THEATRICAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19798, 19 November 1927, Page 8 (Supplement)

THEATRICAL NOTES.

PRESENTATION OF "PYGMALION." Terhap;; the most ambitious effort to be made by the Auckland Littlo Theatre Society will be its presentation of Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion" during the first week in December. The play is typical of Shaw, epigrammatic and brilliant, and therefore requiring something in the nature o; brilliant acting. _ Happily, tlio society is in a position to be able to make ambitious efforts. It lias a large following, which is increasing steadily with each fresh production, and without ambition progress cannot be maintained. Few will forget the work of Miss Peggy Rovey and Mv. J- D. Swan, Miss Lynda Murphy, and Mr. Arnold Goodwin in tho triple bill presented last Septemhei. It showed that the society lias the artists: "The Old Lady Shows Her Medals," could hardly have been clone better by a professional company. The producer, Mr. Kenneth Brampton, has beer in no small measure responsible for these results, and lie is confident that he has assembled a cast for "Pygmalion, capable of giving a sound interpietation to Shavian humour and satire. It includes Miss Lynda Murphy, who will take another Cockney part- she was the Cockney girl in "Pan in I'imlico" —and it is a part •that could have emanated only from the marvellous brain of Shaw. Tt is a masterpiece of character work. Other leading parts will be taken by Lieutenant E. Addis as Higgins. the professor of photietics, who undertakes to transform a Cockney flower girl into a duchess by teaching her how to spevik, Mr. Keegan as Pickering, who assists him in the experijment, and Mr. Dan Flood as Roolittle. the dustman-philosopher, father of the little flower girl. , All these parts will demand art in their portrayal. Higgins is a wonderful creation, a man lost in his art of phonetics, and tiie passing study of Milton, bullying and kindly in turn. But Doolittle is delightful, his philosophy the most wonderfully '"ncongrous thing imaginable. Mr. Flood can be trusted to give a good portraval of the part. . The plav, of course, has a motive: it would not "be the work of Shaw if it had not. He wishes to teach Englishmen that they should speak English. ' 'Hie English have no respect for their language, and will not. tench their childern to speak it, he savs i.n his preface to the play. "They spell 'it so abominably that no man can teach himself what it' sounds like. It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some ether Englishman ha to or despiso him. This is the fault Shaw wishes to remedy, but he also has a few trenchant words to say on stage diction: "There is still too much sham golfing English on our stage and too little of tho noble English of Forbes Robertson." There is a lesson to be learned from this bv every repertory society, but it has been* a notablo fact that admirable attention has been paid to diction in previous productions by the society.

PLAYS AND PLAYERS. After a run of fifteen weeks, the musical comedy, " The Blue Train," came to an end somewhat unexpectedly. Its season at tho Prince of Wales Theatre, London, was generally accounted an artistic success but the production costs proved too heavy for a longer run. Miss Lily Elsie, who reappeared in this play> was given a great reception on tne final night.

The outstanding event of the theatrical year in Auckland will be the long-awaited presentation of " Rose Marie' at His Majesty's Theatre on December 21. lhe record-breaking musical play will run over the Christmas and New Year holidays, and the keenness with which it has been awaited should make it a great attraction. " Rose Marie" is at present on tour in Australia, and the cast for the New Zealand tour has not yet been definitely selected.

There will be a welcome return of the J. C. Williamson Gilbert and Sullivan Comic Opera company to His Majesty s Theatre next Saturday evening. It will bo something of an event in tneatncal history as it will mark the first professional presentation of the comparatively unkown opera, " Ruddigore. Music arid libretto are in the characteristic style of a famous combination and should be well interpreted by a cast which included Miss Strella Wilson, Miss Winifred Williamson, Miss Patti Russell, James Hay, Charles Walenn, John Ralston, Bernard Manning, Lance Fairfax, Leo Darnton and John Byrne. The orchestra, of course, will be under the direction of Mr. CSustave Slapoffski. The season will extend to December 8 and the New Zealand tour jnay be extended to enable a revival of " The Chocolate Soldier."

It is not often that a young English actress achieves fame in the United States. The New York stage has a reflation of being somewhat selfish, but Miss Cecile Dixon has won high praise from New York critics for her work in Clemence Dane's pla.v, " The Mariners." She has had a most successful career, and was spoken of as a highly-promising actress before she left England. Her first appearance of any note was in a school play, in which she took the part of Mary Queen of Scots, and then she appeared in Mrs. Patrick Campbell's play, " The Adventurous Age." In Ibsen's "The Master Builders," Miss Dixon attracted the notice of Mr. John Galsworthy, the novelist and dramatist, who selected her to play opposite George Arliss in " Old England" at the Ritz Theatre, New York. Miss Dixon is a cousin of Mrs. h. Rartleet, of E'psoin, and has expressed a wish to visit Australia and New Zealand in plays of more literary value than those generally seen on the professional stage to-day.