STAGE GOSSIP.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1014, 4 March 1882, Page 1 (Supplement)

STAGE GOSSIP.

ByJ.S.

.The literature of the stago is.hardly,'less copious than that of the drama. There-is a natural .curiosity among those whp are in- '•' .'debated, to the. theatre for so' large a fund of ■ entertainment and instruction,; and some' .thing,of its past history, somethjng.of its administratibn _and' and something also of the inner life and private character of those who have most successfully minis; tered to the intellectual enjoyment or "|he. harmless Jgaiety oLnations. 1 !. The demand' ' oxiatin'g I ,' 'the/supply !has; followed, But it has been more plentiful in quantity than ex- ; cellent inequality, for those who.haye taken ' the task'in hand have'.'ioo often 'omitted the]',' 'very l 'infofjmation which, would have been' 1: most acceptable, and have Applied themselves. wi i th , !much , mißpla'ce'djn(iustry''to reap stubbleaid' ["to chronicle.'small.,bee'rl". The [brightest,'.of' theatrical memoirs '.are those written by Jrench'men, and the, dujlesfc' are those, 7 with sonie notable exceptions, penned by .the tribe of Boadens, Yet.it 'to pick afeiv plumsout,of the..poorestpud- 1 : ding, and.t'o unearth 1 facts of .'permanent in-. tereat froni boil "of apparently themost'sterile' description 1 . -This' is especially [the. case as regard s r the origin of stage' us'dges' and 'eustomßj scenery and costumes,''bij'.the introduction of particular readings,or peculiar "business.".. One finds, forlexample,' iri'Z« : Stents dts Coulisses that the first encore. Was demanded and complied with in 1780, f Mdile.'. Lagucrre having been the recipient of the honour | arid that what are technically known; as cloud-flats occasion 1 [of :the performance '.'of, Lulli's " Th^3(Se'" : in 16*75. .Theatrical posters seem to have been : first made use of by 'Cdsmd'd' 'Oviedd, a 'Spanish .dramatist,, who'flourished' foje ,th'e time of Cervantes ahd'/Sh'akspeare; 'ahd'it'was Dryden who commenced'thesis-'-' of'playbills _ at the 'door [of the" theatre, on the Occasion of the:' performance of his "'AurengZebe" in' : l676,' : Previously the performances had been, announced by tap of .drum in the leading thoroughfares and principal" places 'of .public resort, Langbaine ; mentions the employment of cat-calls by the audience as' far loack. as 1686, Voltaire is' responsible for tho in-'-Adduction of the claque, into the trench theatres,,. As a dramatist he had many .enemies and rivals, and on tho first night of one; of his'tragedies he 'distributed ; between 'three:

and four hundred tickets, of'admission amprig people he : knew. Directly tho 'began to'hiss,"tlio,'' deadheads" coniineiipfid ■applauding vehemently J 'and 'suppressed jfclio dissidents'.' Manager and 'dramatic au'tljors' worp not slow,to'follow liis example; 'Plau■tus, however, mohtions the existence Of so nothing of the kind hi the Roman theatre so 'that there nothing 'new .under ;he I'snnV. For the! origin'of tho .theatrical o]en.jsbrship'we Bh&uld have'to go back to ancient .Greece, when Phryiiicus was "fined' IpOO .drachmas for representing on tho stage ,the 'taking of Melitus by Darius. But the modern censorship in France dates froiri'the year. .17,01,' when Louis XIV, issued an edict cpm.manding'all dninias to bo submitted to the, .lieutenant-general of police before their per j . ; formance, If Wo trace back the modernopora to its'birthplace, we discover it to have been, like that of tho modern theatre, the church, 'in the 13th century! certain rhymed tragedies of a religious character, and in the Latin language, wore performed at St, Maur, : and ,as r thowbrdß.wero noted in plain-song, they; ■ foreshadowed 1 tho lyrie drama of a later period^' Lo'uisXV, waa.tho first monarch in ' recent times who caused a theatre- to be thrown open gratuitously to tho people, This was when the Siege de Calais was. performed in'l7Cs, as it ; was believed that, its would have, the effect of imbuing the public mirid with great, generous, • and patriotic sentiments. His own' did pot appear to have benefited by it, The example thus set by the French monarch was subsequently imitated'Jon many, occasions l by' tlie municipal government'of the city, Tho first instance on' record of an actor playing several parts in the same piece was that of Preville, who sustained no less than six characters in a comedy by Boursault,, entitled La Mercure galant, ou la Comedie sans Hire.', The first woman whoj appeared on the

English, stago is said to have been Mrs. Saim-. person,'who 'afterwards became the wife of' ;Bettertoh, l; Thepatt she selected toDesd'e-' ,'moha, and Drydeh explained the'reasdns for the innovation in a'prolbgne,' which stated that : '"'"'' '.'■' '""■ , •'•'' ll "' v ' l ' '■■ i, : .','," Men act tliat ore.betjy.eoii , •; '" Forty and fifty, weuchcs offlftern, ,'•'.-. ' ,' , Willi bone so large anil nerve so nrpmpliant, ■H When you caHDcsdemotia/enier 6innt." ' : This wa3 about the .year 1660 ji up -to which • time all i. female parts had been filled : by youths or.mehj and'therefore Shakespeare, imakes.'. .Hamlet say to tho player queen, "Pray God your voice, like a piece of uncurrent gold, be not cracked within the ring," An'apology;was once made toiCharles 11, for somo, delay!in:'the commencement of a piece .on the. ground-that "thb queen was not shaved," Peg Woffington is said to have been thejrst actress who made a hit iu a :male character on the English stage,.and she .selected the. part of Sir iHarry Wildair to .make herfirst appearance in before a London audience in-1738. ; ; 'We need not go very far back in the history of either the English or the French stage for remarkable innovations in tho method of dressing classical, or medieval characters upon the stage. .We can scarcely imagine "Garrick playing Macbeth and Othello in the' 'gold-laced scarlet coat' and full-flowing Kamilies wig'of a military officer of George!the Second's reign, or Mrs. Siddons appearing as Rosalind in, a modern frock Wat and.trou'sers';. but.'these' things were so,,,and; they ,!were l , hot', more : absurd: than., the court 'costumes, .with their broad paniers and enormous ; hoops, in which the; actors and actresses'of the Theatre Francais used to present'.' Andromaque and Hermione,"- "Britannious and' ■Agrippine." .'■ When Garriek appeared'as Othello; in the ' curiously' inappropriate

'costume of V Moorish- general, 1 ' tlio 'town;; was' 'startled by the innoTptioh j •as much so as ; Paris 'was wlicir Talma,' folMin'g''u"p phe 'reform commenced by'his illustrious predecessor, Lokain,'nnd ! also Mdlle, Clairbn, adopted olassio co3tumes/prclaßsiocharaGt(irs, When that truly great'actor, who did hot dis-' dainto ; play the small part of Prociilus, \jho has only twenty liues to deliver, inYoltaire's' Brutus, came outof his'dressing-room, Mdlle. Contatstarted back,exclaiming, " Ah! lyon Di'eu I il'alair d'une statue!" Talma was' also one 1 of tho first to discard the,fullbottomed wig in l characters,of this kind, arid; to appear with'closely-cropped hahyafter the model of an : antique bust,'in:thopart oflan old Koman, It was quite 'aisurjjrisentp a Pronch'audionce wlien Madame Pavai't played' the' role of a peasant girl, 1 in 1763, iua serge dress, without gloves,'with her hairplaited, hor arms bate, and her feet encased in sabots. Paris was quite shocked, in fact, at:such a departure from the conventional proprieties of the stage, For Addison, writing' on subject; about 40 years'.previously, has told us how "Every'actor that coines'on phe (French) stage is a beau, ■ The queens and heroines' are so painted that thcyappcar as ruddy and as cherry-cheeked as milkmaids,' The shepherds are all embroidered, au'd lacquit themselves in a ball better than pur English dancing masters. Ihave seen a couple of rivers appear in red stockings; and Alpheus, instead of having his head covered with sodgo and bulrushes, making loyoj in fiill bottomed periwig aridaplume'of feathers'," Nor waVthe, reformation of sta«e costume in the 'Ffonch theatres completed until a comparatively recent period; and to Mdlle.Mar's must be assigned, tho credit of having accomplished it; ,it,'wasT)y her influence that "Tartufo "was represented for'the first time n the 'dresses of' the period, in the " House f of, the anni :

vorsary of ljis ttii-th, on' thfe 15th of January, 1829/—7 , (Melbourne). .' ' M j; ; ,