THE THEATRE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 828, 28 May 1910, Page 9

THE THEATRE.

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

(Bv Sylvius.) The Floel Carmen. The novel of Meiimeo and Bizet's famous opera has made the name of Carmen known to all tho world, but few suspect that tho gipsy heroino had a rial existence. Recently in Paris one .Uintz Naciusiika, wife of the journalist, Leon Roger, and a gipsy, declared that she is the great-grand-daughter of Carmen. Xadushka is a singer, and she lias appeared as Carmen in the opera many times. As the opera brought her bad luck she has given up singing in it. The woman states that some. Spanish Gipsies poisoned her for playing tlio character, and ihat her lifo has been threatened several times.

lliis is the story told by Nadushka: "Carmen was not the name of my great-grandmother. Sho was called Ar Mintz, which in our language means 'the tigress,' or 'indomitable.' Tho change from Ar Miniz to Carmen was made by Mcrimee. This woman's family name was Xadushka, and her tribe camped in tlio district near Gibraltar, living the lifo of smugglers, and living it successfully. "Carmen (let us keep to this name) trod as a girl the highways and byways, leaving shreds of her clothing on tho roadside brambles and 'hardening her feet on tho rocky mountain paths. Sho loved adventures and liberty, the night marches on the hills, and the life of sudden ■. terrors and abundant leisure. While still a girl she married a young gipsy of tho tribe, Yaleo, undoubtedly tho original of Merimee's blind Garcia. He was afterwards killed in a fight with the Customs officers.

"Did Carmen over make cigarettes at Soville? 1 believe not. She ha cud cities, with their lack of air and liberty. She would hardly have submitted to quiet, regular work. Carmen's meeting with, Don Jose was much simpler than that described by lleriniee. Arrested as a smuggler in Tarifa, she- was placed in the city gaoh A kind brigadier let her escape. Gipsies are always grateful, and tho brigadier was 'a good-looking fellow. "This brigadier called himself Don Jose Navarro, but it was an assumed name. Tho gipsies called him Issar Abgoa, or ' tho stranger who brings misfortune.' He was of good Navarresc family, and was intended for tho Church. Violent, and of looso habits, ho enlisted in. tho cavalry, but was always a' bad soldier, quarrelsome and brutal.

"Becoming the lover of Carmen, who was then a widow, Jose tried to treat his proud' sweetheart as ho had treated the mountain maids of Navarre. Then, too, he loved the city and its insipid pleasures, while tho gipsy adored life iu the open, with all its* liberty. At first Jose gave in. Deserting tho ranks, ho became a smuggler and something of a bandit as well. Tho new life lasted hardly a year—a year full of quarrels and wretchedness for both, and chiefly duo to Jose's jealous nature. "Had he cause to bo jealous? Yes and no. A gipsy girl never loved two men at once, and as long as she loved her soldier, Carmen was faithful to him. But her love weakened before his sinister temperament, and it is possible that sho lost her heart to another. Furious at believing himself betrayed,: Jose tried vainly to.' intimidate- the gipsy; Finally lie killed her in a jealous frenzy. "Cki-.micii had a daughter. Tho girl married Djarko, a wandering singer, by vr!:;i:ii she had several sons and a little daughter whom they called Thicria. This grand-daughter of Carmen fell in love with an Englishman of the Gibraltar garrison, and their daughter was Mintb Nadushka.

"This soldier was a gallant fellow. Forced to leave Spain and enter tho Indian service, lie entrusted Thiocla and JUintsa to a relative living 'in Franco in one of the channel ports. He went away'to return no more, being killed by tho Indian rebels.

"lhiecla and her child then returned to Gibraltar, whero they were tenderly received by old Djarko. "Thiecla was my mother. My father's name was Harry Giesharu. My grandfather Djarko taught me to sill!;. L commenced my career as an opera singer as Carmen. I will never sin" the part any more."

A New GJio Cho San. The London "Standard" ha 3 the following to say of Madame Fanny .Moody's Cho Cho San in "Madam Butterfly" :—'.'To Mine. Fauny Aloofly must ho - acceded the extraordinary drawing power of this work at- tho Lyric. Her pathetic picture of the hapless little Japanese lady has long been considered one of the most aj,pealing that has oyer been seen on any stage in London. If' would bo impossible not to bo impressed by her performance in any language, bnt being in tho vernacular and delivered with a clearness of diction, accompanied by gestures of infinite eloquence, its effect becomes irresistible to tho English-speaking music-lover. The childish joy of Butterfly in her love, hex touching faitli in 'her loneliness, and her nobility of race in the hour of tragedy were all expressed by Mme. Fanny 'Moody with a verisimilitude that drove homo the vividly human note of Belasco's story. The English prima donna was enthusiastically applauded at the fall of <)ach curtain."

"The O'Flynn." "Tho O'Flynn," an Irish drama by Justin Huntly M'Carthy, who wrote "If I AVere King," is tho latest vehicle selected by Sir Beerbohm Tree for the exhibition of his powers both as a romantic actor and a producer. Of the play "Tho ltcview of Poviows" says: — Mr. Justin Huntley M'Carthy must be congratulated upon his highly original idea of creating an original play by carefully compacting together tho leading incidents in various other plays, giving it a new name, and serving it lip as a new melodrama. It is a capital idea and capablo of immense development. Why not pillage all Shakespearo's comedies in order to build up out of the plunder an original drama all your own? By dint of purloining bits of witty dialogue from one play, a dramatic situation from another, part of the plot from a third, we might soon supply the Bopcrtoirc Theatre with brand-new masterpieces every lino of which and every idea had the hallmark of some woll-known classic.

Tlie O'Klynn is Sir Herbert Tree; in appearance a envious cross' between a •troubadour and Oliver Cromwell; in character the typical stage Irishman, upon whom Bernard Shaw has placed his ban ; and in adventure like one of Alexander Dumas's heroes. The play rather smacks of "Charles O'.Malley" and other of Lever's romances. The scene is laid in Ireland in 1G9I), just before the Baltic of the Boyne. Tho O'Flynn, an Irish soldier of fortune, whose ancestral castle is in ruins, and, worse still, in the hands of tho bailiffs, is induced to join the side of King .lames for love of my liady Bcncdotta, a wealthy and beautiful Irish heiress, who is passionately devoted to. the Htuarls. She is in love with and onf.agcd to one Lord Scdgcmoutli, a

dnubie-dyed traitor, who is worming his way into the confidence of .Tames in cyder te betray him info the hands cf his enemies. Hence rivalry lietween the O'Klvnn and the villein 'Lord, in '.•.■lnch the former conies off victor everv Lime. He fights a duel while drinking punch, personals the Dutch C'onoral -w. command of a beleaguered fortress,

and then saves King James from traitors by a similar impersonation. At last, of course, the villain is killed, and the O'Flynn and his Ladv Heneaetta arc Hinging themselves into each others arms when tho curtain falls. It is a fantastic piece of rollicking run, marred only by the too flagrantly venal amours of the littlo actress, there is no need for an author to make « .voung and attractive woman so shamelessly cynical in the avowal of her readiness to sell herself pro ten, to tlio highest bidder. Some of the scenes—such as Boncdctta's comiii" downstairs, a step for a stanza, and die lnsh dance in Dublin Castle—were i-or.v pretty and effective. The capture of the Castle seemed to bo a chapter I ram the adventures of Baron Munchausen. But Sir Herbert Tree is The Ul'lynn, and Tho o'l'lvnn is the play.

-ir fr? 0 * 1 S oat stor y > s to hand from Mr. n. S. Percy. The comedian made •<he acquaintance of tho goat some time ago when he was with a touring company up in Townsville. .At the time the animal had made itself famous because of its habit of eating all tho circus and theatrical bills which appeared on the hoardings. Tho goat died eventually from a surfeit of this food. But when Mr. Percy was in Townsviilo tho goat was in excellent health, and as he was appearing in pantomime the comedian thought it ivoukl bo a very good entrance if ho rodo on to the stage on the goat's back. He tried the experiment, but the animal on reaching the footlights, took stage fright and bolted. So did the people on the stage. Then the quadruped was securely locked up in Mr. Percy's dressing room, and when it was liberated at tho close of tho performance, it was found that it had taken its revenge by demolishing its captor s straw hat.