JAPAN ON THE STAGE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 56, 5 March 1904, Page 1 (Supplement)

JAPAN ON THE STAGE.

•The Darling of. the Gods." Mr Tree's new play at His Majesty's, is hopelessly un-Japanese, says Mr Arthur Diosy, the well-known authority of the Japan Society. Mr Tree, who prides himself on his iniuute accuracy of detail in the staging of his plays, lias replied with. some warmth to this criticism, and the matter has been the subject of several interesting letters in the Press this, week. As "The Darling of the Gods" may, I understand, h e produced in Australia next April, it may, be of interest to give'Mr Diosy's comments upon the "atmosphere"' of Messrs. Long and Bolaseo's drama. The fanciful Japan created by Mr W. S. Gilbert has, he says, exercised a very strong influence upon the Japan of the stage. Mr Tree -would doubtless treat the suggestion 'with, scorn, but it -was nevertheless true that "The Darling of the Gods" owed a great deal to the "Mikado/" 1 and was much influenced hy it. Mr Tree, to Mr Diosv, was Pooh-Bah.' The young ladies who ran about the stage at His Majesty's with the steps of a frightened little mouse, violently agitating little fans, were the "Three Little Maids from School" multiplied by thirty, and the exclamations were Chinese, not Japanese.. The costumes were, in the main, correct, and the scenery, which was very beautiful, -was also in the main correct. The movements and deportment had been superintended by a Japanese painter, and yet silence -was the best explanation of Mr Diosy-*3 feelings. It was stage Japan smelling of the stage carpenter's glue, because the piece was hopelessly un-Japanese. There was a chance of showing the British, play-goer something like real Japan, to give him «n insight into the feelings that moved the Japanese, and to show him what fierce love, what hatred and vengeance, and what heroism there was in a country the history of which teemed with deeds of heroism and adventures to gain possession of a loved one. But the chance was thrown away. Mr Tree ' himself had done everything to get the play correct, and had brought it as nearly like to the real thing as possible. It was the play which was at fault. To these criticisms Mr Tree replied in the Press that if called upon to decide betwen the opinions of "a cosmopolitan globe-trotter' and "a scholarly native of Japan," he would have the audacity to choose the latter; and he proceeds to give the opinion of a scholarly native in the person of Mr Koike, a member of the Japanese Legation in London, who had seen the new play at His Majesty's. He reports Mr Koike as saying: "Mr Tree is to be congratulated upon the way in which his company have learned the difficult art of deportment as practised in Japan. Doubtless he will remedy the small faults that are inevitable in such a production, and will thereby increase the debt of gratitude which the Japanese owe him for so faithfully and delightfully representing them to their friends and allies— the English." Unfortunately for Mr Tree these complimentary remarks have since been modified considerably by the Japanese gentleman who made them. Interviewed by a reporter yesterday, Mr Koike said: "The play Is certainly not a true picture of Japanese life. I attended the dress rehearsal, ' and after the performance Mr Tree asked mc what I thought of the play. You know it is somewhat hard to say exactly what you think to a man. -who has taken so much pains as Mr Tree has done. I therefore said that I thought the play was excellent, and that it'was splendidly put on the stage..; but all the same it is not a true picture. I understand that the authors spent some time In Japan. If that is true, they ought to know more about the country than they have been able to put in the play." ' Consequently the honours of the controversy appear to rest with Mr Diosy. The hitter can sympathise, however, with the actor-manager's difficulties, for he himself has experienced- them ia "Japanning" that popular comic opera. "The Geisha. v The ladies of the choru* would insist on wearing "those infernal machines corsets," are unknown in Japan. Then Miss Marie Tempest would have auburn hair, although Japanese women always have black hair, or else dyed black. "I know it's wrong," , said. Mis's Tempest, "but I'm going to wear it."