THEATRICAL NOTES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21326, 29 October 1932, Page 10 (Supplement)

THEATRICAL NOTES

COMING PRODUCTIONS Town Hall: This evening.—Municipal Choir Concert. His Majesty's: November 12 to 24.—Margaret Rawlings in " The Barretts of Wimpole Street " and " Happy and Glorious." Coming.—J. C. Williamson "Follies of 1932 " season. January.—Dame Sybil Thorndikc and Company in " Saint Joan," "As You Like It," " Macbeth," " Painted Veils," et alia. THEATRE AND CONCERT HALL Dame Sybil Thorndikc, recognised ns England's greatest actress, and her London company have repeated in Sydney , the triumph they achieved during a wonderfully successful season in Melbourne. They opened at the Criterion Theatre in Bernard Shaw's play, " Saint Joan," and ipress and public have acclaimed the performance as a notable and outstanding event in Australian theatrical history. On arrival in Sydney, Dame Sybil Thorndike was accorded a civic reception at the Town Hall, at which the leaders of the community were present. Many other functions' have been arranged to do honour to the distinguished actress, who has been overwhelmed with' hospitality. Dame Sybil Thorndike and her London company will shortly come to Now Zealand, January being tentatively set down as the opening month. A programme which should be of great interest has been arranged for the Municipal Choir's concert, which will be given under the baton of Mr. E. Varley Hudson in the Town Hall this evening. One of the outstanding choral numbers will be " The Dawn of Song," by Sir Edward Bairstow, who is organist, choirmaster and professor of music at the Durham University. Other items by the choir will be " 0 Wert Thou in the Cauld Blast ?" , " The Black Monk," " Mannin Veen," " Song of the Pedlar, "Fay's Song" and "Swansea Town." Owing to the illness of Madame Cora Melvin who was to have given several vocal items, some alterations have\been made in the supporting programme. Mr. F. E. Sutherland will sing " The Red Flower of the Romany" and " Route Marchin'," and Dr. Trevor de Clive Lowe will• give 'cello solos, "Chanson Meditation " (Coppenet) and " Danse Villageois " (Van Goes). Among the organ solos to be given by Mr. A. E. Wilson will be, " Suite Gothique" (Boellmann) and " Fantasia on a Welsh Air" (H. J. Stewart). Theatre-goers in New Zealand are discussing with pleasurable anticipation the coming of the super vaudeville-revue company', as mentioned by Mr. John Tait (one of the J. C. Williamson directors) in a recent interview. To say that the time for the change is more than ripe is but repeating 'the comments heard on every side. The combination, it may with every confidence be anticipated, will be an extremely high standard one. It will be headed by the inimitable and most capable of character impersonators, Ella Shields, who is generally recognised as one of the most celebrated artistes in her particular line of comedy entertainment. For years there has been almost a complete dearth of decent vaudeville enterprises, and the general public has perforce had to submit to the monotonous .and stereotyped form of eritertainment- provided. Now J. C. Williamson, with the commendable object of brightening and improving the bill-of-fare, will submit for the approval of New Zealand audiences,something entirely new and right-up-to-the-minute in the form of super vaude*ille-revue, and it is safe to predict that their enterprise in this connection will not go unrewarded. The personnel of the company is now being arranged, and will be announced shortly. It was through John Masefield, the Poet Laureate, that Margaret Rawlings, whose Auckland season opens on November 12, entered upon a stage career. The young English star of " The Barretts of Wimpole Street " and " Dr. Pygmalion," while at Oxford University, took part in the verse speaking contest organised by Masefield, as the result of which he invited her to act at his Little Theatre on Boar's Hill, where he was then making some interesting theatrical experiments. The college authorities refused to allow her to. do this. It was their opposition, combined with the enthusiasm of John Masefield, who urged her to take up acting" definitely as a career, which gave her the stimulus to take the step of leaving the university. Although " The Barretts of Wimpole Street " was banned in England" for a period, its undoubted merit brought it recognition elsewhere, and the public clamour for its production eventually succeeded in having the censorial edict swept aside. Then London set 'its seal of approval on this outstanding play, and it has gone on from success to further successes, New Zealand being the last to indicate its approval and appreciation of very charming, intriguing and sincere play. " Happy and Glorious," the second production, is something new in plays, and presents some spectacular, dramatic scenes, which enable Margaret Rawlings to display her versatility.