ENTERTAINMENTS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 246, 17 April 1912, Page 5

ENTERTAINMENTS

TIIB EMPIRE PICTURES. % The Empire Theatre was well filled '4 last night b» an enthusiastic and ap« '■] prcciative audience, which followed the i picture stories from scene to gcene with' i unflagging interest. The draraatio '\ American drama, "Captain Brand's Wife" was especially well received, its stirring - incidents provoking breathless interest. 1 Another thrilling speciality was "Senorita's Conquest," a well-conceived present- i ation of the inevitable human drama of love and hate. A beautiful colored film showing rhodendron culture was welcome in a varying strain, while the scenic; views of Lake Zurich were admirable. In lighter vein were the comical adventures of "Poolshead" and the varying vicissitudes of "Mae'e Suitors." To-fflight there will be a change of pictures, the star film being a presentation of that immortal tragic masterpiece, "The Bells,** made world-famous by the acting of the . late Sir Henry Irving. It is a vivid and striking dramatisation of Mathias, the Polish Jew, and the descriptive monologue will be given by Mr. Alfred Boothman.

"EVERYWOMAN." Much more ihan ordinary interest is being taken in the first and only production in Now Plymouth of the gorgeously mounted dramatic spectacle, "Everywoman," in which the brilliant actress, Miss Hilda Spong, will make her reappearance here with the J. C. Williamson Co. on Monday night next. "Every- • woman," which enjoyed a. series df triumphs in Australia, is toeing enthusiastically received in the Dominion. It is said to be intensely interesting from the rise to the fall of the curtain, and at limes iihc audience «re aroused to en- ••' thnsiism b.- H,,, various dramatic tab- .:'!:•!>:. "Kverywnmnn" migM be called ■i "speaking o,pi.ra/* for all the dialogue is accompanied by music and the play itself is a message to men and women. ' Everywoman" carries weight because it is an ethical appeal to contemporaneous life. Its theme has to do directlv with the experience of all women or that portion of .the sex who seek "woman's whole existence" in a world whose realm is selfish pleasure and where temptations of the flesh and the devil swarm on every side There is a dtfinite trend in the unfolding of the pageant, the progression of the characters being so explicit that no confusion arises. The various figures are used as symbols of human faculties and emotions, representative of types of humanity, and although the Author has not introduced the form of ' *ate flie clearly j n },;„ mind permMg ifc to dominate everything. One of the strongest features in "Everywoman" is • the dramatic use of powerful contrast. An example is the scene in which Everywoman gives a big supper to her inti- J mate friends, while wine flows and toasts go round, till finally she is crowned queefc side of lie stage, and then nearer, still nearer, the .insistent voice of Conscience sings sadly over the death-bed. The plans will be opened at Collier's on Fridav ■ morning at 8 o'clock. 7