THE DRAMA IN AUSTRALIA. NOTES BY SCALFAX. Melbourne, September 9.

Otago Witness, Issue 1713, 20 September 1884, Page 23

THE DRAMA IN AUSTRALIA. NOTES BY SCALFAX. Melbourne, September 9.

Another large audience assembled at the Theatre Royal last Saturday evening, to witness the production of the antiquated musical drama, " Guy Mannoring," announced in tho bills as an adaptation from the world-read novel by Sir Walter Scott, whereas it is an adaptation from Sir Walter Scott's world-read novel by his friend, Daniel Terry, Aa it is not probable that any living person has arrived at years of discretion without having read the novel, I shall not Attempt any description of the plot. The present performance commences with the second act — the first one, with the return of Colonel Mannering and the story of Henry Bertrand's abduction, being ruthlessly excised. Of course this helps to make the two actß which are presented _to you rather vague at times, but then your interest is lost when Meg Merrilies is not on the stage. Miss Ward, as you know, is the Meg, and a magnificent portrayal she gives of the character. Her make-up is wonderfully weird and repulsive — she looks every inch a witch ; and her acting is worthy of tbe highest praise. She was especially good in the dying scene, for Bhe makes Meg die : in the drama she usually gets wounded, and you aro led to believe that she will recover, and live to nurse Henry Bertram's children, if he ever had any. It is a moat wonderful bit of charaoter-acting, and ono no admirer of Miss Ward should misa. A great deal of nonsense has been written and Bpokon as to the amount of self-abnegation required for a pretty woman to make herself look repulsive enough for a character like this, which I entirely fail to see. Miss Ward selected tho character herself, and she is a magnificent success in it. Surely it is not necessary for a lady to have always a nice, cloan face, carefully powdered and rouged, in order to convince us that she is a great actress, and to secure our favour. Wo can appreciate acting undor whatever disguise the players present themselves, and tho height or a player's ambition is to obtain the favour of the public. MrW. H. Vernon agreeably surprised us by the excellence of hia Dandie Dinmont. His accent and manner woro good, and ho kept the audience in excellent humour. Mr Brennir was an unmitigated failuro as Henry Bertram. He was announced to sing " Come into the Garden, Maud," and " The Pilgrim of Love," which with questionable taste he wag going to substitute for the ones in the N drama ; however, he waa hoarse, and did not sing them. Mr Geo.

L9itch was an acceptablo Dominio Sampson, although his struggles with the accent wo.n at titnos seveie. Tho one good point about Mr Laitch is that he is an extremely painstaking actor, and is greatly given to detail ; the touches of art and nature used by him are sometime 1 ! almost microscopic. Moat actors are content to give a broad view of the character they are 'representing, and to leave all minor point 3to develop themselves. Mr Leitch has studied one all those minor items of a complete performance ; and though ho may not always realise jonv iil.*& of what the character he i 3 attempting shotild be, you can not but commend the evident and Workmanlike trouble he has been at. Misa Uocy Stewart, as Julia Mnnnering, has nothing to do but sing well, and that sho always doaa. Miss Alma Santon waa the Luoy Bertram. The sconory was, for onca, of no great oxcol lonce, and the choruses wero rather rnievon. "Up rouso ye then, iriy merry, merry mou," managed to obtain the honour ai an encore. The bright little comedy, "Nance Oldliold," written by the late Charles Reade, and fivefc produced here at Mr Vernon's benefit at tho Piincess Theatre on May 31, was pkyed as an afterpiece. Mies Ward and Mr Vernon repeated their succeas as Nance Oldfiold and Nathan Oldworthy, and Miss Watta-Phillipa was a piquant Susan. Mr R. Stewart, Jan., was out of plaoo as Alexander Oldv/otby. This programme I fear will not laot loug, for " Guy Maunering" is not the class of play to draw an audieaco nowadays. The stilted language and the lnßlodramatic situations that we wero wont to b9 bo interested in now provoke a smile ; the sentimental passages between the hero and heroine wo simply yawn over ; and wq laugh derisively when a "' flat" sticks on being run on. This class of work ia of a past ago, and will soon be as great a curiosity as tha castle epectre or tha dodo. It does ua pood to see those old playo, if only to show that the good old dramas of the good old times are not quite all pur fancy painted them. We have an instinctive reverence for tho dramatic performances wo used to bob when we were young, ;md him apt to ascribo to thorn an amount of excellence far beyond their real merits ; but to see " Guy Mannering" after an interval of twenty years is a revelation. And yet it has hold a high position on the etago, and has been acted by many of the best &OLOIS of tha days of ita prime. To him who v/aits all things aro possible, and our children may perhaps be fortunate enough to sea a revival of "Forget-Me-Not" or " The Silvor King," and marve! much that an audience could be expected to sit them out. When we consider the Wonderful improvements in dramatic productions during the laat tm years, we may well wonder to what sublimity the art may no!; be carried when science stops in, as necessarily it will, to aid tho stage mechanist. Look at the wonderful production of Richard Wagner'a " Parsifal" at B&yreuth on July 30, 1882. Ono of the most excellent of effects, where all was excellent, ia where the wounded king, Amfortas, takes an antique crystal cvp — the Holy Grail — from tho ohtii:e in the superb cathedral scene, and all the knights bend in prayer before it, while the stage slowly darkens. The stage direction is :—" A blinding ray of light shoots down from above upon the cup, which glows with a.n increasing crimson lustre. Amfortas, with brightened mien, raises tho • Grail ' aloft, and waves it gently about on all sidea." Science assisted there, for the cup, opalescsnt outside, was crimson within, and contained an incandescent electric lamp. After the ray of limelight eh'ot down upon the central group, tha prompter turned the current gradually on, and tho cup glowed and glowed brighter and brighter, till you could hardly look at it. That was only the beginning of the application of scientific media to aesint in stage effocli. What marvellous and startling things may we not see in a few years ? On Saturday nighfe wo had aloo at the Prinonss Theatre tho revival of Sardou's coraedj', " ifnendß." " Nos Infiimes," the French or), mal of thia clever comedy, was fir^t produced at the TheaCre Ddjazat in 1861, and achieved an instant and lasting success. It was adapted into English by the late Horace Wigan undor the title, of " Friends or Foos ?" and an Amorican version was named " Bosom Friends." It waa performed in London by a French company in 1871, and still another version, " Our Friends," has recently been played at tha Olympic Theatre by Mdlle feeatrice. In Octobar 1876 a version called "Peril" wns played at the Prince of Wales Theatre, with the Bancrofts in the leading r6le^«. Tho present version was first played in Melbourne at tho Opera House on June 28, 1879, and waa a m&vked success. Tho plot, Bimply described, deala with tho experiences of a man who has many friends, who insult him whenever they can ; they find fault with him in every wny, and one of them strives diligently to seduco his hosl'e wife. The husband at length finds out the truo nature of his guesta, and ride tho houso of Ihom. An eminent critic haa so id of this play that—" The teaching of tho story, ao far as it may be supposed to taach anything is to the cynical effect that friendship is a delusion, and that a man's bitterest foes are those with whom he seems most intimate, and to whom ho has been unceasingly kind and generous." Of all Sardou's comedies it may be said with reason that his characters are full of vitality, and are as lifelife as may be, though thoy are rarely really alive and human. M. Jules Claretie, a most capable critic, says of Sardou that " ha has batter than anyone la doiytc dv dramaturge." His situations are prepared deliberately, and with a full view to effect. After he has contrived to get hia characters into a terrible tangle, it has been said that "M. Sardou either shows us that the tanglo is only apparent, and tho slipping of a single loop "will set everybody free, or elae he whips out his penknife and slily cuts the cords, getting his knife safely back into his pocket while wo are all astonished at tho sudden falling of the ropeo." His manuscripts are most minute in their etega directions ; the scenery and accessories are all carefully marked by tho author ; even the various positions of hia characters are (stated. When writing a phy M. Sardou actually sketches the scene he proposes to use. I have myoelf seen a sketch of an imaginary village used in the construction of "Le Bourgeois de Pont d'Arcy," in which every little detail of the village is planned out, oven to the village pump. ■M. Charlca Blauc. the emiuenfc art critic, in replying to Sardou's rooeption speech at tho French Acadomy, Bpoko of this talent of misc-en scene. Ho said : " I admire tha skilful ordering of the room in which passes the action of your characters, the care you take in putting each in his place, in ohoosing the furniture which surrounds them, and which ia not only of the style required — that goes without saying — but significant, expressive, fitted to aid in the turns of the drama." I shall not have space this week to go into any details with regard to tho present production, which I must defer for a work. A novelty ia the way of casting haa been initiated with this comedy, as Miss Annie Mayor and Miss Jenny Watt-Tanner enact Cecile, tha wife, on alternate nights. Mr Herbert Flemming plays Robert Dawson fairly well. Mr Frank Gates as Maurice de Torrebone, the would-be seducer, is conscientiously trying to make a repulsive

character aa pleasing as possible. Mr A.' Redwood now plays Fred. Marshall's old part off Mai k'uara ;' and although labouring 'under fch& great disadvantage of having to follow bo great a favourite in tho character ttofc made bio unmo, is crofting a decidedly favourable in>pi'ionion. The scenery and accesswiea are Gxcollnnt, of which isora naxt week. Mi«i Einolia Melvillo fa now in her last week at tho Bijuu Theatre, &&d is ringing tha chanfjc<s on the old operas. Sha leaves on the 23rd mst. ?»r India, and will b<j aecorapanied by Signer Vordi and Mr W. Walsbe, I'tio Opera Hotted ia undergoing exteuaive rapaii'a and alterations previous to the ptoduetion of " Jtlomoo and Juliet" on Saturday next, of which my next letter will contain aaull ftoe iunt. A sad accident happened to two of the painters last night (Monday). Ifc oeems thafc they were decorating the arch over tb« prosoanium when the staging they were on gave way, aud they fell on the 'stalk chairs, thirty-fiva feet below them. One is reported to have his back broken, and neither afa "expected to lire. 1 Etiffi Mias Fanny Reid, the new Jotiet, on Wednesday laat. She is a fine tall blende — rathor too tall, perhaps, for a Juliet, blit'wifcb a sweet, sympathetic voice. She is the daughter of Admiral Boyes, and her husband, Mif Frank Reid, a son of the late GoTernor of Bombay, ia Principal of tbe Amjere Oollega in that presidency. Mr George 'Riguold, bis wife (Mfsfs Brabrook Henderson), and MI6S Kale Bishop, the new leading lady, arrived on Thursday from London. Mr Rignold brings with him "In the Rankrt," "Called 8a0k, % "Lords and Omawons," and " Confusion." He also brings » signed contraot with Mr G. A. Sala, who wiJl sail for Melbourne in January next; and is also to arrange an Australian tour for Lawrence Barrett, tho American actor. ' The annual matinee benefit of the Dramatic and Musical Fund takes place on Saturday afternoon. I hear that the University students are going to attend in great foree — I know they have bought 400 tickets, and hold high jinks in the intervals, the greatness- of which jinks shall transcend those of the opening night of 41 Macbeth " of glorious memory. It is said that Mr and Mrs. South have settied their matrimonial squabble, and are onca more in harmony. , . ' Miss Marie JDe Grey appeared in " She Stoops to Conquer" at the Opera Houbb, Sydney, on Saturday night. The only other attraction waa the production of " Imprudeuce"at the Gaiety Theatre. "The Merry Duchess " f,till runa at ths TheatVe Royal. Mian Maggie Moore is now living among us, having leaHed a pretty villa at Moonee Ponds, *' Fun oa tho Bristol " finishes in Adelaide on Friday, and the company play at our JJijoii Theatre on Monday next, A hat and coat were found to-day tha police on the north bank of tha River "Sar'ra. In one of tho pockets was a pocketbook and lottos, from which it appears that the owner's name is Clark?, and that ho has committed suicide out of love for Miss Eraelie Melville. The Herald aivee the following extract from' one of tho letters : — " When 1 am dead and gone lot him who finds my body know why I h-ive ended my life. It is because I loved Miss Emelia Melville not .wisely, but too well. lam afraid of killing her. . . . God knows how 1 love her. She is my life, my soul, my God, my everything. I do love her and worship her with all my life and soul, and she does not know it." The affair seems to be a hoax. ", ' '