COMPLETE TROUPER

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 140, 10 March 1938, Page 8

COMPLETE TROUPER

Miss Fay Compton’s Wide Experience VIEWS ON MODERN STAGE Is it any wonder that Wellington is doing Fay Compton sueh signal homage? After all, she is Fay Compton, and that counts for a good deal, especially in London town, where merit has an aptitude tor finding its own level. What one likes about Miss Compton is that when interviewed—and she does not like being interviewed as a habit —she is so frank an'd honest. That being the case, anything that comes from her is of certain value. Miss Compton’s father, Edward Compton, is still remembered by the advanced middle-aged as an actor of personality and charm, very polished in the old comedies, very courtly in gait and gesture. Few could speak their Sheridan or Goldsmith better than he. Then her mother, Virginia Bateman, was a woman famous for her golden hair, her gife for management, and a decisiveness which seldom erred.

Is is therefore any wonder that thenchildren should be something very much more than ordinary? Fay Compton has climbed from the “Follies” to the proudest forum of the English stage, for only four years ago she was the beautiful Ophelia to John Barrymore’s ‘Hamlet’ in London; only last year she lent the grace of her art ami presence to the Shakespearean pageant in Regent’s Park. “I really do not think 1 have any very definite preference as to the class of parts I play,” said Miss Compton. “I have played everything from pantomime and musical comedy to Shakespeare, and, to tell you the truth, I have found - them all interesting in their way—comedy, tragedy, farce, society plays (with or without-a problem), and melodrama, so you see I am the complete trouper. Have I a preference? I don’t think so. Perhaps the most difficult of all plays in which to succeed are the clever, smooth, sophisticated West End, society plays, in which the faintest inflection, the slightest expression are important in the conveyance of shades of meaning. It is the very subtlety of such plays that

intrigues one, even if they do call for concentration.”

“Your favourite parts?” Miss Compton was asked.

“Ob, dear, they are so many I” said Miss Compton. “There are many in Shakespeare: then, of course, I loved Phoebe Thrissel in ‘Quality Street’ and Mary Rose in the play of that name, which the late Sir James Barrie wrote for me. I do not think that anyone, with the exception of Shakespeare, had a finer sense of the theatre than Barrie. 1 think that, is conceded by most people who have acted in his plays.” Tlie Stage to-day. Miss Compton says the stage is not what it was. There was no mistake the talkie picture dealt it a hard blow, but it was holding out bravely. London had a wonderful season last year. Probably the larger cities would always provide a niche for tlie stage, but could that be said for the thousands of towns outside the great cities, where people could see a picture show for a shilling or two? It was unfortunate that one could not produce and perform plays to the public for a shilling or two: the cost was prohibitive: and one could not enfold it in a metal tube and send the production and players to til l end of the earth for another couple of shillings. “That is what the stage is up against,” said Miss Compton, "that and the manner in which the screen poaches from the stage. As soon as a young girl or a man shows talent he or she is snapped up, and sent to Elstree or Hollywood, for good or ill, I don’t know. Of course, the old order has changed. The stage was at its best under the actor-manager—your Irvings, Trees, Hawtreys, Hares, Uu Mauriers, Alexanders, Bancrofts, and so on. They saw to it that the plays were good and the performances were sound. They had standards, which cannot always be said of commercial managements. There was some dignity and artistic purpose behind their daily work, and it elevated, tlie stage considerably. That can scarcely be said for many managements of the present generation.” Stage Training.

Miss Compton holds that tlie provincial training in the stock companies of England was probably the soundest training for a young actor or actress. They had to study hard while facing up to hardships, and as the repertoire usually included some excellent plays, and with some companies, such as Benson’s and Ben Greet’s, the Shakespearean repertoire, one was able to gain in a few years a sound grip of tlie classic drama as well as old comedies and some modern plays. The long runs in one city, however, were not conducive to the best art; one had after a time to struggle against the tendency to become mechanical. Then such pieces were sent out to the provinces—only the one’piece—so that it did not teach the youngster much. “Of course, tlie repertory movement

lias come along during the last twenty years,” Miss Compton continued, "and it lias in many cases been helped by tlie depression which caught the stage on the introduction of sound on the screen. Yet actually I do not think repertory is the most satisfactory training for the stage. One rehearsal a week for an hour or so not help very much. I think in view of the practical .disappearance of the stock company that the crramatic school is tlie safer and better field of endeavour. I have one in Loudon, and there the pupils, under experienced teachers, are taught. They learn not only the fundamentals of acting, but are coached in how to walk, to dance, to fence, to bow, and so on. They are brought on gradually under control, and then given their chances in the annual performances of plays.”

Miss Compton is agreeably surprised with New Zealand audiences, particti; larly those of the provincial towns, who were always most attentive, appreciative. and never laughed out of turn. Her visit to New Zealand had been quite pleasurable, even if the work was hard.