SOME REMINISCENCES

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7025, 13 January 1910, Page 6

SOME REMINISCENCES

THE OLD AND NEW. Becoming reminiscent yesterday regarding the dramatic companies which, have visited New Zealand, Mr G. S. lithcradgo had some pleasant things to say ot the fine organisation that Messrs Brough and Boucicault established in Aiistraha. “X was the head of that combination for t«*n years ” be remarked, ‘'and a better all-round combination never existed. Yd a ask anybody who knows London and Now York, and‘they will tell you there s been nothing like it, with possibly the exception of Augustin Daly’s company in New York, which went to London occasionally, with Ada Rehan at the head of it. _ "There wore, for instance in Brough and Bouoicault’s edmpany, besides Robert Brough and Dion Boucicault, G. W. Anson, Edward Sass, Percy Lyndal, Cecil Ward, G. S. Titheradge, Mrs Brough, Nina Boucicault (one of the best actrcvsses in London), Jeannie Watt Tanner, and Emma Temple. They had a repertoire of 140 pieces, amongst which may be named ‘The Second Mrs Tanqueray/ ‘Sowing the Wind,’ ‘Sophia,’ ‘The Amazons,’ ‘The Magistrate,’ ‘Dandy Dick,’ ‘Niobe,* ‘The Village Priest.’ Then, of course, we had the great production of ‘Much Ado About Nothing,’ which cost barrels of money, and which could not possibly succeed. We didn’t take current expenses. While this company mad© heaps of money occasionally, at the end of ten years there was'a deficit. Artistically, that company would be an example to London managers of the present day, inasmuch as we oould produce any piece, and produce it as well as it was Originally don© in London, in a, fortnight. We had seven productions in thirteen weeks in Melbourne —that was when times were bad. ‘‘Nowadays they waste from six to eight weeks in London over a piece in rehearsal. Of course, what would cur© that would be to pay the actors for the rehearsals, which they don’t do. That seems to me a fair thing, don’t you "think go? With such a repertoire as Brough and Boucicault had, it was absolutely necessary for a large number of the company to be versatile artists. I played in one week the Dean in ‘Dandy Dick,’ and the young man in ‘The Amazons.’ We had to do Shakespeare, old comedy, modern comedy, farce, etc. The qualification which ig so essential here is absolutely a personal disadvantage in London. There you must be a specialist. A man gets identified with, a certain part. He has to wait until another' part of that description comes along, and he is on it generally until he dies. That is why a man has to bo of - independent fortune to be an actor in London. While that is of advantage to the public, it is destructive of the art, which is rapidly becoming a lost one, on account of specialisation.”