AMUSEMENTS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 367, 19 April 1910, Page 8

AMUSEMENTS.

To THE WKOXO .MAX." Tlii' title of the drama produced at flii' Theatre Lloval lust night was suggestive of something out of the eomanon, although, of course, the conditions therein implied are frequently incorporated in the social fabric at Home and abroad. But the drama was not of the ordinary type. It was a thrilling story of misplaced ull'ection and doubted love, the parted hero and heroine being the violins of a viie plot whose workings provided the "villains" with ample opportunities for stagecraft. The heroine was struck dumb early in the play, and her awful predicament rendered the tensene-s still mure tcn.se in some of the hiHTOWiiy scenes 'which followed, notably her dumb cll'orts to prevent a murder, and her wordless story of the crime perpetrated liv the leading villain, and for. which, she was bein" tried, Of threats, innuendo, eal'oiisiiig. nihi'iler. and despair there was ample for the most sanguinarily disposed theatregoer, 'but there Was much wanting. There was something uncanny and unreal about th,. death of Sergeant Manners, who recovered in a fmv seconds from a couple of blows from a bludgeon —blows dealt from behind, and dealt with murderous intent—and, although left for dead, engaged in a hand-to-hand struggle with his assailant's accomplice. The court scene, too, was. as always, a 'burlesque. The introduction of the woman drnnkarti. who drank her fill of whisky and rolled, laughing madly, to the floor, there becoming an inert drunken mass, was not a pleasing feaI hire. The plav was overdrawn.

There were some strong situations, though, and the first act was made more interesting than usual, owing to the complex nature of the plot which was beinor laid. Sergeant Manners (Mr. P. V. Scully), liutli (Miss K,-!e Clay), and Timothy (linker (Mr. Thomas Cnrran) were soon made the people's favorites. Olive Manners, the tinr-e who believes in the -betrayed Herbert Deer'ni" (Mr. TTilliard Vox), was portrayed bv Miss Xettie 13iin;lah!. am! she made the best of the part in the scene where she chose lies and her lover for the truth without him, thereby alnio-t scaling the doom of the dumb girl charged with the murder of Sergeant Manners, who was done to death by that same lover and a scoundrel, .fa-per Skinner (Mr. Thomas E. Tilton). doth knave ?.nd fool. Other characters in a len-jthy cast were fairly well sustained.

The musical programme given was good, the sir.'!' orchestra producing creditable volume and tone. The st?.ge management, too. was excellent.