THEATRICAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18861, 8 November 1924, Page 8 (Supplement)

THEATRICAL NOTES.

Macbeth As A Comedy. Some thirty years ago, at a village between Wakefield and Leeds, says an Eng-

lish writer, there was witnessed a performance of the immortal "Macbeth" that was quite unlike any other ever seen. Amid much amusement, derision, and noise the piece progressed until the battle scene towards the close. This fight finished with the dozen members of the casto lying pn the stage, six or seven of them dead, while the others were "dying." At this point the curtain should have fallen, but it didn't, and it soon became apparent that something was wrong. The audience giggled, then it clapped. Still the curtain did not fall The "corpses " on tho stage were now getting uneasy, and finally one of them turned over to see what was. the matter. This tickled the audience immensely. Nor was their amusement lessened _ when a stage-hand was seen in the left wing making vigorous signs to tho "dead men on the stage. The latter, however, could not understand his gestures. So he had to be more explicit, " You'll all have to get up and walk off'." he shouted. " The blooming curtain's stuck!" So the "dead and the dying" solemnly rose and stalked across the stage to the exit.

Plays and Players. Damo Melba will leave Melbourne for London on November 25. Miss Ada Reeve has returned to Sydney from a vacation spent in the East. Chaliapine, the famous Russian singer, is embarking on a six months' tour of America, where he will give 25 concerts.

Mr. Sydney Butler, of Christchurch, has been engaged by the Palmerston North Choral Society for its performance of Handel's "Messiah" on December 10.

Miss Beryl Baraclough, who, with her : husband, Mr Carl Lawson, is a recent acquisition to the Nellie Bramley Company, has toured extensively in the East and South Africa, after acquiring considerable experience in England. She has a bright, winsome personality that fits her charmingly into dainty feminine roles, but she confesses that she particularly enjoys character studies and " old-women" parts. Her " Mrs. Bemple," in "Daddy Long Legs," is evidence of her skill in this latter connection.

When Bruce Bairnsfather was prepar- ; ing the script of "Old Bill, M.P." he spent several weeks at an English coalmining centre to familiarise himself with the atmosphere of the colliery. He made many rough sketches of miners of all ages, and when the piece was being cast later in London, these drawings were used to assist in the selection of supernumeraries to obtain a typical representation cf the workers commonly found in English coal towns. For the Australian presentations of'"Old 8i11,.M.P. ,, Mr. Seymour Hicks had the Bairnsfather models in mind when choosing types for the mine scenes.

Ever since she went on the stage as a child, Nellie Payne, whose' latest success has been achieved, as Rosina in "The Lady of the Rose." in Melbourne, has appeared under the J. C Williamson Ltd. management. After two years of stage life, during which she enacted such roles as a rabbit, a bluebell, and other features of ' pantomine productions, Miss Payne left . • the "stage for two years in order to study singing and music at the Sydney Conservator! um, under Mr. Nelson Ulingworth, and also to complete her education. In the latter she included a thorough tuition in shorthand and typewriting, for, as she wisely put it ''If I ever got tired of the stage I would always have some sort of ft chance in getting a commercial job."

Gradually the dust and dirt of decades is being removed from London theatres. First the Pavilion was upholstered in rose, and the Oburt entirely tranformed within, into what scoffers called " a little Bethel.'" Then the Oxford was guilded and ornamented with all. tho colours of the rainbow. Next shabby old Drury Line was tastefully re-decorated in white and blue, with resplendent armorial bearings. This removed the worst instances of neglect. The Royalty then became one of the shabbiest theatres. The reproach, however, has been removed by a small army of cleaners, painters, ana upholsterers. They made the strange discovery that the roof j of the portico was not iron but glass covered with an inch 05 so of solidified London grime.

Gone -is the day of the traditional Grand Opera tenor—the haughty signor with a high Cin his chest. Nino Piccaluga, principal tenor of the Melba-Williamson opera, •who will be heard here shortly with the Grand Opera Singers, has the appearance and bearing of a soldier rather than a musician. Of a tall, commanding figure, handsome facQ, and close-cropped hair, the tenor might -easily be mistaken for an Olympic athlete. As a result of conspicuous bravery in the great war he was invested with several decorations and the Italian equivalent of a knighthood—he-is really the Cavalliere Piccaluga. His operatic career dates only from the conclusion of the war. Up to 1914 he was well-known as a racing-motorist.

Mr. John Moore, the versatile Scottish vocalist and comedian, now appearing at the Opera House, has lately concluded a tour of the East with the Banvard Musical Comedy Company. Tho* who have seen Mr. Moore must have been of tho

opinion that he had been born and bred on the stage, so natural is his stage manner. But Mr. Moore joined the theatrical profession through force of circumstance, and it has been a good thing for the stage that it has attracted so accomSlished an actor and so gifted a singer, ohn Moore is quite a youngj man, but he has seen a good deal of li'te in Europe, South Africa, and in the • Born in Glasgow, Scotland, he inherited the musical talent of his mother, who was one of the leading soprano singers of that great city years ago. Mr. Moore studied singing at the Glasgow Athenaeum for nearly two years, under the well-known Professor Michael Harrison. He then sang in amateur theatricals, and for a short while appeared with the D'Oyley Carte Opera Company in Scotland. His brilliant I baritone voice has charmed all his audiences, and he is equally good in grand ii opera, as well as in lighter music of the rag-time or revue variety.

/ Mr. Harry Claff, who commences a season at the Opera House this afternoon, v is a fine vocalist as well as actor. This in to bo expected of one who studied singing at the Royal Academy of Music, •- on the advice of-Sir Alexander McKenzie, under Signor Gustave Garcia. He is an old Savoyard, for his first professional en- > gagement was at the Savov Theatre, where no played in Gilbert and Sullivan revivals for three years. Then the late George Edwardes engaged him for musical comedy at Daly's, the Gaiety, and the Adelphi, and he appeared in " The Shop Girl," " The Circus Girl," " The Gaiety Girl," " The Gieek and the evergreen " San - Toy." Leavmg the theatre for variety, he played his well-known scenas, " The Demon and the Fairy," " The White Knight," and " An Arabian Knight," at ell tho principal variety theatres in Lon- ;; don and the Provinces. It was while at the Palace Theatre that Mr. Claff had his jj first command performance, which was 5 vfollowed by several others, and he had the honour of Jnging the solo of tho National • Anthem at the first variety command performance. _Mr. Claff, who has played at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in five consecutive pantomimes, ij proud of the get that; in 1920-21 he appeared at the lioyal Opera House, Covemt Garden, for o4 consecutive, performances, playing the rriCoUioa' " Cinderella"