THE THEATRE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 764, 12 March 1910, Page 9

THE THEATRE.

The World's a theatre;-the-. Earth a stage.-Hcywood. .

(By Sylvius.)

"Arms and the Man."

At .l!fst Shaw has been produced in Sydney, and. from all accounts Sydney I'kcil him. At all events, one of the ablest critics in Australasia stated they would grow- to love good plays if such dialogue as "Shaw's was served up occasionally. Unfortunately, there is only one-bhaw but still there is Barrie, Maeterlinck, Sudennanu, Somerset, Matighan, I'itch, and Galsworthy to trade with. To who.have, not read "Arms and the Man something ' about this queerest of clever plays'will be of interest. The "Sydney Morning "Herald," in writing of the Play (which was well received), says:— Major Petkoff belongs- to one of the richest families in Bulgaria. The Petkolls had a library ami electric bells. •He is an amiable small weed of a man, very much under the thumb of his wife, Catherine Petkoff (Miss Susie Vaughan). Major Sergius Saranoff is' betrothed to their daughter, Kaina (Miss Katherine «, i' • i '" ot tlle romantic heroics of the knight errant typeHn his good points "}? ls an exaggerated reduction to absurJW ot the mediaeval chivalry of which the German Emperor is the most honour-' able example of the' present, day. Sergius never does anything without stopping to wonder whether it was ■ heroism or cowardice or which of his'sis different natures was responsible for it. He never talks out of heavy platitudes. His very walk-is. an epigram. To .the end or.the play, even when he has been most thoroughly found out, he cannot open'his mouth without slipping into heroics. Ha is- a magnificent soldier', but a pure fool at war. The only man in the whole play who gets anything done in the.way of moving brigades about or practical performance of any kind is a little Swiss mercenary. Captain Bluutschli (Mr. Julius Knight), who was fighting with the Servians for experience. When the two i ,1 s ,i ave ma(l<3 il ' "P Bluutschli spends halt the last, act writing orders to help Petkofr move a brigade from one town to another. "Are you sure I could do nothing?" asks Petkoff.from the lounge in another corner. "You could stop in-' terrupting, Paul," suggests his wife. Kama is a romantic little fraud of a schoolgirl—until she too is found out.' Sne. is bubbling over with all the sort of speeches that she ougfit to make in her "higher love" for Sergius. The only person who finds her in tho least, natural is her "chocolate-cream soldier" from Switzerland. All. the time thatthe grand. Sergius is making love in heroics to her, he is flirting with Louka (the servant)— also in heroics. '''I am surprised at you,"Louka says. "I am surprised at mv- ' self," says. Sergius. "Oh, .sir, will you let me go?" she implores. "No," he savs, firmly. "Well, then, stand back, where ive can not be seen," she says, promptly, [n the end, of course, Louka gets Ss'i'»ius—he can be played like a piano; she : has only to touch the right note and she san get' out of him. exactly the : epigram . [hat she wants. Nikola, the elderly man- . •errant, whom she was to have married, , fias the soul .of a servant, as she' tells i him. His ambition is to, set up a small J shop,-and..he prefers to have her as a 1 rich customer rather than as a wife.

The Fading ■ Melodrama. I luiTe frequently found good and sufficient cause to inveigh against the melodrama. that is served up as .serious stage work to allegedly intelligent audiences, au.t it is with no small satisfaction that, I have noticed in Wellington a gradual Wailing in. the taste for the atrocious.sanipl.es, tliat we are/asked .to; aecopt' 1 ; the:' London successes'.""! Of course'they are, as a rule, nothing of : the kind."- .- They may have had a brief career in the third-rate towns of ' the English provinces,. or „ briefer career at some obscure East End house, but there 1 are certain statistical records always iivailable.about London successes _ and the very morbid horrors, that are piled up -in the choicest of modern melodramas are never by any .chance among then:. It the modern melodramatist could write, such plays as tho "Silver King,",'"The Two Orphans," the Boucicauit >plays, or even thatv.stamp' of play: whicli .Cecil Kaleigh .usually. lias a; hand in-writing—tlie Drury Lane dramathere might be some justification for - its existence. • At. present there is none. It t is dying a slow death in,'the Dominion. Time was when at least every other company touring played melodrama—it is not. so to-day. Tho public can get all the melodrama it wants crisply acted in a crystallised form at the, picture, shows. The crude reality 1 indifferently or really badly done no longer appeals to the reasonable mind. - Turning, over the leaves of the "Glasgow : . Weekly Mail" a day or. two ago I chanced oil'an, interview with Mr. Geo. Grossmith, in which life said:— "Melodrama' does'not occupy tho place to-day that it did twenty years ago. The public do'not want sensations so much as amusements. Possibly they have at last discovered that life itself is sufficiently melodramatic,' and that the theatre should be a place of amusement where sanctuary may be had from the harrowing and sordid details of everyday life, and where, for a few hours, they may be made ' to laugh instead of cry." . .

Success of Miss (Catherine Grey. /l'he new American emotional actress, Katherine. Grey, who has been ap*pearing in Sydney, in "The Lion and the Mouse/ has'decidedly taken a strong hold on the affections of the . Sydney playgoing public. Although her face, with its large, soft, brown eyes, and sensitive mouth,- is of a serious type when in repose, . it will suddenly dimfrlc with the merriest, of. laughter when her s&ise of humour is aroused,. and in this particular connection Miss Grey says she always thanks Heaven for her Irish grandmother. Amongst her treasures which adorn her room is a Billiken, which smiles encouragingly dt her, and slio explains, when looking at him: "He makes fue laugh and thats one of the chief things, in lite. Considering the wide experience Miss .Grey has had as a dramatic artist in the big centres and through-the States ot America, . her npinion regarding the S .-1? e I s S'° rt , 11 ]istMin fr to.' To begin with, she thinks that a play ought always to be ennobling. "One ought not to go to the theatre to sec horrible,- sordid hings. acted, that, make one feel, miserable for days. A play can be very strong, and yet not-given over : wholly to soidid proceedings." Comparing Sarah Bernhardt and Duse, Miss Grey says: "Of ■ill the great artists I have seen, Duse c me , m ° st Sarah Bern'hardt-the dmne Sarah-is, of course, a marvel, and e ™ e J a JS , saying to myself : What genius!' What a golden voice!' Jout 1 am not moved in the same wav ti S u an L T hen matching Duse. With but™! ™ my brGath in wonder, r i Eee > as 't-were, the wheels work--1 know how they.work. With Duse i can see nothing;-1 can only feel. .. . of all" ca " tho Safest art

"The Lottery Man." <•' Th ? Wellington ■ pnblic' will He 'inCT . r ? ad the P in "llich Miss Helen Lowell (Miss. Hazy in "Mrs. AJiggs ) has come into her own in New S^ s th 6 "Theatre Magazine" Wlule thero are women in other parts of the globe'who are hurling stones and carrying banners and refusing to eat in order to prove at least, tho equality of. the sexes, there arc others hero who have taken to writing farces that entitle them to a vote by. the common, consent of the American public. The latest is 'The Lottery Man/ by Rida Johnson Young, the piece is airily and happily played. A newspaper man has borrowed money from his employer, a friend, and has lost it on tips. He conceives a plan whereby he can pay it back. . Ho is "told at first that his scheme is preposterous and impracticable, but lie carries .his point after much argument, and "the newspaper announces a lottery for a husband, describing, tho young man as in every way desirable. The sale of the papers with coupons jumps to enormous proportions. Every, spinster-in the land is buying and . hoarding. Among the visitors to his humble homc'j.s a widow attended by lief maid, whose duties are to attend to her personal care, for she is seeking artificial beauty ami youth and needs constant attention. This'maid is a spinster of remarkable aspectsevere, acidulous, thin to a degree—and of the type known to an appreciating world, in Miss Easy of 'Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch.' In ooint of fact, she

is Miss Hazy in so far as it is Miss Helen Lowell who is now playing tho part. This amazing spinster accidentally drinks a bit too much on the occasion oi this visit, but her slight and unaccustomed vacuity and uncertainty are conveyed so dclicately' by tho elevation of a brow or the depression of a corner of . «uul in other iuimitably droll ways that it is .diverting and in , do degree anything cJso than comical. Later on, her exercise with the dumb-bells in an almost unnecessary scene is not so diverting. She draws the prize. Ine .woman who wins in reality is a wealthy girl who has never had a suitor. I.he newspaper man proposes to her on the spot, but she refuses him, reminding him that he is not eligible because he is for sale. She, however, secretly buys coupons. This girl, is Janet Beechor, who would be rich with, out the millions scribed. to her in tho table of tho play. She plays the part charmingly. It turns out that the spinster is not in rightful possession of tho coupons that decide the matter. She had found them. The old maid's change ot-manner and the airs she puts on when she feels sure of the safety of her claim and the reliability of the newspaper offer furnish amusement. The attempt of the lottery man to buy off is diverting. Tho house is besieged. In entering he has his coat torn into shreds. He lias to make a speech- to tho ladies from the window, begging the vociferous crowd. to 'be gentlemen."*'"

J.C.W.'s Easter Attractions. .' The Australasian attractions of the J. C. Williamson management for Easter are now definitely.arranged as follows:—Sydney: Theatre Royal, the grand opera, season, the feature-of which will be the introduction to Australia of Puccini's "Madame Butterfly"; Her Majesty's, the pantomime extravaganza, "Aladdin." Melbourne:-Her Majesty's, the New Comic Opera Company, with "A.Country Girl'"; Princess Theatre, the Nellie Stewart Company with "Wluvt Every Woman Knows." . Adelaide: Theatre Koyal, the lvnight-Grey Company with "The Lion and the Mouse.!', Perth: Her Majesty's," the Royal Comic Opera Company with' ."The' Merry Widow." Wellington (N.Z.): Opera House, a specially organised company with "Peter, Pan." It is .noteworthy that the last-mentioned Bai;rie play has just reached its 600 th performance, at the Duke of York's, London. This total does not include the. number of representations of the delightful stage story in the English provinces, in America, and elsewhere., Notes. Henry Kolker, the popular leading man with the Margaret. Anglin Company when' they were out in Australia some little time ago has . evidently gone back to America with a very ..warm corner in his neart-for .this.part of the world. During \a recent : tour • with Madame' Nazimova, he was interviewed. by a representative of the Kansas City "Post," and gave expression to an enthusiastic opinion of Australia and Australians in terms of warm appreciation. He began by say-, mg that he had never known , a more open-hearted, hospitable set of people than tho Australians. They were not,in such a hurry as the Americans, and they take their time to enjoy their amusements. Then he dwelt 011 the fact that, the actors out here are, regnrde'd as, artists. and are given the entree to any special functions which may be -in progress during their stay in tho respective cities. As regarding the stage itself, Mr./ Kolker considers that, it is not so well, developed as in America, but it is closer to the people, and tile artists receive a consideration .and courtesy, seldom. extended to them in America.

Knight is earning laurels rapidly m these days. I found him ai ms very best as "Eat" Reresby in "Tho Breed of the Treshams.'\ In Sydney, where he has not been so popular as in ■ e T. Zealand, 'he' received unqualified praise l for -his Beady-Money ■ •■Ryder in "The Lion at the latest, ill'. in-! the- "Sydney Morning Herald,has been -'ca'ught saying that Mr. Ivnight has never : played better than he did as Corporal Gregory Brewster , in Conan Doyle's dramatic playlet, "A Straggler of '15.". '

Sir. George Willoughby and his . company, now beginning a tour of Australia .under the Clarke-Mcynell management, seem tq„hi\ve -scored ..a,hit in.Melbourne, where Avop'tlfin Grossmitli's farcical comedy, "The, Night of the Party," was played last-Saturday week'at the Prin- , cess's Theatre. . The party is one to which a valet l-ids.Jiis, friends .welcome .at the rooms of. his'\ni'aster,one Frank' Frayne, i and it is abruptly ended by' the unexI pected return of l r rayne himself. Mr. I David. Janies,-who appears as .the valet [ (Wcedoii" Grossinith's part, in the London production), has acquired" vast 'experience in comedy under the training' of' his father, the celebrated David James, who - first played, Perkin. Middlewick,. the butterman in "Our Boys." The comedian's name in private life is David James' Belasco, aud he js a' cousin of David Belasco,' the -wen-known' American playwright" and manager;.;'' Mr. i.Willoughby plays/theu'oje : of 'a ;butler- in' "The Night of the-Partyj?V arid others' in the. cast ■ are - Miss . Violet Paget,. 'Miss , Mab Paul, Miss Amy Willard, and. Messrs." Arthur Cornell and Harry Overton..