"HIS HOUSE IN ORDER."

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 70, 12 August 1914, Page 6

"HIS HOUSE IN ORDER."

Despite the fact that Piiiero is said to draw £20,(10(1 per year in dramatic loyalties. Australasia has seen comparal;\ely little of the later work of the author of "Sweet Lavender," "The, Ga>Lord Quex," and "The Second Mrs Tanqueray"; and the production at the New Plymouth Theatre Royal on August 25ih of "His House in, Order,'' by Mr Hugh Buckler and Miss Violet Pi.get and their complete company from Sydney's delightful little theatre, should be well received. In "Ilia House in Order" Pinero has told the story of a second wife before whom the husImid's family are continually extolling the virtues of the first wife. The second wife is neglected by her huffoand and forced into the b:vk«ronnil li i sister of the deai wife, who, it ig understood, was a model of methodical nearness. Her husband's house was always in order. Luncheon was never late, and a misplaced rug was a crime. The seeond wife abhors law and order and scandalises the family, with the result told above. She rebels, but receives no support or sympathy from her husband, and sympathy only from Hillary .Jesson, her husband's bTother. Ultimately it is discovered that the revered and methodical first wife, who had been held up to her as a shining example, was really the mistress of one of the family's most intimate friends. The lighter touches in the first act are inimitable Pinero comedy, and the later tragic scenes are thrilling and powerful in their intensity. Mr Buckler has a fine part in niilary .Jesson, and with Miss Paget (the*second wife) has a beautiful scene wherein he persuades her to give up the letters revealing the perfidy of her hii>liand's earlier wife. '