The Prince of Wales Opera House is Dick Mannering’s theatre in Hokitika, a commercial venture that he describes as the only show in town. Its opening night is more than a local entertainment: the theatre’s performance and hospitality become part of the arrangements used to keep attention away from a secret gathering elsewhere in town.

Ownership and Design

Mannering identifies the opera house as his and says he modeled it on the Adelphi in London’s West End. The comparison gives the theatre an explicit metropolitan reference, while its claim to be Hokitika’s only show marks it as a prominent source of public entertainment in the settlement.

Opening-Night Entertainment

The opening bill features a new act, Sensations from the Orient. Cases of champagne are laid out in the opera-house foyer, supplied by Mannering in honor of the occasion. The performance and reception present the theatre as both a venue for spectacle and a setting for sociability.

The Theatre as Diversion

On the same evening, a boy posted outside the Crown Hotel gives away gallery tickets to draw potential patrons toward the performance. The free tickets, the new act, and the champagne are part of the precautions surrounding the private meeting at the hotel: the organizers expect the theatre’s opening to help keep people occupied and away from the gathering. In this episode, the opera house’s public role contrasts with the concealed business unfolding nearby.