THE THEATRE.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2776, 20 May 1916, Page 9

THE THEATRE.

l'he. World's a theatro; the Earth n Btage.—Hey wood. IBv SI'LA ius.l Local Bookings, The bookings of the Grand Opera House promise nothing out of the way ill big attractions for tho latter half of tho year. 1 The next attraction will be tho concert season of Mr. Paul Dufault, which commences 011 June 10. The "firm's" pantomime, "Mother Goose," will play here from Juno 20 to 30. Allen Doone, now cn route from America, will commonco his new Wellington season on July 8, and will continue until July 22. By this time he should havo written another play with the Sinn Fein rebellion as the sensation. After all, Irish revolts are more or less theatrical—comedy masquerading as tragedy, and playing the part with pitiful conviction. That bright assemblage of clever people, known as the Tivoli Follies Pantomimo • Company, will appear here from July 29 to August 5 (9. show to anticipate with pleasure). Mr. Carroll (who introduced the Graham Moffatt Co. to New Zealand) has .the Opera House to August 9; the Wellington. Amateur Operatic Society are to play "San Toy" from August 11 to 19, and Mr. Carroll has • pencilled further, dates. from October 11 to 18. London Notes, "Youth" is tho title of. a new play by Mr. Miles Mallesin. staged by the Incorporated Stage Society at - r iie Court Theatre, London, on Sunday afternoon, March 20. The cast included Miss Lillian Urai'thwaite, Nigel Play-fair, Henry Ainley, H. K. Hignett, and Normaji Pago. Ethel Levy, Joseph' Coyne, and Kobt. Hale oi-o still appearing in die -"Follow tho Crowd" revues at tho Empire. . Tom Walls is also in -the cast. ® On March 19 the hist iierformances were being announced of. "Betty" at Daly's. Nearly 400 performances had been given. "lvitty Mackay," the American comedy by Cathei'ino Gushman, has been produced in London by Mr. Alfred Butt. In March Mr. Raymond Hitchcock, the American comcdian, made' his debut in London in "Mr. Manhattan." ' "Stand and Deliver" is tho title of Justin M'Carthy's latest play. It is of. the Claude Duval typo of play. Another of Mr. M'Carthy's new plays, entitled "Sir Roger do Coverley," was about lo bo. produced in April'by Mr. Edward Comp--IXSII. ■ ' The Adclphi success, "Tina,' eMODrated its 150 th birthday .011' March : 13. . This musical play 'occupies tho intention of Phyllis Dare, "Mabel' Sealby, Godfrey Tearle, Fred. Wright, and W. H. Berry. Late ill March 11. B. Irving presented a new 1 play by Walter Hackett, entitled "The Barton Mystery.".. Tho entire action .takes place in the library t.f a member of Parliament's house in lortland Square. . '. Early in April Denis Eadio gave up being "the man who stayed athome, and became Diray in Louis N. Parker's . remargable play, : "Disraeli." Irene Brown in Musical Comedy. In that exceedingly bright, joyous, tuneful, and ingenious musical comedy, "My Lady Frayle," at the Shaftesbury (says the London "Referee" of March 19J, Miss Irene Brown took over oil l'riday evening tho part; iu which she, was-to have appeared 011 the first night. Witli a very tuneful uiezw, she makes a most welcome arrival in musical comedy. Her experience in other fields helps, of course, to give the dramatic moments a special poignancy. As it happens, young though she is, Miss Brown is better in the earliev scenes us tho , ■\vh , ito-nairerl grand-dame than with Lady Frayle s regained youth. Her dignity is, beyond reproach, and her curiously formal definition of speech exactly suits tho whitehaired chatelaine, though it seems like affectation in'the younger girl. But she must learn not to say "tarsonie lor "tiresome" and "requaii" .for "require. ■ "A Kiss for Cinderella." It is really -the Barrie touch far more than any great scheme, or purpose' or imagining Isays- the London. "Referee") that makes .an. evening of. : perpetual charm -out-.of i Sir-"James's-.-.uuden'iKbly beautiful ■ little dream-fantasy of War time,' "A Kiss for Cinderella," produced at YVyndh-ain's by Messrs. Curzon and du Maurier. If one were to kill the play and chop it up one would find it made of the most ordinary ingredients—a little melodrama, a little pantomime, bits of character • from all tho • Barrio plays, ■ a family of Barrio babies, and the oldest story in the world! Simple old sentiments and fancies—frank theatricalities sometimes —but Sir James Barrio gives them life as a Japanese juggler does his paper butterflies, witlh little wafts of sympathy and satire, hardly perceptible, but just enough to make, tho whole thing flutter above the commonplace—never too high; "just as hig'hi" (so Rosalind would have it) "as our hearts." ' Miss Thing, . who is tho. Cinderella of the play (delightfully played iby Hilda Trovelvan), is said to-be an altogether charming mixture of Moira, Wendy, and Maggie Wylie, and she runs a little general war-tiine help, establishment in the slums of the East End, where she minds babies, shaves chins, mends -shirts, sews on buttons, cures rheumatics under the fanciful namo of "Celeste et Cie," which nanie she had noticed in the Golden West. Of course, Miss .Thing h<as her Cinderella moments, and one is where sho falls down- iu the suow, when she dreams of kings and queens and courtballs, in, which-she is a central'figure. Then back to earth again we find her recovering from pneumonia, and having tea. with a- wounded Tommy, and to them appears a homely young policeman really Miss Thing's prince. The play is excellently acted by Miss Trevelyan, Miss Henrietta Watson, -Messrs. Gerald du Maurier, A. E. George,- O. B. Clarence and others. South Africa, South Africa is said to be steadily improving as a show country, t'nough it is not yet quite so good as it was immediately beioro the war. - The ; country has two chief sources of supply,. tho. South African Theatre Trust, Ltd., and J. C. Williamson, Ltd. The former company operates very extensively not only. . 1-1 comedy, drama, and musical-comedy, but in vaudeville and pictures. 'Unlike Now Zealand, there are very few theatres devoted to pictures only. Nearly 111 tveiy caso the programme is-'varied by the introduction of two 01- three vaudeville turns, whilst in the - vaudeville theatres one sees a good picture thrown in' i-ji variety's sake. A good company would play a fortnight or three weeks in Cape Town, a fortnight in' Durban, and some ten or twelve weeks in Johannesburg, with a week at Bloemfontein, < and the same time at Pretoria (which is' only some thirty-miles from Johannesburg). There are other town's good for three or four nights or even a week if the attraction catches. Bloemfontein and Pretoria have changed little within the last ten years, but Johannesburg has grown steadily, though it is-not-tho big-monied, freespending city it was twenty years ago. Cape Town has progressed more than any other city in South Africa since the war, and is now said to be a charming place of residence, as well as a live business centre. Durban is one of the most attractive seaside cities in the world, and ns the chief'marine resort for the whole of tho veldt, bus a lively present and an assured future. It is said that the "Fuller Company may commence operations (with vaudeville) in . South Africa in the near future. ~ ■ On May 13 "Get-Rich-Quick Wallingforil" was revived iu Melbourne, witli'Mr. Halo Hamilton, the original Wallingford, iu his old part. The cast included Donald Bowles, Edwin Lester, Leslie Victor, Myrtle Taunehill, Celia Ghiloni, Nancye Stewart, Maurice Dudley (as Blackie Daw), and Tom M'Larnie ami his wife. First Associations. "Strange," commented Hale Hamilton, "lioiv Australian audiences insist on identifying, an actor with tho type of part they first see liim in. I am told that this is a characteristic of playgoers in this country. Now, here is a letter'from a lady who saw me in 'It Pays to Advertise' and 'Twiu Beds,' and expresses disappointment that in 'The Boomerang' 1 am merely a doctor 1 'I liked all the lively business in "Twin Beds," ' sho writes, 'with the excitement of getting mixed up in tho. different flats, and the jumping in and out of strange beds. In "The Boomerang" it

is lovely comedy, but there is no such oxcitement.' Of • course," commented Mr. Hamilton, "sho probably expected to see 1110 diving through a window and jump out of the clock. What that lady wants is a harlequinade—not a comedy 1" In "On Trial." The new leading lady of tho "On Trial" Company, Dorothy Seacombo, is (says the "Bulletin"} tho finest actress in her line seen in Australia for many years. A child of ten or thereabouts,she'has mven to her two scenes. • ; In one she has merely to bo tho conventional stage child; in the other sho has to portray emotion of the mo'st harrowing description. . In botli s h e easily hold the audience, with a power rare at her age. The other leading lady, Madge Fabian, has no outstanding individuality ; but her work throughout is distinguished by sweet reasonableness and an ease that masks a sure command of technique. Frank Harvey - lias a wide range of emotions to express, and his work is, as usual convincing. Sidney Stirling, the murdered man, strolls through his part without making any difference between the two selfs that he presents—with an interval of thirteen years between them. In the scene where lie Las trapped an innocent girl into a false marriage with him, he spoils the playwright's intention by his elaborate boredom, raising a doubt in t-lie audience's mind whether he had actually seduced tho girl. Leso Majeste. In London Gaiety production Connie Ediss used'to sing si song in which the refrain wa« "I Love 'igli Society." Tho song achieved such a hit that the comedienne, who is appearing in Melbourne in "So Long, Letty," ■ was persuaded to do it at fashionable receptions in London. "One of these was a very swagger affair at the Cecil," said Miss Ediss. "King Edward, then Prince of' Wales, attended this, arid, with Queen Alexandra, ivas right close to the stage when I was trotted out. I was rather taken aback when I saw him, as he was mentioned in the last verse. I sang two verses, and then hesitated, feeling a bit confused. • Just as 1 was deciding not to risk it, at)d lacking my train back for a courtesy, before getting o'lf, the Prince said, sotto voice, just loud onough for: me to catch, 'There's another verse, Connie.' Her Highness looked rather severe, but I went ahead, and reached the climax— 'If my papa were the Prince of Wales, All my ■ horees would have long tails.' 'Edward —well, •ho called me .Connie'— simply sat back and roared. Ho.always: was a sport." "Follow tho Crowd." "Follow the Crowd," t'ne new revue by Arthur Wimperis'. and Hartley Carnck, with 'music by Irving Berlin, wasproduced at the Empire, London, on February 19, before a very, large and eiithusiastic audience. No one can complain or anything in "Follow the Crowd." tiiat it is unduly spun out. Indeed, tho fault, if any (says the "lleferee"), lies in the opposite diroetion. Scarcely has Miss Ethel Levey appeared in a marvellous costume than she has disappeared again'.. True,, she will reappear in the next scene in a dress still moire marvellous ; but even so, we constantly feel that we have not had'enough'of Miss Ethel Levey, or of Mr. Joseph Coyne, or of Mi. Robert Hale. That is better than feeling that wo haye had too much of .thorn; but could.one have too-much of such artists and comedians as these? The Mr; Robert Hale, mentioned is a brother of tho Wellington Harbour Board's wharfinger, Mr. Hale Munro. fifr. Tom Walls, 'who was tho original jockey hero in "Tho Arcadians," is also in the cast of the new revue. "The Pink Dandies,"-selected, by Mr. Edward Branscombe to visit Zealand at an early..date, are.acclaimed.'as' 'the iiriost- oompleto'. company is generally agreed that comedy is greatly, in demand by 'WlO public at the present time, and bearing this in mind, the "Bandies" have, specially » strengthened tliis section of their entertainment. Prominent amongst tho perforators in the comedy department are Miss Ida Newton, already well- and " favourably" known throughout the Dominion; Miss Rita Fitzgerald, of whom distant scribes write praise : worthi!y; Mr. John Campbell, formerly through, these parts with "Bunty, Pulls the Strings"; and Mr. Joseph Brennan, who, since his last visit to New Zealand, has established himself as.one of tho foremost character oomedians of the Comonwealth. Amongst the vocalists of the' company is an excellent. quartet of male voices, led by Mr. Robert Agnew, an exceedingly, fine tenor.