THE THEATRE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 787, 9 April 1910, Page 9

THE THEATRE.

(Bi Sylvius.)

Tho World's a theatre; tho Earth, a stage.—Hoywood.

"Ths Arcadians." There can be no mistake about tho brilliant success of "Tho Arcadians" (says tho Melbourne "Argus" of March 28). Old favourites, in. the cast were received with; tremendous enthusiasm; new favourites established themselves with a bang.. , Most of tho whimsical story of tho play has already been told to the Melbourne public, and the audience road it on their programmes before the curtain

rose. It appears that whilo London was being built, and aeroplanes and Dreadnoughts and taxes wcro being invented, Father Time was so hustled that "the stitch in Time became chronic," and ho forgot the existence of the. Arcadians, who dwelt in their Grecian valleys, for ever young and innocent and fair. Into the bower of greenery and blossom Father Tim© suddenly stalks—a genial and merry old fellow, as portrayed by Mr. Percy Clifton, but it is a mean advantage that he takes of the-simple Arcadians when he works off on them tho crusted : jokes ho has been hoarding for three'thousand years. To make amends, ho introduces to them the latest -.thing in modernity—namely, Mr. William Cromwell, otherwise James Smith,";king of restaurant-keepers. and prince of married ■ liars in London. Of course Mr:' Smith tells a lie; it is his nature to; and his lie, creates as. much . sensation as a policeman in a two-up school—the Arcadia of Melbourne's Sunday afternoons. He is promptly dropped into tho Well of Truth, loses his lies, his whiskers, and his trousers •in ono dip, is roehristened Simplicitas, and is sent to England to convert the heathen to tho truthful and simple life. A trio of Arcadians —the new-made Simplicitas (Mr. Cromwell), Sombra (Miss Maie Sydney), and Chrysea (Miss Essie Perrin) —are. dropped out of a flash of lightning into tho Askwood Racecourse. Tho hero'and villain of tho turf—the Goad Owner (Mr. Harold Thorlcy) and- the Bad, Owner (Mr. Conway Wingfield)— are both hero; both want tho samo girl (Miss Gertrude. Gilliam);. and both (strangely enough) arc sending their horses to win.- : . Tho audience learns a fact which makes pnnting a riskier game than ever, namely, that it is tho horses which arrange how a raeo is to be'''hin,. not.the jockeys; and Sombra here reveals a .quality which would, mako her invaluable as a stipendiary, steward; she understands horse-talk, and can foretell confidently that that man-eater, The. Deuce, will win the Cup for Jack Meadows (Mr. Harold Thorley), who thereby wins one string of his double, the black-eyed Eileo'n Kavanigh (Miss Gilliam), being tho second victory promised to him. But while Smith; the caterer, unrecognised by his old acquaintances, is enjoying himself as Simplicitas, Mrs., Smith,(played by Miss Nellie Kavanagh) has her, eyo to business, and promptly hires all the Arcadjans to push business, in ,a now Arcadian Restaurant, London (in Act III), grows enthusiastic for tho Simple Life and a diet of.-nuts and;,' apples. Simplicitas, young and- blooming, male-" ing love to all the 'aristocracy of England; Mrs. Smith makes love to Simplicitas, perceiving in him tho/ tender qualities of her own old Jim in courting days. Herein there is a chance for an immense', amount ■of fooling. .Of courso Smith trips into a lie. sooner or later—his lapse is an object-lesson 'in the pitfalls awaiting husbands whomisguidedly try to explain things to their wives. So Smith' tumbles into the Well of Truth once more; Jio reappears bald:headed and side-whiskered as ( of/old; all is revealed, and the story.ends'with a "curiam" weaker- than the; rest of the play. • ' ■

Bernard Shaw' 3 Latest. :■ Tho new piece- by Mr. Bernard Shaw, "Misalliance," produced in .February at the Frohmau Repertory Theatre . in London (the Duko of York's), proves to bo not so much a play as a debate. It appears to bo very difficult'.to'.say. what it is about; it touches, upon >■ so many subjects.. According to tho/"Daily. News" critic, there aro nine 'characters. "John Tarleton is the successful manu« facturer of Tarleton's. underwear, - and is devoted to founding public .libraries and referring his listeners to one of tho hundred best books in confirmation of his opinions. He is also an amatory sentimentalist. Mrs. Tarleton is just a common-sense,, motherly, woman, admirably drawn, ,and splendidly acted by Miss Florence Haydon. Their daughter, is our old friend Gloria and Anna, with a touch of tho Suffragettes; their, son, John, "is a beefy, breezy, ordinary young business man. Then there "is Lord Summerhays; a retired Indian civil servant, a rather new type for Mr. Shaw to draw. His son, Bentlcy, is a neurasthenic, hysterical version of all tho Shaw young men. Josiah Perci.val is too much a replica -of- John Tarleton to bo quifo successful: Lina Szczepanowska, an acrobat; who' finds tho Tarleton. household too '.stuffy: because- they talk of nothing but 'lovemaking, is a new invention, and so is Julian Bakers, a half-fed clerk, who spouts crazy Socialism. • These characters talk more or less for over three hours. /What they do is of. no account, except in .tho last act." In the. view.'of tho "Daily News," ■ "Misalliance," cut down by at least a third, would bo. an exhilarating entertainment; but as it is the talk is not clever enough throughout to hold tho interest of tho audience without making, it . a trifle weary of verbal fireworks. Tho "Daily Mail" says that some of the jokes are vulgar, others speciously cheap, many aro brilliant, a few aro splendid, one Is superb—and that is the joke, the great joke, that tho British public now laughs at everything Mr.. Shaw choosos to stuff downHheir throats. But some of the dialogue, tho critic adds, was very good —much of, it brilliant satire, symbolic of the topsy-turveydoni of life and civilisation. Clearly Mr. Sliaw has been furnished with satisfactorily material for further opinions about tho critics.

Notes. Miss Ola Humphrey made her first Loudon appearance last month at the Palace in a sketch called " I Disio With. My Mother," written by Mr. Michael Morton.tho well-known playwright. Miss Humphrey, who is said to have scored a success, plays the role of Sophio Arnould, a great opera singer who had tho nobility of Franco at her feet, but was left alone on New Year's Night by men who brought her diamonds but took themselves away because they were dining with their respective mothers. She could not even pcrsviado her maid to dino with her; she, too, was dining —with her mother. In the end Sophio sat. down to dine with her mother— her dead mother's miniature. It was a charming notion, and tho littlo episode was received with every sign of sympathetic enjoyment. Miss Humphrey had excellent support from Mr. Norman Trevor, Mr. Arthur Wontner, Mr. Frank Woolfe, and Miss Jean Harness. Another actress well known in Australia, but in musical comedy, Miss Alma Barber, has secured an "engagement for a loading placo in tho now company organisod by Mr. G. 11. Workman for "The Merry Moiimchs" at tho London Savoy. Mr. Geo. Marlowe's Dramatic Com-pany,-which is to be seen in Welling, ton shortly, will nlay "Married to tlTo Wrong Man," and other plays of that class.