THE THEATRE.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2354, 9 January 1915, Page 9

THE THEATRE.

[BT SYLVIUS.] the World's a theatre; the E&rtb a stage.—Heywood. - "Beauoalre" Once More, "Monsieur Beaucaire," to bo staged by J. C. Williamson's Julius Knight Company on Tuesday and Wednesday next, as most fiction readers know is a dramatisation of Booth Tarkington's novel of the same name, and it is perhaps the most perfect typo of romantic play that has been written. As Beaucaire, Mr. Julius Knight has created a part which will always rank as one of his greatest achievements, in fact a majority of his admirers insist that it is his very best characterisation. The French Prince is gay, debonair,_ and polished to Jus finger-tips. Ho is the play, and every movement contributes to its perfection. Mr. Knight excels himself as the gallant and lovable Frenchman. In the love scenes he displays all the intensity and passion of the race, and one could not wish for better acting. In "Monsieur Beaucaire" everything combines to take the audience back to the year 1735. The men in knee breeches, smart coats, embroidered waistcoats, and lace ruffles, and the ladies in costly brocade and satin petticoats, with powdered hair and black patches on their cheeks to accentuate their beauty, are all pleasant factors in this direction. Then the stately minuets of that age play an important part, and, indeed, everything on which the eye rests is said to be true to the period. Miss Irene Browne, it is said, makes an ideal Lady Mary Carlyle. "Seven Little Australians." Of Beaumont Smith's dramatisation of Ethel Turner's novel, "Seven Little Australians," the "Sydney Morning Herald" said:— "From the point of view of the general public, no doubt, the name of Mrs. Ourlewis's best-known work was well chosen, but the play, as it stands, revolves entirely around the figure of littlo Miss Bobbie, and the other six little Australians, like tie remaining character in the drama, are, so far as the *tory is concerned, little more than an effective and well-arranged background. The construction of the little play is somewhat loosely woven, and there is scarcely anything of Australian atmosphere, save in -the characterisation of the ohildren, who aro for the most part quite enjoyably human and likeable—and with almost aboriginal manners ! Bobbie herself, as interpreted by Mfss Vera Sp'aull, is a particularly delightful young person, though one regrets the occasional lapses from simplicity in the dialogue. "Miss Vera Spaull's acting throughout was quite excellent, and she was well supported by the children, of whom all played with enjoyable naturalness and humour. Special praise, perhaps, may be awarded to the twins, Bunty and Dumps, acted by Jack Radford' and Fred Carlton, while Suds (Cecil Haines) was delightfully reminiscent of the immortal 'Buster Brown.' "■ The London Stage. The most interesting dramatio event in London during the first week in November was tho production at Covent Garden Theatre, by Granville Barker, of a new play in verse, "Philip, the King," by John Masefield. This was at a matinee organised by Miss Elizabeth Asquith, in aid of the Arts Fund. The poet-dramatist deals with Philip II of Spain (Henry Ainley), at the moment when the Spanish captain (Arthur Wontner) returns to tell him of Drake's victory, followed by the destruction of the great Armada by a mighty tempest. There were some splendid lines here, and also when. the Infanta (Lillah M'Carthy) described the departure" of those noble galleons amid the cheers and ringing bells of Spain. Tho least effective part of the play showed the King visited by the grieving Bpirits of the slain, sacrificed to the haughty ambition and selfish pride of the monarch. On the same occasion, Bach's satyrical cantata, "Phoebus and Pan," was presented in comic opera form, with Maurice O'Oisly and Harry Reynolds in the name part, and John Coates as Midas, a contemporary critic. Tho Beecham Orchestra, and a chorus of 60 voices, also assisted in rendering this old-time art produot; and Lydia Kyasht danced in a Russian "Oarnaval Ballet." The whole entertainment was evidently of a character only possible in a great capital. Whilst "the idle rich" peacefully enjoyed this high-art show, the music-halls were in a state of convulsive strife. ■ For three months the poor artists' have been working on a co-operative' basis, half the weekly receipts to the managers and half to the performers, pro rata. The artists now declare that •management gross expenses" are so high that little is left, and they threaten a strike, pending counter-pro-posals. Miss Dorothy Brunton's "Hit." After a brief resume of tho plot of "Tho Girl in the Film," the Sydney "Sun" says of Miss Dorothy Brunton's performance :—"Yet in this flimsy setting Miss Brunton found a chance to act with delightful vivacity. She has fdund her proper role in the gay inconsequence of brightness and sentiment and comedy that make up this popular kind of production. She was a lovely little girl and a swaggering little boy, whom the audience cheered with the utmost delight. Comparisons may.be unpleasant ; still it is necessary to say that after two or three, years of imported girls Miss Brunton makes the average Girl in This-or-That from London look colourless." The Sydney "Telegraph" ■said:— "Sydney playgoers gave Miss Dorothy Brunton a cheering welcome on her appearance as principal comedienne. The gifted young Australian actress had her first Teally big chance. It iB pleasing to record that she filled every requirement of an exacting role. On Saturday night Miss Brunton waß given amplo evidence that her olever and graceful performance had won the warmest approval. In a character that called for the interpretation of several personages in the comedy, first as the ' General's daughter, then as the 'Vioscope' author's messenger; subsequently as the drummer and as the miller's daughter, vocally and otherwise she was put to a test that would have severely tried a performer of more matured and wider experience. Miss Brunton gained a distinct triumph." The Gruel Jolt. Lawrence Grant, the actor-philosoph-er, told this one on himself at the last annual dinner of the Dramatists' Club: "I once wrote a play, which turned out an unequivocal failure. As I sat among tho almost depopulated orchestra stalls, at the first and next to the last production of my work, a lady in the row behind me said, as she rose to go after the third act: " 'I beg pardon, sir, but you are the author of this play, aro you not!" " 'I cannot deny it, madam —I am,' I answered, hopefully. " 'Well, sir,' the lady continued, 'before the curtain went up I took the liberty of cutting off a little lock of your hair. Do you mind, now, if I return it to you?'" A well-known American picture firm is responsible for. the following:—"The King of the Bolgians has engaged 50 or moro expert moving picture photographers to take as many views as possible of the devastation done in Belgium, and following the close of the war the pictures are to bo exhibited all over the world for the benefit of the Bolgian people. All moneys accruing from the sale or exhibition of the movies are to be distributed to the inhabitants of the different villages that have 6«£sei;«4

Mr. Charles Waldroii, who was seen here in "The Squaw Man" some years ago, is now playing the lead in "Daddy Long-legs," a charming comedy drama in which Miss Ruth Ohntterten has made a great hit in New York. Edward Knoblauch, author of "Kismet," and part-author of "Milestones," has written a new play entitled "My Lady's Dress," which has beenproduced in America with Miss Mary Boland in the' lead. In the course of conversation with the writer recently, Mr. Graham Moffat, author of "Bunty Pulls the Strings" mentioned that when in Montreal he saw a performance of "Bunty," in which a young Wellington acter, Mr. Cyrus Hales, played Tamma3 BiggerMr. Moffat's own part. He said it was a capital performance, and that Mr. Hales was one of the best and biggest Biggers he had seen. Mr. Hales is the son of Mrs. W. H. Hales, of Oriental Bay, and the brother of Dr.' Norman Hales, the clever amateur. It is a notable facttthatt t there are just as many dramas novelised nowadays as there are novels dramatised. The success of a play in Americans at once the cue for the writing of a book on it, and invariably the venture is a success purely, owing to the success of the play, and the charm of the people who may he engaged in performing it. George Broadhurst, the American farce writer, has scored a success with a melodrama entitled "The Law of the Land." Charles Sherman's novel, "He Oomeß Up Smiling," has been dramatised with success in America.