THE TOWN HALL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9607, 29 September 1909, Page 5

THE TOWN HALL.

"THE BREED OF THE TRESHAMS."

An intensely interesting *play, a, group of capable actors, but above all the return of a favourite star,, whose popularity increases every year, served to fill the Town Hall, last evening, with one of the most sympathetic audiences that ever gathered within its walls for a dramatic event. The outbursts of cordiality and appreciation showed very plainly that the large audience was not the least disappointed with the entertainment provided for it. The play has plenty of thrill, and in fact two of the situations . are as strong as anything witnessed on the stair e for some time. Certainly "Rat" Reresby, of "The Breed of the Treshams,"' is a hero of sorts; his virtues and reformation are brought out in the glare of the limelight, and his villainies and dissolute habits only suggested in the shadows. Messrs B. M. Dix ?;nd E. G. Sutherland have gone to the stirring times of the struggle between the Parliamentary and Roy* alist forces for their inspiration, and they have conceived a very dramatic play. It is in the fortified town of Faversham in the English Midlands lhat the developments depicted in tha drama transpire, and the historical period is that of the year 1645, when the struggles between Royalists and Roundheads were going on. Lieutenant Reresby holds a sub-altern's commission from Charles the First, and is serving under Colonel Sir Clement Hun* gerford, who commands the troops by which Faver3ham is being de • fended. One of the junior officers with the garrison is Cornet, Francis Tresham, son of the late Lord Tresham, and accordingly a halfbrother to Reresby. Young Tresham is in love with Margaret Hungerford, the colonel's sister, who fully reciprocates the affection, and Reresby in his turn is deeply interested in Margaret because of her resemblance to a girl he had loved and lost under most tragic circumstances. Reresby becomes implicated in a treacherous plot to hand over the town to the rebels, the originator of which was Colonel Hungerford. The plot is discovered and a message in cypher from a rebel commander to one of the traitorous officers is found concealed on Reresby's person. Reresby refused to reveal the names of those who were primarily responsible for the plot, and although barbariously tortured he still remains silent, his motive being to save Margaret from a knowledge of her brother's duplicity. Finally, however, the truth is told by a boy who was devoted to Reresby, and the latter is given his freedom on condition that he leaves the country. Amidst these stirrng events the central figure of Mr Julius Knight in his representation of Lieut. Reresby stands supreme. With the heavy and arduous part (he is nearly always on the stage) he strives with all his art and gives the best that is in him, It is essentially a star part; for Reresby the sympathy of the audience is at once enlisted; on Reresby the limelight is perpetually turned; indeed without Reresby on the boards the interest of the play is lion-existent In the intensity of his acting, when describing ta young Tresham how their unnatural father ruined the young girl he loved, in the suffering of the torture scene, in the simulation of drunkenness to delay the mutineers from dis • covering Margaret's hiding place till help arrives and in the dramatic fight that follows—there is a most astonishing fall down a flight of stairs in this scene—he attains a high level of artistry that is rarely seen. In the lighter side, his raillery against himself and his brother officers, he is not, however, quite so successful. Mias Guildford Quin suggests admirably the young girl fiesh from the convent, and gives a very sympathetic rendering of tha part of Margaret Hungerford, with a charming girlish innocency. Mr Reynolds Denniston has a very difficult role in the miserable Sir Clement HungerforJ, and acquits himself excellently, while Mr Georere Chalmers, as Sir Henry Curwen, succeeds in giving remarkable distinction to a" small role, The Viscount Dorsington of Mr Sicnsy Stirling and the Cornet Fraicis Tres' an of Mr George Malhllieu, are not quite go successful. Very natural and quite a gem in i:s way, is Miss M ;!i.\ 1 waif Batty. k