THE THEATRE.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2211, 25 July 1914, Page 11

THE THEATRE.

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Tha .World's a theatre';' thei.BMtbia '. ■'" stajje.—Heywopd.''.".":■ : -- , s££.\"',.-.v" !f: "Pinafore" Alive. '-..''■ 7£"s]?'\,. r :~Z . Tho most remarkable:revival:-ofGU- 1 bert and SuUivan's comic Pinafore" ever given in theiMetoryof the world is.that which wasjeingigiveii at the-New'York last maii left;- To begin ijoto;'. plote performances, of the opoiti.''arerbe■mg given-: daily 1 . ;jvitlitwo';entire]y,!dif- ; ferent casts of 'principals; "■'/The'!... ,sai r * ship "Pinafore"''floats ! inXa: basin-' of real water, and Sir Joseph.Porter, Cap-' tarn Corcoran, ,'and" the ladies arrivotat" .the gangway "in a real ship's~gig floating on real water. Tlio \yarship is a coun-; terpart of the old-time .threerdecker',! and has towering.masts, .yards';-. Signalling, halhards, etc'.jand all:thq-time tha opera is in progress the ordinary duties'. or the ship are carried out "by a crew (or chorus) of 300. They inarf the yards' m approved fashion, and descend to 1 n the deck down the ropes' nand. Ihis daring production is a huge • success, and recalls the furore if made; in the States in 1880, when owing to' the non-existence of the universal copyright law dozens of companies toured' with the opera. ' .?-.-■-.. . -.? >■ H.'B. Irving on. Wβ.Brother.-,".\ : ij.- :.;■•. - Mr. H. B. Irving made a touching allusion to his brother's ..deatli: at..the' ' lheatre, Osford, when tho': iiews , of the disaster, was received. Speaking with emotion, he said:—"l-shduld no? Bβ here to-night' had I not Jolt'that-an a<;toris a servant ■'"of ther.publib.ranil that even at a.tijne like this he has td think of his. comrades ae wellvaß'ihimJ' self. Of my-personal loss by.myxlear , brother's deatli .this.-is not the place to speak; but I may perhaps bo : permitted to'say just a few brief words of the - ■loss to the stage.' To the sorrowing 'hearts of all thosa_who loved my brother—and I-have appreciated; in the last few days how many those "were—may at last find some,consolation ih;ihis noble end, : so characteristic of'thej!niari, v and they must-'be proud at 'the--'unit ■ . versal tribute to thegreatness-of what' he had already achieved on our staged and what he would achieved in a still greater measure lia J he been spared;"; r; ' • -i"C Ji" ra ,S<j^j"fA Strange Play, wh \: } ;s'> : s>fy ' *f Writing of "Mr. ,Wu," the "Sydney; Morning,HeraMf,', said:— '■•:' did the-new play the Adelphi?" is being asked ; all overJtheaV! trical'Sydney; : Tha!answer:'is'.'th'at''it! held the audience, tensely by.;ieasgn: of "-* Sir. W. -F. Grant's, realistic arb as -WuV and that for the. very same reason- some , of the scenes moved: too 'slowly*/: The speech,of a Chinamanj' educated .at Oxford; vis ..shown as -gfajninaj tically correct, hampered only,jiby,i an appalling lisp to avoid the, and an occasional :'drawJ,:BUgge'stiye of a De Vere Gardensijdrawing-rpom. This is all very well.; is also painfully: deliberate, and often low in tone. ■ This is a rea-lism.rwhich. Mr. Grant will have-to. dilute.Dy'.changing his tempo from a funeral .aidagip to an andante. The gallery becamo rudely restive under, it, and the interjections of - "We want.to go home,".and thej'Hke; -during , the , last act, disturbed the gress of the piece for a moment of two. The fact"is tli'at.;the.Adelplii js'a large theatre,; witli.the dress cu-cle"and'Tg,al-:lery just at present a- long-way and Mr. Grant was often not quite aW- ' ible.... But the impersonation*was finely ■ studied. Miss May Congdon-waS : weill placed as Mrs.- Gregory,- and- the jiew play,, elaborately staged by,:. Beaumont Smith, Louis Meyer, and George Willoughby, Ltd., with' finely pointed scenery by J. S. Mann, should attract the general body of playgoers who frequent '.thd Adelphi but seldom. -The receptio"n of the artists at the end"df each actj' . and at the finalfall of the curtain*Vas ■marked,by enthusiasm. ' ,;,,...; -■•"^.; , Shawls Pygmalion." - '■'... "Pygmalion," apart from Mr. : Shaw'j introduction of an expletive in- a fashion' fully characteristic of bo accomplished a. poseur, appears, from the Kindon notices, to be quite in his niost amusing style and to have attracted'aa much attention ae in Germany, ijlt dances round several important sqiial themes, flashing intelligence "on them now' and then, according to the,"Daily Chronicle"' critic".:'-' But it'Jneyer 'jyat-' tempts to present any "new gospel" sufficiently sound or consistent' W'"ba out of its place, in what, is only .a. :V or.; jriafever Mr.. Shaw. would vlraffiT us undgrstasS9|.bjt ■ the. '.word' 1 "i-omance':'?':Thb ;i rsto'ryiis%f Professor Higgiijs (Sir Herbert Tree), .. teacher of phonetics, who trained a —- Cockney flower 1 .girl :i. Campbell), • whom ho met ...when taking ' shelter from the rain μnder the portico of St. Paul , % .Ooveiit .'Gardei^;■..•; The "real rain" is, by the way, the only spectacular opportunity...'in- ; the... play. "The only- djtference between ar-flower girl and.a lady-is tho way in -whicii. '.she is treated," is one line; whioh might, have represented,,the message:[of. :th© pjay, but for the fact that MrJs'Shaw.. himself, spends half the -eveniiig - : .;in. . showing.that there ; aro many..other.-dif- '■ ferenceβ—languages, clothes, ...cleanli- • ness, education. In a word—-while,.ot !■ course, the.human material is -the:-same' 1 —the difference is. just as deep>as man». : Ders, no more and no less. Mrs. Patrick is said' to give a performance of supreme charactef,- (ap.ting as the flower girl gradually' growing into the lady, and, Mr- Edmund Gur-' ! * s ney is' fjsb ehtliusiastically. written.'of ■for his performance-as the girl'si'father, a dustman,'whbj .itMs.-poihtoE'outj i-'ie a, thorough. at,; ; 'once.vquite . untrueV.'aud': splendidly representative'." ■ The herp, Profegsor, JUggiuii: seems:to ' bo-,;an' ; unreal, character.. '• ■' "take it-all round," is !th'o: ! .y|rdict of \th"e icie".-. critic, .'.'her©-jis a, edy adding notjj much reputation,of-Shaw■>the philosOpiißrjfor . Shaw the sorious 1 dramatist, : i)\it|?u|jy confirming the <yaluo of Shaw and Shaw the showman." ( - : 1 - A Raw Play. "?- : :'\ '%. I "The Master of ' n«w drama by Mr. Bernard Espinasse, will follow "The School for Scanda'J" at tho Littlo Theatre in Sydney. TUje is described, by Mr. Hugh Buckler las moro robust in -fillre than the comedymaterial usually woven at the "Little" factory, 'me actor-manager.desires in this way to extend tho scope of/tHe • year's operationsi in order tb' ascertaui whether his patrons will prefer an "occasional elianjje in tne <Jirection;siri&l--cated. Tho new play is a South Africajn story dealing; with the fortunes 'i>t trto men of middle life. One of-thcm 'has wronged the other, in earlier 'sears, .'and , is -sorry for the othWD.is'ilagt aware of his repentance. Incidentally the drama shows how a- man inttlieSact or denunciation is smitten with "aphasia j a paralysis of the nerve-centres which control speech and-the, power.iO&eoni-.j,,, mitting speech to paper in a written „ form An ingenious solution of this i dithculty: gives;.added interes¥'io" tie'i cnsis. This "drama teacTies'a le'sVoi-iDf '■■ forgiveness. - r - : ■■.'' : ■?-•-.. I, -.