Full chested laughter is a gord thing fog many and obvious reasons and anything that gives it to us should be acclaim ed worthy und god. Thus is "The Brixtor Jury" 10 be held in high esteem, for of the class of plays that appeal to our risible faculties with peculiar strength. It is thoroughly English, of humorous extravagance hard indeed & beat, whimsical, and always laughable. The piece is hased on the idea of masculine turpitude, which has brought forth farces without end. This isa but a small shor'comi-g, however. The success of the piece is in plot a intrigue, and it is a tosk of the greatest ficulty to give briefy an intelligible narrative of the events, The entire action passes in the morning room of Mr. Pontifex's flat in London. The return of Mrs. Pontifex is momentarily expectd she having been away fur a few days her mother-in-law and her sister. Clu her absence the hous: hold have dist: ed themselves, Septimus Pontifex. the husband. has been, with Robert Digel". his brother-in-law elect, to.a music hell in Brixton, has supped with certain cory phéex, and has come home with the milk, Tamer, his man-servant, has also been to Brixton, in a suit of his master's clothes. has fallen into the hands of a burglar, and has been forced to exchange clothes with him. Petunia, the maid servant, hae gone cycling on her ma-ter's i in "rational" costume, has had a and escapes tite police the loss of her mount. The rider with whom she collides in Frazer Green, Pontifex's father-in-law, who, since his wife barely tolerates his cycling, dares not let his wife see him in torn clothes, and arriv on the scove clamouring for another suit. These are provided. and are the cause of infinite trouble to the inmates of the house. For there had neon a burglary at Brixton, committed by the man who forcibly gained possession of a suit belonging to Pontifex from the man-servant. The police arrive, one after the other the characters are arrested ina maze of equivacatio i cations, lies, disguises, a: and xo on in a sequence scription, Hut thet which is erystaliige in yp is clear in its exposition onthe stage. We rock ina gate of laughter through three acts, which picture an imbr-glia as natural and as comic as em conceived.
Mr. Brough playd the indiscreet and trant Pontifex with a comic perplexity and intensity resi tile, Tt was alf the fantastic male, x servant girl, who into the scene, med Quex. Miss mple, as Petunin, pi yed with able spirit and' perception, and the house equally in her smart " irvasignals," and in her neat servants exp ant are. Victor as Jame. fu! but ill-used, has an opportunity of which be makes the most, as des Mr. Reginald Dartrey as Fraser Green, a just man in the grip of fate, Miss Grace Noble is pretty and graceful as Millicent Pontifex, and Miss Bessie Thompson is splendid as the step-mother-in law with a firm belief sculine depravity, who likes to stand aside and laugh ut the tangle into which rasbands left to themselves invariably get. Mr. P. Brough is acceptable as Richurd Diggle, and other parts are well filled.
The performance opened with a clever, hut somewhat serivux little piece from the pen of Jerome K. Jerome, styled "Barbara." Though a very short play it great scope to subtle and emotional voting, and requires a experienced and able exponent to do justice to the part, but it goes without. saying that Mrs. Brough Was quite equal to the occasion and won the entire sympathies of the audience, their rapt attention and subsequent applause proved, The burden of the piece as thrown on Mrs. Brough, it is tru all the other pitts were played wi jgment and ability, so that the comed-itis ran smoothly from first to list and proved a great treat to the audivrce, SECOND PERFORMANCE,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.