DRAMA OF THE DAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17895, 24 September 1921, Page 3 (Supplement)

DRAMA OF THE DAY.

The following are the principals who will take part in the light opera, "A Country Girl," which will be produced by the Auckland Amateur Operatic Society for a season of nine nights at His Majesty's Theatre, commencing on Thursday, October. 6:—Mesdames Patrick Cole and CO. Forsythe; Misses Evelyn Lynch, Nora, McManus, Beryl Nettleton, Ethel Rae; and Messrs.' Len. Keven, A. Warbnck, Alan Hobbs, W. D. Coltman, T M. Johnston, R. J, Hobbs H S Withers, Wyatt Dickeson, C. S* White, and Clif. Crowther.

" German acting — ensemble acting, that is—is no longer what it was," says Mr. Bobert Milton, newly-appointed stage director for William Harris. "Individual genius flares up, but there are no organisations such as there used to be. All of the big German directors are directing pictures as well as, stage productions, and my own opinion is that/their work suffers from this diffusion of interest. Also, the actors, with a double career now open to them, refuse to sign up for the season, or for several seasons, as they formerly did. They do not want to interfere with more profitable picture engagements and so the most they will engage for at a time is one part. Their work also suffers from scattered interest. Occasionally there are some productions of amazing interest, such as one I saw of ' Richard m.,* played on a great flight of stairs, with no other

scenery, but the general standard has fallen. German opera, fortunately, is istill maintained at its high level. 1 .heard 'Salome,' with Strauss conducting, and there was a thrill!"

In his now tragic-comedy, which will come to New York this month, Somerset Maugham tells again the story of the English wife who finds another man more glamourous than her husband, fastens a contrite note of farewell to the pinicushion, and decamps, if not to life bejhind the beyond, at least to life across -ithe Channel, which is often much the csame thing. Such an episode-has anijmated many an English novel and play ; ;of the last fifty years, usually to be resprobated with more or less earnestness. 'But Mr. Maugham retells it in a mood and fashion which marks him a modern of the moderns, a true contemporary of the Barrie that wrote " Mary Rose, and the Shaw that wrote " Back to Methuselah." As in those two plays, so in "The Circle," the antagonist is Time—powerful, contemptuous, remorseless Time. 4

" Millions of words have been written by now about the romance that lifted Caruso from poverty to affluence," writes Han nen Swatter in the London Graphic. "Thousands of pens are still writing about the beauty of his voice. For he had more subjects than any king, and he reigned in more capitals than any emperor. But what is greatness if it places you so high above your fellows that you have left them ? Of Caruso it can be said that the greater he became the more grew his charm and the greater was the number of people who loved him merely for himself. Yes, great man though he was, Caruso was always a child. We who knew him loved him, not because of his greatness, but because of that boyish charm which was so much a part of his being that even the velvet of his voice is almost forgotten while we mourn. ' You teach me how to conjure and I will teach you how to sin%,' be told Malini, the clever magician who could do anything with cards, and when, giving a waiter a tip, he made it disappear between his fingers first he was a prouder man than, when standing on the stage, a vast audience wept at his will. If he could draw your face in caricature, or mock you with his ventriloquial throat, he was a very happy man, and those who have seen him with poor Maurice Farkoa, dressed up in fancy clothes taken from anybody's waVlrobe, can best appreciate how not even greatness and riches had made him anything but a great big boy. It is, perhaps, fitting, that Caruso was killed by his work. Singing in Brooklyn eight months ago he broke a blood-vessel in his throat, and then, a few days later, when he pulled down the pillars in the last act of ' Samson and Delilah,' part of a column fell upon him. Like Samson, he had pulled down tHe pillars on his life. In spite of that he went on singing, and, a few days afterwards, strained himself sgain until he caused an attack of pleurisy which made of his life a despair. Even then ho recovered for a few months; but ho went home to Italy to die. On a hundred thousand gramaphones right round the earth you can hear, to-day, the echo of his soul. Far away in the woods of Canada there it is, singing from a waxen plate. In the centre of the wilds of Africa some British pioneer, as I write, is listening to its sound. Wherever men are, there is Caruso's voice But there is no Caruso. The world is standing beside a grave in Italy."

To- cslebrate the first anniversary of the inauguration of his Australasian Permarnent Shakespearean Company, Mr. Allan Wilkie entertained the members of his company and staff at a supper in Wellington recently after the performance at the Grand Opera House. The opportunity was taken bjj Mr. Augustus Neville, on behalf of the performers and the s*afT, to present Mr. Wilk/e and Miss Hunter-VVatts with a handsome illuminated address to mark the occasion and to testify to the high esteem in which the recipients were held by the members of company and fctaff

London is hugely enjoying its melodrama these days. " Out to Win," " Bull - bog Drummond," and " The Knave of Diamonds" are all thrillers, and are listed by the London Daily Telegraph as lasting hits. Five others are named—Maugham's " The Circle," Dunsany's " Jf" j,(iss Dane's " A BiD of Divorcement," the American " Wrong Number," aIK I lan Hay's " A gaiety Matchs"

..P.?, 6**** of ft performance/©! "Trilby," in England recently, was the appearance of Miss EKzebeth Irving in the part created by her toother in 1895. Whetf Miss Dorothea Baird took the tofan by storm;as Trilby, she was a young provincial actress, practically unknown to the London critics and public, though her Rosalind bad already won the hearts of the devout in the Memorial Theatre at Stratford. Fortunately for herself and Sir Herbert Tree and theatre-goers in general, du Mauriey happened at the psychological moment to see her portrait in that character, and at once decided that she and she alone must play Trilby. Hence, as one of the results of that happy chance, her reincarnation in the person of her daughter, after a lapse of 2fe years, at the Theatre Royal, Canterbury. For so young an actress (she is only 17) Miss Irving's rendering of the part was a remarkable achievement and made a great impression on the crowded house. She is said to have.charm, beauty, and tenderness; and besides these personal qualities she has inherited from her parents a native dramatic instinct which makes her art appear natural and simple. There were moments, especially during her trance-like subjection to Svengali s uncanny spell, when she drew tears to many eyes. She looked and spoke and moved like « mid-Victorian Ophelia*

A glance at the latest London exchanges shows that Mr. Oscar Asche is busy with the production of his new play, which is just about due for production at His Majesty's Theatre. The title was not decided on when the mail left, but hundreds of suggestions were pouring in from interested play-goer* and others. One enthusiastic and ingenious gentie-

man sent in a list of 50 titles for consideration, stipulating that if any one were used was to receive 1 per cent, of the gross receipts—and a small part ior his stages-struck-,sepbewVsg./thei'-sggs duction. Asd%'' W prefers to christen his piece himself,"but in the meantime the play is getting a hug© free advertisement in advance. Another author-actor-manager well, known on Australian boards, Mr. Matheaon Lang, has just put on a successor to his long-running '* Wandering Jew." Th« novelty is from an Italian source, and here again the question of a suitable title cropped up. Originally announced as " The Merry Jest, that name was altered just before production, to " Christopher Sly." At the Court Theatre, where the highly artistic Mr. J. Bernard Fagan rules, a revival has lately taken place of J. M. Synge's most notable play, ;* The Playboy of the Western World," in which Miss Sara All good appeared in her original part, as played by her at the renowned Abbey Theatre, DubliD, on the comedy's first production.

Countless bouquets and endless cheers brought to an end at London last month the wonderful season of the Russian Ballet, which, in spite of heat, trade depression, and all sorts of drawbacks, was one of the most sensational theatrical successes of modern times. M. Diaghileff, although his ballet misses Massine,

Njinsky, Pavlova, and Karsavina, has brought back to London this season Lopokova, whose dancing in " Petrovchki" was worthy of the "Russian Ballet's greatest traditions.

William J. Locke's newest novel, "The Mountebank," has been dramatised by Ernest Denny, and will be produced in London with Dennie Eadie in the leading role.

Miss Violet Loraine has now retired from the stage : and, in a few weeks, will become the bride of Mr. Edward Joicey. Miss Loraine says that she will not return to the stage, and she is celebrating her retirement by giving a matinee this autumn on behalf of that fine institution the Theatrical Giris' Hostel. Says a London commentator: *' We shall all miss Miss Loraine until she comes back, as she must and will."

Mr. Cyril Maude is to create the name part in " Timothy," a new play by the American writers, Mr. David Bclasqo and Mr. William J. Hurlbut, which Messrs. Grossmith and Malone will produce in London iq £he autumn. ■ Mskco-Dbam^xicus,

Now, Fairy Pinkwing hated getting wet—all fairies do. But she ran out from under her shelter, and, picking up the babv elf in her arhis. placed him under instead. "You'll be all right now, $&a§** she said. " And you may come back to Fairyland," piped a silvery voice, as the fairy queen stood before her smiling and radiant; "for it's easy to help others when it costs you nothing; the really good and generous person is she who, to help another, gives up something herself." '

PEPELESS SOAP BUBBLES. It is not necessary to use a pipe in blowing soap bubbles. A wire dipped into strong soapsuds will be spanned by a tenacious film, which, if held vertically before the mouth and blown against may be blown out info a pouch, and even made to detach itself and float away as a large bubble.

In another curious experiment not even this simple apparatus is needed. Arrange the palm and fingers of your hand in cone shape, and with the little finger bent on itself and thumb and forefinger meeting at the ends to form a circle. Dip the thumb and forefinger in soapsuds to form the film connecting them, put your bent little finger, the