DRAMATIC NEWS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIII, Issue 10597, 5 March 1895, Page 2

DRAMATIC NEWS.

NEW ZEALAND. (Catcrhuury Times.) Mina Florence Young, the silver-voiced soprano at present with tho Firm’s Opera Company in Wellington, will shortly join one of Mr George Hdwardes’n companies. From a letter dated Calcutta, Jan. 4, I learn that on that data Mr T. V- Twinning waa lying at the general hospital, Calcutta, suffering from a bad attack of malarial fever.

I have much pleasure in acceding to the promoter's’ request that Jibe accompanying announcement should bo circulated through these columns : —Competition in opera for British subjects only. Mdme. Fanny Moody and Mr Charles Manners have the honour to announce that they will give a prize of £IOO, together with 5 per cent on tho net receipts for the best opera, 1 submitted in competition, under the following conditions 1. The opera to pkj about an hour and a half. 2. The libretto to contain not more than five and not less than four characters. 3. If four characters, the voices to be soprano, contralto, tenor aud base. 4. If five characters, the fifth voice to be a baritone. 5. No chorus. 6. If possible, tho more important parts to bo for soprano and bass. 7. The action of tha opera to take place in a room or gardi n, &c. Philemon ei Baucis, and. the garden act in Faust ate suggested as examples. 8. Composers to- send in their works under a nom dc ■plume, and not later than May 1, 1895. The nom de plume of the successful competitor will be advertised iu the Loado'a papers of May 15, 1895. The winner then to communicate hio real name and address, 9. Tho successful opera to be first performed in a London theatre towards the end of May, 1893, when tha name of tho composer will be announced and the piiza presented. 10. The opera to be scored for small orchestra and also pianoforte. 11. The judges’ decision to bo final. Judges.—The following gentlemen have kindly consented to adjudicate upon tho work sent in:—Mr Joseph Bennett, Mr Frederic Corder, Mr Frederic H. Cowen. AUSTRALIA. Marvellous, merry, magnetic Maggie Moore, ia the manner iu which the "Bulletin” refers to this popular artiste. The Palmer-Beaumont Company recently gave a concert at Walhalla, Victoria, and the collection from an audience of about six hundred people realised four pennies, forty-five three-penny hits, fortyseven sixpences, sixty shillings, eight florins and five half-crowns. The renovation and re-decoration of the Melbourne Princess’s coat Messrs Williamson and Musgrove over .£3OOO, the work being so complete as to make the playhouse practically a new theatre. Carpets alone cost fully .£OOO. The electric light hiss tho effect of making the interior “glitter and sparkle like a palace of pleasure,” to quote a contemporary# The Melbourne Princess’s has undergone a thorough overhaul. The order of Messrs Williamson and Musgrove (says tho “Argus”) waa for a complete and thorough change, and tha artiste, Messrs P. Goatchor and George Gordon, sot about a scheme haying for its object the substitution of a lower for a higher scale of colour, from tho old peacock blue, salmon, and rose pink, to electric blue, amber, fawn and gray, with abundance of relief in gold. The greater lightness, brightness and delicacy of colour, together with more elegant modelling in the decorative work, hao the effect of making the theatre appear much larger than heretofore and tha stage further away. Mr Bland Holt, I am pleased to see, has achieved a great success at the Sydney Theatre Royal with The Span of Life, which was produced soma weeks ago, and was still attracting large houses when tho mail left. Tho situations in tho play (remarks the " Sydney Mail ”) are so strong, and succeed each other do rapidly, that it chains the attention throughout, and, indeed, bo powerfully are the details and Crimea put forth, that but for the breathing tiroo between tho acts, it would bo scarcely possible for audiences to wait for tha end, eo great would be the strain. Happily; with the fall of the curtain comes a brief rest, when common sense exorts the sway. The play bids fair to break the record of its predecessors ia melodrama, and tho enterprising lessee well deserves the success which, has attended his venture. The following items are from the Sydney “ Bulletin ”: The “ delightful ingenue ” promised by the Dacres is Miss Muriel Carr, formerly of D’Oyley Carte’s company. " Pumpkin,” the don pony of Woodloch’a circus, is twenty-five years old, and has been a circus star for eighteen years. Three months ago some enemy drove a Sin nail into the frog of his foot, and the pony had such a bad time of it that he didn’t appear before Saturday last. Little Ethel, the wonderful baby ofWoodloch’s circus, haa'twahg and body of animated elastic. Sb;a h®r heels from a trapeze 2Qft high; holds the trapezs-bar by her Hands and does a double dislocation act which would tear the limbs of an ordinary child out of their sockets. Though she has been half of her little life a public performer, she is aa pretty and babyish kb if she had come from the nursery yesterday. The awfulness of the Morocco Bound failure was fully revealed in Melbourne Practice Court recently. Miss Edna Grace sued those responsible for £SO arrears of salary, which amount, according to the lady’s statement, they professed themselves unable to pay. She had applied for bar passage back to England, and they couldn’t give her that, she said. She was penniless in a strange land, &c. No real

defence was put in, and the Court gave judgment with costs. FOREIGN. The pay roll of the Paris Grand Opera bears 700 names, and calls for an annual expenditure of .£160,000. Thera is no chorus and no ballet in Mascagni’s opera, Ratcliff, which was to have its first performance in Berlin last mouth. The organ in Westminster Abbey was originally built by Schreider and Jordan, in 1730. Ten years ago it was practically rebuilt, and now, chiefly through the gift of Mr A. D. Clarke, a musical amateur, it has been renovated and enlarged. Sarah Bernhardt s?,ys that Ellen Terry < vi “ as near absolute perfection as any ono can be. In her, English dramatic art ban a. splendid exponent. Now, I’ll tell you the difference between her and Monsieur Irving—she is an artist first, an actress afterward. He, on the contrary, is an actor firsthand afterward an artist.” It is said that Rubinstein has died by no means a rich man, although there are rumours that he deposited, ill 0,000 in the Bank of England for the benefit of hia children. Always very liberal, he thought comparatively little of money, and the bast investment, perhaps, he ever made was that of the whole of the profits of hia American tour in the purchase of his estate at Petarhof. The members of the chorus of the Imperial Opera at Vienna are in no sudden danger of becoming millionaires. During the first two years they are regarded as students and receive no compensation. The next .three years they get 25 florins (about .£2) a month, to which 9s a month is annually added, till, in eight years, the maximum of £5 18a a month is reached. A New York “Sun” writer recalls an occasion on which Gerster a truck the high F. It was such a wonderful feat that when ehe stopped the house remained ‘silent. People were so overwhelmed that they could not recover in time to applaud. While this deathlike silence prevailed a German ia the top gallery, aroused beyond his self-control, shouted out: “ Gott in Eimmelj dot vas der high F!” That broke down the house, broke the spell under which we were all enthralled, and a whirlwind of laughter and applause followed. With her face wreathed in smiles Qerator tan off.

It Las often been remarked, and even discussed by tbe press that for many years Patti -was never invited to sing before the Queen, The commonly accepted reason was that the great prima donna had divorced her husband and married a second time. Whatever the cause of the estrangement, it has now been overcome, for Patti recently sang at Windsor Castle and was treated with the greatest kindness by tbe Queen. The diva took away more substantial proof of royal favour in the shape of a photograph bearing her Majesty’s autograph, and a_ diamond butterfly brooch and decoration of exquisite workmanship. " The Thirty-six Dramatic Situations ” is the title of a curious little book which .is a oort of anatomy of the drama. The Paris correspondent of the ,r Daily News,” says the author, M. Georges Polti, whose erudition is astonishing, dissects the Chinese, Hindoo, Greek, Spanish, English, Italian, Gorman and French dramas, and also comedies, poetries, tragedies, romances, &o. He finds that the whole literature of the human race is built upon thirty-six situations. Vanity of vanities! The wisdom of all mankind has not got beyond these three dozen fundamental notions. M. Polti, however, is not the first to discover this. Goethe, in his Conversations with Eckermann, relabels that, according to one Gorri, there could only be thirty-six tragical situations. Schiller went to much pains to extend the list, but he failed to reach even the thirty-six. M. Polti has had better luck than Schiller. His classification is ingenious and amusing:, and some wellchosen examples render his theory quite convincing. M. Polti, in his voyage of discovery through the literatures of the world, has noticed that some subjects have been treated thousands of times, whereas other situations just as interesting have hardly ever bean "touched. Our nineteenth century is satisfied with half-a-dozan situation!?, always the same. The conclusion to he drawn from this curious booklet is, that in a drama the subject, after all, is but an accessory. The whole art lies in the dressing. London, Jan. 4. At the Greenroom Club last Saturday night Sir Augustus Harris, who was in a loquacious mood, entertained the writer aud sundry “ pros ” with some particulars of the cost of <f My Panto ”at Drury Lane. Dnmoianus told ua ho gave the Brothers Griffiths £6O a week and Ada Blanche Mi). Mario Montrose gets .£3O and Dan Leno £SO. Beerbohm Tree wound up his season at the Haymarkofc on Saturday last, and has gone. to that theatrical Tom Tiddler’s ground, the States, there to pick up gold aud silver till Easter. Meanwhile Mr Brookfield and Sir Moxell Mackenzie’s son (Mr H. Morell) have taken the theatre, and will to-night produce' there Oscar Wilde’s 4n Ideal Husband. The veteran Henry Bussell, composer of "Cheer Boys, Cheer” and half a hundred other songa, celebrated his eighty-third birthday on Christmas Eve. He received many congratulations, one message being from “our only tragedian,” who has a particularly happy knnok of doing the right thing at the right time, and in the neatest manner. Irving wired: "Love and greeting, old friend. Reciprocate with all my heart returns of this day, and God bless you always.” The death of Victoria Yokes recalls merry memories of days when the famous Vokes family were as inevitable a part of Drury Lane pantomime as Herbert Campbell aud Dan Leno are to-day. They were j oar excellence paatomimists and dancers. Fred Yokes, the male head of tha troupe, seemed made of iadxarubber. He could (as was remarked on one very inappropriate occasion) "thrown loose leg over anybody or anything.” The only dancer who can touch him nowadays is Fred. Storey. Yokes married Bella Moore (of tho Moore and Burgess minstrels), and they went to America. Victoria Yokes understudied tha beautiful Lilian Adelaide Neilsoa AsAmyßobsaptin Halliday’s Drury L&ae version of Kenilworth , and played the part with eome acceptance in the States, But the Vokes’s never did much good after they split up. It was as a family they will always be remembered. No doubt the Lauria end other dancing troupes of to-day are better, but the Yokes family in The Belles of the Kitchen started that school of entertainment.

I expost Mr Arthur Caere and his talented wife have itold the Australian "interviewers ” all about their experiences with those enterprising colonial impresarios Messrs M’Mahon and Henna, so I shall not repeat the story. It may, however,_b9 as well to tell you that the Dacres carried with them to the colonies the sympathy and good wishes of the entire profession, la more ways,than one they have not been lucky. Miss Amy Eoaelle’s (iirs Dacre’s) health was sadly broken by the !o«s of a child to whom she was devoted, and certain companies with whom Mr Daore travelled did not '* catch on ” in the provinces. Miss Eoselle is one of tho most finished artistes on tho stage. Her roles are much the same as Mrs Kendall’s, and -when I saw her last a few years ago she was , (barring M&dga Eobertson’s captivating grimace) kq whit inferior to the “ matron of the drama.” 'Whether time and trouble have altered her at all I cannot, of course, say, but I am told decidedly not. Mr Arthur Dacre belongs to the “ ever young,” not to say “ beautiful for over” school of leading men. Like “ Bill Torriss,” he looks (on the stage) just the same as he did a decade ago, and in romantic parts Clement Scott says he has few superiors. By way of giving the

Dacres a hand Mr Grundy has kindly placed the Australian rights of A Bunch pf Violets at their disposal, and this Haymarkot success will, it is hoped, prove the backbone of their Antinodean tour. Lovers of Ibsen will, I suppose, we* ecstatic over his newest play, Little Eyolf, which Mr William Archer has been at pains to render into English, but per. sonally I can see neither literary nor dramatic merit in the work. Five of the half-dozen characters engaged appear to be meant for ordinary flesh and blood beings. There is Alfred AUmere, “ a landed proprietor, man of letters, and formerly a tutor,” who has thrown up hia profession on marrying an heiress, and is devoting himself to the composition of a work entitled “ Human Responsibility.” There is his wife, a beautiful erotic being called Efts, who has given him all her “ green and gold forests,” and has lived to repent her bargain, because she thinks hubby neglects her extremely amorous self in favour of his magnum opus and the education of his child. There ia Allmera’s half-sister. Ante, who naturally understands him infinitely better than his wife. Her understanding is quickened considerably by the discovery that she stands in no blood relationship to Allmeri whatever. Engineer Borghein is another character introduced only to provide Aota with a legitimate lover apparently. Hia principal love in life is road-making, Asta is a secondary consideration, and when near her Borghein talks a great deal more of roads than of love. There is the crippled offspring of Allmers and Rita, Eyolf, Ha is drowned at the end of the first act, and, well in those five queer creatures you have the humour element of the play. In place of the ordinary comic element pub into plays by outside the Ibsen school, there is the Rat-wife, a kind of witch of the Pied Piper type, only ten time more malignant and uncanny, who carries about in a bag a little dog, and charms rats out of their holes and lures them away to the water. It would bo worse than sacrilege to accuse the great Norwegian of plagiarism—but, well, hang it all, that creation is scarcely original. Never mind. The Rat-wife serves a purpose; she charms little Eyolf away to the water and drowns him, having done which thing she ceases to trouble. The remainder of the play turns on this incident. Asta discovers that Allmers ia not making much progress in the direction of loving her, and the situation by marrying Borghein and going off with him to his beloved occupation of making roads. The remaining characters, Allmers and Rita, talk over the situation at Ibsen length, and after discussing various morbid alternatives, decide to live and make the best of it. Allmers does the greater part of the talking, and when he has finished Rita laconically says “ Thanks.” The literary merit of the play is, bo far as the English version makes apparent, on a par with its dramatic worth. Here and there one may pick out strong passages, hat they are as oases in a Sahara of morbid, childish and pointless dialogue and colloquy. In one of the situations Rita reproaches her husband for hia coldness, and in this Ibaen reaches a high, level of nastiness. “SLAVES OF THE RING” If Mr Sidney Grundy had a lesson to teach or a moral to point by his new play, produced at the Garrick on Saturday night, he has failed miserably. And if ha set out to amuse only, the result is just the same. Slaves of the Bing may be ingeniously and strongly written, but ia too intricate, unsatisfying and gloomy to become a success, even at the Garrick. As Clement Scott puts it, Mr Grundy’s Christmas cake contains all the elements of a good one, but has been spoiled in the baking. The curtain rises on the library of Mr Egerton’s seat in Scotland, Within two hours a double wedding is to be celebrated. Helen Egerton (Miss Kate Rorke) is to join her life to that of Harold Dundaa (Mr Gilbert Hare), and her sister Ruth (Miss Cahoun) is to become the wife of the Hon George Delamero (Mir Bourohier). The wedding party includes Captain Douglas (Mr Brandon Thomas), an old lover of Ruth who never told his love, but who stands in the relation of father confesser,' adviser-in-chief and deputy in unpleasant duties for well-nigh all hia friends. They, in return, call him “ Jack,” and term him “ a thoroughly good sort.” Douglas knows a secret that will render both marriages unhappy. Harold loves Ruth more than his bride-elect, and Ruth returns his affection. Captain Jack implores his friend to right the wrong whilst there is yet time. His eloquence seems about to prevail, when Helen appears on the scene, puts her arms about Harold’s neck, whispers of her great love, and the opportunity is gone. Another chance of release comes when Delamero receives a wire announcing the arrival of an heir to the earldom to which he was next in succession. He offers to release Ruth, bub the girl’s mother’s attitude towards the Hon George with his changed prospects determines Ruth; she will not have it said that altered fortune caused her to jilt her lover. So to church she will go. Before setting forth the slaters enter into a queer bond of sisterly wedlock, under which Helen swears to shield the younger through good and evil report. Helen has partly guessed her eister’s secret. She knows the girl does not love Delamere, but has still to learn who his rival is. A year later the veil ia lifted. Harold Dundas is reported as killed in South Africa, and his widow is nursing her sister, whose child has died, leaving her delirious and in danger of death. From the raving lips Helen learns of her sister’s passion for Harold, and thanks God that her husband is dead. But be is not dead at all, and comes home unannounced by word or letter. The first person be encounters is Helen’s patient, wandering about in scanty attire, and ravicfif concerning & certain black witob. EutVa madness does not deter Harold from clasping her to his breast and bitterly describing himself as a slave of the ring, for the benefit of his wife, who overhears everything. For her sister’s sake Helen refuses to have any scandal. To the world she and her husband must seem, aa they should be, the best of friends. /*** This is the situation when; six later, the curtain rises on the conservatory at Delamere’s home. A dance is in ph, gress, and Dundaa is - pursuing his hoste. with persistent attention. Delamere, no_|. well aware of his wife’s feelings towai^ 3 himself, in seeking for his rival; but barks up the wrong tree, deciding for him—_. self that Douglas ia the tertivm quid-. He orders his wife to send his_ rival (without mentioning names) about his business, and. she tries to carry out his order with Harold. He accepts his dismissal, but as ho turns to go her love overcomes _ml scruples, and she throws herself into Harold’s arms. Of course Helen appears at this juncture, powerfully denounces the guilty pair, and discards husband and sister forever. Ruth faints, the crowd comes in, Delamere smites Douglas in the face as the betrayer of his wife, and Harold steps forth to proclaim himself the dishonourable man. ” What will be the end of all this?” asks the stunned Mr Egerton. “Thera will not be an end! answers Captain “ Jack,’’ and down comes the curtain for the last time. This is the story minus the most important character, sustained by Mr John Hare, who, ns a wizened old cynic. Lord Ravenscroffe, supplies most of the smart sayings in the play, and certainly most or the humour. He is deaf of an ear, bXmd of an eye, lame with ono leg, but makes excellent use of his sound portions. In pourtraying this old nobleman Mr Hare gave ono of his finest impersonations, and helped to make the piece—if one may com ■» word—“ sitoutable.”