TRIUMPH OF STAGECRAFT

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 77, 9 July 1910, Page 9

TRIUMPH OF STAGECRAFT

-A DREADNOUGHT AT A THEATRI-

A London message says that a iirilling representation of a Dreadnought in action is the most striking feature of the new musical comedy, "The Islander,' 1 which has been produced at tl« Apollo Theatre. The scene of the first act is an exact reproduction of a Dreadnought's deck, fully manned, with two immense guns protruding landwards high over the "sailors' heads. An island has to be subjugated, and when the proper moment arrives the ship is cleared for action anil the guns are fired. The thing is astonishingly well done—a masterpiece of stage effect. Pictorially, indeed, " The Islander" wil bear comparison with any piece of its class of recent years. Almost as attractive as the wonderful ship scene fs the picture of the second act of a lovely island in the Persian Gulf, with it's wealth of beautiful foliage and multicolored Oriental costumes mingling with the latest Parisian dresses and naval uniforms. .Something in the nature of a "Dreadnought hoax" is perpetrated on the officers nf the Apollo warshipj The Scottish comedian, Mr. Neil Kenyon, appears as the sham ruler of the Persian island—a ■wily Pasha in kilts, with a characteristic eye to the main chance. After the "wee boatie," as the Pasha calls the Dreadnought, has fired a couple of warning shots at the island, the British captain effects its compulsory purchase from the Pasha for £20,000,* whereupon the kilted "Oriental" winningly informs him that the place is not his at all, but Great Britain's—'by right of conquest hundreds of years ago. Major Marshall, the librettist, has at least one good line—"The preaching of the Christian maxims has generally been followed by the practice of Hiram Maxims." Mr. Faraday's music is always pleasing, and the acting is delightful."