"THE PRINCE CHAP."

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9160, 6 August 1908, Page 5

"THE PRINCE CHAP."

MR HARRY ROBERTS' COMPANY. There was a splendid audience at the Town Hall last evening, in spite of a very unfavourable night when Mr H. Roberta, the well-known New Zealand actor, made his reappearance in "The Prince Chap." A beautifully-conceived plot, off the beaten track of modern love dramas, the piece was capably interpreted, the central character being of course assumed by Mr Roberts himself, wbo imparted s.,ch masterly treatment to it that his stability alone sufficed for success. The plot, in epitome, is as follows: —William Peyton, a struggling sculptor in London, has made a promise to a dying model to look after her baby girl, Claudia, and though the charge is almost forced upon him the little dot soon wanders into his heart, and stays there. So the motherless one prattles about the studio, hears the sculptor's love story as a fairy tale, in which he figures as the Prince, and tlia "only ona in the world" as the Princess, until one day the latter arrives unexpectedly at the studio, and is passionately welcomed by the sculptor. Miss Alice Travers. of New York, may have been all Peyton in his callow days imagined her to be, but the intervening years have hardened her into a woman of the world and as such she has formed a gilt-edged attachment on the steamer in crossing the Atlantic. Looking for a reason to break with the good-natured, devoted Peyton, she practically accuses him of being the father of Claudia, anjl asks him as a proof of his love to get rid of the child. This he emphatically refuses to do, and she leaves him with his rosy, "castles in Spain" in ruins round him. He hopes that it is not the end, but on Chiistmas Eve, when filling little Claudia's stocking with good things to the accompaniment of the carol singers, he receives a small parcel addressed in her writing. Trembling with hope he opens it, and a bundle of letters — his letters to her—flutter to the ground. William Peyton's Christmas is not a merry one. When next they meet Clau-lia has grown to woman - hood, and revton has crushed the memory of his onetime Princess out of his mind. Having lost her husband, Alice drifts back to explain weakly that she had been forced to marry for money, and had really loved him (Peyton) all the time. Ordinarily, a reconciliation would have taken place then for the sake of a happy ending, but it is not so. Peyton will have none of her. He has concentrated all his love on his ward, and so receives rather a shock when his friend, the Earl of Henningford (a steadfast friend of the studio days) asks for her hand. The Earl, a cheerful dude, but a good fellow, learns that Claudia loves him, but "not in the way he means," and it is in the telling of the Earl's proposal that the sculp'or learns that, in his ward, a love, other than that due to a father, awaits his acceptance, and so the story ends. Mr Roberts left nothing to be de- j sired as William Peyton, his pourtrayal of the warm-hearted artist being at once tender and refined. His voice is Mr Roberts' prime asset, and it is of a wonderfully mellow yet penetrating and pathetic nature. Miss Keogh as Puckers, a sprightly female domestic, and Mr Frank Lamb, as Annon, Peyton's servant, supplied the comedy element to the piece, and both proved themselves finished artists, being warmly applauded,) throughout. The various Claudias were taken by little Vera 'Huggett Aaged 6) in Act 1., Little Beryl Yates in Act 11., and Miss Justinia Wayne in Act 111. All three representations were realistic and telling, the first-named being specially good for so young an art ist. Miss Florence Redfern played her part as the dying model effectively, as did Miss Vera Remee, as Alice Travers Mr Greenaway was a verv strong character as the Earl of Henningford. Messrs Fred. Francis, Stuart Clyde and Charles Stanford capably filled the minor roles. The staging of the piece deserves special mention, the various acts being excellently set. To Mr Henry Hawkins, R.A.M , is also due a word of piaise for the incidental music. This evening the Company conclude their season with the production of Mr A. Jones' comedy "The Case of Rebellious Susan." Although written years ago, the comedy stands to-day, as a satire on the suffragette movement that has recently had such prominence in England. Indeed, some of the imaginary characters might be made applicable to those taking part in the movement. The central figure is Sir Richard Cato, K.C. (Mr Roberts), who, an unmarried lawyer, applies himself to solving intricate marital problems of the smart set, and act.* as counsellor and friend to | the many whose perplexities are I numerous.