"F" ('Iolanthe' No. 1) Company in Devonport

The Era (London, England), Saturday, July 19, 1884; Issue 2391.

NEW THEATRE. – Lessee and Manager, Mr. F. Neebe; Acting Manager, Mr. F. Holt. – The Iolanthe company, following the Princess Ida, have proved an equal success, although it is the third visit of Messrs. Gilbert and Sullivan's opera to the town.

The house is crowded nightly, and the whole of the performers are favourably received. Iolanthe (Miss Haidee Crofton), Phyllis (Miss Marion Grahame), and the Queen of the Fairies (Miss Alice Barnett) are all strong favourites, and their acting and singing being such as to preserve the freshness of the music and the prettiness of the production.

Mr. John Wilkinson, who is again the Lord Chancellor, is vastly funny in the part, and he is materially aided by Mr. T.W. Hemsley and Mr. James Sydney as the Earls Mountararat and Tolloller. Mr. George Marler, as Private Willis, secures for the Sentry song the inevitable encore; and Strephon is played by Mr. Herbert D'Egville [sic] with an idyllic simplicity that befits the part.

A strong chorus of Peers and Fairies give due effect to the ensemble music; and altogether Mr. D'Oyly Carte's company ranks among the best that have ever appeared in the west.

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