DRAMATIC GOSSIP.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 9089, 28 April 1890, Page 6

DRAMATIC GOSSIP.

That well known lecturer, the Charles Clark, who is now in Melbourne, intends to spend altogether some twelve months in Australia and New Zealand. He has re-written some of the lectures which have already been delivered before Colonial audiences, that on " Dickens” being entirely new. j The Bijou Theatre, which was totally, destroyed by fire about this time last year, has been rebuilt, and was opened by Messrs Brough and Boucicault, with great d&lc.t on April 7, with Bul wer Lytton’s Money. The building, so say the connoisseurs, is aa near, perfection as a theatre can well be, and very elegant and tastefully decorated. The house was crowded, the principals vjere called before the curtain at the-close, and: at last the partners had also to appear to receive the congratulations of the audience.: [A full account of the new theatre will be tound elsewhere.] " Mr Toole.” says a writer in the Sydney " Bulletin,” "is much smaller than I ex-, pected, apparently little over five feet, but; he loses height through a kink in his left leg, which makes him very lame. Mr Charles Warner appeared again in Brink on April 6, and his terrible impersonation of Coupeau was as impressive aa ever. The play will he repeated till farther notice.

After all the preliminary fanfare of trumpets, added to the great reputation of 4 the man himself, it was not wonderful thatMr Toole’s reception in Melbourne waa something out of the common. This is how it is described in the columns of " the Age”:—“Rarely have the walls of any theatre resounded with acclamations as spontaneous and enthusiastic as those which, greeted the Father of the English low comedy stage on Saturday night. Cheer upon cheer and volley after volley greeted the little actor as he made his appearance and stood bowing, repeatedly—first to this side, then to the other, and right in front of him. For several minutes there was no performance, the action of the play ceased, and all that could be heard waa the hurrahs from a thousand throats; all that could be seen, the waving of arms and clapping of hands, and amid the din there was the most familiar face on the English stage, with its lips set hard together, yet quivering, and the kindly eyes smiling and blinking in vain attempts to restrain the emotions which such a reception was sure to evoke in one whose sympathetic nature is; so well known. It was a real joining of Hands Across the Sea, a clasp in which all differences were as if such things were not. It was English blood fraternising with English'fflood, and that all felt it so wart self evident.”

Since Mr Toole's triumphant he and his .company have been playing to full houses. Robbery Under Arms continues to be one of ‘ the hits of the season at the Alexandra, and Mr Bampier and his company are doing well with the pl&y. The same may be said, of Miss Nellie Stewart's venture, Paul Jones, at the Opera House. Sydney files, by Tuesday’s mail, bring our information down to April 14. The principal event is the revival of The Shaughran at the Theatre Eoyal. The play was only intended to occupy the boards for a week, until Mrs Brown-Potter makes her first appearance in Sydney a« La Tosca; but is placed npon the stage with the utmost completeness, and the sceneryis beautiful. The Conn of Mr J. H. Clyndea is much admired. Signor Hazon has instituted a series of orchestral concerts of high class music in the Exhibition Buildings, and the ninth of the series (which seems to be rendering orchestral music extremely popular) took place on April 13. The programme was drawn solely from the works of Italian composers Paganini, Eossini, Verdi, Ponchielli, and others, and was most .successfully carried out. Mr George Eignold has given place to \hia brother William at Her Majesty’s Theatre. The latter has brought with him from England a new drama, Ntm-ardays, which, if the local press is to be trusted, is to bo one of the great successes like Idghta of London, The Silver King, &0., though; differing from all .such modern popular plays in containing noeensafcionaliam. All the same, “it obtains can immediate and lasting hold on the audience; it is homely, clean, and honest of purpose j it has its pathetic touches, but it constantly movestheapectatorsuo-heartymirth; and, it is a playwhich demands attention for its genuine worth.” Thus- the “ Herald,” and we shall be curious to see how far its enthusiastic-words aro-bome out when this ;paragon of plays comes* to New Zealand, 'as presumably it will' in time. Mr ;Eignold, in the part, of the hero, seems to have won the sympathies of his critics equally with thejpiece itself. The public agreed with the critics, too, for on the second performance the rush of people- was so great that the doors were opened long before time, and.the immense theatre was packed from floor-to roof.\ Collier's /SWian of Mocha is being played , to good business at the Criterion. Among the cast we notice the names of Me Knight Aston, Mr John Eorde, and Miss Flora •Graupner; the latter came to this Colony as a child with . Stanley and Darbyehire'e troupe of youngsters, and was a very pro-, miaingmember of that clever little..fa>mi^