NOTES BY PASQUIN.

Otago Witness, Issue 1795, 17 April 1886, Page 23

NOTES BY PASQUIN.

NEW ZEALAND. Mr George Darrell writes to a Dunedin evening paper replying to some moan as to the seating accommodation of the pit, and further discourses as follows : — " I may intimate that my prices of admission are lower than thdse charged to witness 'The Private Secretary'— a threoact farce with 10 artists and one scene. There was nd grumbling then. I travel 22 persons, carrying 40 tons of scenery and paraphernalia, present a London and Australian success, at perhaps double the expenditure, and play to lower prices. I sincerely regret; with "Pit," the depression of the times, which, from my own experience, I believe to be more fancied than real. In proof — my expenses are £300 per week on tour, nearly every shilling of which Sum has been and will be spent in the country ; and I am positive that Dunedinites, as have their Northern fellow colonists, will, by their patronage give me warrant for my outlay." This production is amusing in some respects, especially as regards the concluding bid, but its tone is not exactly to be applauded. Still, it is funny, and that is a great deal. The rather contemptuous attention to" Tho Private Secretary " is especially funny — 10 artists and one scene against 22 persons and 40 tons of paraphernalia. Can Mr Darrell seriously imagine that we judge our entertainments by weight and measurement? Further, "I present," says Mr Darrell, " a London and Australian success." If the runs achieved by " The Sunny South '' entitle it to this description, what are we to call " The Private Secretary," which has run for hundreds of consecutive nights in London, and is still running in the English provinces and America ? Call it a three - act farce, Mr Darrell would promptly reply. That is precisely what we have called it. As a three-act farce, we have laughed heartily at both it and 11 Confusion*" and found them both excellent of their kind. Their literary standard is uot a Very high one, but it must candidly be confessed that it is higher than that of such pieces as 41 The Sunny South." Mr Darrell as a man of energy and remarkable self-reliance, and as a capable Australian astor, is well enough ; as a playwright he is, unfortunately," very much in the rear rank, and he will never be able to sneer at the work even of such men as Derrick.

" The Sunny South/ which has been played for a week at the Princess Theatre, is, I am disappointed to have to say, very poor stuff indeed. The first act is full of faults, and is not a little conventional, but Mr Darrell at this point has at any rate started with the intention of writing a play. But this intention seems to have been immediately abandoned, and the remainder of the piece consists of a series of sensational pictures gummed on to an Australian background and painted a bright vermilion. Some Credit may be given for these situations : The attempted bank robbery, the conflict with bushrangers, and burning of the bush hut, the excellent scenic representation of the zig-zag railway, and the attempt to wreck the train, &c., — but beyond this there 16 very little to praise. The story, such as it is, is not lucidly worked out — in fact it is not worked out at all.

As regards the characters, Mr Darrell has some very capable people with him, but they have absolutely no chance in the piece, and even Mr Darrell himself as Matt Morley has not got an acting part worth a snap of the fingers if we except the first act and a short duologue with •' Babs " in the bush. Miss Annie Mayor as " Babs " does fairly well, but not so well as she could do under other circumstances, and Mr Oily Deering as Perfidy Bounce supplies what fun there is.

If Mr Darrell is indeed the representative of the Australian drama, he must have some better work in his desk than " The Sunny South," and I shall be genuinely pleased to find that ho has.

Mr H. Norman, stage manager of the Dunedin Benevolent Dramatic Club, writes to me to the effect that the Club will make their first appearance in the early part of June next. The piece they will appear in is Tom Taylor's " Our American Cousin" — a rather ambitious effort for amateurs, but still a piece likely to bring out any latent talent they may possess. It seems the Club were to have appeared before, but the theatre was not available.

Mr Harwood, of "The Private Secretary" Company, has been constrained to write to the press defending the prices charged by the triumvirate. The following remark of his contains sound enough sense : — " If theatre-goers in New Zealand desire to have entertainments placed before them in a fairly complete form, they must be prepared to support them at the same rate as in the sister colonies. Contrast the prices of amusements all over Australia and New Zealand with London ones, which are fully 50 per cent in advance; compare performances, and amusement-seekers will find there is not much to grumble at."

Mr " Zulu " Thompson has abandoned all his South African proclivities, and settled down iuto harness as the landlord of the Albion Hotel, Wellington, and a good landlord he will make no doubt.

A letter which appears in a Parisian paper over Mdme Patti's signature, says: — "I have never seen the inside walls of a theatre. The spectators line them too well for me to see them. I should like to see a half full house when I sing; it would be a new sensation." It is well known that the prima donna never attends a rehearsal, — in Paris at any rate. John Coleman's "Memoirs of Samuel Phelps," just published, contain a host of good things, and it is remarkablft that every actor seems to interlard his conversation with a" By G — " or a hearty " <I—n,"1 — n," while Macready and Phelps especially appear never to speak without an oath. Here is one anecdote of the days when Phelps was playing Macduff to Macready's Thane. Phelps is the narrator. "I think I played Macduff every Monday night during the season. Of coarse you've heard of the row during the fight. • Mac' let fly at me, nearly giving me a crack on the head as he growled — ' D — n your eyes ! take that!' For the moment I was flabbergasted, but when he returned to the charge I gave him a dose of his own physic (adding to the oath not only his eyes but his limbs too). He returned the compliment by heaping maledictions on my seed, breed, and generation. Then he • went ' for me, and I • went ' for him, and there we were, growling at each other like a pair of wild beasts, until I finished him amidst a furore of applause. The audience were quite carried away by the « cunning of the scene,' and Bhouted themselves hoaree, roaring on the one side, • Well done, Mac !' on the other, « Let him have it, Phelps !' When the curtain fell I gave him my hand to rise. He was puffing and blowing like a grampus. As soon as he could recover his wind he commenced— ♦ Er-er-r, Mr Phelps, what did you mean by making use of that extraordinary language to me ?' ' What did you meam, Mr Macready, by making use of such

extraordinary language to me ?' 'I, sir ?' • Yes, you, sir I you d— d my eyes;'— 'And you, sir, d— d my limbs.' « I could do no less than follow so good an example.' With this the absurdity of the thing struck Us both, aud we burst out laugting." Meanwhile Mr Irving took advantage of Miss Terry's absence to come to grief on his own account. When in the act (as Menhistopheles) of flying away in a cloud of steam with Faust he somehow tumbled off the sliding apparatus and fell upon a table, which gashed his face severely. His wounds were bound up, however, and ho went on playing. Mr Alfred Cellier (now conducting il The Mikado " in Melbourne) has written a whimsical little operetta entitled " The Carp," which is now performed as a first piece at tho Savoy Theatre. The story is peculiar. A curtain angler haS for some months fished in a certain pond for a particular carp, which he is convinced will rise to the bait to-elay. Judge, then, of his annoyance when first a swain ami afterwards a lady, both of whom hay * been crossed in love, come to the pond intent on suicide. Ho explains to each that the inevitable splash will disturb the fish, and he begs each will postpone the snicid.e till the evening. They consent, hut while they are waiting the young couple compare notes on each other's woes, aud, finding each has been jilted, they have agreed on matrimony at the precise moment that the angler appears with the carp, aud announces that the pond is quite at their service.

A memorial to Charles Reade in the form of a medallion portrait is to be placed in St. Paul's Cathedral by his admirers.

The Socialist riots in London necet-hitated the addition of a verso to the topical duel ssug by Messrs Herbert Campbell and Hurry Nicholls in " Aladdin "at Drury Lane. Here it is : 'ilie unemployed have had tome lark.s. As usiinl; And on th- town have leit the ir mar Us. As usual Mudi p-operty they have destroyed . Kich i-eoplo tdar have much annoyed. So tliey haven't beeu quite unemployed. As usual.

A new dramatic cantata is about to be published in London called " Mrs Speaker, or Lady Legislators." The scene is laid in the House of Commons, the Government benches being filled by ladies, while the gentlemen are in opposition. The Parliamentary fun grows riotous, and the leader of the Opposition is solemnly "named" for winking at the Prime Ministress.'

Mdme Patti has been singing at the Eden Theatre, Paris, the stage of which was transformed into a garden for her appearance, and after each of her songs she was almost buried under showers of lilacs. Gossip says that she had forty new dresses made in a fortnight in Paris by Worth and Rodrigues. With this kind of thing, added to the expense of the Welsh castle, the prima donna may perhaps manage to get through her money. She was paid £600 each for the three concerts she gave in Paris, and an ingenious arithmatician has reckoned out how many notes she sang and how much she received for each. The average is said to be 34 francs 30 centimes (about £1 8s) per note. Miss Genevieve Ward and Mr Vernon have made a thorough sensation in San Francisco with " Forget-me-not."

A tomb has at last beeu placed over the late H. J. Byron's grave, but it was paid for not by his relatives, but by Mr J. L. Toole.

The following is the opinion of one of the best of the San Francisco critics upon Miss Alice Rees : — " She is a singer who pleases without exciting enthusiasm. She has a fresh, pure voice of rich quality, with much expression, but little or no agility. In her present stage, Miss Rees, may be termed an admirable ballad singer. The tones of her voice have the quality that speaks to the hearts 'of listeners. It it is possible that with the careful study which was not possible in Australia her voice will acquire the flexibility which is necessary for coloratur singing. She certainly could not be under better guidance than that of her artist husband."

There is a lively ante-Wagneriau agitation going on in Paris ever the determination of Carvalho, director of the Opera Comique, to produce "Lohengrin." Henri Eochefort asks why the ardent patriots who imbibe German beer make such a fuss at German music. His advice to Carvalho is to Italianise the German works he produces and advertise them as by Ricardo Wagner. He thinks there would not be three patriots, critics included, who would not accept them as Italian works.