AMUSEMENTS

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10588, 20 March 1912, Page 5

AMUSEMENTS

PASOLA. AT THE TOWN HALT,. Fasola will present many new illusions at the Town Hall next Saturday evening, amongst them (being the disappearing piano. On a platform is a pian»,apparently a heavy and genuine instrument, and .before it a lady sits playing. Over the whole a curtain is thrown, a rope attached lifts them from the floor, and they hang suspended for a few brief moments. Then the pistol sounds, piano, player and platform vanish, and only the curtain lying crumpled on the floor and the rope swinging lazily overhead remain as clues to assist the inquiring onlooker in the elucidation of a decidedly clever illusion. The cannon and box mystery is the best of Fasola's presentations. A lady is placed in the commodious barrel of this murderouslooking instrument, the .muzzle is directed to a suspended box, and the gun is discharged.'" The box, on'"being: opened, is found to: contain two smaller boxes, and from the last of these I the lady emerges smiling and unhurt j to bow acknowledgements to the sur- j prised applause that greets her appearance.

Fasola is very thorough throughout. The big mechanical delusions and tho small' incidental sleight-of-hand tricks are all effected with the same ease and placid unconcern. His is a quiet, enjoyable stroll through the fields of necromancy, and conviction, born of and impelled by his suave demeanour, meets an insuperable barrier only in the spectator's mental reminder that "ifs all a- fake." And so he watches for an indication to explain the simple caupe lying behind a complicated and confusing effect, and, finding none, becomes more and more mystified, till the curtain ends his researches and sends him away convinced that "seeing is (believing" is not an axiom to which exceptions may not, occasionally, iho advantageously applied. A number of artists, specially selected by John Fuller and Sons, will appear in support of Fasola, prominent amongst-them; being "The Windsor iChoristers.'" Seats may now bo booked at the Dresden.

THOMPSON-PAYNE PICTURES. There was another large audience at the Foresters' Hall last evening, to witness the current programme of pictures. "The Assigned Servant" was a capital story of convict life in Australia, and was much appreciated. The other dramas were all of a high order, and wero heartily applauded. In the comedies, "His Sister"s Children" was a delightful study, and evoked roars of laughter. A groat engineering feat, depicting" how New York's water supply is obtained, was very interesting indeed. The other pictures were all of a high order. The programme will be repeated for the last time to-night.