THEATRICAL FARE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 November 1939, Page 9

THEATRICAL FARE

IN CONTINENTAL CITIES IMPRESSIONS OF SYDNEY WOMAN. LATE COMERS REFUSED ADMISSION. A Sydney woman recently returned from a Continental tour, wrote for the “Sydney Morning Herald,” these interesting impressions on theatrical fare in Budapest, where she saw not only opera, ballet, and Shakespeare, but “Victoria Regina” as well. Opera is excellent in Budapest, being' well sung and beautifully staged, and in Olah Gustav they have a brilliant young producer. When the curtain rose on his first production—“ Madame Butterfly"—the whole house rose to its feet and cheered Butterfly's house and garden being shown with a view of the whole of the peak as a background, daylight melting into night and dawn breaking as the action of the opera passed. The season starts on October 1 and lasts till the middle of June. Except on some of the Wagner nights, the performance begins at 7.30 and woe betide the latecomer, for he must wait for the next act! Transport to and fro is easy, and. as the buses are State-own-ed. there is a waiting line at the end of the performance. WELL-BEHAVED AUDIENCES. The audience is surely the best-be-haved in Europe—or perhaps the climate is not so conducive to colds as elsewhere! Seats arc not dear and a subscription absurdly cheap. There are very good buffets, varying in price according to situation. The rule against smoking except in certain corridors is strictly enforced. One night when ijui unwary visitor was about to light a cigarette too soon, a very short, fat, excited attendant came rushing to jump up and blow out the match. Hungarians are very modest about their own operas and artists (before the Anschluss the same artists sang in Vienna and Budapest working equally for both opera houses), and are always very anxious for one to hear foreign operas and guest artists. When Kiepura sang last summer the Municipal Theatre was used, as the opera house is too small for the large audience necessary to cover the high fees, and the performances lost a good deal through the vastness of the stage and the theatre.

FINE OVERTURE. But no one should miss “Hunyadi Laszlo.” an opera written about the time of Verdi on the great Hungarian hero, if only to hear the lovely overture and see Olah’s exquisite settings (a model of the one for the first act was shown in the Hungarian Pavilion at the Paris Exhibition). ''Bank Ban" and. “Jjinos Vilez" have charming music, and would bo a delight if only for the lovely peasant costumes. And if Budapest possesses no great tenor, she has some fine basses and a delightful soprano in Doboy. not to mention the well-known Maria Nemeth. There is an excellent ballet which had a great success when it visited Italy last year. Here again it is interesting to see the Hungarian composition —“Pesti-Carnival," a ballroom comedy danced to Liszt’s Second Rhapsody, Hubay's “Csardajenelet," a delightful peasant ballet based on gipsy airs; Dohayni’s “Picrettc’s Veil." and a very modern “Bluebeard" by Bartok. Bordy Bella dancing in the first two will ever be a delightful memory.

OPEN-AIR THEATRE. 'or an onen-air theatre on 1 . u ! H <ard opened

the most pleasing in Budapest, who first played Shakespeare in Hungarian in her efforts to popularise her native tongue, for in those days Latin was the language of the educated. The lovely trees and lawns of the island stage made a perfect setting for the "Dream,” and when the hunt came on magnificently mounted on army horses, and one of the hounds bayed, enthusiasm knew no bounds!

Seeing “Victoria Regina" in Hungarian was interesting, though the actress who played Victoria had not the right idea of her character and got a very bad “press." Again the setting was excellent except for the scene at Balmoral, when a weird and wonderful material was used for the Stuart tartan. The Hungarians’ interest in England and everything British never failsj to flatter. It is everyone’s desire to j learn English, and one is amazed at the excellence of the English taught in the schools. “Wo have the Oxford teachers." explained the little femme de-chatnbre who was attending night classes. The hairdresser who was having lessons "privatch" 'from a friend was not so fortunate. I "Is the separation quite right'.' , Madame’s hair is not fat?" Alas! the pitfalls for those who look up words in dictionaries!