THE THEATRE.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2570, 18 September 1915, Page 9

THE THEATRE.

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The World's a theatre; the Earth a stage.—Heywood. "O'Leary, v.C." That is the title of Mr. Allen Doone's ? ew Jl see the stage-lights ior the first time in Melbourne at Cup J 11 ?! I' l . meantime ho has registered the title, and the play is in tho throes of completion. The hero will, or course, be the great P'Leary, Y.C., over whom London went crazy for a day, and Ireland for a week. There is bl°°d in the. title, and with Mr. Doone's native cleverness to weave there,should be more than a V.O. in it for him. Mr. Doone, who is now en route to Sydney, will play Brisbane _and_ New South Wales cen40Srr°?en'uS Melbourne at Cup time, at Hobart at Christmas, Sydney at faster, and back to New Zealand in Ta"®' r e ? r > opening at Gisborne, ana then coming on to Napier, Hastings, and Welling t-on. - . Notes From Sydney,

. Mr. John Hopkins, late advance manager for the Red Dandies, writes snapshottily from Sydney about shows of all kinds: "It is useless for any concert artist to tour this country at present with the hope of making money. Amy Castles, Ella Caspers, arid Peter Dawson, each of whom have a big following, have proved that, consequently- all tours in that line are off; I might fix a New Zealand tour for Amy Castles early in 1916. Ella Caspers is doing a tenweeks' engagement on the Rickards circuit, and Peter Dawson leaves for London shortly to fulfil gramophone engagements. ; Julius Knight is touring, the country towns with his own. company to fluctuating results. , . . The 'Strollers'—ah, what a show 1 Absolutely the best .of its class, " and only seven people,, including the pianist. They have a Miss Rossiter, who sings well, dances, divinely, iplays tho piano like a virtuoso,-a fair violinist, and a comedienne. J. and N. Tait are bringing out a company to play! 'Peg o' My Heart."' . . . 'Potash and Perlmutter.' has got Sydney by the wool. Haven't seen it ,yot.;. 'High Jinks' has earned the respect of the public, v . Beau Smith has put on a hotch-potch show called 'Stop Your Nonsense,' which ran-three weeks, "and then gave way to 'Mum's' the Word,' which is 'The Chaperon' with a' song or' two thrown in. Allies' Day has been fixed for November 19, so I don't expect to get back to New Zealand until I have pulled off'thoQueen election k connection therewith."

' A Lucky Drift. Estello Rose, the quaint character comedienne, who is appearing at-'the ' Sydney TivpU Theatre, makes a speciality of eccentric' impersonations'.' One of ' her studies is that.of. Charles Chaplin, the famous moving picture actor, who ■ ' probably has made more people in the . world laugh than any other man that . ever lived. • Miss Rose, who is a friend of Chaplin's, played with him on the same bill when .he 'was only in receipt i of 20 dollars a week. Chaplin happened to drift into the picture business, and within a few months his salary had leapt to 2000 dollars a week. This made a lot of his friends in'vaudeville try the *• now life, but -they soon found • out that the picture actor is.bom to the business. "Peg o' My Heart.". i /The news conveyed elsewhere in this column to [the effect that J. and N. s Tait are bringing ou't'to Australasia a company to play that most successful ' play "Peg o' My Heart" ,is theatrically >• important, .if .correct.;,' Doubtless the ■ firm mentioned has been puzzled to know the style- of-attraction likely to-please most profitably at the. present juncture^—a problematic time in j theatrical, management—and .seeing" small chances in the visits of concert artists, have' ventured on a - dramatic t- enterprise.' - The play'mentioned .has been, an extraordinary success in America and London, and has raised .to star- • dom, that clever actress. Miss Laurette Taylor, .who was also successful in "The Bird of Paradise" 1 in America. The quality, of- "Peg q' Mi' .Heart" is evidenced by the fact that it was performed 101 times in Los Angeles under the, Morosco management, and Oliver Morosco is said to .havo coined , a fortune . out of it. " Notes. '' ' ; " ' Mr. Dave'O'Connor, who has visited 1 New Zealand with a small but capable little opera company, is due again towards, the. end. of., the month' with several of- the latest, musical: comedies in the repertoire. Under the ■ terms of his contract with J. C. Williamson, Ltd v Mr.' O'Connor is- prohibited from playing in the iour principal centres cf New Zealand, but ■ his advent in the provincial towns with such lively bills as "The Girl in the Taxi," and "The Girl in the-Film" should .be welcome. Mr. Thomas MacLarnie and his v.'ife (Afiss . Bertha Nicholls),' two American players' of good repute, passed through Wellington last.'week en route from San' Francisco to Sydney, to fulfil an engagement ■ with J. C. Williamson,' Ltd. ;■ They have been with the Oliver Morosco Company .at ,Los Angeles for the past three years and seven months, and only .broke away from that excellent managor because, they felt that they were getting "groovy,"-and that Los Angeles play-goers ■ knew every hair on' their heads." Mr. MacLarnie, a very fine type of thoughtful, scholarly | American, has'done a lot of very responsible work in the States, playing tho leads in such plays as "The Third Degree" and "The 1 Lion and the Mouse," "Peg o* My Heart" and "The Bird of Paradise," all huge successes. "Pog" ran for 101 nights at Los Angeles. _ It has been a success of big' dimensions everywhere. The rights for Australia -have been secured by J., and N. Tait, who are venturing into the dramatic field for the first time. Miss Nicholls is a, bright little, ineenue actress, who played "Peter Pan", in the middle west of the States, ■ and , scored heavily, in that sprightly role. Tbev are to open in either Sydney or Melbourne in a screaming farcical comedy, ontitled "Stop, Thief!""The" Harrier," Max Beaoh's entertaining Alaskan drama, .is to be revived under Mr. Beaumont Smith's ; management at the Theatre Royal, Syd- ' ney, on September 25. Mr. Cyril Mac- > kay will be seen in the part of Poleon . Deret, a French-Canadian. . i Mr. P. J. Nolan, formerly of Wellington, and now sub-editor of the Sydney "Sun," is vice-president of the ( Theatre League of New South Wales, i which proposes to stage Haddon Cham- t ber's play, "The Tyranny of Tears," , shortly.

J. C. Williamson, Ltd., have already a strong hand in regard to their moving pictures of notable productions. Fred Niblo's fine acting ill "Get-Bich-Quick- Wallinjjford" and "uStcer 666" lias been, put into permanent record on the film. "Within Our Gates," now being shown all:over Australia, has scored a wonderful success, the landing of the Australians and New Zealanders at tho Dardanelles being the climax to a series of exciting and thrilling; incidents. The latest production is "Within the Law" with Miss Muriel Starr in her original role of Mary Turner.