Los Angeles herald., 1905-06-15
= t HE =
IT H EA TIE R
nThe Duke Of KillIcrankIe.o


A comedy in three acts by Robert
Marshall, presented last evening at the
Mason opera house by John Drew and
company. The cast:
The Duke of Killicrankie. John Drew
Mr.. Henry Welby, M. P.......,...
............. Ferdinand Gottschalk
Mr.. Ambrose Hicks. Lewis Baker
Alexander Macbayne, caretaker at
Crag -o'-North. Reginald Carrington
PSe'e The Countess Of PaneboUrne. % .D.e ...'...e
.................. Kate Lester
Lady Henrietta Addison. her daughter
-. ......... .s''...N margaret Dale
Mrs. Mulholland. ...... Fanny Brough
Captain Robert Marshall. who has
made play-going a pleasure in such
other instances as "A Royal Family"
His Excellency the Governor" and
"The Second in Command" has in "The
Duke of Killicrankie" provided John
Drew with one of the best plays of
that comedians career, and last even
ing at the Mason opera house a large
audience showed their appreciation of
the class Of entertainment being pro-
vided for them by most enthusiastic
applause and almost continuous laugh
ter.
AS play it may have many faults
technically, but 1t is so artfully con-
trived and Mr.. Drew and his company
play 1t so well that 1t awakens the
keenest interest. 1t deals with a duke
who falls In love with the only girl he
has been able to discover who is not
impressed with his title and who is not
hankering to have him make love to
her.
She is a young woman who states
plainly her belief that man should
amount to something more than an
aristocratic fgurehead, and she ex-
presses her opinion of his lack of force,
energy, ambition and his general
worthlessness to an extent that he re-
solves to bring forward enough of these
desirable qualities to surprise her into
loving him.
Accordingly he sends her false tel
egram by which she Is lured to his
castle in the Scottish highlands. He
conceives that as soon as the girl dis
covers she is his prisoner until the time
she consents to marry him she will see
how commanding he can be and in
stantly fall in love with him. He has
provided for chaperon a widow who
has for a suitor an accomplice of the
duke.
The girl, as would be natural in real
life, hates and despises the aristocrat
for the trick he has played upon her
and it Is not until he releases her with
the plea that he no longer loves her
does she capitulate and promise to be-
come his wife. The suit of the widow
and the dukes accomplice finds an
equally happy termination.
1t is only once in a lifetime that one
sees a quartet of players who work
so we'll in harmony and sustain such a
perfect balance as do the four princi-
pals of 1.-THE Duke of Killicrankie."
John Drew Is in role exactly suited to-
his easy, unaffected natural methods.
Ferdinand Gottschalk presented in
the young-old accomplce of the duke
probably the most amusing character
study seen on the Mason stage this sea-
son. Margaret Dale's delightfully."- in
genuous personality made the role of.
the girl a fascinating one. Her beauty
and the simplicity of her wonderful art
were both refreshing. Miss Fannie
Brough gave an excellent interpreta-
,tion of the widow chaperon. The other
roles were in competent hands. The
play is more handsomely mounted than
the average Mason offering.