'Esme Bruce, who in the first place was married in England to the aged and wealthy Hon. Cecil Bruce, but was never quite happy with her husband, decides against the counsels of her friend Helen Lady Gordon to elope with Fedor Barenski, by repute a great violinist but whose playing, Esme says, lacks the passion which love is calculated to put into it. After a brief period of life in Europe with Esme, Barenski makes his mark in the musical world, and then he grows tired of the runaway. Bruce and the violinist meet in Paris, Barenski receives a fatal wound in the duel that follows (but which combat was not enacted on Monday night), and the curtain falls on the closing of the ignoble life of Esme, who poisons herself.'
Source:
'Barenski: A Farcical Melodrama', The Mount Barker Courier and Southern Advertiser, 26 May 1905, p.2.
First produced in Mount Barker on 22 May 1905, in the institute hall.
Produced under the auspices of the Linden Dramatic Company.
Cast: Ernie Courtney (Fedor Barenski), C.H. Daniels (Edgar Beresford), C. Morgan (Hon. Cecil Bruce / Hodson, Barenski's valet), John Fyvie (two unspecified roles), L. Langley (Lisette, Esme's maid / Beresford's wife), Florence Richter (Helen, Lady Gordon, Esme's widow friend), and Thistle Anderson (Esme Bruce).
(Source: 'Barenski: A Farcical Melodrama', The Mount Barker Courier and Southern Advertiser, 26 May 1905, p.2.)
