A STAGE JOTTINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 149, 24 June 1911, Page 14

A STAGE JOTTINGS.

HIS MAJESTY'S, June 12 to 17—Stepheneon's Costume Company. Jnly 17 to 22—Auckland Amateur Operatic Society. June 19—Royal Hawallans. July 24 to August and the Beanstalk." August 14th to Sept 2—"The ArcatSians." OPERA HOTJSE. fc Fuller's Vaudeville Entertainment. KING'S THEATRE. Pictures. BOYAL ALBEBT HALU Pictures. '

"The Woman in the Case" has been putting up a record at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne. It is a play in which the tense human interest is summed up as the war of wits between two women— one fighting to save her husband from the fate of a murderer, the other striving to enmesh him in a spirit -of revenge, and to send him to his doom. In the third act the greatest scene of the play takes place, when the wife worms from the other woman the secret of Philip Long's death, and therefore sets her husband free. "The Woman in the Case" will oe sent to New Zealand by Clarke and Meynell.

There are three leading comedy parts in "The Arcadians"—Doody, Simplicitas, and The Dude—which would puzzle many comedians as to which was the "fattest." Simplicitas is a strenuous study of an eccentric individual who falls from an aeroplane into the midst of some barefooted syrens in Arcadia, whom he eventually entices to his restaurant in London. Dooay is a lean and lanky jockey, who causes roars and roars of laughter at his quaint sayings, quaint songs, and quainter '"business." He is a pessimist, who is not allowed even a smile throughout the opera, but there is a laugh in every line of his part. Then there is the "Johnnie" (Parcy Mawch), a "regular etunnah," whose "business" during the race scene and at the cafe in the last act is provocative of much mirth—three-line parts, requiring three distinctive styles of personality and portrayal.

Katherine Grey made her first effort to get on the stage when she was nine, running away from her home at 'Frisco to San Jose, but the effort ended in a thrashing. Daly, she says, engaged her first at 10 dollars a week, to oblige a friend. From Ada Rehan she got practical hints: "Sit down whenever you can and save your vitality," and "eat a lot." From James A. Herne (who gave her her first chance in New York) she learned values in realism: "If you cry about yourself on the stage the audience won't sympathise. It is only tears for the sorrows of others that affect it." From Mansfield and Dose she learned management of the voice: "In an emotional crisis no voice i≤ pleasant," they said.

An amusing incident once occurred in the career of Mr. Jack Cannot, who succeeds Mr. Neil Kenyon as the dame in "Jack and the Beanstalk." He was playing a similar role in pantomime in the English provinces, and appeared as a fine, robust, comely-looking woman of about two score and ten years. During the company's stay in one town towards the north of England, Mr. Cannot received a note from a local innkeeper, in which the latter offered his hand in marriage with the pantomime dame. Mr. Cannot, duly appreciating the joke, determined to meet the writer at the place appointed in the letter, but when, clothed in his own male attire, he saw a burly, ruddy-complexioned red-whis-kered man looming in the distance, he decided that explanations might lead to some unpleasantness, so he retired as gracefully as he could from the scene.

Sir Rupert Clarke was interviewed by the London "Referee," which describes him as theatrical manager, operatic impresario, planting pioneer in Papua shearer of 200,000 sheep a year, manufacturer of butter and cheese, winner of most of the Australian classic 'horseraces, one of the earliest gold diggers at Ooolgardie, a doer of very big things as a horse-dealer in India, a yachtsman, shooter, politician, and much besides. "But I assure you," said Sir Rupert, "that of all the many enterprises I have tried, the theatrical business is the mos V t risky and uncertain." And for that reason he loves it best of all.

Governor Tener, of Pennsylvania, has approved of Senator McNichol's bill to prevent immoral plays and -pictures. The bill provides: "That it shall be unlawful for any person or persons to give or participate in, or for the owner of any ■building to permit within said building, any play, exhibition, opera, or performance of any other theatrical, operatic, dramatic or vaudeville exhibition or performance of n. lascivious, sacrilegious, indecent, immoral or impure nature, or such as might tend to corrupt morals. Any person who shall be guilty of violation of any provision of the first section of this Act shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and upon conviction thereof shall be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding £200, or undergo an imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year, or both, at the discretion of the court."

Before making his farewell appearance in London as Hamlet, Mr H. B. Irving played in Dublin. While in the Emerald Isle the distinguished actor expressed himself with candour on the relation of the actor to the music halls. He says he enjoys music halls, and thinks the audience very good. But he agrees with Mien Terry that the atmosphere and conditions are not suited to the art of the actor. Time, he adds, will tell whether he is right or wrong in his view that the art of the actor is not in a favouring environment in the halls. He has not appeared on the halls himself, and does not intend to do so. Mr. Irving will open- his Australian tour in Sydjiey to-night with "Hamlet," which is to be performed at Her Majesty's Theatre.

Frank Greene (says the "Bulletin") provides an unimpeachable Duke. His Sergius'is about the handsomest royalty that Sydney has seen od or off the stage, and Green manages deftly to convey the impression that he is not absolutely haunted by the fact. His fine baritone is heard to great effect in "Dear Delightful Women." Miss Young (Princess Stephanie) wore some gorgeous clothes, and sings her rather poor numbers effectively. Miss Lottie Sargent makes a violent and well-merited hit as Magda. She is that rare bird, an actress who can dance. Bert Gilbert's Henry, the waiter, is as good a thing as he has done. Henry is not a lunatic in dress clothes, but a dreary, bored, useless and entirely life-like restaurant attendant, and a wildly funny one' at that. As Prince Boris, Langford Kirby is the artist he always is. He sings the indispensable waltz song, the most alluring number in the show. Miss Olive Godwin and W. S. Percy score heavily and often, and there is some excellent dancing.

Miss Ethel Irving and, her company 'have arrived ia Melbourne on 'a six months' tour under engagement to Messrs. Clarke, Sleynell, and Gtmn. Miss Irving being unusually retiring in disposition, prefers, she says, to allow Australians to judge of her on the stage. Her husband (Mr. W. Porteous), who acts as manager to the company, was the last theatrical manager to -whom the late King Edward 6poke.

A Press dispatch from Berlin in April gave the following preliminary notice of a circus Shakespearean performance:— Shakespeare in a circus is the Easter novelty which is to he offered to Berliners by Herr Ferdinand Bonn, the prominent actor-manager, who will produce "Richard , III," on the same colossal scale as Herr Max Reinhardt'h recent successful performance of "Oedipus." A cast of 500 players will be engaged, almost all of them being on horseback. Herr Bonn, who is to enact the title role, will be astride throughout the play, and will declaim all his lines from the saddle. He admit that the circus version of "Richard III." is his own, and Germans who are fond of describing the Bard of Avon as "our own beloved Shakespeare" are awaiting the performance with interest 'bordering on anxiety. A subsequent dispatch "noticed" the actual programme:—The horses carried off the honour at Herr Ferdinand Bonn's circus performance of "Richard III." at Berlin according to the universal judgment of the critics, who denounce the actor-man-ager mercilessly for his "sacrilegious travesty of our beloved Shakespeare." Herr Bonn boiled hia version of the tragedy into two acts, which the "Lokal Anzeiger" says were the "most cavalry-like production of Shakespeare the world has ever seen." The "clou" of the performance was Richard's charge at the head of a nundred mounted warriors up a steep declivity and down again, a feat in which the critics agree the horses acquitted themselves brilliantly. There was a hostile demonstration at the end of the performance, but Herr Bonn was also enabled to bow for ten minutes in response to vociferous plaudits.

Mr. H. B. Irvine's "Hamlet" (says a London critic) is emotional before everything else. It is keyed to the highest pitch in a]l its phases. Not that one would for a moment describe it as wanting in variety. It is an extremely varied performance, but Mr. Irving never lets his part go for one instant, and it is with a feeling of distinct surprise that you see the quiet-voiced, tired man step before the curtain when i; falls for the last time, and' hear him deliver his quiet little speech. Strangely enough, it is this H. B. Irving, rather than the actor, who suggests such possibilities. Hβ makes the plainest, simplest speech in the plainest, simplest way, but one feels the personality that is big enough to show through this almost commonplace exterior. H. B. Irving making one of his quiet speeches is greater than H. B. Irving as "Hamlet." It is this fund of reserve strength which enabled him to come forward in the parts that his father had immortalised. Only a strong man would have attempted so big a task, and only a big personality could have achieved a success by original methods. It would have been very easy for Mr. Irving, who strongly resembles his father in feature and expression, to have given British playgoers a very fair imitation of Sir jt is not unlikely that he would hive, gained' considerable popularity by doing so. But to come forward in the same part 3 and present them in many cases from a different point of. view, was a much greater task. Mr. Irving accepted much that his father had approved, but, for better or worse, he put his own personality into each interpretation.

The New Comic Opera Company have added another success to their already extensive repertoire in "The Balkan Princess," which went up at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne, on Saturday, June 10. In writing to Mr. J. C. Williamson recently, Madame Mclba remarked that she thought the people of Australia were very fortunate in having an opportunity given them of seeing Mr. 11. B. Irving. According to 'the famous Australian singer, Mr. Irving "is a genius, and to my thinking the greatest actor of the English-speaking stage to-day. I don't know of any actor living who can inspire such thrills as he. I predict a colossal success for him."

Just before his departure for Europe via America, Mr. J. C. Williamson saw a rehearsal of "The Balkan Princess." He was so delighted with Mr. W. S. Percy's interpretation of his role that he asked the comedian to remain on in the piece and postpone his proposed trip to Europe, till the spring. Mr. Percy agreed to do this, and accordingly went to the steamship office to have his passage in the Moldavia transferred until the spring sailing of the same vessel.

Mr. Jack Gannot, %vho was in the first instance engaged by Mr. J. C. Williamson for the part of dame in the "Jack and the Beanstalk" pantomime; and who is now taking up that role, is a man of many parts. He originally underwent a training for Grand Opera, and is a musician of no mean order. This fact has become known, and the popular comedian is in great request m society circles. Few men understand the art of entertaining so effectually as he Bright, witty, clever, he can sit down at the piano and the time -slips by as he plays, one piece after another or sings selections from the operas. He has a wonderful memory for music, and can play the whole of "Madam Butterfly" right through without a note of music. Anyone realising the difficulties of the Puccini music, can readily understand that this is no light task. Contained m his repertoire of songs is a series of French melodies which he sings in a most artistic manner. Mr Gannot's reason for associating himself with light comedy work is that it means constant employment and a good livintr while Grand Opera is much more m-fl carious, and, as the comedian himself says ] le i s too fond of the joys of lne to risk starving in a garret even for the sake of art. THE DEADHEAD.