DRAMA OF THE DAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17853, 6 August 1921, Page 3 (Supplement)

DRAMA OF THE DAY.

A jump of Bom© 4300 miles waa accomplished by the "The Three Wise 1 j m P an y now appearing in Auckland. The players came to New Zealand from Perth, Western Australia, and after landing at Wellington by the Tahiti came straaght on to this city by the "overland route." The journey from Perth entailed two sea trips of four or five days each.. Miss Amy Evans and Mr. Eraser who gave vical recitals in New Zealand some months ago, have been reappearinc in London,

The remarkable success that may be achieved by a good production of a very old English musical play is shown by the fact that Gay's " Beggar's Opera" celebrated its anniversary and its 416 th. performance at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, on June 6.

Dame Clara Butt and Kennedy Rum ford sailed from England by the Orsov; on July 23, for a concert tour in Aus tralia and New Zea- ,_ land under the man- I of J. and N. " "" Tait. London papers to hajid by the last mails contain interesting accounts of the wonderful farewell concert organised by Dame Clara Butt at the Crystal Palace. Over 25,000 people •vera present. The Times said it was " an inspiring sight." There were remarkable scenes of enthusiasm. When Dame Clara Butt sang " Land of Hope and Glory," the whole audience rose and joined in the chorus, as if it wera the National Anthem.

Though many women have appeared as Hamlet, it is unusual to find one impersonating . c; r John Falstaff. Tne feat was undertaken at a Court Theatre charity matinee in June, when London actresses took all the parts in " The Merry Wives of Windsor." Miss 01 ga Slade was Falstaff, and Miss Viola Tree appeared as Slender, Miss Marie Slade as Ford, and Miss Joyce Carey as Anne Page,

M i s s Blanche Browne, who acted pleasantly in " Our Miss Gibbs," "The Dancing Mistress," and other musical comedies, is again appearing on the Australian stage in " The Little Whopper," an American piece, which has gone to Sydney after beginning in Adelaide.

Dame Clara Butt has said in an interview that she was first trained as a soprano. That was before she had any thought of singing in public.

In a new Robert Courtneidge production at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London, in June—" Out to Win" —Mr. George Tully, of " The Man from Toronto," was cast for a leading part. Miss Marie Rignold was also among the players. Mr. Dion Clayton Calthorp, a clever humorous writer, is associated in the authorship with Mr. Roland Pet-twee. The play is described as sensational.

Miss Sybil Thorndike, who is regarded by many good judges as the leading English dramatic actress of the present time, has been appearing as Eaoy Macbeth in Paris, on a literally "flying" visit. Miss Ellen Terry lent Miss Thorndike the robes in which she played the part with Irving.

In these days of long runs it is interesting to recall that more than a few players have said that extended seasons, instead of making them sure of their words, have tended at times to cause forgetfulness. George Grossmith the elder 'once forgot the words of the Lord Chancellor's song in "lolanthe." He confided to the audience that he had sung it 300 times, and tha% It was so long since he had learned it that he had forgotten it. Taken as a joke, this enabled him to refresh his memory by a glance at the book in the wings.

vThether it is the result of the cinema competition or the aftermath of the war the fact remains that the state of the French theatre never has been quite so low as at the present moment. One playhouse after another is reaching the conclusion that the only way to attract the public is by presenting old favourites with established reputations. Three new plays recently tried here were withdrawn after runs of a week or so. A sign of the times is the case of the operetta " PhiPhi," the withdrawal of which was recently announced after a run of over three vears. Instead, however, it was transferred to the Theatre des Nouveautes from the Bouffes Parisiennes, to make way for nothing more different or novel than " The Pink Lady." At the Nouveautes "Phi-Phi" was just as popular as before, and accordingly is now about to change back again.

Periodically, ,in the past, established playwrights have sought to render themselves independent of the producers by staging their plays themselves—with varying results. For the coming season two groups of American playwrights arc joining forces as producers, and if their plans are successful the regular managers probably will be required to break in a I now crop of dramatists. The first and ' largest of these groups will be headed | by Max Marcin, Avery Hopwood, Guy ! Bolton and Aaron Hoffman. These four, j who are paid to be now organising, will I produce plays of other writers as well 'as those of their own. Probably none lof them will bind himself to give all ; his wares to their own company, but it I stands to reason that he will likely re- | serve for the company any play of partii cular promise, since ho would thus be ! assured a share of the profits as well as I the customary royalties. The second I group now being formed is headed by | Edward Childs Carpenter and Owen | Davis—the latter a particularly polific playwright, and for many years accusj tomed to cell three or four plays a year to the managers. Some years ago the late | Paul Armstrong had the idea of forming I practically all the well-known playwrights jin the country into a producing body, ] thereby freezing out the managers enI tlrely. Mr. Armstrong got as far as producing one or two plays of his own, but they were not successful and the scheme languished. A few years ago Eugene Walter, Max Marcin and others came within a hair's-breadtli of launching such 1 an organisation with the Famous Players as their backers, but at the last moment the plan fell through.

" Handclapping in season and out of season has become one of the nuisances of the theatre," writes Mr. A. B. WalkJey, the well-known dramatio critic of the Times. "If you think of it," he continues, *' striking one palm against the other with a resounding smack is a queer way of expressing your delight. It suggests the monkey tricks of primeval man. I suppose, human nature being what it is, it is hopeless to protest, to ask audiences to keep their applause for the end of the-act. People who go to the play for the play, who wish to lose themselves in the dream the playwright has woven for them, must continue to suffer (very literally) at the hands of other people who cannot dream out their dream, who wake up at brief intervals to give vent to their delight in ' a loud clap.' But on behalf of the quiet ones, the playgoers who wish to enjoy their theatrical illusion in comfort, I protest that it isn't fair. The effect of their handclapping would then be multiplied ten-fold. Their enthusiasm would burst forth with all the greater violence for having been pent up. But, as things are, there is an explosion of applause at every exit, at every tirade, nay, at every entrance, before the player has opened his mouth. Why not applaud before the act-drop goes'up? I know that a great obstacle to ridding the playhouse of this tiresome habit in the players them-

selves. They say they cannot get on without instant applause. I cannot persuade myself that the true artist feels his art in that way; he must surely be aware of the effect he is producing on his audience, must know whether he is in touch with it, without needing the assurance of * a loud clap.' I should have thought that the true artist would be disconcerted by what is a sign that his imaginary hold on the spectator has momentarily broken down. Far worse, however, than th e . actor are his indiscreet friends. Their applause is not only inopportune, but apt to be excessive."

The theatre of Spain is a great and wonderful thing. Always a feature of the national life, always vigorous, and in some respects more fecund than the theatre of any other country, it is remarkably so at the present time, writes Mr. Henry Leach in Chambers's Journal. Recently at the same time two Spanish plays were being acted in London, one the work of Martinez Sierra, the other of Jacinto Benavente, who is, if it could but be realised in England, as it is elsewhere—the United States, for example— one of the finest dramatists the world has produced for a long time. Again, it was said in London that it seemed strange that such good things came from Spain, and it was asked if there could be more of them. Truly so. Indeed, the Spanish theatre is a thing of itself. Now, the other night, at a quarter-past ten, when the evening performances mostly begin, I turned into a theatre in Madrid, and had an excellent seat in the second row of the stalls, of the butacas, as they are called in Spain, to witness a representation of Benavente's famous comedy, " Las Rosas de Otona." It is one of the anthor'e best pieces of work, belonging to his earlier period, satirical like all, but not so sombre as much of his later writing. For my seat I paid two pesetas, or one and sixpence, as one might say. Theatre-going is a cheap affair in Spain. There was an absence of gilt and velvet; there was little of the richness of elaboration and decorative effect on the stage and off that we see in London; but the play, the acting of it, is the thing after all, an 3, this being well done, the rest did not matter.

M. Diaghilev's Russian Ballet has com* back to London, and was received -with the most unqualified enthusiasm at the Princes Theatre. A novelty of the season will ba ** Chout," the work of a. new composer, M. Prokokieff. " Chout" — ■which is Russian for " Buffoon"—made a sensational start in Paris. "It is an odd Cubist affair," states Mr. G. B. Cochran in a wire to a London paper from Paris. " Prokokieff's score outdoes Stravinsky in eccentricity, and two critics actually come to blows over it last night." The next Princes novelty, after " Chout," will be " Quadro Flamenco," danced as in the Spanish concert halls. " Until you see it," says Mr. Cochran, "you have never seen real gitana dancing out of Spain. The strange band of Spanish dancers in .the hump-backed woman, to whom some people have objected, but they are true to type." A millionaire's play, " Le Caducee," by Baron Henri de Rothschild, may shortly be seen in London as Mr. Arthur Bourchier has acquired the British rights. Already produced in Paris, " Le Caducee" is an attack on doubtful members of the !i:i»dic;il profei-Fion. Baron de Botlischild ib himself a mediwuJ man. ; Mpaico-D&AW,iTico».