MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15192, 4 January 1913, Page 4 (Supplement)

MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC.

' HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE. V January 4 to: January 18-J. 0. ; Williamson's >.-.• New ; Comic -Opera Company. January 21 to "The Great MoKeown.".. i February 14— Rickards Vaudeville Company.

,'' : TOWN : HALL. ;•,.;. • ' . ' ' ■ % MAIK HAM,. ' . ' / :'.■ January 16 and 18—Madame Kirkby Lunn. y... ■ ' : ■■,"■'' CONCERT UALL. ' January 28 and 29-T. H. De Spong, Elocutionary :' Recital. i ''■ .' ' ' ' '■' . < -

A number of seasonable • greeting from members-of : tho theatrical profession have been brought by recent mails. The good .wishes, thus conveyed are heartily reciprocated. ■ - . '

Mr. E. Bostock, the well-known showman, who'"• died ' at '} Home recently, left estate of the gross value of £22,166. Large fortunes were left :by other well-known deceased showmen. Thus, Bailey ; loft £102,500;. Hengler, £110,000; and Lord George Sanger, £29,300.

Mr.. Charles Blake and Mr. Leo D. Chateau, both well known to New Zealand theatre-goers, were taught most of their stage business at the commencement of •: their careers by Mr. George Rignold. the eminent actor who; died last week. For several years Mr. Blake played lago to Mr. Rignold's Othello, and he pays a high tribute to the deceased actor for his many; good qualities. ', .' _

7' In Shanghai recently two of : the most popular plays at; the Chinese theatre were&Camille" arid "Uncle Tom's ;' Cabin." There were also five plays dealing with the life of Napoleon Bonaparte on the Chinese stage. The Japanese theatre ;is equally westernised and somewhat more modern.' Shaw's "The Showing-up -of Blanche Posnet" \ was among tho productions at the Imperial Theatre - in Tokio last season.':'\ ;■':}'-', •• * *- '. ' ' : '.,; '

Dan Rolyat, the well-known Home comedian, met. with a serious accident recently at' a theatre at Newcastle.-. . He was playing Simplicities in a production of " The Arcadians, I '' and was riding, a horse. called The Deuce. In the race scene the applause of the audience startled _ the animal; which fell and rolled on its rider. Rolyat was crushed severely and was removed to the Royal Infirmary for treatment. ' .;;■", * ■;.-...•■■■ >

Berlin is planning', an extensive dramatic festival for next June hi' connection with the Emperor's silver jubilee. The plans are now outlined and include a Shakesperean cycle at the Deutches Theatre under the. direction of , Max Roinhardt, a series of classic Greek tragedies on a colossal scale under the * same management a cycle of dramas by Ibsen HaUptmann arid Sudermannn .under the auspices 'of the Lessing Theatre and a fortnight of the great works of German composers at the ; Royal" Opera. ;'■■:",::;';, •■ While in England a demand has been made for the abolition of the Stage Censorship, in France the office has disappeared since April, 1905, with a result, most disastrous to the theatres generally. The. agitation for the restoration of control & before is being led by an author as eminent as Alfred Capus and by a critic as well known as Abel Harmant (says the Era). 1 They both assert that freedom has led to license and license to such excesses in word and action that decent audiences have been driven away. M. George Berry is to raise the whole question of the pornographic drama in the Chamber of Deputies when the vote for Fine Art Budget is reached. -.';,.;

Japanese take the moving picture '. seriously. The favourite theme is the allegorical play that represents the warrior fighting for righteousness. Next in popularity comes the pathetic picture of the father who has lost his fortune, but who will educate his favourite son at any sacrifice. The educational film is also popular, and there is applause for good scenery. The love story is never represented in the Japanese moving picture. China also is a great lover of the kinematograph, and willingly accepts a wide range of subjects; drawing a line at nothing except indecency. The favourite pictures m Turkey are those of American cowboys and Indians, as well as detective • dramas.

Whenever possible, George Arliss likes to have plays read to him by the writers. "Authors generally read, plays very badly." he says, "and most managers ■ refuse* to listen to the reading of a play, because it prevents their arriving at an impartial judgment of their value. A play poorly .read confuses him as to its intrinsic merit. So that the manager prefers to do his own manuscript reading. With the actor it is different. The thing that interests him;is the part. No matter how badly an author may read his play, he lias an idea ,in the back of his head that is illuminative. His comments in passing are often more valuable than his (reading of the lines. Often an added word or two, and the keynote of a puzzling character comes to you like a flash."

Paris has upwards of fifty theatres, exclusive of the hundreds of small guignola, the little playhouses in the Latin quarter seating from 300 to 500 people, and the moving picture establishments of which it is said that there is one to every dozen ares. The largest theatre, so far as building is concerned, is, perhaps, the Odeon the one with the greatest seating capacity, the Porte St. Martin, which can easily, accomodate 3500 spectators. The Handsomest theatre edifice is, of course, , the Grand Opera, whoso exterior is one of the grandest monuments to modern French architecture in Paris, and whose foyer and interior are'doubtless the most magnificent in the world. The Theatre Sarah Bern-" hardt has probably the handsomest scenery, and is perhaps the most up-to-date playhouse in Paris. The seating capacity of the average Parisian theatre is very small, compared to the playhouses in either New York or Ldndon.i It can be roughly estimated at: 1100, few theatres. much exceeding this figure and quite a number falling several hundred below it. So it can be seen that while Paris boasts of the number of her theatres, her houses are not oh the whole very large affairs.

In its review of " Milestones," produced at the Criterion . Theatre on Saturday evening, the Sydney Morning Herald, which describes it as a play of gentle sentiment, observes that everyone was delighted with this new comedy. The dramatic treatment of the partially scattered interests of this novel scheme- presents unusual difficulies, but Arnold Bennett and Edward Knoblauch have met them one and all with an astonishing display of technical skill. There is no rapidity of action, no great amount of incident. Yet the story held the audience firmly, and the gently pathetic atmosphere which unconsciously surrounds the happiest and most prosperous of human lives reached every heart. In this way, as from afar, • the spectators viewed the hero in all the ardour of early and ambitious manhood choosing his mate; then 25 years after, in the height of his wealth and-power, putting the brake on the wheels of progress as those before him had done when his own original X ideas startled and alarmed; -and, finally, in extreme old age, celebrating his' golden wedding anniversary, and reluctantly standing aside in favour of the rising generation, which, as Henrik Ibsen puts it, " is knocking at the door." ,It will be observed that the authors exclude physical sufferings, the hardships of poverty, and the shattering effects of turbulent passions from their artistic plan. Yet, whilst their play enthralls, their panorama of the pilgrimage between ' youth and the grave eaves behind it the sad conviction that brevity of life makes it, at its happiest, a tragedy.''. .--;-,;"■' .

The author- of ; trashy, but fast-selling, fiction, Victoria Cross, has plunged across the footlights to the extent of dramatising ".Life's Shop Window." The play has scored a great success in America, where it has been played by seven companies, and 'Mr. William Anderson has lately secured the Australian right* of the play. : Musico-Diumatjcus.