THE STAGE IN AUSTRALIA. NOTES BY SCALFAX.

Otago Witness, Issue 1813, 20 August 1886, Page 28

THE STAGE IN AUSTRALIA. NOTES BY SCALFAX.

Melbourne, August 10. In the Land of the Morning— east of the Sun and west of the Moon — lies the City of the Beautiful Dream, amaranthine, fluorescent ! There we toil not, neither do we spin; there our wiMest hopes are realised, and we rise to pinnacles whose dizzy heights we dare not look upon in sober moments. There the stage is X, the unknown quantity, and newspapers are loathed as unclean things. Labour was laid upon mankind as a curse, I suppose ; otherwise we should all be dukes or paupers. You and I, good reader, would shine, say, as earls with

abnormal'incomes. And why are we not ? The vagaries of the secretly -worshipped goddess Chance alone are to blame. Life is ruled by chance. Each of us, at best, is merely a leaf that drifts on a hazardous wind ; and the wind blows the leaves together for evil, for good, whichever it be. "If I laugh," wrote the saddest satirist that ever put pen to paper, '• 'tis that I may not weep." " Life is a joke that's just begun," sing the little maidens in " The Mikado." Let us enjoy it. What, ho ! the cap and bells ! " The Silver King " is still drawing good houses at the Theatre Royal, and the various phases of the drama are followed with the earnest attention it always excites. " Hoodman Blind "— " What devil wast that thus %ath cozened you at ' Hoodman Blind ' ? " — is to be produced next Saturday, when Mr William Elton will make his first Australian appearance. Mr G. W. Anson will also be welcomed to our Royal stage in the same drama. The amateurs — bless their innocent hearts ! — will wade merrily through " The Merchant of Venice " on Friday next at this theatre, and the little hatchet is now being sharpened. Of course the performance is for a charity. Charity is the one thing which saves the amateur from instant annihilation. He is wise in his generation , and plays upon it. Poor amateur, and poorer audience ! " Maritaua " was revived at the Opera House on Saturday last after a considerable interval, and some interest was attached to the premiere, as Miss Colborne Baber was to represent the heroine for the first time. This opera was'written by a young man named Vincent Wallace — he had another name, which I forget — partly in Tasmania and partly in Sydney. This is an important fact to remember if you go to either of those places. It has often appeared to me curious that people who rave about the immorality of other operas accept " Maritana " so cheerfully. The main items of the plot are the King's illicit love for the gipsy maiden and the adulterous passion of Don Jose for the Queen. They are the groundwork upon which the remainder of the action is built. Miss Baber received an enthusiastic welcome on her entry, and was palpably nervous during the first act ; but she soon plucked up courage, and steadily worked her way into the favour of the audience, who insisted upon an encore for " Scenes that are Brightest." Her singing throughout was free, and marked by much delicacy of nuance. In the rapid, brilliant passages a slight indistinctness might have been noticeable, but practice will remove that defect. In acting she has much yet to learn. Her performance, as a whole, may be described as eminently satisfactory, and met with the warmest approval of both the public and the critics. Miss Emelie Melville was a picturesque Lazarillo, and was encored for " Alas, those Chimes ! " but it would puzzle the Sphinx to find out why she dressed as a " Patience " dude in the first and second, acts. Her last costume— a page's — was in keeping with the part. Mr Armes Beaumont, who has sung the music of Don Czesar about 1000 times, received a rapturous welcome for the old times' sake on his entrance. His voice shows signs of weakness, but he came out of the ordeal with flying colours, and an encore. Signor Verdi was his nonchalant self as Don Jose in a most ugly costume. The opera has been drawing good houses up to the present. On Saturday next " La Perichole" is to be put forward. " Diana," a new comedy adapted from the Italian by Signor Majeroni and Mr Wybert Reeve, replaced " Fedora " at the Bijou Theatre on Saturday evening. The plot in brief is as follows :— Sir Duncan Whitely (Mr E. Palmer) has a pretty daughter, Marie (Signora Majeroni), who is engaged to Charles Trafford (Mr H. N. Douglas), a fortune-hunting aristocrat. Whitely is suddenly reduced to poverty, and Trafford deserts Marie. Determining to secure independence, and bring her lover back to her feet, she takes to opera as Signora Diana Bianchini. She of course rapidly acquires fame and wealth, and Trafford is brought back again. Marie has meanwhile fallen in love with Julian Webster (Mr Brian Darley), and plays a mean trick upon Trafford. As Diana she sends him a note in a bouquet to the effect that she accepts him, and when he claims her she gravely announces that she has left the stage, and that Diana is non est, but that as Marie she will accept Julian Webster. The comedy ends there, but Trafford really ought to test the question of the acceptance by a breach-of -promise action. The acting was good all round, with perhaps one exception — ithat of Mr Glover, who was the most unprincely Italian prince that ever turned a barrel-organ. I do not expect " Diana" to make any lasting mark in contemporaneous theatrical history. The Silk Stockings Company are doing fair business at the Victoria Hall, where Mr Frank M. Clark still directs affairs. The Nugget Theatre was opened by a scratch minstrel company on Saturday last. St. George's Hall remains closed. The Empire Music Hall is still open. Mr Brian Darley is to be treated to a matinee benefit at the Bijou Theatre on' Saturday, Aug. 21. His Excellency the Governor and I have promised to be present, and a host of professional friends will assist. That last phrase is a stock one for benefits ; it ought to be kept in stereotype. The Japanese Village is fairly popular, but not so much as was expected. I have puzzled the matter over, and have come to the conclusion that the newspaper advertisements have much to do with it. Here are a few slabs from Saturday's ad. It opens cheerfully thus ; — " Per Angusta ad Augusta — Success Unequivocal and Infinite — Sous Tous Les Rapports." Then you learn that " 6633 erudite people paid for admission on Saturday last— Cum Multis Alus (sic), their name is • legion.' " Then there is a " stagery " whereon performances are given when you are not inspecting the " items of ineffable strangeness." Ineffable strangeness, ye gods ! Ineffable bosh ! The Japanese mermaid | has been added. I wonder if he, she, or it is an item of " ineffable strangeness"? To crown all, we are told that the whole is " a tout ensemble of inexpressible resplendency." That is just what the advertisement is. If the show were run by an educated kangaroo or the blue-nosed chimpan:see, one could understand the "items of ineSfcft>le strangeness " in the advertisement ; but as the manager and agent are both white men. wo can only suppose the ads. are written by the Japanese mermaid. Complaint has been made in the Press as to the cruelty shown to a youthful performer who fell on the breaking of a bamboo pole upon which he was supported in the air, and was compelled to climb up another and conclude the performance. I myself have not seen any acts of cruelty, but the gentleman who complained was in luck's way that evening. The sword-walking may be cruel, but it is a marvellous performance, the swords being really as sharp as a threepenny barber's average razor. The jugglery is mystifying and novel. When you see a man produce a large umbrella out of an empty penny squib case which has just been fired, you want to know his pedigree. Mr A, Alaltby, a well-known comedian a.t the

Criterion Theatre, London, arrived on Saturday under engagement to Messrs Garner, Williamson, and Co. He goes right on to Sydney .to join Mr Harry St. Maur, and play in " The Candidate" at the Opera House. Mr Maltby has some skill as a designer of stage costumes, and is a part author of " The Three Hats " the substance of which has been so often played here as " Mixed." The Minnie Palmer business appears to be about as mysterious as the present intentions of Russia. Now we learn that the Hon. Georga Coppin, our oldest manager, now in London, is to bring her out. Readers of my extracts from a recent letter written by Miss Marie de Grey will remember that Coppin wanted to secure Mr Charles Warner. Circus people must be having bad times of it lately. First we had young Lacey, owner of the ".Mastodon" Circus, sued by his company for salary. Then the owner of the circus suod foe balance of the purchase money. Then Parlatti, of the iron jaw, gets three months' Government lodging; and William Winter gets two and a-half years' hard labour. Yesterday Alfred Onzalo — real name probably Higgins— sued John West, circus owner, for £9, arrears of wages, and £3 for goods supplied. Onzalo was engaged for £3 10s per week on Juno 17, and remained with the circus until July 13. During that time he received only £4 10s in various small sums. West swore that Onzalo only got £2 10s per week, and that he had one of the best circus riders in the colonies who only received £3 10s. Onzalo swore that he never went for less than £3 10s, and had occasionally soared to the gorgeous splendour of £8 per week. An order was made for £5 10s salary, £3 for goods, and 10s costs. That ought to break the circus up. The Fisk Jubilee Singers are still singing occasionally in the Town Hall. If they make an equal stay in each town in the colonies, th9y will be grey-headed before they get back to Tennessee. An oxy-hydrogen exhibition of New Zealand views is to be opened in the Athenaeum Hall this evening, under the title of " The Fire Zone of New Zealand." Mr Henry Clapcott, B.A. ('• for many years lecturer under the New Zealand Government"), will describe the views, and pathetically -invites the public to bring their opera-glasses and make " the closest inspection of these beautiful and perfect pictures." I cannot attend to-night, but when I do go I will take an oxy-hydrogen microscope along and revel in those views. Sydney. — " Nap," Mr John F. Sheridan's new eccentric comedy, was only played one night at the Gaiety, "Fun on the Bristol " replacing it on Monday last. Complications in the company are said to be the cause, as Miss May Livingston and Mr Walshe, the dancer, appeared in an assault case at the Central Police Court on Thursday last. Eventually Mr Walshe was fined about £10. Great sympathy is felt for Mr Sheridan, who seems to be the sport of an evil genius. " The Pearl Divers "is drawing at the Theatre Royal, and " The Candidate " is filling the rather small Opera House. Hugo's Minstrels are doing well at the Princess Theatre. Mr E. Farley, the popular basso, who went to India with Miss Melville, opened the new Masonic Hall last Saturday with " Les Cloches de Corneville," Miss Kate Lovell being the Serpolette. Mr and Mrs J. C. Williamson (Miss Maggie Moore) returned to Melbourne yesterday, after a highly successful season in Sydney with " Struck Oil " and " The Shadows of a Great City." The latter piece was so popular that they consider it good for revival at some future date.