The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-30 00:00:00

ADELPHI THEATRE.

On Saturday evening a new and original four-act drama,
by Mr Charles Reade, entitled "Free Labour," was produced
at this theatre, and met with considerable success. The
drama is founded on the author's novel "Put Yourself in his
Place," with which the readers of the Cornhill Magazine are
familiar, and tells the tale of the persecutions of those who
fall under the displeasure-of the trades' unionists in Hills-
borough. The adaptation of the novel to the stage must
have been a work of great labour and trouble, as in it there
are many points it would be impossible to produce in a
dramatic form, but Mr. Reade has succeeded in mak-
ing a drama of very great interest, and one
which will doubtless prove highly attractive. The
plot, briefly related, is as follows :—One Henry Little,
supposed to be ono of the working class, invents a machine
for the improvement of saw• grinding, and this brings him
under the ban of the union. After receiving his discharge
from the works of a Mr. Cheatham, who has promised to
stand by him, but who succumbs to the threats be daily
receives, Henry is on the point of desperation, when Miss
Carden, a young lady he is instructing in modelling, in-
spires him with fresh courage, and shows him the way to
fight the society, as she and he think, succ ssfully. Henry
erects his forge in a deserted church, and at night plies his
trade with vigour and success. All goes on well till it is
found that Henry loves Miss Carden, and then her other
suitor, a Mr. Coventrry, divulges the secret of Little's
working place to the unionists, and it is resolved that he is
to be " done." Four grinders are found to do the job, and
they break upon Henry while he is engaged at work, and
are about to make short work of the matter, when
assistance from an unexpected quarter arrives, and
Henry is saved from assassination An interval elapses
between the second and third act, and at the com-
mencement of the latter, we find Henry a partner in a large
factory, in which his invention is being most successfully
worked, but the threats of the Grinders' Union still con-
tinues; and, lastly, wo have a scene in which the total de-
struction of the works is decided upon. The gentle execu-
tive committee provide a wretch with fulminating silver,
and with this placed in one position, and gunpowder in
another, the Star Wheel Works are blown to atoms, and
Henry Little with them, it is hoped, by Mr Coventry, who
has bribed the man, to hasten on the explosion before Little
quits the place. In the fourth act we find Little has
escaped the doom intended, the villain is discovered and
punished, the lovers are united, and all ends happily.
Mr. Henry Neville, as the hero of the piece, acted with a
deal of force and power, and it is needless to say his many
speeches in defence of free labour told immensely with the
audience above the boxes. There is a capital bit of stage
business in the second act, Henry at work at his forge;
we have the real thing itself, and Mr. Neville handles the
red hot iron with the cleverness of a master band, and as
he made the sparks fly from the glowing metal, the applause
was enthusiastic. The saw-grinders' secretary, Mr. (*ratan,
was played by Mr. Sinclair, and Mr. Chute, as Grey Baby,
Mr. Phillips, as Bayne, and Mr. Pearce, as Sam Cole, all
acted to the best of their ability. Miss Margaret Young, as
Miss Carden, and Miss Erskine, as Jael Dence, sustained
their pacts with much effect. The piece has been
very well mounted, and with a little compression it will
doubtless become an attraction.