THE THEATRE.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2741, 8 April 1916, Page 9

THE THEATRE.

rha World's a theatre; the Earth n 6tago.—Heywood.. IBr Sti/Vius,] "The Boomerang.". The Hale Hamilton and Myrtle Tannehill Company, now appearing in "'Twin Beefs" at Melbourne Theatre Royal, have put into rehearsal a famous play.with a title of particular interest to Australians —"The Boomerang." It is a sly hit at the meSical profession, gently and humorously administered. The Sow Tork "Dramatic Mirror" recently said . that: " 'The .boomerang' continues its record-break-ing success at the Belasco , Theatre, where large numbers of theatregoers are being turned away at every. performance. The play has registered itself as the biggest popular hit in the theatre in years. The most delightful of comedies, it also is a real and big human pTay. Its appeal knows no bounds. It strikes the Jieart of the playgoer, and it also Tuts the funny-bone." Jiist the type of play, in short, to suit Australian audiences. "The Birth of a Nation." D. W. Griffith's greatest film spectacle, "The Birth of a Nation," which cost £100,000 to produce, and was a genuine sensation in America (the nation whose birth is pictured) has been secured by J. C. Williamson, Ltd., as their Easter attraction in Sydney. "It has for some time been a matter of great interest in picture circles in Australia as to whom "The Birth of a Nation" would fall., Mr. George Bowles, who is here representing Mr. Griffith, states that £20,000 was offered in cash for the Australasian rights of the production It was decided not to sell. Arrangements were concluded with Mr. Hugh. J. Ward to have' the Williamson management direct the tour on a sharing basis. The prices will be thuso of the Williamson, theatrical attractions. Accompanying the production to Aus-, trnlia were a stage director, a musical director, and three technical experts. Usually a picture arrives here in a circular tin, labelled "With care; use 110 hooks.", "The Birth of . a Nation" gear, .however, arrived in 51 large cases, and witli a staff, equal to a fair-sized theatrical company. A Smiling People. Musette, the dancing violinist at the Sydney Tivoli, says she likes Australians a whole lot, because they smile ; easily. "As I walk along the streets here and look at the folks, nobody seems to have a grouch. "When I do my little act and nave to work my simple eyecoakers on the good people, they; smile all oyer the theatre, so that it warms, me right through, and makes me almosti. fcigeb that I'm doing it for a.' salary. Australia's a good land. Everybody's* smiling. Sometimes I'll stop a wee kid| ill the street, and we'll have a good! heart-to-lieart chat, and always the'kifl! is friendly and. easy and smiling; I! boujrht a paper from a boy in the street on Tuesday. "You come from Canada, Mf-??' lie asked me. 'No,' I ?aid. ■Kill somewhere close handy?' said hoi I told him he'd guessed right.. 'Well,' he said, 'I didn't like to put it to<o strong.' Then we both smiled.' -1 sup>pose I'll have to get right away froib this island before ■ I get my facie straigEt. I wrote my folks last ma'fl that Australia is a broad smislandl. Eh?" Doings In London. The month of February opened ifn London with "Mrs. Pretty and the Premier" at Her Majesty's Theatre. Tlje comedy is reviewed by the critics :bi friendly fashion "as _a passable imitation of the usual political- farce." . - .' "If we are to believe Mr. Bourcliiter and Mr. Arthur H. Adams to be really serious about it, real politics in Australia aie almost exactly like stage politics in the London theatres." It is generally agreed that Mr. Bourchier drew.; a breezy and amusing portrait of Premier Bill, the Australian Labour Prime Minister, and that Miss Kyrls Bell dw handsomely looked , the part of Mi's. Pretty. These characters were originally played at the . Sydney Repertory Theatre in November, 1914, by Mr. Norman Zions and Miss Grace Stafford, who cleverly indicated what could be done with a strong professional cjfcst. At the Duke of York's Theatre a Wek later Miss ; Horniman's Mancher/ter Company produced Frank Stayton's play, "The Joan Danvers"—which; is the name of a ship. The plot owqs a good deal to Ibsen's "Pillars of So-, ciety," for it deals with Jamos Ilanvers, a shipping magnate who rules his family ■with a rod of iron, poses atf a social and moral tiillar, and yet sends the highly insured "Joan Danvers" to sea, -well knowing she is "just a lo.t of rotten plates puttied up with fear." What he does not know is that his daughter Joan had secretly married' the captain of the ship, and that his '-own son -was also on board. It. a hie melodramatic scene Joan tells hor father all this, and he has a paralvtic strolpa—a scene strongly acted by Herbert Ifimas and Evelyn Hope—hut the shin comes safely to port, and all ends happily. Again the notices leave it an open -question as to the probability of a run. This author also belongs to Aiisfiralia, being the son of a one-time civil (jengineer in the Now South Wales Works Department. Captain Stayton (he -now at the front) wrote one or two'fairly promising comedies during his : salad days in Sydney, and several of his pieces have since been ■ staged in London with varying degrees of success. Apart from these pieces, there se*jms to ho a. dire scarcity of theatrical news in London just now. Otherwise hoyr is the reader to account for 9-5 lines of nrint in the '"Evening Standard" explaining how Madge Titheradge broke a tooth the other night -whilst, biting {the villain's hand in "Tiger's Club": at the Carrick Theatre? , ! A "Charley's Aunt" Yarn. J[ • The recent revival of "Charley's Aunt" at the London Opera House, though the theatre was much t«io large, pleasantly, astonished the management by a profit of £4000, and the public by yet ono more humorous -Temimiscencc culled from the biography of the late W. S. Penley, the actor-manaiger who first made a fortune by the piece. The anecdote is well worth adding to the list, which the late Charles Arnold and his partner Frank Thornton, circulated on this side, and is as follows :r—"When we did our first performance bf 'Charley's Aunt' on its three nigtits' trial trip," said he, "we opened .'at Bury St. Edmunds to eleven and irinepcnce. When we went to Cambridge we drew twelve and sixpence, and on' going to Ipswich the returns rose toi thirteen and niuepence. This piece, ! r said I, "shows an upward tendency, I shall take it to London." Shakespeare In Melbourne. Mr. Allan Wilkie, having satisfied his critics with a capacity for Shakespeare as meritorious as it was unexpected, set out (says the "Australasian") to amazo thorn on Saturday, March 25, by qoupling Romeo with Shylock, Hnmlet, and other creations equally diverse. It was ail ambitious venture —but only in part successful. It rarely happans on the stage that Hamlet is as young as the commentators mak.e him. Ho is a jover, poet, and philosopher in one, yet in years a boy with all the a.rdour of a boy. The actor who is fitied by experience, as well as talent, to do justice to his thoughts, rarely realises in figure the boyfeh ideal—making full allowance for the early ripening of humanity in lands of the sun. Indeed, . both Romeo and Juliet are a;ge<4

rather ideals than realities. Mr. Wilkie gives fine expression to the text, inclining always rather to the scholarly side of its beauties rather than illustrating the ardent impulsiveness of the boy. He was a mature—at times even a rugged—Romeo, and while there was much to admire in, it, Romeo is far from being his best Shakespearean effort. Miss Watts-Hunter was much more successful in realising Juliet. -It was takon upon recognised, though not stereotyped lines, was natural, and in many instances charming. Another effort that calls for unstinted approval was the Mercutio of Mr. Walter Hunt, which ranks in merit with his Orlando. "War Mates." A remarkable success has been attained by a young playwright, Pte. Herbert le Hamel, of tile London Scottisii, to whom a London daily newspaper has accorded the rare distinction of: publishing in full his oue-act drama, "War Mates." One of the London critics writes as follows:—"Most war plays smell of the lamp. Their authors fail to convince you of the. reality of, _ experiences gained at second-hand. 'War Mates'—hot from the pen of a soldier who has fought and bled in them—brings the smell ofi the trenches over the footlights, and forces one to breathe the atmosphere that hangs over France and Flanders. I was present at the first performance, and—in common ivith the rest of the audience' —-I was gripped and thrilled as rarely as I have been gripped and thrilled before. A real war-play at last!—with its central character interpreted by a young actor of forceful and arresting personality. I have never heard of Sydney Vastier before. I expect to hear much of him in the future."