LOST CENTURY STAGE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 723, 26 December 1933, Page 2

LOST CENTURY STAGE

C.V,

.C.

cap.t. gqok And la perouse on CdViEfNT garden boards. REALISTIO FIGHTING. \

(By

in Sydney Sun.)

iPacturesque allusions to Captain Cook, Lai Perouse, and Dr. Solander; among some forgotten memoirs of 18th century London, would he reason i enough for preserving .the remains of an old volume that oue comes upon at the bottom of a hox, where it has been crumbling and yellowing: for a hundred years. This gossipy chronicle, written by W. T. Parke, the leading oboe player of his time, has a racy touoh that miakes it lively readi'ng for to-day. Parke seems to have been a social spirit, at home nowhere but in those cheerfu'l circles where the folk of th'e theatre and the fashionable world met to amuse themselves. He loves anecdotes and glimpses of the great. Oue meets the young Mrs. Siddons as she obligingly takes from him a pair of pants he has hrought to he mended at the shop over which she lodges. ' At a reception we hear Lord Chesterfield, before he hurries back to more glorified guests, invite the artists to supper — and we hear also their indignation when the chef insults them with boiled mutton and turnips. We listen to Sheridan making a quip or two, hear a hardy galleryite febuke George IH when he latrrives late at Drury Lane, and in the pro- j cession of personalities recognise j Frederick the Great, Pitt as Prime Minister, Mozart, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Kemble, Garrick, and many more. Popular Heroes. How deeply the achievements of Captain Cook and La Perouse had stirred th'e popular imagination, in Europe as in England, is suggested by the success of the stage spectacles ! their adventures inspired. Even in the turmoil of the Revolution, Paris had time to remember Captain Cook. At Covent Garden Theatre, on Mlarch 16, 1789, "a, new pantomimic ballet, adapted from the Prench stage, called 'The Death of Captain Cook,' with th'e original French music, whieh is highly descriptive and ingenious. This piece was well got up, and proved very successful." And this is the occasion for an anecdote. "At oue of the performances of this ballet an unjfortunate incident occurred to an actor of the name of Ratohford. A Bit Too Real. "In the second part, where the savages attack Captain Cook's piarty, a general cornbat takes place, when owing to the negligence of the property man, who had given out a real sword instead of a foil, Byrn, the author of the piece, who performed the part of the assailing chief, ran the person he was opposed to through the body. "The wounded man, from the noise and confusion of the scene, could not make his misfortune known, but the ■blood soon beginning to flow, and his writhings of agon'y prjoclaimiing it to the other performers, they apparently in character, led him off the stage; whilst the audience were so unconscious of what had happened that several persons in the pit excliadmied 'Bravo! Bravo! Ratchfiord acts to-night as well as Garrick.' This poor man lingered some time before death put an end to his sufferings." Quaint Ballets. iSome years later it is La Perouse's turn. "A new pantomime drama was first performed under the title of 'La Perouse, or the Desolate Isle,' taken from Kotzebne's (the German dr'amatist) drama of 'La Perouse.' The music of this piece, by Davy and Moorhead, is scientific and tasteful, and contains a considerable share of original melody. 'La Perouse' had a long run and becanie very popular." The music of .these ballets would make quaint hearing to-day. In the winter of 1782 Parke was introduced by friends to a survivor of Cook's company, the botanist, whose name was given to Gape Solander, at Botany Bay. The British Museum had begun the gathering of its collections. The Nose Flute. "Dr. Solander, who had made a voyage round the world with our great eircumnavigator, Captain Cook, among other curiosities which the Museum abounds with, sbowed us several brought from Otaheite, particularly one of the flutes used by the natives," wrxtes Parke. "This musical instrument was a perforated cane, and was blown by them through the nose. If I had felt inclined to doubt the fact, I should have been convinced'of my error by the doctor playing lan Otaheitan air ion it in th'e manner described. The air had a wdldness and simplicity of * character whch was pleasing, and ,may he found in a work oif mine, with an explanatorjr note attached to it, published * by Clementi and Co., called 'The Musical Cosmography'." The nose flute was played recently in Sydney by th'e Tongan Choir. Parke composed the music for anlother ballet, "The Tithe Pig," by Byrn, the author of "Captain Cook." Siddon's Mends' Pants. (In 1775, Parke, then a boy, "having; had an accident with his best skyblue inexpressibles," was sent to a shop to get them repaired. The door was opened by a -lodger from the first floor,- " a female with an infant in her arms," he says.. "The lady, who displayed a fine figure and an expressive countenance, inclining to melancholy, kindly took in my message afld my inexpressibles. Judge then of my surprise when a few years afterwards (in 1782) I discovered that the lady wh'o had previously favoured me was the thaatrical star, 'the grace and ornament' of the British stage, Mrs. Sid'dons!" Remaining- strdctly economical when suecess carne, she oince', Parke mentions, returned to the cheesemonger a fine ham! a friend had sent her, and etske'd that hutter and cheese to. the ' (the same amount should be supplied insltaaid. There is a truly Irish flavour ahout

Parke's recollections of the Limerick races. "The race of- the last day was for the Hunters' Stakes, for which, among others, a horse of Lord Barrymore's ran, rode by his lordship's brother. This fine animal, when just at the winning post, either from the anxiety of its rider, or his wiant of skill in jockeyship, was thrown. down; but luckily fell sufficiently forward to win the race. This was literally tumbling into a good thing."