CHAT WITH BEN J, FULLER

Evening Star, Issue 16912, 9 December 1918, Page 8

CHAT WITH BEN J, FULLER

WILL INTRODUCE ENGLISH GRAND OPERA. THE INFLUENZA SET-BACK. Mr Ben J. Fuller, governing director of all the Fuller theatres and enterprises that in the past few years have become so important a factor iu tho show world of Australasia, arrived in Dunedin on Friday night. Hk advent in New Zealand during the influenza epidemic _ was tho result of a miscalculation, which he tells as a good jolce against liimseil. When ho was getting ready for his annual visit to tiro Dominion first word of the scourge reached Sydney, with strong advice from his representatives here to postpone his visit. But, concurrently with the advice that Auckland was badly besot by the bacillus, ho received the customary wire of the Auckland theatre’s takings, and those were so extraordinarily good that ho jumped to the concbiKion tho epidemic was trifling, and put h'.s trunks aboard tho Niagara, sailing the same day. W T hen ho reached Auckland all the theatres wore closed, and within a very _ few days tho management staff in Wellington was bowled over, and he had to proceed south to take charge personally. Mr Fuller was vastly puzzled" to account for tho normal takings in a diseasestricken city, upon which he had based his impression of tho epidemic's triviality, until presently ho discovered. that in tho dislocation caused by sickness, tho theatre returns had boon cabled, without use of the usual coda, and he. reading, tho message according to the code, had lost the .significance of the figures as a barometer of the epidemic’s progress. Mr Fuller estimates that the direct cost of the epidemic to the firm has been about £6,000 to date, and indirectly, before ton© is, restored it may cost them ns much again. There may bo some difficulty, he thinks, in getting artists to come to New Zealand for a while—for even so localised a disaster as the Wimmcra wreck had that effect—but in any case he has 'enough, now vaudeville talent in the North to keep Dunedin going for three months or more. “I have received no advice.'’’ ho added, "as to when we will he permitted to reopen. Wo woi Id want fair notice, not only for advertising, but slo in view of a possible recrudescence of the disease. Tito experience of South Africa was (hat hurdness gradually ascended to normal, but it would bo absolutely fatal it we bntl to shut again after reopening. It was exactly 20 years- ago on December 3 that we opened our first waxwork and vaudeville show in Auckland. ’ and in all that period this, is the first occasion that the Fullers have not had some show running in New Zealand.” One result of the epidemic has been the postponement of the New Zealand tour of the Fullers’ latest dramatic enterprise the Tilton Dramatic Company—who were to have commenced a tour of Now- Zealand at Dunedin on Boxing Night. “This represents an experiment with a new type of drama,” Mr Fuller said. “Wo secured in America, several plays of a typo more sophisticated than pure melodrama, which enshrine a strong moral idea, while containing much of the excitement of melodrama. Two of these pieces—‘Little Church Round tho Corner’ and ‘Little Lost Sister ’ —had an enormous vogue in I America.”

As soon as he can get clear of New Zealand Mr Fuller will return to Sydney, and once the firm’s three Christmas pantomimes are safely launched ho will sail for England to reopen the London office, and make engagements of English artiste for the Australasian circuits. More important still, ho hopes to complete in person negotiations which have been in train for some time for the importation of n big English grand opera company. “The success of the Gonsaloz Company,” he said, “ has fortified ua in this resolve. Both artistically and financially that venture thoroughly satisfied us, but we are of opinion tlrat the public desire to hear opera sung in English, and within a year I hope to give them n, first-class all-English operatic production.” Mr Fuller hinted also at several other enterprises which his visit to England might bring to fruition, but negotiations had not proceeded far enough to justify his saying anything definite. Finally, Mr Fuller said that tho rebuilding of His Majesty’s Theatre, Christchurch (destroyed by fare) would bo commenced as soon as the Government lifted the embargo on building operations. The work Will be under the direction of Mr H, E. White, and will represent the very latest and best design in theatre construction. “It will bo the finest theatre in tho whole of Australasia,” averred Mr Fuller. “In addition to tho main building, a smaller fully-equipped theatre will be constructed within it tor concerts and smaller shows. The comfort of the public will be catered for as never before, and a special heating system for winter and cooling system for hot weather will be installed.”

(Mr Fuller, who was the guest of Mr John Hamer, left for Wellington this morning, and will return to Sydney at the first opportunity.