STAGE JOTTINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 89, 15 April 1922, Page 18

STAGE JOTTINGS.

A Mozart ©pera-bonfe, "La Finta Simplice," written when the composer was twelve years old, has just had its premiere at Karlsruhe, after 103 years.

Bayreuth is to be opened in the summer of 1923. Tiree million marks have been pledged to that end by friends of the Wagner family. The only question is whether, in the summer of 1923, three million marks will be able to open anything more expensive than, say, a bottle of Pilsener.

Paris reports bookings for the present opera season as the greatest in the history of the Grand Opera. At the unveiling of Massenet's opera, a special pp.' formance was given of "Herodiade." Wagner continues as astoundingly popular as was the case last year- at the Paris Opera. _

Miss Adele Inman, the AustraUan actress, who has joined Mr. Allan ■Wilkie's Shakespearean Company, comes of an old theatrical family. She is a daughter of Robert Inman, the wellknown actor, and __ grand-daughter of F. C. Appleton, who w»s a contemporary of George Coppin, Alfred Dampier and other prominent Thespians in the past. Appleton qualified as a barrister, but his heart was not in law calf or briefs, and he trod the boards with no little success. . ._, .

Mr. Henry Arthur Jones, who presided at a recent meeting of the London Playgoers' Club, when Mr. B. W. Findon, in winding up the debate on a paper, Where Are the Plays of Yesteryear? said that there were about 1000 plays produced every year in England, but how many of them would be known as literature? With reference to attacks on managers, he said every manager had to be a commercial manager or he was a fool. If a man had a message to give tho public through the theatre and could not make it pay, then let him keep*, away from the theatre | and take it to the pulpit or the (Press.

A novel scheme has been founded in London for the relief of unemployed actors (states the "Dtaily Mail"). It is called the Actors' Unemployment Fund, and aims at creating work for members of the profession who are out of engagements toy running profit-shar-ing companies. There will be a minimum salary of __ a week, and the {pooled profits after deducting 40 per cent for the fund will be divided among the companies. A casting committee will _b appointed to be responsible for the good casting of all plays, which may range from Shakespearean tragedy to revue. (Miss Adeline Bourne, who presided at the inaugural meeting, said that although unemployment among chorus girls was reduced during the pantomime season, 50 per cent of the profession are without engagements.

Toiart, an actor-artist, who is appearing at Fullers' New Theatre in Sydney, offers a playlet called "The Burglar,"' which is said to be entirely different from anything previously shown on a vaudeville stage. The playlet tells the story of a poor, ragged, starved, down-and-out pavement artist, who breaks into a house to steal, and discovers he is in the studio of an artist; the sight of an easel, canvas and palette is too strong for him, and forgetful of the fact that he is an intruder, he determines to try his hand at real painting. As he paints he remembers a picture he has seen in Ids dreams, and this he commits to canvas, with the result that when the picture is finished the tramp has painted _» really beautiful snow scene, which he calls "solitude." He paints two pictures, and having finished them, exits with the resolve to become a better man.

Mr. Alfred Frith, who for seven years has kept Australians laughing at his irresistible fooling, will, at the conclusion of the season of "A Night Out," return to England to see his parents, and renew home associations. It is now about 20 years since Mr. Frith left London, and he has since played in the East and various British Dominions. "It was not until I came to Australia," he said one day recently, "that I discovered that Frith- was after all a common name; there were two only in the London Post Office directory when I was there, but here I have heard of dozens. In the East, native compositors on papers printed in English, have played mc sorry tricks with my name, for I have been referred to as Froth, Fruit, and Filth, to mention but a few examples of their versatility in impersonation." r

A third of a century ago vaudeville, then known as "variety," made no effort to supply fine music to their patrons. But recent years have witnessed a striking change in this respect, especially in the United States, where celebrated artists are always on the spot. Famous singers and players are heard twice a day by thousands who might never hear them otherwise. One leading manager told "The Etude": "We do not put on important musical acts for missionary reasons; we do it because th/> public really wants to hear the best music by the best artiste, and it pays us to>_ave the best." It is not surprising, therefore, upon tlie occasion of the 33rd anniversary of the Keith enterprises, that a coterie of musicians, including Gatti-Casazza, Galli-Curci, Walter Damrosch, John Philip Sousa, and many other notables, sent congratulatory telegrams. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have thus been spent in bringing good music to the public.

Speaking at the Playgoers' Club, in London, Rev. Clarence May said tbat if the Church judges the drama at all her criterion of criticism must be after allowing for the limitations of the stage. "A good play is not necessarily a 'goodygoody' one. A good play is a good vision of life which takes one out of oneself, and enlarges one's view of humanity and one's sympathy with it. And if it is a vision of life, it must have some unity, some cohesion, and therefore some message. It has been popular of late for authors of all classes to say that they let their characters speak for themselves. It is .a very convenient way of washing their hands of what they have written. But do they? Do they ever reach definite climaxes in ordinary, everyday life? Have they not to be somewhat engineered? An ordinary play cannot help having a bias, and it is the bias which is its message. The author must be free to give us his message, and the Church must be free to criticise it. That is the only real position that can be taken vp — a proper friendly position, free on both sides —between the Church and the stage. I plead for plays of more variety and vital interest, that hit one in the teeth with their challenge. If I protest against anything it is not against bedroom scenes, or tlie lack of clothing—that can be left to public morality—but against the dull, dreary pessimism of the soulless, heroless drawing-room drama, in which everyone is supposed to be a sham, and the great game is to find the other out."