Plays and Pictures.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 60, 3 May 1912, Page 6

Plays and Pictures.

In Auckland the business done by the "I'iverywomau" Compairv came to within a few pounds of tlie H. B. Irving returns. * * * The authoress ol "A Girl's Tempt:.tion" is a woman. Mis Morton Powell. She 'ht>._ our sympathy. Ivy Schilling ie not satisfied with tho I laurels six; has won hk the first actress in Australia to receive a license to drivo a motor-car. The pretty pirouctter says sho i\ ill not be contented until she flics an aeroplane, and to this end sho has joined Aviator llart'e school in Sydney. * * » English exchanges continue to comment on "Dwellers in Glass Houses," the play which satisfies the soul of Miss Tittx.ll 13rune ,and has enabled her to satisfy the. critics of liouriiemouth, L'higlu.nd. Says one, and we do not know whether he speaks in sorrow or in anger, and cannot lie sine even whothcr ho has his tongue in his chuck: "She now utters each word with duo eclat, and renders tho-prettiest speeches like soprano solos." Walter Bontlcy, tlie well-known actor, is projecting a tour through the Dominion in a repertoire of the plays with which his name has long been associated, such as "Hamlet," "The Hells," "David Garrick," eto. Walter will be welcome. * « * Wong Toy Sun, a Chinese magician, is the head-liner of Fuller and Bronnan's vaudeville show at the Christchurch Opera House. Say, we're getting a surfeit of magicians in this, country sure. 'Tin timo wo hollered "Hold, enough I" * * * "Sin bad tho Sailor" ran for 100 performances at Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne, breaking the previous best record'of a Williamson pantomime. * « • The oft-repeated reproach at musical comedy that it makes its appeal per the medium of legs is convincingly disproved in two notable instances, "Our Miss Gibbs" scarcely showed an ankle in _ tho whole production, all tho girls being in skirts. It is the same with "The Quaker Girl." Tho dressing throughout is in the most demure manner, and nothing so obtrusive as a leg is seen during the whole performance. * * * Tiny Arnold, abbreviated comedienne, 36in. of feminine daintiness, sings and dances at the 83-dnov Tivoli to loud applause. The "Bulletin" says "she might not hold the attention of an audience so long if sho wero not so shortbut being no bigger than she is, and considerably smaller than she might have been jf s he had not tired early of growing up. tlie heart of the public is touched." "A Girl's Temptation" has proved a big draw in Wellington, as elsewhere throughout tho Dominion, and those to whom it makes a particular appeal describe it as "busker" where it isn't "boslitev." The young and susceptible of both sexes are enamored of the hero nnd heroine, and the""'bold, bad man" of the piece is likened to the animal that is the mainstay of the dairying industry. From the point of view of these patrons, the play is the "goods," but * * * Martin Brennan, tho smart and snappy, bright and breezy vaudeville editor of Sydney "Footlights," writes: "Between Jan sen and Nicola exists a considenblo difference in personality and nppeoranoo. The former is a cleanlooking, lithe American, immaculately dressed, who believes in throwing round some of bin easily-earned money when necessity arises. To good clothes is attributable Janson's succor.s. Not so Nick. He is content to appear in a dintry and much-used suit oi" black, whilst, his street habiliment is conspicuous for its lack of taste. Furthermore, tho latter always has his baud in his pocket--but it stav.s there." Cabled froiii London that Mrs. Bigwood has obtained a divorce fioni Percy Bigwood on account of his bigamous marriage with Carrie Moore (the wellknown 'iiu-siciil comedy act rest-) in 1908 at Sydney. Percy and Carrie were at latest n.stict.tiiig at Kotortta. * * * "Aspor," the gossipy theatrical scribe of the CiliiMieliitieh "Evening News," has come, to the opinion, as a result of the popularity of the brand of bellowdrama purveyed by the. Marlow Dramatic Co., that the Mailow management know the. public of this country far better than any pressman who lives hero can covr hope to know it. Uof erring to "A Giii's Temptation," tho writer alluded to says "it has ail the qualities of the M-ecessfu! melodrama, which once seen is never remembered, though in its three hours of el age it has never a moment (roe I'ioic. incident." .*• * * The time is coming when the conscientious no tor will l;,v force of circumstances have io jive tho simple life in tho country, f.uya Sydney 'Sun." Such is tlie tendency of the si ago fo-day that one tcif-t observe nature, and only visit the citie.*: to study symboli'mi. "Everywomnn" is an allegory of modern urban life, while "Tin: Blue Bii.l" requires all the artiiiriality of the age to bo stripped from the- theatre. In "The Blue Bird" Maefc-idijick goes to the elenifiiis lor his eh a factors. "Eire," '•Water," and "Light" figure in the cast, as also do "Night," "Milk," and "Cold-in-thc-Head." Again, "The Oak" an«] "Tito Sheep"-'-the latter ; should be popular in Australia—-aro

parts 11 hiih, if they be played properly, sbotiM ■■•ciiil i *lho. actor beyond the city areas for original research. The mod-crn-'play, it is evident, is going to revolutionise the art of the actor. It is also going to change his environment. He will require to know tho language of flowers, for it will not suffice that the primrose by the river's brim & simple primrose is to him ; and bow can he do justice to the domestic pets, tha fowls of the .air and the, beasts of th« field without living en the farm. Th_ life of the actor cf tlie future i)iouii_e_ to be Arcadian.