THE THEATRE

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 621, 25 September 1909, Page 11

THE THEATRE

"Tho world's a thcatro. the earth a stcgo."Ueywood. * (By Sylvius:).. ..• ' Tho Aschcs in "As You Like It." Oscar Ascho and Lily Bray ton, still playing to crowded business in Melbourne, hove made tho biggest sensation as players of Shakcspearo ever known in the colonies. From the timo .they commenced their season, now two mouths, thev havo been playing to capacity business, and it is estimated that the receipts must average over .&MOU per week. "The 'Taming of the Shrew" was succeeded by "Othello," which has since been displaced by ''As You Liko It." Of this production the "Ago" said:—"lf .'Othello, like most of tho Elizabethan dramas, gives tho greatest scope to tho uialdcnaracters, 'As You Like-It' is exceptional for. tho splendid chances it affords a competent .actress. . Tho-most aU tractive figure in it-is .undoubtedly i,osalind. She is as vital to this play as the Prince of Donmark is'to 'Hamlet.', ..Saturday's production was, above and beyond anything else, a triumph for. Miss.Braytbn. It-was easily, her bestctfort siiice she has been in Melbourne. She a'ppcars in.tho first act as a'strikingly handsome woman, gowned in tho ilowing robes of iho period, with a chaplet liko an aureole round her head. The one phnso that, is a littlo inexplicable is her infatuation for tho'wrestler Orlando,'an infatuation so swift and sudden thai tho Greeks would probably havo ascribed it to a visitation from the gods. But, giventhis inand no doubt 1 there havo been greater demands ihado on the credulity of an,audiencc—tho rest follows'smoothly enough. That Rosalind shouli elect to follow her father into esile; that to avoid molestation sho-should'go'dressed as a man,, and that she 'should take her cousin, Celia, with her, aro all events .within easy range of probability.' If .was a particularly happy fdea to niako Touchstorio one of th<> 'party; had he beenleft behind somo excellent comedy would, have been lost. Onco in the forest tho Rosalind of Miss Brayton makes tho' most'of the many changing situations of which she is a part. In her boy's costume sho looks her part '.to- admiration: But sho has more than outward advantages. Sho is bright, 1 buoy-' ant, witty, resourceful, piquant and charming —perhaps as near as any actress of this "fenera-tion-is-'likely to get to the Rosalind that Shakespoare drew. That a character with so much individuality, initiative; and confidence •in herself should havo been created three centuries ago goes to show that the feminist movement is much older in England than most peoplo are acoustomed to believe." Apart from'' Rosalind, tho characters in "As You Liko It" aro 'interesting, for varied reasons, no one being given unduo prominenco over the other. Mr. Oscar Ascho takes tho part of Jaq'ues, a much lighter one, of course ( than any lie has yet played here. Ho earned a hearty round of applause for his unaffected; ■and easy (and thorcforo, tho more, impressiM: rendering of ,th'o "Seven!' Ages" speech;' and>at; any time.that.ho was':on tho stago his fino voice and diction made his linos a pleasuro to listen to. Otherwise his.interpretation of tho parti was and more'bucolic lines' than ono has-been accustomed to associate with tho character. Moro.than a hint of tho mannerism of Christopher Siv creeps into the interpretation. It is a touch.of self-repetition, almost the first Mr.- Ascho-has given us. Tho Touchstono' of Mr. .Athol Fordo was-a good pieco of work; every,point was mado with in•tclligcuco'. and clearness, and with genuine, unforced.humour. Particularly clever and entertaining were his scenes with tho shepherds in the second act, and with Audrey in tho third. As Orlando, Mr. Lan Penny might havo shown moro animation, and his portrait was rather lacking in colour. It would have been easy also to imagine a banished duko with- more verve and less prcachihess than Mr. Tvay Souper brought to bear on- the part., In other respects the characterisation was, inadequate, though tho all-round support accorded . tho principals was not quite of the same order of merit-as obtained in ''Tho' Taming of tho 'Shrew." Tho quaint old shepherd of Mr, '.Caleb' Porter was a notable figure, and ono 'that stood out by sheer forco of its able elocution from, a number of other figures. ,

It.' Tho late Augustin.Daly used'to tell -the following- story:—"Fleury, onco tho greatest of -French comedians, when in Ins glory under 'the Empire, consented to play a part of but 'bU6'>Eceiley>a}id.in':which he had but five words to speak—'Madame, your petition is. granted. $' ; was M 'that •of an old seigneur, to, whom an appeal.is made by a poor, woman whoso lms.band:isi'itudor arrest upon their wedding day. '.Floury deemed' to listen to her, at. first with the'indifEerenco with which a nobleman usually receives tho applications of, such rudo\ and ignorant peasants. Then all at once, struoy with'tho' dignity of her manner and sentiments', ho fixed his eyes upon her, and, whilo continuing to listen, as. if by on instinctive almost'involuntary movement his ;hand was' raised by degrees to his,hat,.which ho lowered before'her as if mechanically. When tho-Wifo was dono speaking, the' seigneur was m tho attitude of respectful obeisance. Tho -panto--mimo was so true, so delicate—it expressed sb naturally tho feeling of respect and surprise at finding the woman sa. supener to what sho secmed-that the cifect was electrical, and 'Fleury was greeted with tho -most'tumultuous applause..-.'Tho stock actor, who usually played tho'part, exclaimed: 'See what refutation will do. Fleury gets three rounds ot applausd for just-taking off his hat, whilo I iiover get a hand-aud I don't believe that an oH seigneur would take off his hat to ft peasant woman, anyhow.'"

Miss Maud Allan on Dancing. Before members of the O.P. Club, in London recently, Miss Maud ,AUan read an interesting paper on "Tho Attainable Ideal of Dancing,'' in- the course, of 'which, she said: "Dancing is. the spontaneous expression of the spiritual state. Of course, by dancing 1 raoah natural dancing, not tho torturing and tortured contortions ,ot' tho schools, but tho movements ovoked by, and" which sock to give expression to {he imperious commands of one's own nature —movements which interpret, tho force, • and even the philosophy, of our own individual emotions. In".such movements the body flics to meet tho thoughts of tho soul, and seeks to give them interpretation in the insistant eloquence of unconsidered gesture.' What is tho corollary? Why, just this. 'If tho emotions aro wrong tho'uance will.be wrong; if they are artiScialt: the' dance 'will be artiiicial; and if they are'noble and sweet, the dance will bo noble and sweet beyond all powers of .description.- Dancing is not an acquired, it-is a spontaneous, art; revealing, .perhaps, ; more than anv other, the temperament of . the dancer. Without 1 that uudefinablo quality'..which ' is called temperament, the danco is meaningless. Just as some musicians have been-'known'to swamp their.art under difficulties of exertion, so the modern ballet has. distorted, sprained, and disorganised dancing. It;-'-.elevates and elaborates technique' until natural graco is' uwiuiipsd—utterly swamped. . . Tho Greeks; in tho period when dancing was at its highest and purest, danced in the .open- air, in the glades, 'in tho: groves, and their .n|ovcmonts were an unconscious reflection of their, siirj roundings." . '' , \ /

"Sherlock' Holmes." . ' - The announcement'that William Gillette, tho famous American actor and dramatist,' is about to retire/recalls his wonderful-impersonation of Sherlock Holmes in Loudon eight years ago. Gillette is noted in real life for that coolness in oxciting moiuouts which ho displayed on tho stage in tho character of the great _ detective. When Gillette, at Frohman's request', had; prepared '. his ; stage vorsion of tho. horo-detectivc, ho left the manuscript in the possession of his secretary, who'was . staying in, tho Baldwin Hotel, in\San Francisco. This hotel was-burned down, many.lives wero lost,, and tho secretary barely escaped with his life, being obliged to leavo tho manuscript- in tho burning building. Tho moment he realised what had happoned ho rushed to tho Palace Hotel,\whero. Gilletto was stopping. It .was nearly .three' o'clock in tho inorning when he gained admission to the playwright's -.apartments,",-';rind excitedly, told him that tho result of their -hard'-work was in ashes. Tho stage dotectivo.looked up from his pillows in his quiet wny, and. characteristically asked, "Is this hotel on lire ?"-'"No, indeed," said the secretary. "Well," como'and tell mo all about it in the morning.". ■ ,

NotCS. ,\ "\;'. '.' ';■■' Berlin-has a chorus girl—or rather, to be exact ' a ballet mistress and danccr-r-who but recently retired on a. pension, after being in the ballet of tho Koyul ■ Opera for sixty-fivo years. She is Fraulein Carlottn Braun, and her dancing entertained the-fnther and grandfather of Emperor-William, as-well as that ruler, who granted her a pension. It is said that this remarkable.woman'-was.loth' to abandon her activities—which involved, tho teaching of young women:who have ;bocome'and arc to become prima doiinas—but she .retired as gracefully as she had.. performed, and tho young of her profession may find in her career another example of the supremacy of art and the ephcmorality of mero youth., , ~-. Albert Chevalier, tho comedian, tolls of: ah amusing conversation ho overheard in tho old Lyceum Theatre, in London. Ho-was sitting in the Stalls, enjoying ono of Sir Henry Irying's famous scones, when ho becomo conscious of an unusual amount of whispering proceeding from his left. .'. Tho iuterruptors word : two atylislily-dreased-'young- .'-ladies;'' • "Quito : " toonice, isn't hof said one, referring to Sir

Henry. "Oh, quito moro than too,, nice!" answered lior companion. . "Only doesn't it' strike you—a little weakness in tho knees?" "Weakness!" retorted her friend. "My dear girl; that's his 'pathos." " . On Saturday last Bland Holt revived "One of the-Best", at the Theatre Royal, Sydney. A Sydney, paper states,that Miss Betty.Ohls made , her final 'appearaiico on tho stogo in' Wellington, and; that sho and her husband ,(Mr. Percy M'Snade) are., to proceed' to America, where they will take'up ranch lifo in the .West; . Itjis a'for cry from-"Jack and Jill" to bull-beef I rcarini;. • ■'■. "The Merry Widow's" London run has.just stopped, after extending for over, G7B performances, fto bo exact.' Tho last:'night was a big occasion; large premiums wore paid for hooked seats, jand tho queue for'tho unrc-. served parts (evening''performance)' l began; to. assemble soon after'daybreak! Except for: short holidays,- the simo' . principals—Lily' Elsie,. Joseph Coyne,, and- Robert' Bvett—wero?in! : the; cast all through (the long voyage.' K; I '''..'.;'. At. latest advices, "Tho Flag . Lieutenant"., Company had i revived "Sherlock Holmes" 1 in'. Melbourne, with iMr. Thomas .Kingston.:as Sherlock,.Mr., Harry Plimmer as James Larri-' bee,, and Mr. • Grogan M'Mohou , as. Professor Moriarty., On- Saturday might last, tho company was to; havoi revived "Tho Silver King,", with Mr. G.. S. Titheradgo as tho King.':. This is tho company which is booked to play ; the Christmas < season -in- Wellington.