Stage Realism.

Evening Star, Issue 7141, 19 February 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

Stage Realism.

The latest attempt at realism on the London stage ,is thus described by the 'Home News'.:—-"It might have been thought that Mr Douglass had reached the 4dU exfceat of stage realism when he produced- plays -wiijth racehorses, packs of hounds, vans of children, and real showers of rain; but it seems that realistic effect has no bounds, for his last venture exceeds in boldness of conception anything that has gone before. At the first announcement of a drama in which real water is to produce one of the effects, the memory, of old ptayfoers carries them back to Sadler's Wells 'heatre in its nourishing days when startling episodes were brpught about by means of a portion, of the Hew River being made to pass beneath the stage, and in connection with which there are legends of life having been lost through people connected with the theatre inadvertently stepping into the gulf. With Mr Douglass's management of the Standard no such mishap is likely to befall, for the effects are produced by means of a shallow tank, large enough, however, to contain over 200 tons ;of water. " The object of this .is to give a really striking representation of the Thames during the Henley regatta, and in this the enterprising lessee has'thoroughly succeeded. This, the main scene of the drama, is remarkably effective, for the view is admirably painted, and the foreground occupied by a fairly wide stream of water, crowded with craft of all kinds, from the tub or dingy of the Thames Conservatory officers, right up to the steam launch, which passes, across whistling and steaming up .the water, with its crew, to the alarm of the real swans, this being prcjj bably the first occasion in which these birds made their appearance upon the stage. In addition to these genuine craft, and the outrigger in which the hero rows in the winner of the ' Diamond Sculls,' Mr Richard Douglass, the scene painter, has produced some admirable 'effects with mimic houseboats and the whole being certainly one of the most striking of the Btage pictures the Standard has had to show. But to make the most of the costly scene, by a clever arrangement the sky is made to cloud over and a heavy fall of rain, as real as the water of the river, produces a sudden show of umbrellas and waterproofs; while after the descent of the curtain another change is shown of -Henley by night, with the boats illuminated with Chinese lanterns."

It is reported that the Queen of Ronmania, known as a, poetess under the name of *' Carmen Sfrlva," intends to give weekly lectures on modern literature in the Girls' High School of Bucharest. The Queen, who is a member of the Roumanian Academy, was dissatisfied with'fee instruction on this subject, and had. already given private lessons to favored pupils, but this excited so much jealoußy n that after obtaining the King's consent, she 1 decided on taking charge of the entire. Hte&ry instructions.