fifi^ORE AND feEHlNI) tHE FOOTLIGHTS. 2^-5 



as '' The Lights of LondoD/' '' Silver King/' 

 "Eomany Rye/' '^11 the Ranks/' "My Partner/' 

 and many others, were splendidly staged. His Shake- 

 sperian productions were also excellent, more espe- 

 cially "Henry V./' '^ A Midsummer Night's Dream/' 

 " Julius Csesar/' " Merry Wives of Windsor," and 

 others. He also gave a very fine production of 

 " Faust/' which Mr. Gilbert Parker had a hand in 

 arranging for him. A curious scene occurred in a 

 production of " Faust/' by Mr. Rignold at Brisbane, 

 in the Old Theatre Royal. Mrs. George Rignold was 

 not well enough to play Martha, and when I saw Mr. 

 J. W. Sweeney walk on in that character, I thought 

 the shock would have been too much to bear. Mr. 

 Sweeney is a big, jolly, rollicking Irishman, and how 

 he got into Martha's garments is one of those 

 mysteries he alone can unravel. He confided to me 

 afterwards, he was so terribly compressed, and had 

 such a horror of hearing Martha's apparel straining 

 and cracking that he became utterly oblivious of the 

 Mepliistophelian whispers of Mr. George Rignold. 

 Mr. Sweeney struggled desperately with Martha, and 

 it says much for his ability that very few people in 

 the audience recognized in Marguerite's nurse the 

 big burly Irishman that so often delighted them as 

 a policeman or as a sailor of the most rollicking 

 type. 



For seven or eight years Mr. Rignold kept Her 



