THE THEATRE.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2758, 29 April 1916, Page 9

THE THEATRE.

Fhe. World's a tlieatto; the Earth a . stage.—Heywood.. IBr Sylvius.! Honouring Shakespeare. Who is there that does not feel disposed to honour the memory of England's most illustrious dramatist, William Shakespeare? Who is there who has not been thrilled with the poignant pages of his tragedies; the rare and lofty beauty of his romances; the redundant'wit and philosophy 'of his comedies? Few, I think, if any, who have even the remotest interest in the drama of the playhouse or the study. It was a happy idea that occurred to a few enthusiasts in Wellington to chime in with, the rest of the world in paying tribute to the Bard of Avon on this, the tercentenary of his death, and it is with pleasure that reference is made to the entertainments which have been arranged to take place on May 3, 4, and 5. For these evenings a really capital programme has been arranged, which will include notable scenes from such plays as "Hamlet," "A Midsummer Wight's Dream," "The Merchant of Venice," "Much Ado About Nothing," and "Henry .V." The mere mention of such titles presents' a pageantry; of glorious characters, of priceless jewels of speech, to the mind, and their realisation on the stage musi make a wide appeal, not only to playgoers, but to all who respect the profound philosophy and brilliant intuition of the greatest writer of all times. Bacon or Shakespeare? Incidentally one reads with amuse raent that, a Chicago Court has declare* that Bacon, not Shakespeare, wrot.e th'< wonderful. series of plays attributed t< the latter since the days of' Elizabeth Is it not time that this dreary con troversy was laid to rest for a genera tion of two?- I do not wish toarousi it here, kit in a recent article c<in tributed to the Cliristchurch "Press,' by Professor J. Macmillan Brown, tin bogey is interestingly awakened by ': description of how on a certain da; .thirty years ago the Professor convince! the American poet, Walt Whitman, tha Shakespeare was the man, and no Bacon as the poet had claimed. In th< course of this article Professor Browi ; says:— "I failed to malre any impression oi his defences till I urged tho limitation ■ and inaccuracy of the knowledge displaj ; ed in many of '.he .plays; would Baco J have allowed the blunder of plachi: L Bohemia on tho sea coast to pass Would not the author of the Essay: with their elaborate references to chaj , ter and verse of classical writers, hav been ashamed to perpetrate the mil takes in Latin and Greek names an • words that appear in so many of tli 1 dramas, or the anachronisms that bi - sprjnkle those of. them that deal wit a themes from Greece or Home; withoi: a doubt their mghor had the 'litt! ._ Latin and less Greek' attributed h f Ben Jonson to Shakespeare, such { i. would have come from a country grar mar school education, and not tho skillc jr grasp 6f Latin that the author of tl . Novum Organum had. "It Won't PariOut!" . "Even. more convincing seemed tl contrast I'. drew between'the. type '< mind and faculty that composed Bacon . Essays and that of those chat mouldi . Hamlet or Lear or The Tempest. The . i-s wisdom and knowledge of hum; nature in both the Essays and t' ,' ..plays; but the knowledge seen in tl ; former is exact and rigid in both i reasoning and expression, whilst that , the lattor is free in scope and untrai ~ niellcd in its iigures.of. speech; the. w: . dom of one is that of'the scholar an politician and epigrammatist; that o the other opens vistas into infinity. The Essays are pot the product "of a poet; the tragedies and romances/are 'of imagination all compact.' What is common to them has been gained by wide and scholarly reading with a notebook at hand in tho one caso, by alert hearsay and loose but imaginative observation on the other. '•"The white-bearded old poet ©hook his great' Jovelike head less and less frequently as tho ; hour crept : on; and when as daylight waned, I rose to go, ho stretched himself to his full gigantic stature and, shaking hands with me, exclaimed, 'I guess the Bacon' theory" won't pan out.' He even granted, as ho accompanied me to the door that to add the authorship of 1 Shakespeare's plays to Bacon's other achievements was to make the problem'more difficult instead of less; in fact, to assume a new miracle, bo essentially different was this other sphere from Bacon's own." •

I Studious Vaudevillian. Miss Thelma llaye, one of the nowtars of the Tivoli Follies, wTio will tour V'ow Zealand again very shortly, is a xmdon girl who made her first suciesses on the concert platform. Then he late George Edwardes engaged her, ind after awhile she came to Australia, rfer success with the Follies has eclipsed my success she ever, made in musical x>medy. It is a success of personality, i triumph of womanly charm and grace. Miss Itaye, in private life, is' everything that the vaudeville star is expected not to be. She is of a retiring disposition, and .a studious, habit, an en- ■ thusiast.of the East. On many matters af Oriental life and mythology Miss Raye is well versed. 3ara Allgood as "Peg." Judging from the criticisms oi the Sydney Press, "Peg o' My Heart," the ulever play written by Mr. Hartley Manners ' for his wife (Miss . Laurette Taylor), has made the same favourable impression there as it did in America and England. . "Peg o' My Heart" depends chiefly on the personality of the exponent of the namd-part, and.it would seem that the Tait Management has secured just" the proper person in Miss Sara Allgood. Of her performance, the Sydney "Herald" said:—"On Saturday she made a really memorable debut on this side, capturing a house crowded with first-nighters in the most unmistakable fashion. In doing this she exhibited an essential' charm, mingled with a Puck-like spirit, which brought to mind the early triumphs of Nellie Stewart. A clever comedy-story on 'somewhat theatrical lines was thus made to palpitate with interest. Messrs. J. and N. Tait, whoso judgment in engaging concert artists of distinguished talent has raised them to fortune, have thus brilliantly opened their new career as theatrical managers. Their youth-fully-attractive star, though hitherto but little known, will become a celebrity; and a very capable company has Been brought from England to support her. At the end of the" evening enthusiasm ran riot, until the producer, Mr. E. AV. Morrison, back from a year's visit to his own'county, had made a speech of thanks. But it was Peg the audience wanted. At last, still in character, she exclaimed, 'Sure and its grateful I am, and I wish me father was here I' ' This allusion to 'the most wonderful man in tho wor-r-ld' was welcomed with a roar of delight." , ' "The Boomerang," the .latest Ariierican comedy success, was staged at Melbourne Theatre Koyal for tho first limo in Australia on Easter Saturday night, with the following cast:—Hale Hamilton as Dr. Gerald Sumner, Nancy Stewart as Marion Sumner, John Ardizoni as Emilo, Celia Ghiloni as Mrs. Creighton Wood bridge, Donald Bowles as Budd Woodbridge, Mattee Brown as Gertrude Ludlow. Beatrico Nichols as Grace Tyler, Leslie Victor as Preston Do "Witt, Charles Wheeler as Hartley, Edwin Lester as Mr. Stone, Myrtle Tannehiil as Virginia Xelva. There aw three acts, two of.which take place jn Dr.Sumaer'a aurfiwj&i