Broadside advertising a production at the Theatre Royal, Sydney. Text in red and blue on a buff background. Title appears in large diagonal hand cut wood type at the centre. The text continues with a "list of persons represented with their characteristics and ruling passions" below. Other principal performers include: Charles Holloway, Albert Norman, Walter Howe, Wilmot Eyre, Augustus Glover, B. N. Jones, Blanche Lewis, Virginiana Vivienne, May Vivienne, Kate Bishop, Flora Anstead, Gertie Palmer, and Mrs Bland Hold. A list of the five acts and tableaus appears next, followed by a special notice (about Bland Holt's appearances and the management's policy relating to changes of bill), with pricing details and credits at the bottom edge.
Bland Holt, born Joseph Thomas Holt (1851-1942) was an actor, comedian, theatrical producer and entrepreneur, who was born in Norwich, England, the son of Joseph Frederick (known as Clarance) Holt (1826-1903), an English actor-manager who had a successful career on the stage in England, Australia and New Zealand. Bland went to school in Melbourne and Dunedin, and first appeared on stage at the age of 6. He became a professional actor at the age of 14, and went on to become one of the greatest producers of melodrama in Australian theatre history. Many of his plays were renowned for their spectacular effects, including (in this instance) transformation lighting (of sets designed by the scenic artist George Gordon), a rain shower on a racecourse, and a 'perilous balloon ascent' (with Kate Bishop taking off from the Crystal Palace, travelling over London, and being rescued by a fishing boat from a potential watery grave halfway across the English Channel).-Based on http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/holt-joseph-thomas-bland-3785, viewed July 2016, and newspaper reviews of the production.