THEATRICAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19792, 12 November 1927, Page 8 (Supplement)

THEATRICAL NOTES.

CHANGE IN FAMOUS COMPANY.

After more than forty years of singlehanded management Sir Frank Benson, the Shakespearean actor and producer, is going into partnership. The famous Benson company has been merged into the Bensonians, and associated with Sir Frank Benscn in the management and direction of it will be Mr. Gerald Lawrence, the actor. The amalgamation will continue to present Shakespeare's plays in London and the provinces, and will add " Monsieur Beaucaire" and " The School for Scandal" to its repertory. A tour of Canada, the United States, and—possibly —Australia, is planned. It was in 1883 •;that Mr. Frank Benson, having gone 'through Winchester and Oxford, and having acted with the Oxford University ■ Dramatic Society and with Henry Irving, started his own company.

Hundreds of actors and actresses are Tery proud of tho fact that they are ."Old Bensonians" and were taught the beginnings of their craft by Sir Frank. HMr. Lawrence, who is now joining forces with him, was one; and others .were Mr. Oscar Asche, Miss Lily Bray-'.-t)on, Mr. Henry Ainly, the late Mr. (Laurence Irving, Mr. Matheson Lang, i'Mr. Leslie Faber, Air. Dennis NeilsoniJTerry, Miss Lilian Braithwaite, Mr. 'Stephen Phillips, who became a better -poet than actor, Mr. J. B. Fagan, playwright and producer, Mr. J. E. Vedrenne, ■who staged much of Shaw and Barrio, and Mr. Frank Curzon.

A fine athlete in his young days—ho ■won the inter-university three-miles while he was at Oxford —Sir Frank Benson has a great love of games which he has always iostered in his companies. It is said that he once advertised in a theatrical paper: " Wanted a Laertes. Must be a good goal-keeper." Once upon a time, wherever the Benson Company was playing Shakespeare, there, also, it was pretty certain to be found playing cricket, football, or hockey, with Sir Frank in the team.

PLAYS AND PLAYERS. Joseph Hi slop, whose concert season Under the J. and N. Tait management .has been a triumphant success, is to return to Melbourne in December, having been engaged to sing the tenor part in "The Messiah," to be given by the Melbourne Philharmonic Society. Mr. Hislop has taken the tenor part in many notable performances of oratorio. Less than two years ago he sang the tenor part in "The .Messiah" at tho great Handel Festival at the Crystal Palace, London.

" Lady Bo Good" which was seen in New Zealand recently is coming to the close of a very successful season in Australia. The members of the company are to appeal a 6 the St. James* Theatre, Sydney, shortly in a new musical comedy, *' Archie." Miss Elsie Prince, Mr. Jimmy Godden, Mr. Charlton Morton and all the others who helped to piake " No, No, Nanette," and " Lady Be Good" such delightful entertainment, will appear in the new production which will probably tour jSSw Zealand next year.

His Majesty's Theatre will be vacant for a short while at tho conclusion of tho season of " Cradle Snatchers." Then there will be staged a Gilbert and Sullivan season by the same company which was responsible for such successful revivals of tho Savoy operas --last year. The principal offering during the season will be the Ruddigore," and other operas will bo included which were not played during the last visit of the company. Mr. James Hay, the principal tenor, is also acting as producer throughout the tour.

During the first week in December the 'Auckland Little Theatre Society will present Shaw's " Pygmalion." It is a brilliant play and will be a severe test for "the members of the society .taking an active part in the production. The princiBal parts will be taken by Miss Lynda turphy, who will play Eliza Dolittle, the girl with a vile Cockney accent who is transformed into a duchess by a professor of phonetics, Lieutenant E. Addis in the part of Higgins, Mr. Keegan as Pickering and Mr. Dan Flood as Dolittle. The part of Eliza Dolittle was played for the Sydney Repertory Society by the Hon. ]Virs. Pitt-Rivers, daughter of Lord and as a result she was asked by J. C. Williamson Ltd., to play lead in several of the Vanbrugh-Boucicault productions during the last visit of thesa two artists, j

A light opera of more than average merit, " Madame Pompadour," has played in Sydney and Melbourne with great success. After its Australian season it is to tour New Zealand, but judging from the praise of Sydney critics it will bo at least a year before Australian audiences will permit it to visit the Dominion. When it does the ( company will also play "The Student Prince," a musical play recently acquired by J. C. Williamson, Ltd., from> Empire Theatres. In the leading roles are Miss Beppie de Vries, a Dutch actress, and Mr. Frank Webster, an English tenor, arid among the olc'l favourites in the company are Mr. Arthur Btigant and Mr. Noel Dainton. Miss de Vries, as a favourite in the court of Louis XV,, is tho central figure for tln3 comedy of Mr. Frederick Lonsdale and Mr. Harry Graham, and wlso for some very fine dramatic scenes that tho two authors have contrived. The music by Mr. Leo Fall is said to be most attractive, written almost in operatic Vein.