A VISIT TO THE THEATRE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2360, 28 November 1908, Page 11 (Supplement)

A VISIT TO THE THEATRE.

.Thus a writer in Hie Sydney a ;!V aid WO decided to go and see•Vhe ■ Merry Widow/’ AVe jPProachod the box-office and | alc L|2 ' checks entiv on the counter- v dimbdl to were handed to us, J lown . The t!lc , the lights went aWthc/tla-v turnc.l; KS? t s^«E”S“ pretend that they hadn t the chestnuts before., and occasional l j to retort with an epigram so loiced thx I* bl “yto“ tic *“V<Sm of h°u Sr-* ~t t Scut amaaement. The first scene was Si alleged ball at some embassy at which three, couples waltzed Unco Xbout like a lot of hungry magpies. The Widow walked up and do\\ u m front’ of them singing one ot tac half-dozen tunes that comprise the oncM-a and all the .men moaned m SJI. Later on, the stage was cleared and a young man m evenmo- - (is With a red-lined woman.s operacloak round his shoulders, staggered on. He sang at great dengtli o«. the delirious happiness to be M downi at Maxim’s. We referred to the pio Gramme and found that Maxim s was situated in the third act We agreed to stay on and see what Maxim s \\ < like The second act was laid -in an Fden-like garden filled with beautitui chestnut trees, and the comedians pelted each other joyously v\ ith the forbidden fruit and were childishly happy. The curtain eventually led with an exhausted thud, ai 'd walked out to get. some fre»H air au<3 a drink to prepare us fo V After the interval, the curtain climb cd heavily up out of the way, and Maxim’s disclosed itself as a place where people were carefully gav and ladies showed that Respectability was dead letter by furiously shaking their underskirts. Whilst they shook, tho-other characters sat. at tables in dead silence, or strutted aimlessly in and out. They ate nothing and drank less. A flavor of reality wns given to the scene bv one fair Parisienne talking broken English to the Patagonian Ambassador. It made me think of the way the Australian houseware in variably barters with the vegetable John in dog-Labin. Frank and I lelt promptly at curtain fall. Friends who have been several times tell me that the show grows on you after about the third visit. I don t' want to acquire the Widow habit. Ive got too many vices already.