruptly. On the morning following the denouement the host sends for his son and inform* him that the only honorable course for him to pursue is to leave the country and win his way in the world, in order to

repay the stolen money. Marise Voysin and her husband are present, and as young Henri makes his adieus, preparatory "to leaving for Brazil, Marise can stand the tension no longer and makes a full and free confession. All the parts

were splendidly acted, and the piece was dressed in the well-known splendour of all performances submitted by Mr. J. C. Williamson.