STAGE CHANGES.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16507, 26 April 1919, Page 7

STAGE CHANGES.

——-» Seldom have London theatres' >eei so full as of late (says a.write: a m London paper of March sth). lheun exampled prosperity of all the lighte forma of amusement has aroused a tren zied competition for playhouses whicJ tends not only to make rents unrea Bonable, but also to concentrate ttt control in a fow hands. Meanwhile th modest player, out of whose pocket th. increased cost of production must ulti mately .come, trembles at the prospec of a "slump." Recently the last of our great actor managers, who was also an owner o theatres, passed away generally lament ed. Sir Charles Wyndham represented a much-abused class of working em ployers.'who were benefactors, perhap in spite of themselves; though he, a least, could not be called selfish, sine' he was ever ready to help the small part actor to create a big effect. For the actor-manager, it is true was usually fond df the limelight, tto centre of the stage, and calls befor the curtain. But a proper pride mad him slow to admit defeat, while arest less artistic temperament, as with Si Herbert Tree, often made him robe against a too-persistent success. # He gave opportunity to beginners paid handsomely for sound support, am was lavish in the mounting of piece which might nevertheless fail to at tiact. Above all, he was jealous of th honour of his profession. In the theatre, as elsewhere, 'whil the men were at the front, women hav come to the fore and boldly graspe* the reins of management, oven in tha modern mystery —revue. And one ac tress is shortly to have a theatre of he own - ■ • , 1.1. The commercial manager, who ha hitherto flourished chiefly in the Unite* States, has to rely on an advertised at traction. He exerts himself, therefore to turn some popular player into a sta of the first magnitude, with salary t< match, and subordinates everything ant everybody to this central figure. He, too, does. not mind what • h< spends on a production. But thougl he may read unacted plays as a hobby ho rarely buys a piece without the hall' mark of success. The foreign autho: gets his price, and does not protes' against the mistranslation of a tam< typist": the native author only rogreti that his play was. ever typed. For the commercial manager, wh< firmly believes that money talks, anc who strives to go his trade rivals. sev eral better, likes to back a certainty If, after all, that should go down h( quickly shuts up shop. And he nevei claims to have obtained a good piece from So-and-so, but only to have got £ winner in, say, "The Beautiful Beast.' : The recent tendency has been for t leading actor. # when the size of hii i salary ■ drives him into management, t( : assocfate himself with a man of business. It is a conjunction of the idcalisi and the realist that may well product the golden mean of safety. Such combinations have, at any rate, been markedly successful.