THEATRICAL NOTES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22142, 22 June 1935, Page 12 (Supplement)

THEATRICAL NOTES

COMING PRODUCTIONS Town Hall July 2, i and 6.—Yehudi Menuhin season. His Majesty's Theatre To-day.—Auckland Amateur _ Operatic Society's " Runaway Cnrl. Town Hall Concert Chamber July 13 and 13.—Catholic Repertory Society. " A Man's House." Lewis Eady Hall ■ June 25 and 2G.—Garrick Repertory Theatre play. THEATRE AND CONCERT HALL The New J. C. Williamson Limited Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company will open its season iu Melbourne, according to present arrangements, at His Majesty's Theatre on Saturday, June 8. The new stage facilities and up-to-date lighting system, which will bo used in Gilbert and Sullivan opera for the first time, will enable each of tho operas to be presented on a scale not hitherto attainable. Tho opening opera will be " The Gondoliers," in which Ivan Menzies will appear as the Duke of Plaza-Toro; Godfrey Stirling, the new English tenor, as Marco; Winifred Lawson, as Casilda; Gregory Stroud, as Giuseppe; Evelyn Gardiner as the Duchess of Plaza-Toro; Richard Watson, as Don Alhambra. Each of tho operas will bo produced by Minnie Everett and the musical director will bo William Quintrell. The Auckland Little Theatre Society is to bo congratulated on its decision to form a play-reading circlo in association with its other activities. The announcement to this effect, made during tho successful season of " Mr. Pim Passes By " during the week, created great interest and the movement should meet with a ready response. In making the announcement, Mr. J. D. Swan said that the society hoped by this means not only to provide training for members but also to open the way for examination of locally written plays. Most amateur playwrights confined their attention to one-act plays, and past experience had indicated that members did not desire an evening of one-act plays for public performance. Tho playreading circle, however, would provide an opportunity for trying such locally written plays over, and if they proved successful a performance on a moro ambitious scale might be arranged later. The play-reading circle would also foster the social spirit among members.

" 1066 And All That " is about the best theatrical joke of 1935, remarks a London critic. Reginald Arkell has performed a miracle of craftsmanship, by taking this famous historical travesty as a basis, and contriving a show of his own in exactly the same spirit. Beginning with the Roman soldiers, and ending with the age of the Prophet Belisha, we are conducted step by step through a version of history which always sticks wickedly close to its text. Here and there Mr. Arkell has allowed himself embellishments. The episode of Alfred and the cakes, for instance, is presented in pantomine form; and between the Queen Elizabeth episode and that called " Merrie is an imaginative interpolation in the | shape of a police court scene where a judge is trying two offenders—Columbus for having discovered America, and Guy Fawkes for failing to blow up Parliament. Mr. Arkell's best invention of all, however, is tho Common Man, a pathetic little Cockney in a bowler hat and a dusty blue serge suit, who wanders from episode to episode finding always that history is no good to him because it takes no account of him, but only puts him in the cart.