STAGELAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 502, 3 November 1928, Page 22

STAGELAND

(By

COTHURNUS.)

FIXTURES HIS MAJESTY’S THEATRE Now Playing-.—" The Girl Friend,” Annie Croft. November S.—“ Hit the Heck,” Annie' Croft. November. Dion Boucicault and Irene Vanbrugh. COMING “Princess Charming." “Castles in the Air." ST. JAMES THEATRE Now Playirtg.—“Stiffy and Mo" Re-r vue Co. COINING November 9. —George Ward Revue Co. “Baby Cyclone" and "Good News," Elsie Prince and Jimmy Godden. CONCERT CHAMBER November 28, 29, 30 and December I.—Little Theatre Society’s triple bill.

Another link with the early theatrical history o£ Australia has been broken with the death of Clara Stephenson in ' Sydney recently. Many theatregoers will remember Clara Stephenson’s clever character study of the old termagant guarding the lions In Theodora, when Tittell Brune appeared In the role. Prior to this engagement Miss Stephenson had lived In retirement for many years. Soon after this she joined William Anderson’s Dramatic Company and toured Queensland. In the early days this clever actress appeared in many Shakespearean roles, supporting Walter Montgomery, Charles Mathews and other famous actors.

Mayne Lynton, who has to be disagreeable to the other * characters as Sir Bruce Haden in “Declassee” with Muriel Starr, says he is giad they do not retaliate as an actor did once when he was playing in “Rob Roy” at Glasgow. The other man, who represented “the Dougal creature,” overacted his part to the extent of really stabbing Mr. Lynton in the chest. Like other actors who have taken part in the duels of period drama, Mr. Lynton lias suffered more than once from unintended blows or wounds.

' Addressing the Constitutional Club in Melbourne recently, the director of the Repertory Theatre, France D. Cicwlow, said that he believed the ordinary man had a natural love of beauty, which could not be satisfied by the merftal gin-palaces, which were the ordinary theatres. Mr. Clewlow said that he had no quarrel with the commercial theatre, which was no more blameworthy than any other business enterprise, but he thought that a theatre was needed that would not let die the language of Shakespeare and Milton. Mr. Clewlow was last here with Alan Wilkie’s Company.

London Shows Theatre Must Revert to Actor-M an a ger s Annie Croft Talks “As far as England is concerned

the theatre business is in a chaotic state, London, unfortunately, has to cater in large measure for a travelling public, which sees American plays before they get to England.” This is the opinion of the charming Miss Annie Croft, who is captivating Aucklanders at His Majesty’s in “The Girl Friend.” It is time, she says, that the English actor-managers of the old school came back again in lLondon to produce their own ideas land to leave the American notions behind. There are signs that this is coming about, and the movement must he continued until it has the virility of the days of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree. “The English theatre suffered

much from the war-made millionaires,” she says. “But now they are sinking out of the business, most of them having lost millions rather than made them.” The theatre must revert to a simpler scale, to cheaper rents and more cooperation. The old actor-manager knew what he wanted, and he went forward to construct his show as a boat-builder sets about building his ship. One of these days Miss Croft intends to desert musical comedy for straight plays, and she has also an ambition to become her own playwright. When she was an amateur playing in Shakespeare and Gilbert and Sullivan, she had a flair for writing, and she hopes 'o go back to it. Meanwhile she has come abroad to mprove her knowledge of the world. She is a firm believer in the advantages which travel gives to any artist.

‘STUNTING” VICTIM OF HYDE PARK CASE

IRENE SAVIDGE TO GO ON STAGE PROTEST FROM STAGE-FOLK A vigorous protest has been made by the London Variety Artists’ Federation against the possibility of Miss Irene Savidge, of the “Hyde Park Case,” appearing on the variety stage. At meetings of the general council and the executive committee, the following resolution was passed: That the general council and the executive committee of the V.A.F., having considered the possibility of Miss Irene Savidge being “stunted” as a music-hall artist, record their strongest disapproval that the musichall stage should be used as an exploitation ground for people with no stage experience, and whose only opportunity to pose thereon arises from notoriety in recent proceedings, and in the name of the V.A.F. protest that engagements of this kind should be foisted on the British public as “entertainments.”

Company Arrested Police Disapprove of “The Captive” • The Captive,” an outspoken play dealing with Lesbian love, was stopped in San Francisco recently and the company which played it was put under arrest. This is the third or fourth time the police have refused permission for the play to proceed ; The San Francisco theatre opened at S o'clock, with every one of the 1,400 seats occupied, and, as a matter of fact, the house for the initial performance could have been sold out three times. Ben Giroux, manager of

the production, anticipating police interruption, announced before the curtain rose that the police might interfere, and said anyone desiring could have a refund at the close of the first act, but no refund thereafter. While the third act was in progress the police climbed on the stage from the orchestra pit and placed the manager and the entire cast under arrest. The audience booed the police.

‘‘On Approval,” which is being played in Melbourne, may be the last production of the Vanbrugh-Boucicault Company there. Mr. Boucicault has been responsible for the production of a number of comedies by the brilliant Lonsdale. The first to be introduced in Australia was “Aren’t We All?” “The High Road” was a novelty at the commencement of the present VanbrughBoucicault season. The company will go to New Zealand after the Melbourne season. It will be there for Christmas