THE THEATRE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 152, 21 March 1908, Page 12

THE THEATRE.

. .. $ • (J3y Sylvius.) "The world's a theatre, the earth a stage."—Heywuod. The Herbert Fleming Company. Playgoers aro given leavo to anticipate sometmng intellectually refreshing in' the appi'oaciimg season of Herbert Fleming's organised comedy company. This coinbiuation commenced its . tour at tho Princess Theatre 011 Boxing Night, and after a good opening struck the record heat-wave which frizzled, tho city for twelve days, six nights of which tho theatro had to bo closed. As soon as the heat moderated a littlo tho business improved until finally tho house was crowded nightly. Tho ropertoiro, of the company includes a variety of interesting plays, noiie of which have been Scdii in the Dominion before.. These . include. "Tho Mummy and tho Hummingbird," which involves a social problem; "Olivia," a'dramatisation of "Tho Vicar of. Wakefield""Tho Red Lamp," a Nihilist drama; and "Tho Morals of Morals," a play hot from the producer's oven' at Home. Tho company has been playing to enormous business at Napier during the week.

In Old Driiry, Old Drury was the scene .-of- a , notable "Farewell". on February 26, 1851, says Mr. H. Barton' Baker in his "History of tho London Stage," when Macready mado his last appearance upon the stage in tho character of Macbeth. Macready had the bad taste to despise—or pretend to despise—the profession to which ho . owed fortune, position, reputation, and cast.no "longing, lingering glance"' behind, such, as had marked the farewell of Garrick, of lvenible, of SiddoiiSj who passionately loved their lirt; On that morning h(j wrote in his dairy.: "My first thought, wheii I. awoke was that this day was to Bo tho closo of my professional life: I meditated on it, and not one feeling of regret intermingled with the .placid satisfaction tiebmpanying my performance of, every aefci needfully preparativeto • the : coming oy'eiit." This is not the utterance of an artist, hut of a mere workman, ana after reading it I can never believe that Macready was more than a very fine conventional actor, one who, had ho been gifted with the divino afflatus, could not have been so destitute of enthusiasm, of sentiment, of soul. He Climbed Down. In a remote town on the Kendal Tour in America in 1597,- though the theatre they were to play in was a fine oiie, the accommodation in tho dressing-rooms was appalling; Thero was an utter absenco of ventilation, and the furriituro and lighting w.ero disgrafceful to .tho last degree'.. .Mrs.' Kendal's wash-hand stand was a tin bowl placed upon.a,shabby chair! On objecting to this, and failing to obtain any improvement, sho rose to . this occasion .-and sent for the manager; Wearing his hat, and redolent of tobacco, that gentleman lounged into the room, and asked "What's..the trouble?",. Mrs. Kendal pointed to the . tin bowl arid, spoke some plain truths as to tho abominably dirty state of the room, winding up■ by declaring that she must at least have an eartlienwaro basiii; for she never had washed .in- a tin bowl and sho never would. The placid pro'prictor of tho theatre turnod tho; quid of tobacco ho was chewing, and remarked, "Waal, I guess your betters liov." Mrs. Kendal promptly sent for their own manager, aiid asked him what, was tlio penalty for breaking the contract by not appearing. She. was told it 'would mean so many _huntlred dollars. 1 "Draw, a; clicqub for it' at once;" slie said "arid ;either. get that man. to take.his.hat off,;or have it knocked .off; wo shall not play liere!" Theiij turning to lior. maid.. "Pack everything up' and tell tho • ladiei and gentlemen; there will bo ho performance.". Now as evory seat in the'.house, was booked the proprietor at unco -"climbed down," and so did his best to improve mattors, that the storm passed over.

Ail Idle Singer of an Idle Day. y "Fof his contributions'to literature and to .dramatic art by means of satire, original, but iioyer personal or offensive, and drawn'from .'tli'e great book.,of nature, said the' Earl of Onslow, they honoured 1 Sir. W. S. Gilbert at a .complimentary dimicr at the Savoy Hotel. '."During the Sullivan and Gilbert regimo at the Savoy Sir Arthur Sullivan and. lie,", said Sir Wlliani, "exercised, tho most, absolute arid undisputed -sway over the production of their pieces. . By. arrangeriibiit with Mr. •P'Oyljr Carlo they selected .their own cast and directed their rehearsals in overy detail. They superintended^the: modelling of the, scoiicryand tlio'designing of .tho 'dresses j and .tho conipany r .was always admirably .in. hand.' • That-his 'share;, .of. tho operas, profitfed inestimably by'' • Siiliivan'a ; : -magnificent work Wa- a coriimdriplaco'of stage criticism, and if . his 6wii simpleMuso 'had succeeded ill dver.tbppirig ;the ; clouds', on-tho livings of hii mighty v Pegasus'it-was diie f to the' vitality and emphasis with; which Sir -Arthur's promethean fire ..had - endowed himself. jlei could not accept the 'magnificent compliment paid to him without associating with himself those .'loyal .co-workers to whom ho , was so ■deeply, indebted ifor.-tho -fact, that:' ho,. tho 'ltllo; singer of. an -idle day,!- was their honoured guest": ; ':

"Stingaree, the Bushranger." , From .time to time dramas dealing with the cruder phases, of. early Australian days have been staged in London with indifferent success: V'Robbery Under Arms," ','The Sunny South,"- and other such plays have credtcd a passing interest, but have never achieved real success. Perhaps tho most pretentions _ play of tho typo iioted is Horniihg's "Stingaree, tho Bushranger,'.' which ivas staged at tho Queen's.Theatre, London, in January by a good cast, which included names such a3 Mr. Henry Ainley, Mr. Athol Fordo, Mr. Herbert Waring, Mr. 0. P. Heggic, Miss Mota Pelharn, nml Miss Ada Forrar. Speaking of the play, tho "Sports-, man" says:—

Mr. Hornung has missed a splendid opportunity. of making a big success with "Stingaree." In "Raffles" lie kopt tho excitement at fover heat till curtain fall, and it was touch and go all through. In "Stingaree" lie gives us a superbly realistic second act—a scone which had the audience on tiptoo with tension, but he failed to keep tlie interest alive'after this, and the last two acts wero so tepidly conventional that a disappointed .section of tho audience loudly voiced its disapproval at the.closo. A'more picturesque stage figuro than the hero could not bo desired for a melodrama. ; Groyillo Dare, a young aristocrat, has found going to the devil more agreeable than , keeping straight, and so he turns bushranger. He. sports a monoclo,' wears immaculate -linen,' and grooms his liair like a Piccadilly quisite. He lias been the hero of a hundred thrilling, exploits; but has .never taken huinaiv life. Only one man has ever : seen his face, Tom -Bracy, a squatter; and ;as Stingaree saved , his lifo- on that. ocrfßsion, Bracy in gratitude refuses to describo the bushranger's, .appearance. Now Stingareo hits aii overpowering passion for music, and when ho . learns that there is to bo a concert] at Eureka station (which, by the way, lie is . proposing tci "stick up" with his mates, Sam and Howie)'ho does a littlo preliminary scouting-on. the day prior -to tho event,, .and. arrives outside the hohso just as Hilda Bouveric, Mrs. Clarkson's cohiT panion; is sweetly singing "Tho Outlaw." Stingareo listens spellbound, and when tho song is over introduces himself by his real hamfc, 'and determines that lie. will got tho composer of tho song, Sir Julian Crum,, to ,t*ke tho singer tiji and train her for a great career. Stingaree. makes siicli a big sion .on Hilda that when Bracy, who is a candidate for her hand, suddenly appears and suspects' tho bushranger as a rival; the situation becomes strained, and Bracy threatens to give Stingaree iip to the police if lib catches' him there again. ' . Then came the big scene of the play. Stingareo did turn up again, for ho and his two pals "bailed up" the concert-room, and amid tremendous excitement our hero insisted that Hilda should sing.'"The Outlaw" for the edification of Sir Julian, although her jealoiis mistress'had carefully .excluded her naine from the ] programme. Sir Julian was so delighted with Hilda's singing that he offered to take .her to England ami'niako her a scholar 'iii his academy of music, ah offer slib gladly accepted. Suddenly the lights are lowered,. the bushrangers escape

in the confusion, and almost immediately Stingareo, having got rid of his mask and disguise, reappears as Grevillo Dare. He tells a cock-and-bull story of- having been tied up to a fence by Stingaree, and when iio returns tho money and jewellery which his pals had politely acquired from tho cowed audience nobody lias ' tho least suspicion, and D'aro is quite a hero. Ho coolly acecpts Squatter Clarkson's invitation to stay with him as his guostj" and improves' the shining hour with Hilda. Once more Bracy turns up. He tells Hilda that Dare is no other than Stingareo, and threatens to fetch tho police unless Hilda consents to marry him. To save Daro she consents, but when Stingareo instinctively probes tho situation, lie, too, makes a sacrifice, and to save tho girl lie loves from . his cowardly rival he quietly surrenders himself to tho police.' Now, this was all right, from the standpoint of high morality, but it knocked a. very large liole out of the cxcitoment of tho play. The least wo expcctcd at this crisis was that by some clever ruse, as in "Raffles," the author would have enabled Stingareo to' outwit the politic and ride off on his cream mare with Hilda behind him, for did she not say that she had some own dare-den! spirit in her veins! .Tho last act tailed off feebly. Hilda comes hack to Australia three years afterwards a famous singer arid, gives a concert. Stingaree hears of it while in prison, makes his escape; and arrives just in time to hear her sing. Therb' is ,a touching interview, and just as Stih : gareb is taking farewell tlib nows arrives that tlib Governor has pardoned him. His escape is hushed up, aud we have a final recollection of Hilda begging him to let her givo iip her career and shnro his wild life up-country. Had tho rest of the play "reached anything like the level of the second act.there would bo a fortune in it: Alt was'a great sight to see tlie three hiishraugers holdnig up the shed full of people. The actuality and comedy of the sccnb gripped , and diverted. the audience, in turn. One felt that it was a real chunk of bush life, and the cheers jat the fall of ■ the curtain were so loud and long iliat.diie was prepared for a huge sucfcess; But one act does not make a play; and the strength of tlio sccoud .act significantly exposed the weakness of the two acts that followed.

Notes. London variety theatre managers feel that the limit.has been reached by.;the latest proposed rule" of the London County. Council that "persons must riot : bo .permitted to stand or sit in any of the intersecting gang-ways,-and in no circumstances must the number of persons .admitted to any part of the premises exceed the number for which the exits from that part are certified by tho" Council to be' sufficient." . Sir. Clyde Fitch arid Mr. Cosmo Gordon Lennox have collaborated in a play entitled "Her - Sister;" produced in New York on Christmas Eve. Miss Ethel Barrymore was the "star," and the cast included Mr. Lumsden Hare, in new Zealand with the first "Sherjock Holmes" Company. In an. interview published', in the • "Town and Country Journal," Mr. Harry Plimmer says that of all the parts ho has played he prefers Rudolf Rassendyl in "The Prisoner of Zenda." When lib made the statement jus was playing Black Michael in the same pi ay, so that if by any ,chance the shapely Julius breaks down, Mr. Plimmer .will have an opportunity of showing what lie can do in the part he loves best.'. The play will .be included in the repertoire for Now Zealand.'

"Tho Secret Orchard," that charming book ,by Agnes and Egerton Castle,-, has been drdmatisod and produced in New Yorki Sardou, at 'the. advanced age of .75, has written another important historical drama entitled - "L'Affaire ,des Poisons." '' Mr; E. H. Sotliern has revived "Our American Cousin" in _ New York, and is making a big success in the- part of Lord Dundreary, made famous by his illustrious father. ... ' ' . . ,Mr. Robert Mahtell has achieved,theatrical honour by his impersonation of "King John," recently produced iu Chicago. Mr. Charles Waldroh, latejy hero, with "Tho Squaw; Man," is appearing- in "Tho Warrens of Virginia" at tho Bclaseo-Thea-tre, New ..York.Mrs. Isabel. "Waldron is aname in the cost.' . j .