CHINESE VAUDEVILLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23970, 20 November 1939, Page 7

CHINESE VAUDEVILLE

SHADES OF LONG TACK SAM NORTH CHINA TROUPE Modern troupes of Chinese acrobats, gymnasts, jugglers, balancers and whatnots have to come up to a high standard to satisfy audiences who remember as vividly as New Zealand audiences do the first-class entertainments brought on tour by Long Tack Sam, ■of illustrious reputation. Theatres are not filled nowadays by novelties just because they are novelties. Which brings us to commendation of the show presented in His Majesty’s Theatre on Saturday to open its Dunedin season by the Great North China Troupe. It is a first-rate variety show, well produced and consisting of a series of fascinating athletic accomplishments. The first half of the programme is more of the vaudeville which is not new; but it, too. is good fare right through from the overture by the small but efficient orchestra to the concertina turn by two of the European members of the companv It is not until after the interval, though, that the show becomes properly wound up and worthy of the Long Tack Sam yardstick. From the rising of the curtain again to the finale there is scarcely a minute that is not offering scope for admiration, breathless as often as not. It would be too much to describe the programme in detail. Suffice to say that the first half is excellent European vaudeville. There is a versatile “ novelty entertainer,” 'an attractive pair of dancers, a ventriloquist, Royston, who uses two dummies. Jackie and Nellie, and manages, among other things, “Little Sir Echo” splendidly There is a sketch or two—and one of the headlines of the show, the Chinese Bobby Breen. There might be some of the opinion that one Bobby Breen in the world at one time is a fair sentence, but Master Herbert Young is an extremely self-possessed little fellow who knows how to “ put across ’’ a very good little voice. A “ Chinese Bobby Breen ” singing “ Rose of Tralee” is a strange thought, but young Herbert’s English is excellent and his Irish not at all bad—and the audience liked him a lot. It liked the cheerful Oriental jugglers and balancers still more, though. “Wong,” the mimic, started the ball rolling and soon had the stage fluttering with all the animals of the farmyard and a few which still enjoy their freedom. The ball was kept rolling, literally, by Yeung Shao Yuen and two fair companions. The latter tripped about gracefully on big rubber balls, but Y. S. Y. got himself into all sorts of bother. It was the same Yeung Shao Yuen who soon afterward made his way up into the roof by the expedient of balancing chairs one on top of the other and balancing himself at odd angles to celebrate each stage accomplished. A little vyhile later he, or someone very like him, was at it again, but this time at the top of a 20-foot pole which had as its resting place the forehead of a partner. And he topped off his evening by helping with the gymnastics.

Yeung Shao Yuen had plenty of supplementary talent, if it was Yeung Shao Yuen who appropriated all the ]oy of risking limb and life away up aloft. Yeung Tseui Ying, for example, a very miniature maiden, performed some remarkable contortions with two glasses of water balanced on her head, and an equally amazing display of controlled balance was given by Yeung Yue Ying. She, also, is a miniature, and she takes her tea by means of contorting herself backward to a level a long way below her own feet. The control of these men and girls really does provoke wonderment. There were other spectacular efforts —diving through a ring of knives and fire, twirling five spears, some conjuring, head-to-head balancing, end, leading into the acrobatic finale, an outstanding display of gymnastics on (ho horizontal bar and the straps. The No. 1 horizontal ba»' executant was magnificent. The Great North China Troupe will continue its season this week, and the recommendation can be repeated that it is a company worthy of the Long Tack Sam traditions.