THE THEATRE.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2546, 21 August 1915, Page 9

THE THEATRE.

£Bx Bylviub.] Tho World's a theatre; the Earth a stage.—Hcywood. "A Scrape o'the Pen." Wellington playgoers should be glad to welcome back Mr. and Mrs. Graham Moffat, and the clever players associated with them in tho latest Moffat play, "A Scrape o' tho Pen." Wo found intonso pleasure in the oddness and fidelity to character in "Bunty Pulls the Strings," which lias been Mr. Moffat's most popular success, and we look forward keenly to finding the samo qualities in "A Scrape o' the Pen," which is described as a play of Scottish farm life of forty years ago. An odd theme is used by Mr. Moffat to feed the dramatic appetite— the Scots marriage, a simple declaration before witnesses that they are man and wife, but tho interest is said to be well maintained throughout the play, which employs a.large group of distinct characters. There is many a homely toucfy many a homely truth, and much to dl. with love and marriage in "A Scrape o' the Pen," on which the public will bo asked to pass judgment at the Grand Opera House this evening.

The Theatrical Outlook. [ Tbo theatres aro bound to suffer, ami 6u(fcr soverely, by the departure of. so many troops from Australia and New Zealand for the front. Most' of tho men who have so far answered the call aro between the ages of 20 and 45 years, tho theatre-going age, and of thoso the greater majority are between 20 and 30 years—just the age when, if not already married, thoy have thoughts in that direction, and have perhaps mads the necessary arrangements. In thoso halcyon days there is probably no recreation so thoroughly satisfying as. a visit to the theatre, for bosidos bein* pleasantly entertained they are "eacK to each" for quite two hours and a half. This is mentioned as fact to show that not only will tho theatres miss the average unmarried man, but they will in all probability loso tho average young lady patron, who depended on her admirer for theatrical diversion. This is one serious factor that must affect the theatres more and more as each reinforcement leaves. Another factor must be the only too-frequent arrival of casualty lists, with the attendant sadness and care that they introduce into countless homes. Rather than decrease, they appear to become increasingly formidable, and every ■ advance made must unquestionably, bring about great sacrifices of life Without .beiug pessimistic one can scarcely say that th» theatrical outlook is a bright one, in this or any other country under the Union-Jack.

Candida in Sydney. From a letter from Sydney"Sydney has been grey and misty but evor so interesting; and Australia Day is aji lmperishabio memory. Money simply poured in—it was bewildering,' uplifting, groat 1, The shows in Sydney aro doing badly as a whole. "Tho marriage market" is a failure; "Sunday" a collapse. Tho moths have been at this play during its retirement, and tho old tiling appears tawdry and theatrical. It doesn't ring truo. Beaumont Smith is doing fairly well at tho Royal. I saw "Who's tho'Lady?" I think tho company a ijiio one. "Charley's Aunt." at the Little Theatre, is doing better than '"Tho Wrong Mr. Wright" did, but that's not saying much. What a Koodtfarco it- still is. "Tho Royal Strollers," a fino show,- aro doing well at the. Palace. At. the Tivoli business is good, and Fullers are playing to big houses twice a day. Fullers havo boutfit the 'Palace Hotel block -in Melbourne. which includes tho Bijou and Gaiety Theatros. They will-lower tho auditorium of the Bijou to.tho ground level, and build residential chambers oil' top.' It is an enormous block, with a great frontage to Bourko Street, and goes right ; through t6" Littlo'.Collins Street.' ' ' •

"Inside the Lines." "l'usido tliq Lines" (produced by J. C. Williamson, Ltd., in Sydney on August 7) may be summed up as a patchy drawing-room melodrama convincing only in spots. The author, Earl Deer Biggars, whose'story "Seven Keys to Baldpato" was so cleverly dramatised by George M. Cohan, has encountered the usual difficulties of a-novelist who embarks upon stage work. The explanatory paragraphs which smooth out tbe improbabilities of a romanco canuot bo delivered in'tlie theatre without' hampering t-lio action, with the result that too much lias to bo taken for granted in the new war-play. The wife of the Governor of. Gibraltar, a very great lady indeed within tho fortress of the Rook, would certainly not ask the strango girltraveller with trunks full of model-gowns (and without a passportl) to stay at her house merely because they were both Americans and sbo "liked her eycsl" Similarly it involves a stretch of of imagination to suppose that the Governor's trusted Indian lady-servant should prove to be tho heir of a Rajah deposed by the British Government—a readymade rebel engaged live years before in tlie.very country where his antecedents and wrongs' were widely known. Inded, ill many ways the new play was of a cheap type—but tlie final situation was effective in. a melodramatic fashion, and may have furnished a surpriso to the youthful members of tho audienco. The secret need not bo given away in point, though it was patent to old hands quite early in the evening—"Sydney Morning Herald,','

"Glassy" Vaudeville for New Zealand. Before leaving for Australia, Mr. H. D. M'lntosh, the governing director of the Tivoli Theatres of Australia, made it abundantly clear that he intends for the future to operate extensively on these shores. Whilst here he was engaged in booking four or 1 five tours through the Dominion covering a period of twelve months or so, which looks liko business. "New Zealand should remember," said Mr. M'lntosh, "that nearly all the best of the star attractions in tho vaudeville line had been introduced to this country by the proprietary that I represent. Among theso were Biondi, Chung Ling Soo, Madame Marzella, Uinquevalli, Nella Webb, Do Biere, tho late Charles Godfrey, and many others that I can't think of off hand." •These have certainly been names to conjure with in the vaudeville, and there are many playgoers who will have pleasant recollections of some of the ahovo people. Had tho Rickards-etim-M'ln-to sl± firm operated • continuously we would probably have seen Miss Ada Reeve, the daintiest and cleverest musical comedy artist in the world; Beth" Tate, the American singer of. 'cuto songs; Johnny Fields, and a host of clever artists who appeared in Australia under this management. For tho future, however, New Zealand is to get tho cream as woll as the skim milk, so there is amplo. cause to rejoice.

"Fun-on the Bristol," made popular by the late John F. Sheridan, is to bo revived by a company organised by Mr. Geo. Stophenson, which is to commence a tour of New Zealand at tho Wellington Opera House on September 8. Mr. Frank Hawthorne will' sustain the rolo of tho Widow O'Brien.