STAGELAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 50, 21 May 1927, Page 21 (Supplement)

STAGELAND

HIS MAJESTY’S THEATRE Now Playing: “Meet the Wife.” July 2-July 16.—“ Lady Be Good.” July 28-August 18.—“ The Last of Mrs. Chevney,” “Daddy Longlegs” and “Polly With a Past,” Renee Kelly. COMING J. C. Williamson’s Vaudeville Co. “Tell Me More.” . “Rose Marie.” Nellie Bramley Co., in several plays. “La Mascotte,” Auckland Amateur Operatic Society. Gus Bluett, last here in “Whirled Into Happiness,” is appearing as Steve Burton in “Tip Toes,” the new musical comedy, in Sydney. * * * The Auckland students made a wonderful success of their production “Crooks, Ltd.,” this year. Their credit balance is somewhere between £2OO and £250. “Frasquita” seems to have caught on in Sydney, and the production of “Madame Pompadour” has been postponed. Marie ‘Burke is the lead. “The Silver Cord,” a play with only five speaking parts, by Sidney Howard, author of “They Knew What They Wanted,” has been produced at the St. Martin’s Theatre, London. A new play lias been written for Irene Vanbrugh by A. A. Milne. It is “Miss Marlowe at the Play.” This

brilliant actress may return to New Zealand next year. * * * It is stated that in Ann Penn, who made her first appearance in London in the “C.0.D.” revue at the Duke of York’s, a young mimic of rather unusual talent has been found. Women mimics are fare. ; - * * Herbert Brown, juvenile lead in “Frasquita,” was not always an actor. His first job in Australia was with Rewolts, dredge designers, in Melbourne. He also has to his credit the design and complete drawing of a chocolate machine which makes chocolate from the cocoa nibs right to the finished product, wrapped and ready for sale. * * * “Never while smoking is allowed in the theatres will we get intelligent drama,” said St. John Ervine, author, critic, and producer, speaking at the Lyceum Club, London, recently. “The manners of the theatre were ruined the day women were admitted. Men never dreamed of smoking in the theatre until women started smoking there. The habit is unmannerly. Smokers should be “thrown out.”

George Baxter, from. America, is Judith Anderson’s leading man in “The Green Hat” in Melbourne. Others in the cast are Agnes Doyle, Barry Livesey, Gerald K. Souper, John Bedouin, Ellis Price, Wallis Clark, Ben Lewin, Olga Lee, Billy Lockwood, Jessie Page, Edwin Lester, Dorothy Stanward, Betty Crook and Norman Shepherd. There are altogether 17 women in the show.

Olive Sloane, who plays one of the wives in the ‘‘Cradle Snatchers” in Sydney, has acted many straight parts in England and America, and it will be interesting to see what WilliamsonTaits cast her in when the present comedy at the Criterion finishes. She has mannerisrhs and gestures similar to those of Madge White, who took a leading part in “Mercenary Mary” recently. But Olive Sloane has more originality and is a better actress.

Margaret Darner, of the Renee Kelly company, who plays Mrs. Van Zile in “Polly With a Past,” the opening piece, has a long list of important roles in London to her credit. One of her biggest successes was achieved as Encarnacion, with Matheson Lang, in “Blood and Sand,” and another with the same star in “Carnival.” Subsequently Miss Darner created the important part of Monna Lafa in Phyllis Nelison-Terry’s big London production of “Stigmata.”" Though she loves dramatic parts Miss Darner has a fine appreciation for anything humorous. She recalls with glee the fact that once during a highly dramatic scene the hero rushed up to her and shouted most valiantly, while she crept into his protecting arms, “Rose, I have come to shave you I ”

Is she a good “good” woman, a bad “bad” woman, a good “bad” woman, or a bad “good” woman? Those who have witnessed this startling play of Frederick Lonsdale differ on the point and it will he interesting to note the opinion of New Zealand theatregoers on this much discussed question. The meaning of the various definitions is admirably illustrated in the play, “The Last of Mrs. Cheyney,” which Renee Kelly will stage during her New Zealand season. It comes to Auckland on July 28.

Alexander Watson, the brilliant English entertainer, who receptly arrived in Australia to commence his fifth and final tour under the direction of E. J. Gravestock, told an interviewer that Kipling was his favourite poet. “Although, of course, some people do not admit that Kipling is a poet,” added Mr. Watson with a broad smile. Kipling’s dazzling pictures, his depth of feeling and his brilliant choice of words, said Mr. Watson, pronounced him as the greatest poet. Alfred Noyes, on the other hand, did not appeal to him to such an extent. Noyes was too verbally fluent. As to prose writers, there were Barrie and Dickens, whose charms were irresistible. “They say Australians don’t like Dickens,” remarked he, “but I have never found that to be the case.” Dickens’s characterisation was so fine, and he was so intensely human. Mr. Watson intends giving a condensation of certain incidents from “Oliver Twist,” entitled “Sikes and Nancy.” This was Dickens’s last condensation, and it was the last of his readings. It was a masterly piece of work, and while the great author was engaged upon it he seemed obsessed by its si r iking reality. The edition was printed from a manuscript which belonged to Sir H. Irving. _ _

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COTHURNUS)

“Meet the Wife,” which will be played at His Majesty’s Theatre this evening, is another pep and speed comedy, full of snappy lines. Marian Lord has another part after her own heart. Beatrice Day and the other members of the company are all cast in congenial and amusing roles.

Frank Allanby, the young - Melbourne actor, who has appeared with many notable people in London, is now playing with Gladys Cooper in “The Letter.” Besides having a part, Mr. Allanby is understudying the leading - man. The piece, produced by Du Maurier, is almost certain to run for a year.

George Gee is playing in “White Birds,” one of the newest London revues. Jose Collins is also in the cast, as well as Gwen Farrar, Edward Lowry, Anton Dolin and Ninette de Valois. Noel Coward has written one of the scenes for the revue, a skit on “Broadway.”

“All the talk about the high-salaried theatricals doing such a wonderful lot for hospitals is rot and humbug,” declared Sir Gerald Du Maurier, the ac-tor-manager, presiding at a meeting of the Actors’ Benevolent Fund. “That story,” he said, “is the most colossal lie that has ever been exploded. I am absolutely tired of it. Some who have made hundreds of thousands of pounds from the profession have given the fund nothing. Others, earning £20,000 and £30,000 a year do not give enough. “The only remedy is a forced levy throughout the profession.” In the remarkable comedy, “Dolly With a Past,” Renee Kelly, the celebrated young comedy star, wears an evening gown that took eight weeks to make. It scintillates with beads. “It is threaded with a million of them,” says Miss Kelly, “or possibly two million of them, for no one has ever had the time to count them.” All these beads were sewn on by hand, which accounts for the length of time it took to complete. With this frock Miss Kelly carries a magnificent flame-col-oured fan of ostrich feathers, presented to her by some South African admirers. Altogether she was presented with three ostrich feather fans during her visit to South Africa, and received several characteristic mementoes during her Australian tour.

As things are in the London theatre no play can live on the cheaper parts of the house. I believe lam right in saying that “Rose Marie” would still be running at Drury Lane if the stalls patronage had not begun to fall off, writes a London critic. A row of full stalls in a biggish West End theatre represents about £ls, and I hear that business has improved to the extent of “five or six rows of stalls most evenings” at a certain theatre since a change was made in one of the leading parts there. That means increased receipts of between £3OO and £4OO a week—an illustration of how the value of a star can be arrived at.

While acrobats who risk their necks twice nightly rarely meet mishap, ballerine are always coming to grief. We like to call them Dresden shepherdesses for their grace, and they are as fragile as such. Merely because she had, to use her own words, “gone too far forward,” Karsavina chipped her porcelain foot so that she was no longer able to stand up and had to hop away like a toy-dancer in a fairy tale. In our painful modern way, we would have to say she strained a ligament. Anyhow, that was the end of the Beethoven ballet danced in London recently. Though merely a suite of dances to music from “Prometheus,” without any other bearing upon Beethoven, it was very charming and surely acceptable, even to the shade of a short-tempered genius as a centenary present. The dresses were cut according to the fashion of his time, with high-waists, full hips, and rather “peg-toppy” so that the dancers seemed plump whenever a whirling movement made them “make cheeses.” The style particularly suited Karsavina. She was one of those delicate coloured prints of Perdita come to life.

All New Zealand theatre-goers will be pleased to hear of Madge Elliott’s great dancing success in Londoh. Under the heading “Dancing Triumph,” the “Evening Standard” says that nothing can be imagined nearer perfection than Miss Elliott’s dancing. “She is a musical comedy dancer who

delights her public and at the same time is one of great artists of the world. She is pure Michael Angelo—small head, neck like a column, and broad shoulders.” With her partner, Cyril Ritchard, Madge Elliott left Australia in 1924 to try her fortunes abroad. Since then the pair have had a series of successes. Miss Elliott has appeared in Berlin, in Paris, and in London, in musical comedies and cabaret shows. Of late her name has been accompanied by loud praise whenever it has been mentioned. She was last in Auckland in “The Cabaret Girl.” Dorothy Seacombe has succeeded Betty Chestei' in Billy Merson’s production of “My Son John,” at the Shaftesbury, in which another Australian, Vera Pearce, is an established favourite. Miss Seacombe, who has already succeeded in straight comedy, gives an excellent account of herself in this musical show: she sings and dances with vivacity, a*nd her appearance and vitality are assets in musiccomedy, says the Sydney “Bulletin.” Joan Temple, author of “The Widow’s Cruise,” has written a new play, “A Hen Upon a Steeple.” The cast was as follows: Bronson, Charles Groes; Lord Robert Chiselhurst, George Tully; Mr. Harland, Spencer Trevor; Mrs. Dufrayne, Irene Browne ; Lady Chiselhurst, Margaret Bannerman ; Jones, E. Vivian Reynolds ; Captain McWhirter, Norman McKinnei.

St. John Ervine did not care for the play and wrote:—Well, well, this is very sad stuff, and, I am sorry to say, denotes a real lapse in Miss Temple. There was quality in “The Widow’s Cruise”: there was belief, even if it were misapplied, in “Aspidistras,” but there is only vulgarity in “A Hen Upon -a Steeple.” Far and away the best performance in the play was that of Norman McKinnei. Irene Browne gallantly disarrayed her looks in the second act and Margaret Bannerman looked lovely throughout the play. George Tully had a hard part to act, and he did not act it very well.

Lee White and Clay Smith may be two of the members of the next J. C. Williamson Company to tour New Zealand. These clever folk, are at their best in vaudeville. They were last here in revue some years ago.

Basil Dean, a message from London states, will produce “The Happy Husband,” by Harrison Owen, the Australian author, in the English provinces and in London. The cast will include Madge Titlierage, A. E. Matthews and Lawrence Grossmith.

That “A Trip to Blackpool” should be for ever barred at competitions or anywhere else is the opinion of the judge in elocution at the Palmerston North Competitions, Mr. J. F. Montague, of Auckland. “It was funny some few years ago, but it is certainly not now,” he was heard to state. Most people will agree with him!

Counting “The Chauve Souris,” there were no fewer than a dozen plays waiting to come into London from the provinces in April. The list was as follows: —“Abie’s Irish Rose,” Apollo; “Mr. What’s His Name,” Wyndham’s; “On Approval,” Fortune; “Double Dan,” Savoy; “The Vagabond King,” Winter Garden; “Lady Luck,” Carlton; “Scaramouche,” Garrick; “Marigold,” Kingsway; “Castles In The Air”; “Dawn,” and “The Blue Train.”

King Lear’s descendants are the subject of a new play in verse which has been expensively staged and very well received in one of Berlin’s smaller west-end theatres, “Neues Theater am Zoo.” “Gonya, Granddaughter of King Lear,” is the title, and the author is Carl Leyst, well-known in Germany as historian, philosopher, inventor and dramatist on a less pretentious scale than the present work. King Lear has left his throne to the daughter of his favourite Cordelia on condition that the young girl never looks upon a man with favour whose birth renders him unfit to be legal consort. But Gonya, young and beautiful, is overpowered by one completely unworthy of her, and becomes the mother of a child. To keep the secret from the people this child must die. Gonya kills it herself in desperation, and then dies, too, pathetic and mad as Ophelia.

The Forum Theatre Guild, London, formed to produce “something different” from the ordinary commercial drama, began with a failure. —“Cocks and Hens.” At its last performance at the Royalty Theatre the guild justified its existence by the production of “The Dybbuk.” The play, written by S. Ansky, a young Polish writer, was first performed in Warsaw seven years ago, but it had not previously been given in- English. It is a strange, weird, haunting play of Jewish life of long ago, yet with an appeal in its errie way that must be universal. “The Dybbuk” can never have been given a better production than that directed by Robert Atkins, nor can it have been better acted, at least in regard to the part of Leah, the character that chiefiy matters, as interpreted by Jean ForbesRobertson. Miss Forbes-Robertson fs no more than 20 years of age, and she proved herself by far the finest actress of the younger generation. Always she showed a perfect appreciation of Leah, a knowledge of technique, a personality, a spiritual appeal which gripped her audience every moment that she was on the stage. Ernest Milton and Joan Pereira were among the many who won success. Muriel Starr has returned to drama in the first Australian production of “Cornered,” a film version of which has already been shown. The play contains as many characters as “Within the Law,” in which Miss Starr made a sensational debut on the Australian stage, so for this production the company has been considerably augmented. Notable among the newcomers is Mildred Cottell, who has done some excellent character work. This actress made many important appearances in England and America before she came to Australia. She created the role of Maggie Busby in the London production of “Old Bill, M.P.”, and as the German spy in “The Luck of the Navy,” won high praise. She has on several occasions been heavy lead at Drury Lane. Miss Cottell spent three years in the United States and Canada. In Australia she has acted with Lawrence Grossmith, Oscar Asche, Emilie Polini and more recently Nellie „ Stewart. Frederick Francis played many Shakespearean roles under Oscar Asche. He had two parts in “The Skin Game” with Mr. Asche, and #iis work as the solicitor in the auction-scene was capital. Mr. Francis was with Guy Bates Post during that actor’s last tour of Australia, and years ago he played with the late Maggie Moore. Another American girl has the chief role in a J. C. Williamson production. She is Elizabeth Morgan, in “Tip Toes,” at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Sydney. The other Californian lead is, of course, Harriet Bennet, who plays the title role of “Rose Marie.” Elizabeth Morgan is not yet out of her teens. She comes from Shubert’s Theatre, and the Belmont Theatre, New York. She was chosen because of her dancing —Tip Toes is a charming dancer—but she can also sing and act, according to report. Ole Olsen and Chick Johnson, the American comedians, who were so popular on the Tivoli circuit, are the chief mirth-makers in this new musical comedy, while Gus Bluett also has a good comedy part. Gerardo and Enid Adair are new English specialty dancers in the company. The music in “Tip Toes” is by that very clever composer, George Gershwin. Ira Gershwin and Fred Thomson are responsible for the lyrics, and the book is by Guy Bolton and Fred Thomson.

A cast such as no ordinary theatre manager could possibly afford was got together for the two special performances of “Othello” that were at the Apollo (London) in aid of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Fund. Robert Loraine was Othello (the first time he has played the part), with lon Swinley as lago, John Gielgud as Cassio, Herbert Waring as Brabantio, Ben Webster as the Duke, Olga Lindo as Bianca, Gertrude Elliott as Emilia, and Elissa Landi as Desdemona (her first appearance in Shakespeare). The film stars. Pauline Frederick and Alma Taylor, were on th*e premises selling flowers.

Talking of modern mystery drama an effective early example was “The Speckled Band,” founded on one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes tales. The “murders” were committed by a snake. “The Monkey’s Paw,” a one-act piece from the story by W. W. Jacobs, in which J. B. Atholwood appeared, showed how the supernatural could be successfully suggested without a ghost. It may be that the knocking at the door was suggested by the knocking at the gate in “Macbeth,” or by De Quincey’s essay on that episode. Among mystery plays relating to attempts at the detection of a murderer there have been such workmanlike examples from America as “The Thirteenth Chair,” played by Margaret Wycherly; “On Trial,” in which Madge Fabian appeared, and “The Argyle Case,” with Muriel Starr.