THE THEATRE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1091, 1 April 1911, Page 9

THE THEATRE.

Tho World's a theatre; the Earth a 6tage.—Ueywood. (Bt Stlvius.) "Sovcn Days." "Seven Days," Avery Hopwood's cheerful but of laughable nonsense, will ho presented by the Hugh Ward Company at tho Opera House to-night. It is not necessary to point out here that this is the Hugh J. Ward, of whom the littlo children dream pleasantly, and who, 'blending a littlo of tho black magic of his art into the talent of a modern Santa Clans, said "Presto, pass!" and 10, Wellington was assured a Children's Hospital. This is that very he, in good sooth. "Seven Days" is reported to be a great laugh-getter, without imposing any strain on tho mental'machinery. The company still has its Grace Paiotta, the. charming Viennese comedienne, and'bright hunch of smile-sowers that were hero six months ago, 'when "Tho Girl from Rector's" made such a stir in the village. "Tho Twelve-Pound Look." J. M. Barrio's latest play is quaintly entitled "Tho Twelve-Pound Look." It was presented in Now York early in February, with Miss Ethel Barrymore as the top-liner. "It is (says tho "New York Post") a bitter satire on the egotism of man, in this case a British 'cad,' Harry Sims, played by Charles Dalton, whose innato vulgarity is forced upon tho audience at. the opening of tho playlet by tho rehearsal with Mrs. Sims in court dress of his receiving tho honour of a 'city' knighthood. Mrs. Sims (Mrs. Sam Sothern), about to become 'my lady,' is the second wife, the first Mrs. Sims having suddenly disappeared fourteen years, before, and having failed to defend a divorce, suit. 'Sims calls in a .typist to. answer, to many congratulations ho has received upon his approaching knighthood. She is received by Mrs. Sims, who bears signs, in spito of tho richness of her court dress, the magnificence of. her jewels, and the« luxury with which sho is surrounded, of lifo with Harry Sims having been exceed-ingly-trying. The typist, Kate (Miss Barrymore), proceeds to work, and forestalls Mrs. Sims in what she is about to dictate. Sho knows tho business so well: she even knows that tho future Sir Harry wishes to lay the blame of his accepting a knighthood on his wife, who is anxious to become 'mv lady.' ' . "The future.Sir Harry appears.' He recognises in Kate his first wife.. Left ,alone with her, ho demands, to. know who.the man in the case was. To his discomfiture he discovers at last that there was no man. Kate tells him she could no longer stand him, 'his fat dinners', his fat diamonds, and his fat friends.'.-So sho left him to go and live with real human beings who were not always talking of their success and surrounding themselves with vulgar proofs of it. She saved enough to buy a £12—that.is, a 60dol. —typewriting machine, and sho has found happiness with it; a healthy, contented expression in her face which, as", sho had beforo told Mr. : " Sims,'was tho result' of working foi - her own living." ' Stags Doings In London. . "A Woman's Letter to date, February 17, deals with various recent plays in London, and more especially with A. E. W. Mason's "The Witness for tho Defence." Our lady correspondent remarks:. "All the opportunities fall to tho.'.lp£ I ,qf Miss Ethel. Irving, who is -sliof tljj.,: to.'^tbm',,•Austrajia;,-; who wins the blue ribbon of the stage by a star impersonation in Mr. George Alexander's Theatre. 'All that Matters,' a new play by. Mr. M'Evoy, was put on at jthe Hayniarkot by Mr. Trench last ■week, and I saw it on tho second night. This is more original than most plays one. sees, beinr; set entirely in the country, on the coastlino of Dorsetshire— tho AVcssex of Mi-. Thomas Hardy. It is' rather a clumsy plot, but it includes some lino lines, as when, after Shakespeare's manner, an old shepherd sums up women as 'mostly wonders and terrors.' Miss Horniman, who owns a repertoire company in Manchester, has a three weeks' season at the Coronet, and put on that rara avis on our boards, Sheridan's^'Critic— I had not seen it for''twenty.; years—and.. tho h'ouso received the clever interpretation with shrieks of laughter. Sir ■ Herbert' Troo is devoting, all this and the coining season to Shakespearean productions, so that our visitors when they shall arrive from the four corners of tho earth will find that our immortal dramatist is given pride of • place."—"Sydney Herald." Avery Hcpwood. Avery Hopwood who, with Mary R. llineheart, wrote "Seven Days"—the farce to bo presented by the Hugh Ward Company at tho Opera House this evening—is the son of a Cleveland butcher. As a boy ho was not considered "good fun" by those of his own ago, preferring, as he did, reading and study to baseball and swimming, and meditation in tho woods rather than "painting the town" on Saturday nights. One day he told his mother that ho was to become a writer. Sho believed in him, and shifted tho old family walnut desk from the parlour to Avery's own room. > He graduated from the high school, and plunged into writing as a vacation joy—writing eight hours a day, -and reading eight hours, and sleeping tho remaining eight. When autumn came "ho took the time" to enter college, and one of the professors soon declared that the youth wroto "Addisonian English"; but tho "Fresines" sriiiled at "Hoppy,". and all the fraternities declined to admit him to membership'. They all admitted him to bo a fine fellow, but said they couldn't tolerate such an intellectual strain and didn't care to have his melancholy figuro prowling about the "frat" houses. "You don't know him yet; he's the brightest fellow in Cleveland," said, one, urging the election of his friend; but tho voto was dost. Hopwood soon'went to Ann Arbor, joined the_ fraternities, soon became a favourite in his class at tho university, and attracted considerable attention by his facile pen. During vacation, ho returned to Cleveland, and worked for two weeks on a newspaper. Then lie suddenly resigned. "Wish you'd stay with us," said tho editor. "Can't' do it," replied the reporter, "I need tho money, but newspaper Work is fascinating, and I'm afraid if I-don't quit now I'll waste time here when I should be writing plays." This was tho first time that the news had been announced to' tho world; Avery Hopwood had decided to become a playwright. Everyone around the office smiled, everyone except the editor. Now ho affixes to all notices of Hopwood's plays a paragraph declaring that "this author was a reporter for this paper." Ho says he "discovered" Avery Hopwood. His first play was "Clothes," based on Carlyle's "Sartor Rcsartus." It was accepted by Manager Brady after a slight doctoring by Channing Pollack. It proved to be a tremendous success, and is still a stock favourite. "The Powers That Be" followed, hut "The Lion and the Mouse," which il: closely resembled, was produced first, playing havoc with the Hopwood production, although two companies are scheduled for it in the coming season. "This Man and This \V«mnn" was written for Miss Carlotta Nillson, and produced by her in Febniarv. 1909. It was not counted a New York success, although it. ha? been played successfullv on the road. After the nrcmiero . at Maxine Elliott's theatre in New

Vol'];, tin late Civile Fitch, who Ikul I just witnessed the play, siiid to mo:— "If 1 had written it, the critic* would | .say it was my masterpiece." )» No- j vembor, TOOL', tamo "Seven Days/' written in collaboration with M-iry Roberts Kiuoharl,. and it ran for two seasons. Vet llopwond is only twentyeight years of age. He hasn't "wasted time as a reporter." In tr.ilh, he hasn't, wasted any lime. Friends try to persuade him from work, hut seven days a week he begins to write at nine o'clock in the morning, and following the rule of Scott, does not permit himself to cease until five in the evening, not even "hesitating" for lunch. Yet he says that writing is but a detail in his workday. Plots, situations, and even dialogue are carefully in mind before he touches pencil to paper. Avery Hopwood's ambition is to eclipse the record of. Somerset Maughan, who had at one time five plays running simultaneously in London. Largest Theatre in the World. The Adelphi Theatre, Sydney, will be opened on Wednesday, April 5, and an interesting ceremony in Australia's theatrical history will then be recorded. This edifice will be absolutely the largest theatre (not hall) in the world, and the youngest of the Australian malingers (Mr. Geo. Marlow) will thus have -the honour of directing an edifice which, will, probably, become a, Mecca of melodramatic people. The Adelphi will comfortably seat over 3000 people, and will bo easily the most up-to-dato house of entertainment in Australia, for it has been constructed upon the latest models and regulations as recently framed by the Sydney City Council, which were only brought up-to-date just before tlio plans for the Adelphi were submitted them. A Fighting Actross. Miss Margaret Illington, who is playing at a local theatre, showed her lighting mettle on the night of January last in Cincinnati (U.S.A.), when she and her husband-manager, Edward J. Bowes, were on their way home from the theatre. .She. and Bowes were walking down Vino Street toward their hotel, when a young man" passed them, jostled Bowes, and then turned and winked at the actress. Promptly a gloved hand swung a pretty "right to the face" and ho staggered back. "How dare you strike my husband— I won't have it," cried Miss Illington, and she darted from her husband's side and began to slap the young man's face. He hacked away from her, but sho fallowed him up. Then her husband came along, crying, "Margaret, let mo take care of him," and ho sent the youth to the ground for the whole count. "What do you moan by getting into this?" asked her husband. "Can'tyou let mo take care of this fellow?" "I'm not going to allow anybody to harm you, Edward," she answered. By this time the young man had got to his feet, and Miss Illington "shooed" him away, and he went. "Blue Bird" for Australia. "I am showing my confidence in tho Australian public by giving them tho great Maeterlinck production, 'Blue Bird,' a very beautiful thing, with tho finest example in stago lighting that I have ever seen. It has been an enormous success in London, Mr. Herbert Trench, one of tho great disciples of the advanced drama, is going to cend it out hero with every care, and havo it reproduced herewith the samo cast as in London. This is tho' piece that did tho greatest business yet done at tho New Theatre —tho millionaires' theatre —in New York."—Recent interview with Mr. J. C. Williamson. Notes. ■■' Mr Geo. Marlow's dramatic Company (opening in "The Bad Girl of tho Family") commenced a tour of New Zealand in Auckland on Monday last. The melodrama mentioned has been a success wherever produced. The company includes Misses Ada Guilford, Ida Gresham, Adelc Kelly, Lily Wiseman, ,and Messrs. H. J. Bentley, C. R. Stanford, T. Curran, P. V. Scully, and T. E. Tilton. Lucia Lottie Collins, a daughter of Lottie Collins, who made such a sensation in "Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay!" about twenty years ago, is at present appearing at tho Sydney Tivoli. I have received a letter from Mr. Henry Kolkcr, written during Ids seventh week at Chicago, where he was starring under Henry Savage's management in a ne'V comedy entitled "The Great Name." . Mr. Kolker mentions that he is negotiating for another tour of Australia and New Zealand, to commence about April next.