LOWER HUTT DANCER IN AUSTRALIA

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 54, 27 November 1937, Page 15

LOWER HUTT DANCER IN AUSTRALIA

Miss Heather Wright’s .Experiences On Tour A deserted mining town with about a score of abandoned hotels, and goats everywhere, was one of the smaller places in Queensland visited by Miss Heather Wright, Tawa Street, Lower Hutt, who returned home by the Awatea yesterday for a holiday after a niue-month tour of Australia and New Zealand with a wellknown vaudeville company. Miss K right is 15 years old and is an aerobatic, eccentric and tap dancer. She did well as au amateur, and when the principal of the company was iu Wellington he engaged her ou the spot. Miss Wright said she found after a three-month tour of the Dominion and six months in the Commonwealth, that Australian audiences were the more appreciative of the theatre. One place visited in Australia was Rockhampton, several days’ train journey from Sydney, during show week, when there were six theatrical companies and a circus in the town. This town still had steam ears. Where it was impossible to secure a theatre, the show was staged iu a marquee. Part ol the marquee was partitioned off lor use as dressing-rooms and was much bettei than the accommodation provided for this purpose iu many theatres. At IA agga. Wagga, out of Sydney, the marquee was set in a paddock along with three other marquees being used by other theatrical companies. At Hobart they played in the centuryold Royal Theatre. The dressiug-rooms beneath the stage were like cellars and the pit so close to the ceiling that the audience had to crane their necks to see the stage. Generally, New Zealand theatres were superior to those in Australia. Miss Merle Brown, Christchurch, was another New Zealander who joined the company at the same time as Miss Wright.