THE THEATRE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 187, 2 May 1908, Page 12

THE THEATRE.

__— • i By Stlvids.

"Tho world's a theatre, tho earth a stage."—Heywood. \ " Peter Pan " Produced. — Writing of "Peter Pan," produced in Melbourne on April 18, tho "Age" says:—"To give an outline of tho scheme of 'Peter Pan' would not'lie quite easy. Tho work goes by individual scenes and episodes. It ,is thrown upon the stage in fragments—glittering fragments at times, moss and ivy-coloured fragments at other timos. The first act opcuE on a domestic scene with a father, mother, and three children as the central figures. The father is going somewhere, and his preliminary struggles with collars, studs, and other impedimenta aro in the best Barrie vein. The whole atmosphere of this scene is natural and lifelike. Presently the children are left alono in the nursery, and then it is that Peter Pan appears. He does not como in at the door, but flies in through the window. Most people are aware by this time _ that • the winged messenger appearing in this fashion impersonates the boy who did not, or would not, grow up; What Peter says to tho children, what tho children say to Peter, the playgoer will bo interested tc hear. Whimsical is a word that is often applied to Barrio; frequently what is whimsical in him would be unadulterated foolishness ill anyone' else. .But in this first act of.Petoi Pan his_ whimsicality has a certain humour, a certain pathos, a certain beauty; It is clever enough and original enough to gnarain- , tee the success of any ordinary play. Eventually the act closes with the children accompanying Peter in -a flight through the window. The succeeding acts furnish plenty of variety. Several of them are pure pantomime, as those in which the children emerge front hollow trees, and those in which Petei Pan s infantile following fight with pirates on the pirates' deck. ' Woven with it all there is the slight, scarcely perceptible thread of a lovo story. . That a Melbourne audience is 'glad to see Miss Bruno back again may be i C \l' j ,8 ran ted. That is was; more than pleased with her latest ' impersonation ,it showed stage by stago as the play went oil. Even for an actress of Miss Bruno's, abilities, the;successful representation of suclna quaint, infantile, and vet grown-up perspri as Peter Pan, is no light ordeal, as Miss Adams in America and Miss Paulino Chase in England have acknowledged. ' : On Saturday ..'she brought all her reserve forces into play, and though' perhaps a little nervous at the outs?r'rr ol "i? llor i vay fi . na % iuto the. boy-like, elf-like character, bringing out successfully it vivacity, its spontaneity, its buoyancy, and also its touches of pathos and childish grief." First Appearance of " Miss Hook of. Hol-land."—-Messrs. ■ Clyde.. Meynell and John Gunn, tho latest aspirants for musical honours,;: made oil, Saturday, April 18, a largo □id for public favour.', They presented a piece which-'has onjoyed a lengthy run ill London, and (says■the Melbourne " A.ge ") they got together for. its interpretation a company containing many performers who will assuredly become. primo, favourites with' the Australian public. They have, Gpared, no expense m the production and mounting,, and they ; hold a pair, of , trump cards of high, value in ? .thoir Btageimanager ;and ; their. musical : direclor- J ; We' shall 'not pause to inquire whether Mr. Paul A.. Rubens wrote the.- piece from a , philanthropic dosire to : elevate the standard of'.public taste.;, but if; "Miss"Hook 'of Holland 1 shall prove the forerunner of other plays in which tho resemblance' to genuine conuo opora. and , the divergence from 'socalled musical comedy, aro still more strongly marked, that, vivacious young Dutch maiden win not hayo' been conceived'and born' for naught.' From this aspect the'beginning and tho end are,the weakest: parts of tho new p.ieqo ; : the last half of tho' first act and tho first half of the second are just about on: a 'level with, let us say, ";La Cigale."»v; Arid that ",La Gigale ". is legitimate comic, opera tliero is -no room for any doubt: at all.- - Mr. .Rubens is indeed very modest about his 'achievoments. 'In tho ; " chatter," to use his own phrase,; lie wou Id have us know that he has open aided and abetted by one Austin .Hurgoii; for the ,jingles.,and: tunes ", ho ■takes the solo lesppnsibility., ,And in this ho is wise,- dialogue is often tedious and pointless,, .whilo ;much ,of tho niusic '.is good and original, and somo of it is really oxcellont. With tho holp of a .big bltio pencil used liberally, tho •'.'•chatter' , -conld''-ba greatly shortened, and condensed, and 'the piece would gain 'vastly in this process. When .it conies to the plot, wo find'our-selves''-almost' in the position of Manning's "Needy Knife-grinder." "Story? God bless you I I-have none to'tell sirl" Mr. Hook is; a ..distiller..who..lias made, a large fortune by a liqueur yclept. Cream of , ,tho Sky. Of tne recipe for its manufacture there exists but a single copy,'and this ho loses!- It is picked up by a loafer, Simon Slinks by name ; and ho sells it to Captain Paap, who is enamoured of pretty Miss Sally, Hook, telling the captain that by restoring it-to old Hook ho will'surely win the distiller's consent to his, suit. Sally, however, loves, ahd is boloved, by, Van- yiityt, the • bandmaster. in Captain Raap's regiment, partly on account of his handsome person, but largoly for the sako of a melody ho has composed, for his band. There is 'u fete' at tho distillery in Amsterdam tho next' day, to which tho captain is going—and, of course?, Sally; but Van Vluyt. is ordered to stay behind with the regiment at-Arndyk. Unwilling to leavo the field to bis rival, Van Vluyt presents himsolf, disguised as a workman, at the distillery for employment. .In tho end the recipe is' restored,; tho captain is discomfited, and the bandmaster accepted: into tho minor complications of certain by-plots thero is no need to enter._ The chief successes wore achieved by Miss Ruth Lincoln, Miss Essie Perrin, Mr. Bottomley, and Mr. Tom Paynb. "The Awakening." Paul Herviou understands his craft. "The Awakening,", written by him and offered to the American, public by. Miss 'Olga Nethersolo, is a well-built play. Why shouldn't it bo? ' AVliat right has any dramatist to write any other kind? 1 What sense is there in this cheap and ignorant sneer so often made about the:"well-built" play? Are we to:admire tho imperfect and deride the perfect? There is a certain confusion of idea about the matter.' That:a play is perfect by reason of its utter conventionality is ono thing; that it is perfect in structure and yet unconvention'al in subject matter is another. Horvieu (says "The Theatre!') lias written a few plays that indicate that he is a man of ideas, but in "The Awakening": lie goes back to the old and conventional subject of "lovo," of the unlawful and indecent kind, with a married woman laving herself in a cesspool of iniquity. It is the samo offal which French dramatists and novelists have been giving us .these many years. ; The American people want none of it. We are tired of it. The theme is unworthy a member of >the Institute. Here is a woman, a wife, forty years old or. thereabouts, with a daughter ready to marry, aflamo with passion for a younger man than her husband. She consents to fly with 'him. The husband has _ given her no cause, for discontent. A\ hat in tho namo of common senso is the French dramatist's idea of love? Must it always be illicit? Does not marriago "founded in reason, loyal, just and puro" perfect it? Does it not bring a now form of happiness, with ever'added new forms? As Milton sang: . "Noither her outside form so fair, iior aught So much delights mo, as those graceful acts, Thoso thousand decencies, that daily flow'' From all hor words and actions mixed with lovo And sweet compliance—." Is it true, as these dramatists would have us believe, that, French women grow degenerate as they crow old ?, Is tho daughter to inevitably follow tho footsteps of hor mother' when she reaches forty? It would seem 39 from thoso French plays. We do not believe this evil of thrifty, progressive, and warm-hearted Franco. Far from being degenerate the French woman is tho soul and tho salvation of France. M. Horvieu libels his countrywomen. Tho French drama of adultery has grown to bo a worldjwido evil.

Why relate the story of this play? It is the same old formula, with a few new turns in the action and several more or' less novel "situations." Prince Gregoire of iSylvanic reaches Paris expecting that his son will head the movement to establish the Princc on the throne. Ho finds him infatuated ivifch this forty-year-old woman, and he takes very effective means to separate his degenerate soil and this female aforementioned. Aro we called upon to praiso the acting in ; this play? AVe think not. What difference : j does it make whether the acting was good ' or, bad? Miss Nethersole has modified the original play to' some extent, but to no avail, So far as the American people aro concerned, tlicy are no moro interested in .ar • affair of this kind than they are in the occasional elopement of a rich woman with hci butler or chauffeur or that of a young blooc with the cook. 1 Facial Expression. !_ In his essay on Adrienne Lecouvreur Sainte-Beuve declares that actress' finesl gift-, to have .been, r.ot her elocution her eloquence, her temperament, nor any o: , phe hundred and one other attributes thai go to make up effective acting, but hci Skill in mute acting. He says:— ..... i "No one ever so perfectly understood th< ■ art of mute acting—the art of listening per i fpctly, and yet acting with one's whole beinj ! while another character was speaking. Thus ; full of soul, and of feeling, an untiring stu . dent, passionately in lovo with her art- [ eierj'thing, contributed to make her the grea ; reproducer', of the subtlest and finest o ; human emotions—and this to a degree un 1 surpassed in her own day." 1 It was by posture, by gesture, by facia ' expression particularly, that, Adrienne Le ; coiivreur—sne who first made queens in th flesh of Shakespeare's queens in poetryattjuned ; the stature of .'an artiste in th affections of people who up to that time hai 1 known only the acting of make-believe. Mute acting, tho possibilities, of facial es predion (always this side of that invisibl ' line; that divides the grimace from the loo' ; of Eloquence from bathos, sentiment- fror sentimentality) 'is ari'instrument of his'ar often forgotten by the r player who complain that, he is cast insignificantly,' as it is th glory of the actor who suddenly lifts a sma] part into prominence. Nature may aid muci m equipping an actor with a fine facial es press|on... .Nature may give the actor th one talent—a striking countenance: It. l for tie actor to multiply the gift by prac 1 tico and by hard work until it becomes th 1 ten talents of a finished art; ''v Among the actresses "now before our publi Ma'rio Doro is a striking instance of the ex tent, .tt at' a player may improve .upon natur ; and, through effort, obtain a wide rang and ali exact power -of facial expression PartlyOin play, partly in earnestness, Mari \ Doro has developed to the full the actor' most effective 'medium of interpretation—fa ■ cial expression. The result 5s evident—th- ; means of obtaining it worthy of record. • It .wis as a-member of " Little Mary! company that Miss Doro/'availing'herself c waits bctwoen acts, or during tlio scenes o other players, got her best practice. In fun ; as - she thought,' she vied with another gir actress at • making faces, as two childrei might do. Night after night she practised a .this, amusing her' friend, and being amused until it;came to her, unawares, 1 th'at : sh< could do almost what she wished with'he ' countenance. This she realised one; nigh ' on 'actually frightening her friend with ■; look of terror.; From that on Miss Dor has given time and pains to the furtheranc ..' of this power. ; . ■ . . Her methods are these two, to memorise : story, preferably one built of several cor trasting ideas—reflect. up6n it, i'nd then tell i entirely by facial pantomime to someone wli lias never : heard . it. It is difficult. In th . 'majority of cases, as a means of telling-th story, it is unsuccessful. But the mere at tempt isi splendid ..mental, exercise- and th finest kind »of .practice for obtaining' a' sur muscular control of the. face. '''V; .',\ ■; Her. secoiid device—of especial help to th actress^—: In acquiring elasticity about th the mastery and pronunciation ,o certain Italian, French,': aiu ■ sentences, taken from any of the Romai languages, whjch, when well-spoken, articu lated and enunciated; with'a; nicety unknowi '.to" tho Anglo-Saxon speech, cannot be to( , strongly commended to, eyery actor, and ac tress to whom correct-speech and a skilfu mariagemerit of the countenance are as im portant as the very breath of life.—New Yorl ' "Theatro." •""•• '• i' Notes. "y: , [What is a music-hall "star"?. The,ques 'tiori -is "riot 'easy to! inswer. Very freqUentl; the celestial radiance lies only.iri'the iiriagi nation of the individual performer, who i '. .much .incensed '.when.-;: the perßoqal apprecia tion of., his—or- her-rown merits , is, .not ,'en dorsed by the public at large.v Practically it "star"; soon' sottles the right to superio status. The amount of money, drawn at tin doors' decides the question;—" Telegraph,' London, '~ •;. • . J "■ : In the' expression of practical Christianity —ill charity,' gonial cottage,.' and comrade ship—tho! stage sets a shining example ti the rest of tho world.—"Daily News, Lon don.Sir Charles Santley spent 1 his seventy ■fourth birthday in his native city of Livar pooh Ho visited the Institute Schoolj wher lie received his early. education,' and: listen* to-part-songs "by 1 the'school-choir. After wards hp (was presented with a J silver -bow frotn the pupils as a birthday gift, and de ' lighted tho'boys by singing "0 ruddier thai the cherry," "Simon the Cellarer," an< several other songs. . ' . • "The Scarlet Pimpernel," which has beer attracting 1 record business at Auckland, ha: been replaced by "Tho Prisoner of Zenda.' Tho Wellington season of .the Julius Knighi Company 'comnierices on May 23., ' When' Sheridan' selected. Moody 'for th< part of Lord Burleigh in "The Critic," th< manager declared that Moody would be sun to, commit some ridiculous error, and mil the effect.' The author protested that sue! a result was impossible; and, according t< the fashion of tno tiines, a wager was laid and Sheridan hurried t'o the, perfoiper ol tho part to give him such instructions as should render any miataka ■ beyond possibility. : Lord Burleigh has nothing to say, morel.V to..sit awhile ; and then,'astthe stage directions informed him, and as Sheridan impressed it on his mind, " Lord Burleigh comes forward, pauses; near Dangle, shakes his head/ and exit." The actor thoroughl> understood the direction, lie said, and could not err:' At night lie came forward, did pass near Dangle, shook his (Dangle's) liead. and went solemnly off. , Miss, Nora Kerin,: who was seen in Wellington ; with Mr. Geo. Musgrove!s Shake; spearian Company of happy memory, is the latest Juliet m a magnificent production ol tho love tragedy at the Lonaon Lyceum, Mr.' Matheson 1 Lang is tho Romeo. At, a benefit tendered to Mr. Georgo Lauri the operatic ; comedian, in Sydney on April 23, the programme consisted of the seconc act' of " The Lady, Dandies," the second act of "Dorbthy," the; sccnos and spccialitios from ' the' pantomimes " Humpty-Duinpty and "Mother Goose," the waltz soug from "Romeo and Juliet," (Gounod) by Madame Slapoffski,;ond Sullivan's "Take a Pair of Sparkling Eyes ";; by Mr. Charles Keriingham—riot ,d. bad afternoon's eiitertaihmeht I ;Bafi : ie's delightful fantasy, "Tho Admirable : Crichton,' has been revived at the London: Duko of York's Theatre by a strong caste, which included? Mr. Carter Pickford, who was- hero with. tho BrougluFlemnling Company whon " Beauty and tho Barge" was produced. Mr. Lyn Harding played Crichton, Mr. JSric Lewis the.Earl of Loam, and Miss Hilda Trovolynn - Tweeny. Tho production is being stage-managed by Mr. Dion Boucicault. ; ! Mr. -Boerhohm Treo was to colobrato' tho twenty-first anniversary of, his entry into London with a grand,production of "Tho Merchant of Venice." Tho first play he appoared iii London in was "The Rod Lamp," rccontly playod here by the Horbert Flemniiug Comtpany. ".Potted Plays " aro the latest theatrical innovations in London, and as played by tho Tollics'Troupe, under the management of Mr. Pollisior, aro mooting with much favour. A " potted " or tabloid play is a tried-down edition of any popular bright play that happoris to bo the vocue. At latest Mr. Pollisior was boing sued by -'Mr. Geo. for allowing numbers from " Tho.- Girls of Gothoriberg'' arid " The Merry Widow "to bo sung by his frivollere. .