STAGE JOTTINGS.

FIXTURES. The following dates have been booked:— HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE. March 2-13—Nellie Stewart. Jlnrcli 11-24—"The Glad Eye" Co. March 25-April a—"Uabes in the Wood" l'antomlme. April 3-lli—Pllmmer-Day Company. April 17-24—Fred Shlpman. April 20-Mny B—"The Strollers" Company. May 10-22—WiUougbby Company. May 31-June o—Williamson's Pantomime. June 14-25—Allen Doone. An actor who has suddenly jumped into prominence in Melbourne is Leonard Stephens, who plays the Japanese valet in "Bought and Paid For " at Melbourne Theatre Royal. Mr. Stephens' performance is another illustration of the assertion that it ie not the part but the artist that counts. It is the smallest role in the play—altogether there are not more than three pages of dialogue for him in the whole of the play. but he makes the part stand out by his clover characterisation and his appreciation of the points which enable •him to score. Hardly a night passes when his final exit faile to receive « round of applause. Mr. Stephens ie o. young actor who made his first a-ppearance in Mcl- ■ bourne a little while ogo with Mies Nellie Stewart, in "Dv Barry." For come time lie was in management on hie awn in South Aifrioa, and has not been very long in Australia. He is without doubt an actor of whom more will be hoard in the near future. Appearing as leading woman in "Outcast," at Wyndhnm's Theatre, London, is Miss Hilda Mooro, a niece of Sir ■ Arthur Pjnero. In the past year or so ' I Mi«s Moore has won to a leading posiI linn on the London stage. Miss Ella Young, who appeared ia tho name part of "Bunty Pulls tho Strings," is engnged to be married to Mr. Geoffrey Elkington, a New Zealand land-owner. Miss Young is the daughter of an Edinburgh lawyer, and ie a newcomer to the etage. Mr. Reynolds Dcnniston, late of the Plimmer-Denniston dramatic company, is now touring Kew South Wales with a company of his own, of which Miss Frances Rose, well remembered for her work with Mr. Bland Holt, is the lc&d- ---; ing , woman. kLfly Dampier, Alfred's elder daughter, • died in Melbourne recently. Bom at , Xewcastle-upon-Tyne (Eng.) in January, , 1850, she made her first appearance in i Dunedin in her father's drama of "Saint ior Sinner." She was a mere baby nt • the time. Her father came to Au»- , tralia in IST3, and was for three years at i the Melbourne Royal. Then he toured ! Australia and New Zealand. During 1 that period Lily married Alfred Rolfe, who was one of her fathoms young men. ■ She and nister Ro3o were both popular ! as juveniles. Yot Lily at any rate might ' have done bettor had she stuck to the piano. Her mother (then known as Miss Alice Russell) was in a fair way to become quite famous, when she loft for 1 Australia, and the daughter had. large [ . talents of tho same sort. The Quealys (Harry and Nellio) have \ been engaged for a further season on tho , I''ullcr-Brennan circuit. After this they are going to try their luck in America. i On this point they have definitely made , up their minds "(saye the "Thoetre"). , They expect to leave Australia in March ', or April. When recently in Now Zcai land Mr. and Mrs. Quealy played "The Pink Lady," a sketch written for them by Harry Taylor (Sydney). They will be seen in this in Australia during the season they are now entering upon. "Fun 1 in a Kitchen"—in which Mr. and Mrs. • Quealy, lor a man and a woman, give an inimitable boxing display—is one of ' tho sketches with which they will make ' a bid for American favour. ' Included in the Nellie Stewart Company are two actors who will make their first appearance in New Zealand in the ' production of " Thi ißarry " at His Majesty's Theatre next Tuesday evening — ■ Messrs. Clarence TJlakiston and Allan 1 Wilkie. The former comes of an old English family, the Blakistons of Dur- i ] ham, who have written their names in | 1 history, rne order for the execution of ■ ' Charles I. was Rigncd by John Blakiston, whose name appears fourth on the list of Fnmilv annals relate how there was great reluctance to sign • this order, and no mtvn wanted his name ■to appear first. Mr. Allan Wilkie is a Shakespearean actor of wide experience. : He has toured at the head of his own companies, playing Shylock, Hamlet, Othello, FalstafT. Petruchio, Macbeth, 1 iMaxk Antony, 'Richard 111., Jacques, Mathias in " The Bells." Sir Peter Teazle, and other classic roles. Of handsome appearance. <Mr. Wilkie ie said to be » master of the difficult art ,of "make-up," so that no two characters which he as--1 eumes seem alike. Miss Clairo Romti.ine, a doshdng boy impersonator, who recently went through a successful season on the Riicknrds , circuit in Australia, is the I principal boy in the pantomime of '"Aladdin" at tlic London Opera House. , The "Daily Mirror" sn.ys of her: "London hae long wanted a 'principal boy' with genius, and London has found her in the person of Mi&s Cln.irc Romnn.ne. "Seven Little Australians" open in Wellington on February 27. Tho New Zealand tour will last about five months. Mr. Harrington Reynolds hn,s been engaged t-o play the part of the doctor. Mr. Maurice Ralph, general manager of the tour, and a teacher and matron for . the children will also travel with the company. The little girl who plays tho part of "Suds" is a native of Wellington. i T>non the occasion of her departure from . Wellington to join the Sydney company she was presented with a cheouc for 200 . guineas. ; Sydney was introduced last week to a i new dramatic leading juvenile in Mr i Roland Conway. He is appearing in the principal male role, the Rev. Manuel i Errington, in C Watson Mill's four-act . play, "The Night Side of London," at i the Adelphi Theatre. Mr Conway is a,n- ---; other of the young Australian dramatic- [ actors who have made good. A native i of New South Wales, he is still on the . sunny side of 30. i A Chicago paper records the growing • popularity in America of that former » New Zealand favourite, Miss Maud i Beatty, one of the most dashing princi- : pals in comic opeTa and pantomime We ' evcr-saw here. Miss Beatty since »ne went I to America has been appearing in comedy < i and lately has been playing lead at ' the Columbia Theatre, in Oakland, across ' I the bay on which San Francisco lies, and ' I recently she was engaged by telegraph by John Cort, of New York, to take a 1 similar position in his Broadway produc- ■ tion of the farce "Let's Oefc Married." Her Oakland contract was not finished, 1 but she was released in order to enable her to accept the better offer, which will give her the leading place in New York ' theatrical circles, to which her experience n.nd popularity in comedy character parts entitle her. ! THE DEADHEAD.