THE THEATRE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 288, 29 August 1908, Page 12

THE THEATRE.

« "The world's a'theatre, the earth a stage,"— Heywood.

By Sylviub. Consideration for the Actor. There are apartments behind every stage tliavare called dressing-rooms, a term which strictly interpreted should mean room to dress in. It is in these rooms that actors and actrosscs do actually robe and disrobe. ' s ? c complisUed in some cases is one or those miracles that the public only seo the culmination of. What is it to those in front tliat there are 120 people dressing and undressing (not once during an evening, but three or four times) in a space that would no crowced with fifty? Yet such is the caso in some of tho New Zealand theatres, and e u authorities do not interfere is one or tho enigmas I am for ever trying to solve. . lie labour Department is very keen on looking after the quarters the factory girl works "? J ero , must be air, light, and space in plenty, which suggests tho idea that in order to ensure decently adequate accommodation for the players all theatres should be placed under_ a regulation,, either Government or municipal, insisting that tho dressing-room accommodation shall bo adequate for all demands likely to be made 911 the theatre. Tho troublo exists _ through ignorance—tho proprietors providing just enough accommodation lor tho average company of between twenty and thirty players, with tho result that when an opera or pantomime company comes along tho management is put to all sorts of straits to find room for the little army of choristers, ballet dancers, children, and principals to disrobe in. If tliero was an actors' union of workers in this legislaton-gone-mad country, with votes to be cultivated for December next, something in tho direction hinted at would ( promptly bo insisted on. But acting is a 'profession," and nothing so vulgar as a union must smirch its status, even if it would give the actors a greater degree of comfort * behind." When new theatres are being erected the authorities would do well to ensure that proper accommodation for at least a hundred people to dress and undress mis provided. It is the least that can bo done 111 consideration of the elever folk who givo such pleasure in between tho times they dodge to and from what at present pass for dressing-rooms.

An imported New Zoalander. When Messrs. Meynell and Gunn formed their new linglish comio opera company in London they accidentally "netted" a New Zoalander in tho person of Mr. Arthur Ap- / w ' lo returns to tho antipodes (which ho left as a raw student 16 years ago) a highly educated musician. Mr." Appleby's contribution to tho cast of "Miss Hook of Holland," as the light baritone who appears as Captain Paap, is (says tho "Sydney Morning Herald") of importance owing to his exact reproduction of tho abrupt military manner, and to the martial "swagger" with which he carries off the sky-blue and gold bullion uniform of a Dutch artillery officer. Musically tho part is not all a highly-cultivated artist could wish it, but stage experience is always of service, and Mr. Appleby has had plenty of it since his departure from Christchurch in 1892 for London. At the Royal Acadomy of Music tho New Zealander was awarded tho Westmoreland Scholarship, and ho also bore off tho Leslie Crotty prize, by. which tho onetime Carl Rosa baritono • porpetuates his name at the institution in Hanover Square. For Bomo years after leaving the acadomy J! r. Appleby enjoyed a career all over Great Britain in oratorio. Ho states, however, that soveral social developments havo proved hostile to tho cultivation of sacred music alike in the United Statos and in England. The cycle crazo took the sopranos and contraltos away from the choir practices to scampor for milos along tho high roads with the tenors and basses, and this athletic pastimo had tho samo effect in America, tho deterioration of oratorio societies boing attributed to that fact by tho eminent baritono Plunkett Greene. Finally came tho Boer war, subscriptions fell off, and hundreds of tho _ smaller societies closed never to meet again. The spread of. tho music halls, and more especially the erection of splendid vaudeville theatres in tho suburbs, has also proved distinctly detrimental to tho interests of tho serious arid the classic in the art we now discuss. Grasping tho new situation, Mr. Appleby decided to swim with the stream instead of against it, and began his stage career with tho Georg-j Edwardes companies, understudying Mr. Hayden Coffin in "Tho Geisha" at Daly's Theatro, and touring as principal baritone' in "Tho Greek Slavo," "San Toy," and other musical comedies of tho day. Last year Mr. Appleby was with the Seymour Hicks Comic Opora Company in Buenos Ayres, so he has seen a good deal of tho world oiio way and another. He has, however, a great lovo for the antipodes, and. being a pianist, and in othor ways well equipped, hopes to settle in one of the Australian capitals as a tcachor upon the termination of his engagement with Messrs. Meynell and Gunn. <

A Russian on American Drama. Mme. Komisarzbevsky, tho Russian actress, who recently appeared before Now York audiences ind proved bersolf a player of unusual capacity and charm, gave an interviewer a frank opinion of the American drama. Sho said. "I think your drama is in a parlous state. I realise that I havo not been hero long enough, perhaps, to'get other than a general impression. It appears to me, however, that the publio is not blessed either with a critical tasto or with tho leaßt interest in tho serious forms of tho drama.' They seem to enjoy tho drama as a light amusement, offered in the most inartistic forms. They 'do not seem to caro very much that often the plays are bad, from an artistic standpoint, and that tho acting is on a par. They enjoy 'the performance anyhow, just as children. "Your critics aie the same, for tho most part.. When I read some of tho things that were written it really amused mo very much," and tho countess gave a hearty little Peter Pan laugh. Why wore they amusing ? she was asked.

"Because they wore so naivo, somo of them. Please ,do not think that I am referring to the manner in which they wrote of me. My criterion of a good critic is not that ho should praise me. Some of them were very flattering. What. was amusing about some of the oritics was that it was so evident that they knew remarkably little about, tho drama and far less about acting. Thoy 'did not know wha.t to think, nor what to say v , and only two or three of them seemed to have experience upon which to draw and a standard from which to judge. "You have a few very discerning and experienced critics here. There is nothing better for tho public, for tho drama., and for an actress than a good critic—ono who has a . serious and earnest regard for the' advancement of the drama. But nowhere else in the world, I believe, would such makeshift criticisms be tolerated as hero. As a rule, they seem to have no bettor taste than your general public, no moro delight in simple and unpretentious impersonations. _ They seem to think that tho best way to present a character is to mako a sort of noisy or striking caricaturo of it. Somo of them seemed so perfectly careless in observation and lacking in ideas! "For instaiice, one of tho critics, in lieu of criticism, I suppose, of the play or tho acting, ridiculed my name. It was so utterly surprising," and tho countess smilod, "and so cxtremoly vulgar"—here sho lowered her voice—"that it was' laughable instead of insulting. How a man can daro offer personal' matter of that sort, and in such a coarso manner, to the public as serious criticism is ono of the things I shall never understand! Vulgarity in a critic of art! It is so anomalous 1 'That is ono more proof to mo that you aro not an enlightened peoplo artistically. Such a thing would not be tolerated in Europo for a moment, oven if a critic could bo found who would publicly show himself possessed of vulgarity or coarseness. "Yes, some of your critics woro ■ certainly naivo and amusing. But it is bad for the, public, and for the interest in tho drama. I do not know whether your critics are responsible for tho ignorance and lack of tasto in tho drama ati tho part of the public, or wkolhyr tho jiuhliq ia responsible for the

critic. I know that no enlightened community could bo so deceived by some such critics as you have. They 'bluff, 1 as you say. Are they good 'bluffers?' Well, they may bo to the ignorant, but surely there are thousands of persons hero who can see that some of these men are not the teachers that they should be, but merely fnumakcrs." ■

London Season's Successes. Taking July 15 as the end of the theatrical season of 1907-8, the London "Daily Mail" compiles a mass of interesting statistics, from which it appears that London's 30 West End houses produced no fower than G3 new plays, 6 musical plays, and 3 pantomimes, besides reviving 27 plays and 3 musical plays. Besides establishing the reputation of several young dramatists, it is described as noteworthy that some of tho pieces which did nof; reach- one hundred nights still made fair profits. The new pieces which "passed their century" were "The Gay Gordons" (229 performances), "Tho Sins of Society" (113), "Irene Wycherley" (139), "The Education of Elizabeth" (127), "The Thief" (186), "Robinson Crusoe" (100), "Babes in the Wood" (116), "The Squaw Man" (175), and "Diana of Dobson's" (142); revivals, "The Christian" (181), "As You Like It" (104), "Peter Pan" (102), " Tlie Scarlet Pimpernel," "Tho Admirable Crichton" (118). It will bo noted that _ nearly half theso exceptionally successful pieces have already been staged in Australia, and some others are in tho hands of managers there, whilst of those that failed to reach a run of 100 nights not threo percent. will ever reach tho antipodes. Speaking generally, it may bo accepted as axiomatic that no piece is ever produced in Australia unless it has boon lavishly praised by the London press first as excellent of its class! Several omissions from the printed list of successes are accounted for, as in the case of "The Merry Widow" and "When Knights Were Bold," by tho fact that they belong to tho productions of the previous season, and are now running into tho next. Notes. Even_ granted the possession of marked dramatio ability, without a great deal of influence or good fortune, the theatrical profession is ono of the most utterly hopeless ones a young man or woman can possibly adopt.—"Mammon."

The art of the stage had ever aimed at greater realistic production, as far as its m6ans and stage mochanism would allow. Such had been the undeviatmg path of theatrical evolution.—H. B. Irving. On Friday of last week "Peter Pan" bade a long farewell to Melbourne, which has had two opportunities (both largoly availed of) of worshipping at its 'shrine of daintiness and grace, and went on to Sydney, opening there on Wednesday last. This will be the last stage in a journey which, beginning in Melbourne three months ago, has practically covered Australia from Kalgoorlic to Brisbane, and from Geelong to Broken Hill. And Australia has appreciated the tour of Bame's quaint and beautiful piece of imaginative comedy. The fame of "The Merry Widow" has evidently gone beforo it to Adelaide, and the Royal Comic Opera Company was greeted by a crowded in which every available seat was booked and by which the utmost enthusiasm was shown on August 15, and the season bade fair to be the most successful that popular organisation has ever had there: It was to finish at the end of this week.

On returning to Amcrica, Miss Margaret Anglin will be starred under the management of Sir. Louis Nothersole, who is her manager for the Australasian tour. She will make her reappearance in Now York in "The Awakening of Helen Ritchie," a play that has not yet beou seen along the Broadway, and one which give's her scope to display her groat emotional powers. Miss Anglin has received a flattering offer to go to London at the conclusion of the next American tour. She returns to America, via England, but according to present arrangements she will not appear on the London stage for another two years. Tho results of the Julius Knight New Zealand tour, which has just concluded, havo never been equalled in the whole career, of that popular dramatic star. -This week tho company will be in Victoria, en route for Adelaide, Perth, and Kalgoorlic. Then a return will bo niado to Melbourne in time for the Cup.