Stage Stars for Dominions

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 276, 11 February 1928, Page 22

Stage Stars for Dominions

Tours Will Do Good Politically PLAYERS FOR AUSTRALIA British stage stars are visiting the overseas ■ Dominions in increasing numbers. Dion Boucicault and Irene Vanbrugh are at present in Australia. Sir John Martin Harvey and Mr. Seymour Hicks are in Canada. Sybil Thorndike is leaving London this month for South Africa. Margaret Bannerman is on her way to Australia. A Owen Nares and Robert Lorraineare at present discussing the possibilities of a visit to Austra “I believe that these tours to the Dominions can do good politically,’* Sir John Martin Harvey said before he left London. “They are keen theatre-goers in Canada, and the visit of an English company is a link between British settlers and the home country.” “Scaramouche” and “The Lyons Mail” are the plays which Sir John Martin Harvey has taken to Canada. The last time he went there was a The last time he went there he took eight productions, which was a costly business. Even the two productions which he has on this visit will run away with between £ 800 and £I,OOO in transport from London to Montreal. He will play for 16 weeks in Canada, the tour list including a number of two-night “stands.” “We shall beat that; we have some one-night ‘stands’ in our list,” Betty Seymour Hicks, who went with her father and her 1 mother, Ellaline Terriss, said at the family’s “farewell dinner.” All manner of well-known people Dame Madge Kendal, Sir Alfred Fripp, Mr. J. H. Thomas, and Sir Travers Humphreys, for instance —were at the gathering. “We are going from the ‘frosts’ of London to the frost of Canada,” Seymour Hicks said in a speech full of characteristic Hicksian sallies. Gladys Cooper is also temporarily leaving London; early in the New Year she goes on a provincial tour—the first time she has acted in the provinces since she became established as a star. She is certain to be a great draw, especially in such a strong play as “The Letter.”