ENTERTAINMENTS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 261, 14 March 1911, Page 8

ENTERTAINMENTS

"THE THIRD DEGREE." A SPLENDID PERFORMANCE. Much—but not too much—lias been heard of the unique play, "The Third Degree." It is a play with a purpose, vigorous, sane, and picturesque; a play tliat sheds light on what we are asked to believe are American police methods; a play that condemns utterly the brutality of conviction by suggestion, and gives a magnificent view of the greatness of a woman's soul. The story is already familiar, thanks to the way it has been told by the J. C. Williamson Company entrusted with it. Here then, shortly and simply, is the tale, told to a splendid audience in the Theatre Royal last night, intense in its interest, and compelling in its movement. The son c\f an American man, who is arrogant and purse-proud, lias married the daughter of a saloon-keeper. There is a blot on the saloon-keeper's family, but the blot is not the girl. She is one of God's good girls. The weakling husband, loving his wife, but loving wine too, is disinherited by his dollar-ridden father, whose pride cannot bear the thought of an alliance between his son and the saloon-keeper's daughter. The purse-proud man has married a second time—whereon hangs the story. A dishonest collector of antiques, come to the end of his financial tether, is visited by the young husband. The latter is intoxicated. The artistic person has previously had some unexplained alliance with the wife of the purse-proud father, and has threatened by letter that lie will commit suicide if slie docs not assist him. She comes. Her drunken step-son is asleep on a screened sofa. There is a scene between the woman and the aristocratic fraud. She refuses his advances and 1 leaves. The man disappears with a revolver, and commits suicide. The police captain and his creatures arrive, and begin an examination of the young husband by the "third degree." By hyp-! notic suggestion, during a six hours' ex-1 animation of plain brutality, the police captain extorts a confession. Thereafter; the "God's good girl," before mentioned/ uses her life to prove the innocence of her husband. Here one may leave the story for Miss Katherine Grey, for i.t is to this wonderful woman that the play, as produced, owes its extreme vividness. Miss <!rey, as tlie girl with the adamant intention to have justice done, approaches the greatest lawyer in all America and, with quiet persistence,, ultimately compels his interest, although the lawyer is the adviser of the great ; personage who detests the girl for raar- | rying his son, and believes her guilty of an adventure his own wife showed. 'The I playing of Miss Gray is, throughout, in-' dcscvibably powerful" simply and wholly' because it is perfectly natural. Miss 1 Grey never raves. She is throughout! the American saloon-keeper's daughter! who, without a thought of self, mustl save her husband. Miss Grey does notj "try"; she is "it." The scenes with the great lawyer, the exhibition of the quickest wit, incisive tact in the management of a vital affair, could be made pathetic by poor artistry. There is no suggestion in any word or gesture of Miss Grey during the playing of the whole story that she is acting. Again Mr. William Desmond showed his power las a character actor. Few things are j more conclusive in the play than the lawyer's examination and condemnation of the police captain .and his method. The play is full of tense "moments," but this, perhaps, is the tensest of a brili limit bunch. Mr. Desmond is indeniably I powerful in every phase of his work. Mr. I Cyril Mackay, whose admirable acting I has given pleasure to so many New ZeaI landers, is particularly convincing as the I subject of the police examination. His j acting as a rather flippant, disappointed I and dissolute young man, in the first act, will stand as one of the best examples of his always good work. Mr. Winter Hall is the purse-proud father, dignified, implacable, but not unnatural. In fact, the playing throughout is very remarkable for absence of exaggeration. The notable "finish" of Mr. Hall's acting is its most apparent merit. One remembers Mr. Geo. Bryant so well as a raging "bad-man" or as a "sheriff" in those vivid cowboy dramas as to instantly recognise the fineness of his work as the police-captain. The player has a remarkably powerful voice, infinitely useful to decorate the brutal methods of an American police captain, whom we will hope is not typical. There is a convincing quality about Mr. Bryant's methods. Ho oozes ''figure eights/' revolvers audi black villainy. Miss Alma Vaughan, as the young wife of the purse-proud elder .lellries, manages to convey subtly the idea of dignity, poise, and social position. hi her many dramatic opportuni- , ties she makes the best of most of them, I and in the moving scene with "God's good girt" she rises to the occasion, hcip- | ing Miss Grey wonderfully. [j- p (leorgo j Chalmers is allowed to display the only, | broad comedy permitted in the play, Mr. I Lamsay Clarke gives a good picture of a patrolman of the baser sort, and Mr.! 'l'. \V. Lloyd is quite excellent as a doc-; toi whose evidence is essential in proving that the death of Uudenvood (capably placed by Mr. Leslie Victor) was a case of suicide. The audience showed an in-! tense interest in a play full of surprises' ami actedAthroughout with triumphant artistry. ,