STAR & PRODUCER

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 91, 12 January 1932, Page 8

STAR & PRODUCER

Play for Australia LONDON SUCCESS ‘Barretts of Wimpole Street’ Perhaps the most outstanding success in the realm of English romantic drama during recent years is Rudolf Besier’s “The Barretts of Wimpole Street,” that quaint and charming play written around the lives of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, those two poetical souls of Victorian days who found paradise in each other’s company and poetical thoughts. This play, which first saw the light at the Malver Festival, was immediately hailed as an artistic achievement, and on being produced in London took the city by storm, and has only just been taken off after a two years’ run, a remarkable record in the face of all the talkie opposition and the economic depression. J. C. Williamson, Ltd., have long been desirous of producing this beautiful play, but they could not find an artist for the role of the fair Elizabeth until Miss Margaret Rawlings was seen in America in “The Venetian.” It was at once determined that this was the lady for the part. This is why Miss Margaret Jlawlings arrived here from San Francisco by the, Makura yesterday morning. She is en ’route to Sydney,, where she is to create the part of Elizabeth Barrett.

“I was at Oxford; I never graduated there, though I might have had things been otherwise ordained,”, said Miss Rawlings when interviewed yesterday. “But it was there that I made up my mind to be an actress, and making up one’s mind is a great progress on the road to achievement. I was terrifically ambitious.. There were no bounds to what I could not achieve—in my own mind—and so to get along I joined the Macdonough Players four years ago, and gained much experience playing the Bernard Shaw repertoire. I then had rather an exciting experience. I was engaged to. appear at the English Theatre in Paris, as Min Lee in Edgar Wallace’s bootlegging drama, “On the Spot.” ’ T ■ “When I got back to England I met Maurice Browne, the producer of ‘Journey’s End,’ and signed up with him on a three years’ contract, playing all manner of parts, including one in the revue ‘Caviare,’ in which I appeared in a couple of sketches and songs. One of the sketches was written by my husband, Mf. Gabriel Toyne, now with me as the producer for Williamsons of ‘The Barretts of Wimpole Street.’ Little Theatre Fame. “Next I had the good fortune to appear at the Little Theatre in ‘The Venetian,’ a strong play of the Medici period by Clifford Bax,” said Miss Rawlings. “This gave me the chance to appear in-a really strong dramatic role in a picturesque setting. It was so good that it had to be transferred to the Apollo Theatre, where it had a most successful run. I was also privileged to figure as Salome in Oscar Wilde’s play of that name, which was banned, you remember, until it was produced at the Gate Theatre. This theatre is run by a club;. you have to be a member, or the friend of a member, to gain admission. They make a point of doing nothing but good stuff, and no actress of standing would, if circumstances permitted, refuse the opportunity of appealing there, though only a flat rate of £3 per week is paid the performers. In other words, it is an artistic centre known to the artistic, not only of England, but of all Europe, for its achievements. My Lord Chamberlain was invited to see the performance of ‘Salome,’ and was so impressed with it that he lifted the ban. That was in the last English summer, only six months ago. As Salome I had to dance* before Herod the Dance of Seven Veils, in which I was said to be quite good. Then I went to New York to play in ‘The Venetian’ there and in Chicago. “When in New York I was present at the opening performance of ‘The School for Scandal,’ with Miss Ethel Barrymore as Lady Teazle,” Miss Rawlings continued. “She was delightful, and when called before the curtain at the end of the performance, expressed her appreciation so simply and sincerely ‘on behalf of the real, theatre’.” Producing Experience. Mr. Gabriel Toyne is a graduate of Oxford University. He stated, when interviewed, that he always wanted to produce plays. “I commenced by producing at the 0.U.D.5., where they produce all kinds of plays from Fletcher ,to Shaft' and the latest. Russians. After leaving the university I had the good fortune to come under the notice of Komlserjevsky, the greatest Russian producer of the day,' and became his assistant. In that capacity I went to Paris to stage . productions at the Plgalle Theatre, Montmartre, the theatre belonging to Baron Rothschild. That is probably the most modern of all theatres. Its stage”is built on six moving platforms, wonderfully controlled by electricity.. You can do anything you like with, these stages or platforms by simply pressing a button, lowering, raising, and making one slide slowly l over another, or rise at one end and fall at the other. At the Pigalle we did a very old Italian opera by Cimarosa, a French play (demanded by the law), and some beautiful works enriched by the ballet music of Prokovieff. It was a fine experience for me. My associations with the Russians brought me into touch with Ballieff and the Chauve Souris, for whom I wrote and produced a sketch.” Mr. Toyne is confident that “The Barretts of Wimpole Street” will please, and expressed the' hope that it will come to New Zealand in time.