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STAGE JOTTINGS.

j HIS MAJESTY'S. ! Sept. 11— J. C. Williamson, "Oar Miss ' | Gibbs" ! Oct. 9.—"The Woman In the Case." I Nov. 23. —"The Gay Gordons." . j OPERA HOUSE. 1 ; Fuller's Vaudeville, KINGS THEATRE. Pictures. BOVAL ALBERT HALL. Pictures. New Zealand playgoers will shortly ihave the opportunity of seeing a tine. I production of "The Woman in the . Case,'' which the J. C. Williamson- | Clarke and Meynell amalgamated firms are sending over from Australia. This ' piece was written by the ramous Ameri- | can dramatist, Clyde Fitch, and was his . biggest success. Cp to the time of his death he drew in royalties over £70,000 i from it. It has a remarkable motif, in-; geniously carried out, involving the inI trigue .of an unscrupulous woman who ; I seeks revenge by embroiling the victim ;of her hatred in a charge of the murder lof his best triend. There is a thrilling third act in which the wife of the accused extorts from the adventuress the confession that Julian Kolfe had not been murdered, but had shot himself. This is one of the most sensational scenes ever reproduced on the stage. On the first of the production in Melbourne, the audience rose to theii feet and cheered and cheered until the curtain had been raised a dozen times. Mabel Trevor appears as the devoted wife. The New Zealand Press agent of the Clarke and Meynell lirm informs me that j a treat is in store ior local playgoers I when "The Cay Cordons" company visit ■ this town. Th" piece has more spectacular effects than are generally characteristic of musical comedy. A large ; number of soldiers figure in it and their j uniforms (Corde-ii Highlanders) add a | brilliant note to the colour scheme. [There are also a number of Scottish pipers whose wild music awakens the echoes of the hills of Lockalt. The piece is exceedingly picturesque and there is life and colour ia cverv phase. I The New Zealand tour -.pen- in Welling j ton on September I.lth, and th" following towns will then be visited: Christchurih, Uunedin. Ir.vercargili, Timani, Palmer-ton North, Wanganui, and Auckland. I Miss IJlli.ui Uoy.l. a young Kngli-h actress, recently epyaged by Mr Willi.irn | Anderson. h.i* hj en sent to New Zealand j to till the pl.iee of Miss Beatrice Day, .'whose engagement with that manager I ha« expired. Nat Ho::!.!'- tine nx<in? . | drama, "'The Chance of a Lifetime," h.i^ ■ been clios m as the :r;nl national attraction in t "hrist Imrch, and will Ik- fol- . lowed bv "The Prince and the Beggar Maid." "Right is Might," and "The | Round Up." The J. C. Williamson Dramatic Com- ' pany gave th M - tirst production ill Australia at Adelaide on the 10th inst. of Sir Canon Doyle's drama, "The Speckled ' Hand." It is a splendidly constructed detective story, with Sherlock Holmes as one of the eentraJ figures, and maintains intense interest throughout the four nets. The play was splendidly interpreted, the leading parts being admirably sustained by Messrs. William Desmond, Ca=ton. Mervale, .T. R. Atholwnod, and Cyril Mack ay, and Misses Susie V.i .ighan and Dorothy Dix. The last-name lis a new KnglUh lady, v.hi made her first unpenrarsv. a:id created a hichly favourable impression, not only by he- beauty and commanding appearance, but by her undoubted dramatic power. Everybody enrries revolvers at "Cripple Creek." and holding each other up seems to be the facourite local game. Wherefore (says the Sydney "Sun") there is plenty of thrill in the lira Adelphi melodrama, and if Mr. (Joorge Marlow does ntit enjoy the sight of crowded houses for sonic time to conic it will 1m- surprising. Thi* is the best Adelphi production up to dale, for it true to type and has a fairly connected story, which holds the interest throughout. I During his next New Zealand tour, which commences at Auckland in March, 10lL>, Mr. Cc-orge Marlow will introduce , Miss Louise Hampton and Mr. Cecil Mannering. two well-known artists, who are now appearing at t lie Aderphi j Theatre. Sydney. "A Girl's Tempta- • lion" ia powerful London drama written by Mrs. Morton Powell j. "Cnder- ' Two Flag-." by (l-.iida. Bn-t Hartc's "The I l.u.k of Roaring Ca.mp." and "Driving a 1 (: ir 1 to De.-t ruction" will constitute the repertoire. A syndicate of Sydney an.! Melbourne commercial men has begun negotiations for the construction of a commodious i-Ne skating rink in Sydney, and it is their ': intention to extend operations to the '■ leading capitals of the Commonwealth. I The site for the new venture in cydnev has been secured. , j There ha.< been a succession of crowded 1 ! houses at the Kind's Theatre, Melbourne, i since "Tommy Atkins" was staged, and , , the piece gives every promise of p.chiev- ; iiig a record run. Mr. Anderson's totnary intuition with regard to the i:iste of his patrons was not at fault I . when he decided on this production for , the reappearance of Mr. Walter Baker . .:nd Miss Frances Ross. : Mr Saniucl Kberly (Iros-. who ha* been 1 engagiil in a law suit with reference to 1 | "Cyrano de liergerac." says the "Kra." i fought his way to the rank ■t of Captain of Cavalry ill the ([ United Slate* Army: was ad- [ milted to the liar; i- a member of the IjCrand Army, the Sons of the Revohi- \ tion. the Society of Colonial War-, th;> , | Huguenot (Society, th° Chicago Club, and - i the Press Chrh. and has been an officer of , the Society of the Army of the Potomac. . i the Military Order of Foreign War*, the - ! Continental Ouard, the Charity and Hu- ; ' mane .Societies. With this record he • j wrote a play, called "The Merchant ; j Prince of Cornville," which was rejected -! by American managers. So Captain i ! Cross took it to Paris, and left it for | some time with the management of the j Porte St. Martin theatre. When "Cyrano 1 de Hergerae." by M. Rostand, was produo o 'ed, the Captain charged that his work i had been plagiarised, and he brought suit r] for an injunction against the represent-a-I tions of "(yrano" in English. The Cir- ' cuit Court of the United States decided in his favour, and "Cyrano" is perpetu--3 ally enjoined in America and practically l in Great Britain. The lawsuit cost Cap--1 tain Gross about 50,000 dollars. Now he ' '■ claims before the Academy of France, in • ' a pamphlet and in magazine articles, that • M. Rostand was so obsessed by "The i , Merchant Prince of Cornville" that he : plagiarised from it in "L'Aiglon" and | "Chantecler." For the credit of an s l American dramatist, wtjose credentials s ! prove his position, the play that is said i to have originated the Rostand successes El ought—says "Sports of the Times"— a to be adequately presented in New York [and London,

At the Criterion, Sydney, people are I being introduced to "The Man from Chitback" in thousands, and Mr. William j Anderson has had a busy week trying to estimate how much good money he has liad to turn away, simply because the theatre is not big enough to hold all the people who wish to make the acquaintance of the popular cattle driver. The local colour in the play gives Aus- : tralians a personal interest, apart alto- , "ether from the u=ual human interest in the fortunes of the virtuous hero. Miss Mabel Trevor, who will appear in New Zealand as the devoted wife in ' the J. C. Williamson-Clarke and Mey- | nell production: "The Woman in the iCase," has had a most interesting stage I career, tihe began in a good school, lor ' she was trained by Sir George Alexander. | His methoe, she sa.vis, is to give the.youth- ' nil aspirants mere walking parts, personally watch their progress, and, if they are satisfactory, promote them to more I important roles in provincial tours and in ! London. There were seven others of i these candidates when Mis 3 Trevor started, and only she and another of the group kept on. "The other girl,'' she says, modestly, "is doing very well." But Miss Trevor herself has no cause for complaint, for she very soon ad- : vanced to leading roles in such George Alexander productions as "The Wilder;r.ess," "The Awakening," '"The Importance of being Earnest," "Paola and i : Franeesca," and "The Idler." , ! La Milo (Patsy Montagu 1 has justj : I concluded an enormously successful run i of seventy consecutive weeks at Car- : 1 iislc. The inimitable breathing marble j i and her business partner, Cruiekshank 1 (Australian artist Lang), propose to | take a brief holiday on the Continent-! l.a Milo will take with her her hand ; some powerful CO h.p. show car, and will be accompanied by a retinue of atten- : dants. iSlie proposes to make a tour of inspection of the leading theatres and 1 vaudeville-houses, to be followed by the ! seventh Moss-StoU-Dc-Freee tour. "I'm so silly when the moon comes out." sings Miss Blanche Browne in "Our Miss Gibbs." However the moon fmay affect the little lady who has managed to figuratively lay Sydney and Melbourne at her artistic feet, it i is pretty sure that in daylight she is remarkably sane and wide awake. C'er- : • tainly of late yes;rs no actress has so I ■ entirely captivated a community as Miss Blanche Browne. Pretty, animated,! i villi a sweet Kinging voice, an excellent dancer, and the pr-sessor of that in-! ; il j- «!i;iljL-.> "something known n> "«H.inii" in a remarkable degree, the. ■ now comedienne has established a iine; - re putation r.n the other side. The lady j , has only recently reached her majority, nowithstanding that she has bcrn nine • -eeajs on the stage. Mr J. (.'. saw | - her play the part of "Mary Gibbs" in j ! F.ngland. and at once secured her for .Australia. With the appearance of a new com- ! - pany, Mr. George Marlow changed the ' hrand of melodrama at the Adelphi ' Theatre (says the "Referee"). A crowded audience welcomed the blend of senti- j ' ment and sensation which makes "At : s L ripple Creek" a more interesting play j r than its predecessors. Getting away I from the squalid side of life in the new ! piece, one breathes the wholesome atran- .' sphere of one of the lirst American min--1 ing ramps. The action starts in Martin 1 Mason"* dance hall and poker saloon. J Ma-on and Manuel Alvarez., the bully of ( ripple t reek, conspire to get possession of Tiie Last Dollar gold mine, which is owned by doe Mayfield. The two ruflij ans kidnap linle Tatoo. and threaten that they will kill the child unless May--1 field makes over the mine to them. Mayr field, never dreaming that they would . dare to harm the idol of the camp, refuses to sign the deed. Manuel, in sight i of Mayfield. holds the child over a cliff. ' At the same time the Indian Wahketah f swings himself out on a wild vine, and ' smartly catches the child. Failing in their first attempt, Mason and his eon- ; felernte plan to flood the mine, ana ] I thus force Mayfield to relinquish his ! claim or to sell it for a mere song, j ■While laying the dynamite that is to brine; about the flood, the scoundrels ' dweover the Indian and some of May- j . field' B friend.*. Overpowered and securely I bound, the captured men are left to their , f ate. Picking up n knife with his teeth. i the Indian frees himself, and the climax . of the situation is reached when Mayfield arrives in time to save the mine. I . With the discovery of gold at The I-a-st . P.'liar mine justice is served out to the i villains, and Joe Mayfield marries his . sweetheart. Belle Gordon. In the final ; episode of the play Dynamite Ann. one of the wild spirits of the mining camp. ! sacrifices her life to save the hero. Mr. Max Montesole, the well-known English actor and stage producer is ' at present in the Dominion on a briof • holiday tour. He talked with an inter- i viewer concerning the state of the stage in England at the present moment. We 1 of the Dominions oversea, Mr. Montu sole thought, could have but small idea j of what production meant in London at . the present time —not even the Ameri- . cans knew the excellence to which it ? had come. Tree, in "Much Ado About ( Nothing," had an effect by which the r light faded slowly during seven or eight r minutes. In "Pinkie and the Fairies" 1 there was a scene in which the light faded so slowly that he felt sure those on the stage could not notice the change from minute to minute. Presently the . players were backed bv n ntist of red and purple clouds, fading and interchanging darkness fell slowly—it was a , very real twilight. Then, even in the \ matters of everyday production—the , making of moons. The old methods , would not do now. Perhaps a moon r would be cut in the canvas of a scene, i and covered with thin material. Light J; would be thrown on the transparency " , from the back—light so strong that the J moon showed out and overcame the glare I from the floats. There is still no hope. , he said, for an artistic drama, unless it happens to become a fashion. Yet it is absolutely true that during the past a j three years the stage ha* made more " progress than in the fifty years that went before John Galsworthy. Granville Barker. Bernard vShaw. Laurence Hauff- | man. Rudolph Besie—those are the artists of England. One can agree with Maeterlinck, this is the greatest period ," that F.ngland has had since the Elizabethan period. We have no writer like Sheridan. There is no man of the day who could do work equal to his. Bnt we are richer in artistry now than we " i have been at any time since the stage J began. There are those who say that | we have men who can make blank vers*. 5 as well as the Elizabethans wrote it; e and lam with them. It is not con- | ceit, because this is the period we live n j in. It is statement of fact. You ;?! understand the difficulty of making comjparison: they dealt with physical hapsi penings. while those of the day deal ~\ with psychological phrases and events?" "* twtt. DEADHEAD.

Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19110902.2.82

Bibliographic details

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 209, 2 September 1911, Page 14

Word Count
2,377

STAGE JOTTINGS. Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 209, 2 September 1911, Page 14

STAGE JOTTINGS. Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 209, 2 September 1911, Page 14

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