LONDON STAGE NOTES.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19156, 12 November 1927, Page 2

LONDON STAGE NOTES.

CAPTAIN R. BERKELEY'S WAR FILM. PAULINE FREDERICK THE HEROINE. {jf&Oii. OWB OWK CORBESPOKfiENT.) LdjTDON', September 30. After a considerable interval, Mrs Patrick Campbell baa returned to the stage in a new play called "Madame Kuranda." The fiist performance has been given in I/eicester, and tho play will go to Hull a.nd Leeds —also perhaps to Glasgow—before it is seen in London. Miss Muriel Alexander and Mr Shayle Gardner (Auckland) are important members of the company. A Leicester correspondent writes that Mrs Campbell plays the part of a fortune-teller, and in a love scene smokes a cigar. Queer things, seemingly, happen in East Africa. There are four murders committed during the action of the day, which is by Mr i\ Horace Rose, a South African journalist. Happily the audience is not called upon to witness these dark deeds; they are supposed to take plane mysteriously after the victims have called upon "Madame Kuranda" to be told what the future has in store for them. In each case the immediate future for them was that they should give up their money to the fortune-teller, who combines 1 looking into the crystal with hypnotism. In the end ono of her woman clients is too ! much for her powers.

I Pavlova's Despair. I "England hasvno art." [ This was thei'startling statement with I which Pavlova, who has arrived in England to prepare for her fortnight at Covcnt Garden, opened a straight-shoulder attack in an I interview with a "Daily Express" representative. ' "Your country is in a dreadful stale artistically," she said. "What have you? You have no opera, no drama, nor ochestra. You had the Beecham Orchestra, hut that is gone —gone. You have Covent Garden, and what do you do with it? You let it out for half-crown dances—the Charleston, the Blackbottom, and the vulgar music that goes with them." It was humbly suggested that Ave still had Shakespeare. , "Shakespeare, yes. Oh, you have him," was the impatient reply. "But where—where! You still have Sir Henry Wood's orchestra, but that is popular. It is of the people, and great ai - t cannot grow from the people: it must grow from the heads. Art is like a baby—you need to have a nurse for it—but there is no patronage in England. People with money give everything for football, for horses, for dog races, but nothing for opera. Oh, it is dreadful." "The Blue Train." After a run of only fifteen weeks, "The Blue Train," at Ihe Prince of Wales Theatre, came to an end unexpectedly. Mr Hannen Swaffer "Daily Express" Dramatic critic) says that the piece was one of those failures that are due to the optimism of their producers. Mr Philip Ridgewsy (Hie manager) preferred to take the production on tour rather than carry on, although he had successfully weathered August, which is the most difficult month theatrically. Mr Ridjreway said that even if the Prince of Wales' were crowded every performance, they could only take £2200 a week. As the production cost £2060 a week, this did not leave any profit, unless the theatre were crowded always. Being unable to reduce the cost, he took off "The Blue Train." . There were scenes of great eclnusiaam on the last night. At the end of the performance streamers were thrown from the gallery to tho stage: bouquets were passed up, and there were also loud cries for Miss Lily Elsie, who had returned in this play after an absence from the stage of some years. Miss Elsie was embraced by many members of the company, in full view of the audience. and was applauded by all the people on the stage. She broke down after a few words of her speech, burst into tears, and was so visibly affected that the curtain was dropped. Then, holding fl woolly dog that had been given her, she made another try. With a wonderful charm and a most gracious modesty, she thanked the audience for the "love and • affection*' sho had received from everybody, .said she was proud to realise how she had been remembered "after so many years," and added, ' 'I feel very happy, although I look so miserable." Miss Elsie and her husband, Major lan Bullough, afterwards entertained the entire company in the foyer. All the time a large crowd waited outside the Btage door and then cheered the star to her motor-car. Although Miss Elsie is now going on a holiday, having refuied several offers from other management*, ber early return to the ttofa ii «•

pected. She did not miss a performance'doling (he tun of the play, and she was Idolised by the rest of the company. . Hits Tempest's Understudy. It is largely because of Marie Tempest's own kindness—she has attended the rehearsals and given advice—that there will be at the. Ambassadors a special "understudy matinee" of "The Spot on the Sun." Mr Hannen Swaffer writes: "Miss Tempest in this play, is understudied by her own daughter-in-law—Lilian Gavanagh, who married Major Loring, her son. The - great comedienne is a very awkward woman, to understudy. She never falls ill, and she is never absent from the east. So, however competent her understudy may be, she never gets a chance, Miss Tempest, therefore, has gone out of her way to make this matinee possible. All the understudies will appear, and scores of critics will be present. I hope somebody will be 'discovered.' " A Coming British Film. It is announced by the film correspondent of the "Daily Express" that Miss Gladys Cooper and Sir Gerald du Maurier have agreed to star jointly in a British film adaptation of Sir Arthur Pinero's famous twenty-year-old play, ' 'His House in Order,'' the leading parts in which were created by Miss Irene Vanbrugh and the late Sir George Alexander. The producer will be Mr Meyrick Milton, maker of "La Poupee" (the film that discovered Miss Flora Le Breton). The production is financially sponsored by Ideal Films, Ltd., a pioneer concern in British film production which began operations fifteen years ago in an attic in Camden Town. Now they are backed by the Whitehall, Trust, a £3,000,000 company afflliated to the Hudson Bay Corporation of Canada. An American release' for the film is guaranteed through the Ideal Company's recentlyformed connexion with Film, Booking Offices, one of the most powerful Transatlantic organisations. Miss Cooper, some years ago, appeared as Flora Maedonald- in a film called "Bonnie Prince Charlie," of which Mr Ivor Novello was the star. Her film salary is understood to be £3OO per week. Production begins shortly. I . ' '.