SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 16 October 1924, Page 8

SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS.

GALLFRY MAKES, THEM PAY. SYDNEY, Sept. 18. Mr Allan Wilkie, who during the past five years lias played in nearly 1100 consecutive Shakespearian performances, wjiich. lie claims to be a record unapproached in any country since the plays were written, is back iii Sydney. He opened a season here with ‘Much Ado About Nothing,” and. following his invariable practice during his successive visits, he will produce several plays in which he has never before appeared here. By bis wonderful confidence and .energy and his strong heart in face of actual loss and disappointment, Mr Wilkie has won the hearts of all lovers of art and literature in Australia. By 'his Insistence and sacrifice in the cause of Shakespearian. plays he has won for them a popularity amongst theatre-goers that many pessimists said would never again be attained owing to modern degeneration of literary tasty. The most remarkable thing is that Mr*Wilkie attributes his gradual progress toward.? profit from the gloomy realms of loss in which he has long wandered not to the stalls, but to the gallery. At the close of his Melbourne season, and on the eve of bis departure for tile present Sydney season, no said: “Thanks to the loyal support of the gallery, I am able, after five disastrous seasons, to leave Melbourne this time without showing a financial loss. It is through the gallery patrons and the school children that for ihe fiist tim-ei since 1916 I leave without a less;. If only the so-called wealthy, cultured class would support me as well, I should he leaving with a very substantial profit. The grand opera, too-, with its triple cast, has produced seventeen operas during its six months’ stay in Australia. My company with a single cast of twenty-nine players, has presented twenty Shakespearian plays during its four and a half ■••vooks’ season in Melbourne.” He hoped then to produce two plays which lie believed had never previously been played in Australia, “Measure for Measure” and “Conolamis.” it was his intention to produce the ten historical plays of Shakespeare in their chronological order. from “King John” to “Henry Vf If.” Those would embrace English history over a period of 160 years. “I believe,” added Mr Wilkie, “that the old idea of a Shakespearian play being a dull and dreary happening has at last lost Us bold on the minds of the public, and that they are realising that the comedy of the great- author is far above what the usual modern playwright now offers.”