FUN ON THE BRISTOL.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2522, 11 February 1887, Page 2

FUN ON THE BRISTOL.

Messrs Smith and'Permari's: clever company ■ opened last night in the Theatre Royal to a large audienco, and gave one of the most amusing entertainments yet presented before a assemblage.-Thecleverly-mitten absurdity,' "Fun on the Bristol," was originally played by Mr J, F. Sheridan; arid wherever placed before the public, has been roceived with great success.-. Tho plot is interesting and full of fun, the situations being most ludicrous, and serve to introduce specialities of the various' members of Joins'.'talented company. Miss Laura Roberts in" Pretty.White Lilies" gave tho audience a decided treat, and elicited a rapturous encore, successful in her efforts ;in tho Great Concert Act. Mr Harrison's rendering, of " The old Rustic Bridge" -k----received ;a.flattering reception,- the Suited- to his; fte'sli/l'.i'ingirrg -'voice;' •'Master John; Collins, who-.played thepart of Widow. Q'Brien, was the life and soul of.- the" play,' having,a ,very : ablo coadjiijtor in Master:Gus Lynch'as 'Captain'Cranbury, 'an old sea dog, Tho wonderful Perman family, four in number,' contributed in a' large measure to the evening's amusement by their acting, dancing, and'statue performance. In their exhibition o laGirard, they kept tho audience in a state of wonder at their extraordinary movements, which were carried almost to an, unnatural extent, doubling themselves up and extending "their' limbs to'a remarkable degree. This in itself was well worth the money to see.

The.feature.of the programme was the flight of ,iEola;'the .'Queen of the Air, who was transformed into a cartridge and shot out of a large cannon to the top of the Theatre, where a trapezist suspended: head downwards 1 catches her in her flight. A large cannon was brought to the front of the stage and pointed towards the centre of the ceiling. /Eola, by means of a ladder, ascends to the muzzle and drops into it feet foremost, disappearing from view. At a given signal the gun is fired and the human cartridge is projected with great velocity towards the 'suspended, acrobat who catches her outstretched hands. Previous to the firing last evening it was announced that owing to there not being sufficient height in the ceiling,.of the- Theatre there would be a difficulty in successfully performing the feat. It was usual to have a distance of about fifty feet between the cannon and the trapezist, but as there was not more than about twenty feet there, the management could not guage the shot with accuracy. When the gun was fired,iEola, owing to the short distance, was sent with such velocity that the height of the building would not permit of the catch being properly made,' and the trapezist was compelled to. let her drop into the net prepared for aooidents of this kind. Tho audionqe wore very demonstrative in their appreciation of the efforts of the performers, and they received quite an ovation on their appearanco on the stage. In addition to her rerial flight, iEola gave some very clever and interesting exhibitions of balancing on the trapeze, Tho Company are in every respect a very strong one, and provide a class of entertainment that has not previously been' presented on the boards of a Wairarapa Theatre Their second performance takes plaoo this evening.