THE THEATRE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1108, 22 April 1911, Page 9

THE THEATRE.

The World's a theatre; tho Earth a | stage.—lleyivood. (Br Sylvius.) "The Whip." ""The. Whip" (says the Auckland "Herald"). embodies all the principles of the virtue-triumphant class of play. It is an exposition of calculating villainy that persists successfully until the. inevitable declaration that virtue must vanquish its" foes, and the handsome hero; tho callous villain, the extravagant comedian and all the other people have been allotted their paces with a conscientious regard -for convention. Hamlin hand, the heroine and her lover hurry along the same old tortuous path, with its familiar pitfalls and its manifold ambuscades, until at last the goal of wrongs-righted is attained. If there had been a murder and someone's will had gone astray "The Whip" would bo indistinguishable from the genuine Sur-rey-side'.melodrama. But it is no sixpenny edition on cheap paper. It is expensively bound, printed on good paper,' and illustrated with artistic colour-, prints, and for- that reason it will achieve success. Having accepted the hypothesis that melodrama lias a place in the.needs of the community, the authors of. "Tho Whip" have invested their work with a great deal more merit than tho story deserves. Tho basic ideas aro.hackneyed, but they are presented in a spirited fashion, tho improbabilities arc not taken from tho realms of impossibilities, the people might he.real, and their interests and ambition's.'aro.-equally convincing. The story centres .round -a -racehorse, which is ultimately ridden to victory, after the frustration of a cleverly-conceived series of schemes against the horse and its friends, and the play concludes with.tho exposure of the wrongdoers and tho union of their victims. The single weakness in the play is the introduction of a sceno in- the'chamber of horrors at Madame.Tussaud's .waxworks, where a painfully long-drawn performance which is required of tho comedian is followed by a mooting of'two of the principal characters,, an incident that is ridiculously remote from-probability. "The Whip" will be produced in Wellington shortly. Nsw Gaiety Pieo3. In the matter of introducing tho "harem skirt,'.'.' Mr. J. C. Williamson started-with Mr. George Edwarcles. The latest freak of folly was turned to account at _ the Theatre Royal, Sydney, last month by dressing tho bridesmaids in "Our Miss Gibbs" in tho new style of thinly-disguised trousers. The big Loudon manager has the "trouser skirt" in '•Peggy," the new piece at tho Gaiety Theatre. Signor Comolli, who designed tho costumes for "Peggy." draws a sharp difference between" the "harem skirt" and the "harem trousers." He thinks tho average woman will have little to do with the harem skirt proper—showing the whole length of the trousers. Tho harem trousers replace the petticoat- in the typo of dress at the Gaiety. They arc covered by a skirt open for a few inches at- the side of front—just.enough to show tho trousers. • ''I'cggy" is in two acts, placed respectively in the" lounge of the New Hotel, London, and on th? beach of an imaginary French watering-place. The music is by Leslie Stuart. The book, by George Grossmith, is founded on "L'Amorcage," by MM. Leon Xanroff and Guerin, and the lyrics are by C. H. Bovill. The cast en March 4 included Miss Phyllis Dare, Miss Gabriello Rav, Miss Olive May, Miss Madge Melbourne, Miss Dorothy SeJbourue, and Miss Ruby Kennedy. Mr.. .-'George Grossmith, junior, has one of the comedy parts as Auberon Blow, a street hawker. Miss Dare is Peggy Damson, a manicurist at the' New Hotel; Mr.' Edmund Payne is Albert Umbles, hair-dresser,-at.the New York Hotel. A Nov/ Opora Company. : At tho official opening of the in-* Sydney playhouse two weeks ago, M',. George Marlow hinted at the probability of a season of grand opera, under the direction of Mr. Thomas Beecham, tho London manager and. .conductor,who has spent a largo amount of money in connection with his operatic .ventures.; .Next day a cablegram came from" London with the news that.Mr. Thomas (juinlan (Mr. Beechman's manager and adviser) will tour Australia with a company in 1912. Miss Lalla Miranda has been engaged as. one of tho artists, and it is proposed to open the toiir in Melbourne in May with Offenbach's "Talcs of Hoffmann." It is. possible that Mr. Quinlan, as Signor Caruso's concert manager in Great. Britain and Ireland, may persuade the famous tenor to visit Australia. A native of Melbourne, where her father was a tenor singer and a teacher of singing, Lalla Miranda first came into notice whilo Sir Charles Santley was touring Australia in ISS9-00. The eminent baritone on hearing the young lyric soprano sing predicted a successful career in opera. Without tho aids of money or influence, the singer has won her way to the front rank in opera. Her reputation is second only to that of Madame - Melba in London, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and New York. On a visit to Covcnt Garden during the opera season a few years ago Sir Charles Santley praised Lalla Miranda as "by far tho best artist in the night's performance." Miss Beatrice Miranda, the sister of tho successful artist, made her London debut in grand opera last year. Gilbert In the Gloom. . In his old age Sir W. S. Gilbert would seem to have glided from gaiety to gloom. The satirical humourist with the tree and Hashing pen, who amused tho whole English-speaking raco whilo he was associated with Sir Arthur Sullivan, must have been very much depressed in spirit when ho wrote "Tlio Hooligan," which is now being played as a sketch at the London Coliseum, by Mr. James Welch. The comedian acts the part ot a criminal in the cell of the condemned on the morning, of the day appointed for his execution. This is how a London paper describes tho sketch: —"Mr. Welch plays tlio hooligan condemned to death —a poor, miserable wastrel, with a weak heart, an.enfeebled constitution, and no education. The man is waiting for' the summons, waiting in a pitiful state front which tho well-meant ministrations of tho warders on guard cannot rouse him. The prison governor enters. The hooligan thinks his hour has come. Shrieking, he clings to the leg of the table. The governor explains his errand. A reprieve has been granted. The hooligan stares at him a moment, breathless. "I am to live?" ho groans, and topples forward an inert mass. "Heart failure," says tho police surgeon, laconically, and the curtain falls. There arc some features in the sketch to which objection may be taken, particularly the expletives with which tho dialogue is too freely sprinkled, and as to the desirability of producing such a piece there were certainly two very varying opinions." The Theatre Coush. When Mr. Laurence Irving, the actor brother of Mr. H. B. Irving, produced "Tho Lily", at the Kingsway Theatre, London, at the end of February, a slip with the following notice was inserted in each programme:— "The mamgement begs to state that anyone troubled with the First Night Couch will bo supplied with jujubes on application." The thing was taken as a joke till Mr. Irving'explained that ho included the slip in thd'.pi'ogrammcs with no humorous intent. Mr.' Irving, in the

course of a published interview, stated that "there are a number of people who make a practice of coughing at first nights with a very sinister purposethat of wrecking tho play. It is an organised conspiracy." Mr. Irving went on to give his explanation. "There is a good deal of jealousy in the theatrical profession," ho said, "and there are people—actors and actresses, minor dramatists, and other disappointed or disagreeable persons—who find a sinister pleasure in doing all they can by the .subtle means of coughing to interfere with the progress of the play. They know that thero is nothing which so upsets an actor or actress as tho sound of constant coughing, and they know also that they are securely protected by what is apparently an affliction. Really, of course, it is nothing of tho kind. It is a deliberate practice with a deliberate object. The out-of-work actor thinks that a successful play which will run a long time is against his interests, because so long as a play is running there can be no employment for him at that theatre. So he goes to the first night—and coughs. The minor dramatist has a similar interest in a short run, and thinks that anything he can do to upset the company, and so cause a bad performance, will be likely to lead to a quicker production of his own plays." NOI3S. On learning tho sad news of Mr. Max Maxwell's death, Mr. Bland Holt cabled his attorney in Melbourne to extend to the young actor's widow ■ every assistance in the matter of continuing the comprehensive tour already entered upon by tho popular actor-manager. Mr. Holt's cable from Paris expressed his great sorrow for the untimely death of Mr. Maxwell, who was for many years associated with him. Mr: Walter Baker, the, hero of tho. Bland Holt dramas, has taken tin f Mr. Maxwell's parts with' the company. A juvenile opera company under the management of J. C Williamson, Ltd., is at present playing "The Geisha" in Adelaide. \, The Plimmer-Denniston Comedy Company scored a big success in Perth at Easter. Business is described as enormous. With tho advent of William Andersons new dramatic organisation, who open a season at Auckland on May 6 in "The Prince aiid the Besgar Maid," with Mr. Harry Roberts and Miss Beatrice Day loading, Now Zealand playgoers will be. treated to an interesting uramatic aeason. Tho company'supporting these two nomilar artists is" exceptionally strong, and will include Miss "Nobody's Daughter," by "George Paston," is described by tlio London reviewers as the chief dramatic succesr of last year. It has been produced m New York with the same success as m London, where it is still running (now in its seventh month). This playhas been secured for Australasia by Messrs. Hamilton. Plimmer, and Denniston, who will couplo it with "Smith" during their next tour of New Zealand, to commence at Invereargill at tho end of tho year. Tho premiere of these two fine- plays will take placo in Sydney in September. The company is now playing to big business in Perth (Western Australia). A number of genuine Red Indians and a band of- American cowboys are giving exhibitions in Sydney. Tho Royal Hawaiian Choir are giving performances in Sydney. It is tinderstood . that the company is to visit New Zealand shortly.