MEYNELL AND GUNN COMPANY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9138, 14 July 1908, Page 5

MEYNELL AND GUNN COMPANY.

'.'A BEGGAR ON" HORSEBACK."

The Town Hall was well filled last evening when tie Meynell and Gunn Company stage! ''A Beggar on Horseback." Of the play itself nothing bu«--praise can be said. Set in the times of the Pretender, .when there were stirring conquests in the air, which fortunately "'never materialised, and when the Courts of Kings Were still resplendent in gallants and surrounded with iotrigue, the plot is exquisitely'written,'and in the lunds of the Company was faithfully interpreted. The scene ,opens upon a Jacobite gathering in Spain, and the toasting of Charles Stuart, who is about to make his memorable exeureicn into Enplane! to s»ize the w»wn from George I. The Duke of Staines id in the plot, but his loyalty to nun sovereign prevails. He declines to throw in his ht with the conspirators, and announces his decision to betray the conspiracy. A.way'.i". found to stop him. Enter then Masley, Due de Tournay, in the rags of a st'eet beggar, and singer, drunk with the wine of forgetfulness, but withal a pictmesque, philosophic poetical vagabond. He quarrels wrth som i of the Stuart faction, and it is his whim to strip a certain Sir Miles beamish of hio tine cioihea. i.ne change is effected at the sword point, and there stands in view the living counterfeit presentment of the missing Duke of Staines. What else, then, that Wentworth, the leader of the Pretender's party, should see in him a powerful ally to the cause, in place of an enemy. So the foundation of the story is established. How the pseudo-Staines goes to England; how at the gathering in Staines' Lon : don housa the plotters re. assemble, and Resolve to seize King George that very night; while on his way to Oxford, but are betrayed to /Lord Petridge by the Lady Corisande Roswarline, the woman formerly loved by Marley but now scorned; how Marley discovers that the real Staines was ever loyal to King George; the great fight 1 in the reception hall, where Marley hurries the Lady Mary and her wounded brother up the stairway and single-handed, bars the way to all comers; the escape back to' Spain; and the final scene in the audiencechamber at Buckingham Palace, where King George, the Stuart plot relegated into the limbo of the past, finds an opportunity of uniting two steadfast hearts.

As the hero, Marley, Mr Harcourt Beatty sustained his reputation, established in previous star tours with the leading players of the times. His warm devotion in the love scenes was equalled by his fiery ardour when beset by foes, and he won the heart of his audience very early in the piece. Miss Madge Mcintosh, as Lady Dudley, gave a Soulful interpretation of an exacting part, her acting winning for her frequent applause. Mr Leopold Stach as the King's' favourite Minister displayed an appreciation of his role which gave it a premier place in the caste* Sir Richard Wentworth (Mr Norman McKeown), Colonel Adair (Mr Sydney Smith), Sir Miles Beamish (Mr T. Cannam) and Lord Worthing (Mr J. C. Bedouin), the Jacobite leaders, sustained their parts with dignity and force. Mr G. Thorne, junr., and Mr Colin Campbell as Pons and Bonsard, the hero's henchmen, supplied the lighter side, of the piece, and did it well, their antics causing considerable merriment. Miss Hilda Meade, as Lady Roswailine, had a part well suited to her style, which was very taking. Mr E. R. Russell (George I.), Mr Boyle Irwin (the ' Pretender), Mr Steff McDonald (Harry Dudley), Mr E.'M. Boresford (Hobson), Mr George Baxter, (Bartalo), Mr F. Twitchin (Captain Lorraine), and • Mr F. Phillips (Eades) filled the lesser characters witli uniform success. As Lavima, Mjss W. Gunn gave no cause for criticism. The mounting was on a lavi&h the scenery and dresses being throughout of a high order, and in every other respect patrons had every reason to be satisfied with the performance.