THE THEATRE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16606, 18 July 1914, Page 8

THE THEATRE.

NEWS, NOTES AND COMMENT. (By CRITICUS.) July 18 and 20—Miacba Elniau. July 22—Orchestral Society. July 23 to 80—The Smrft Set. •'. August 1 to &—" The Forty Thieves. August 1&.to 15—Alexander Watson. August 17' to 22-" Tho Argyle Case Compftuv - ~ t , August 29 to September s—Harry Lauder. September 12 to 10—" Mr Wu" Company. September 21 to 26-Hugh C. Buckler b Company. ' _ , •'«■•/, September 28 to October 10-Fred Mblo Comedy Company. ... : October 19 to November I—Julius I Knight Dramatic Company. „,;'■.•: November 6 to 12~"Bunty Pulls the Strings." Recently "Peg 0' My Heart" concluded its long run in. New York, having completed an unbroken succession of 604 performances, excluding special matinees. This is not the record for New York, Hoyt's " A Trip to Chinatown " having the best figures with 090 performances, with " Adonis " second, 651. Miss Laurettc Taylor, who played the lead in the play, however, established a record for the longest series of appearances without interruption. She was' not absent from the cast on one occasion, and therefore she easily defeated the previous best, Miss Maude Adams, with 299 appearances as Lady Babbie in "The Little Minister." The Australasian rights .'of "Peg O' My Heart" are held by J. C. Williamson, Limited, and it was announced some time ago that this highly successful play would be seen in the Antipodes. ...

For tho Williamson production of "The Girl in the Taxi "there has been engaged Mr C. H. Workman, who is norV on his way out from Britain. Mr Workman has had a fine record in Gilbert and Sullivan's operas, but he is probably best known to the world at present for his creation of Bumerli in the original .production in London of "The Chocolate Soldier" in 1910. Mr Workman was born in 1873 and made his first appearance on the stage in " Utopia Ltd" at the Memorial Theatre. Stratford-on-Avon, in 189-1. The following year ho went to the Savoy Theatre and remained with that management until 1909, appearing in all the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, as well as "Mirette,"."The Chieftain," "The Grand Duchess "'and "The Rose of Persia." Ono of his greatest successes was scored as Jack Point in "The Yeoman of the Guard," and throughout Britain he was commended for his work in the part.

For some time in London there has been proceeding a discussion as ..to whether or not smoking should bo permitted in the Gaiety Theatre under the management of Mr George 'Edwardes. Mr Edwardes has altered the character of the entertainment altogether. The curtain is to rise at 8.30 p.m. instead of eight o'clock, and tho irst portion of the evening, about an 'i.onr. will be devoted* to a drama or a omedy. At 10.30 p.m. a musical buresque is to follow. With these changes Mr Edwardes decided to permit smok.ig in imitation of tho music-halls. Ho as then told by the Lord Chamber.iiri that he would have to take out a ondon County Council license for a heatro for music and dancing, and to bandon his nioro important license. It s claimed, .however, that this.change f. licenses should.not be necessary and hat the theatres should have equal 'rivileens with the vaudeville houses. Ouo thing seems certain: the pipe at ho play is becoming more popular in 'ondon. It is difficult to see why it hould bo necessary to permit tho weed i the theatres, but the opinions exressed in London on the point indi\te its adoption generally! One of the 'avourite. arguments used is that now rooking is indulged in freely by both sexes and that therefore the old' objections are weakening. It is certainly a privilege which can be left to London and denied to these parts of the theatrical world with distinct advantage.

Fashions in drama are as true of the theatre as fashions in attire aro of the wonderful illustrated periodicals devoted to women. In the theatre the commercial 'managers dread launching out with anything new. dread voyages of discovery, since their mean's-of de : termining tho exact direction of pubterminingthe exact direction of public requirement are very crude. There are distinct cycles of fashion, and for this reason there is so frequently a' return; to the old plays.: Managers get hit by misses several times and in despair fly to revivals. Li this respect Victorien Sardou's works have lately been served up again, and it is interesting to note how the fashion was staged. '"Diplomacy," an English version of his play "Dora" and considerably;changed in the process, was a big success.in London and at once the managers and actors began to rustle through the old Sardou plays trying to find something that could take advantage of the boom and make money. "Diplomacy" came out to Australia at once, and (another revival of the ; drama was suggested in America. it must be remembered, w&s a man of the theatre and' had a thorough knowledge of the play-, going public; His plays arc well constructed on'the conventional lines and therefore havo been considered by the more modern writers as artificial and machine-made. They do not break the rules of play-building, and the,specifications are strictly ..normal,. but .tbero has always beeii in the plays a remarkable stage-craft, and. a fine sense, of dramatic possibilities. ;His valuations were made with the object , of, arriving at a situation and not at the delineation of character. Sardou wrote his big situation first and built his play around it. His plays are still being acted and are still good money-makers.

At present several dramas are to be revived in. New York, and among them is "A Scrap of Paper," which has had already nine revivals in America. Sardou. was a methodical and painstaking playwright. When! an idea for a play came, to his mind,he carefully wrote out a skeleton plot, and placed it away. There it miglit - remain ■ for many years utterly forgotten. As a matter of fact"Thermid'or" stayed in a drawer for twenty years and "' Theodora " for ten years,before each was taken up and shaped into a play. When Sardou considered the time'was ripe for ono of theso embryonic dramas ho would take it out and read it over carefully. The idea would be thought over carefully, for some months, and a .full scenario then sketched. After this followed the actual writing. Sardou wrote the most important situation and the most important scene first, the remainder being constructed afterwards. When the first-draft was completed it was placed to one side for some weeks, and then re-written,. corrections being made where necessary. This process was repeated two or three times, and the play was'turned over to a copyist. But the dialogue still had to bo polished, which meant that after the final'draft was completed tho dialogue was written three or four times. Finally when everything -was cleaned up the finished play script - was turned out. Tho playwright, speaking of his work, once gave the following version of the manner in which his plays revealed themselves to him: — '•'Tho problem is invariable. It appears as a kind of equation* from which the unknown quantity must be found. The problem gives mo no peace till I have found tho answer. In 'La Haine' the problem was: Under what circumstances will the profound charity of woman show itself in tho most striking manner P. The formula once found, tha piece came bjr itself."