THE STAGE IN AUSTRALIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 1834, 14 January 1887, Page 28

THE STAGE IN AUSTRALIA.

NOTES BY SCALFAX.

Melboubhb, January 3. The festivities of 1886 are past, and nothing remains but a few headaches and unpaid bills. We have all been celebrating in our various ways the glorious fact that we are a year, older, and a day's march nearer death. "Oh amiable, lovely death! Thou odoriferous stench! Sound rotteuness!" Holiday times, forsooth ! "Of comfort no more, speak ! * Let's talk of graves, and worms, and epitaphs." These are Shakespearean quotations, and it is a pretty hard day when' you cannot get something out of the immortal bard to. suit any mood yon happen to be in. With this letter I commence my fourth year of work in- this column, and I trust that the end of this present youthful year of 'grace may see us all as lively as heretofore, if not more so.

. During the week I have been enabled to give more and calmer attention to the various, amusements so liberally provided by the. various 1 managements, and, what 'with ,watching"rehearsals and seeing performances, have been almost'living in the theatres. •• Robinson Crusoe," the only pantomime, has been drawing crowded houses to' the Theatre Royal, but taken as a whole it is by no means a good specimen of its, class/ The dialogue is weak, and Mr Maltby, in his efforts to avoid any charge of copying or plagiarism, has knocked the story very much out of shape. The .company, with one exception, is a good one, but good burlesque actors like Mr Richard Stewart, sen., and Miss Docy Stewart are allotted parts which give, thentalent no scope. Mr Stewart is one of our oldest actors, and an identity of the Royal stage ; and his reappearance in pantomime was an event. That he should be wasted in a part like King Kockatoo is a pity. Miss Ada Lee as .Polly dances and sings well, but her efforts are not, sufficiently aided by Miss Alice Johns as Robiusou Crusoe. Miss Johns has a fine figrre and looks well, but that is all. She only gives a very weak and faintly-tinted representation of the hero. The scenery and the nigger business of the Cogills as Friday and Tuesday Afternoon are the most deserving of praise v The wreck of Crusoe's ship at the end of the first act is a truly fine effect. Steam is used to imitate the roaring and rushing of the sea, which is running mountains high, while constant flashes of remarkably vivid lightning, heavy rolls of thunder,, any quantity of rain, and numerous novel mechanical devices combine to make as effective a stage picture as you could desire. Mr Elton's acting as' Mrs Crusoe is a feature of the pantomime, which, taken all round, must bo said to be weaker than any of its predecessors for the past few y aars. The harlequinade is mercifully short, and is confined to the Matthews family and Miss Tilly Lake, a charming and graceful Columbine.

"Jack Sheppard," at the Opera House, is one of the best and brightest burlesques I have seen, and I am somewhat cxigeant in burlesque. Miss Fanny Robina, as the hero, acts, dances; and sings with a thorough appreciation of her part, and is gracef ul and ladylike in all 6h'e does. There is none of that boldness of speech and action with her whioh burlesque actresses as a rule consider necessary to make a part go ; she does not play at the bald-headed men in the front row. Miss Robina has exceptional singing and dancing talent ; and it , js no exaggeration to say that if she had come here on a starring tour she would have become, the rage of the town. ' Her opening solo, " Bad as they make 'em am I," a taking air composed by herhusband, Mr F. Stanislaus, has always to be repeated.. In the second act, which shows Blueskin's rooms in the Mint, we are treated to a medley performance in which Air Warde and Mist) Temple do an eccentric, dance, .and Mr Royce sings a quaint song in three parts, "The. farewell; the voyage; and Botany. Bay," with a too-ral. li-ooral, li-addifcy chorus, which has an irresistible charm for the gallery. ,. Mr Brough's Johathan Wild must be 6een to be appreciated, it is sui generis, and as fine a piece of work, as he has yet done. Miss Emma Temple, as Winifred, also deserves notice. The scenery and choruses are excellent, and the music is by such masters of burlesque music as Meyer Lutz, Florian Pascal, and F. Stanislaus. Taken by and large (a nautical expression caught while "eating shrimps), "Jack Sheppard" offers best value for the money at this festive periodef the year., . Mr Pain has been giving his favourite exhibitions at the .East Melbourne Cricket ground at short intervals; arid as he has gathered, at least 10,000 people each evening the managers of the lioensed houses are wroth, as .their receipts show a falling off on fireworks' nights. -A deputation composed of managers and proprietors of the leading theatres interviewed the Minister of Lands last Friday, and stated their CAse| urging that the cricket ground being a public reserve, should not be let for exhibitions which entered into unfair competition with ,them. They had to pay heavy rents, taxes, and liceuse fees, and were subject to stringent regulations by the Board of Health, which did not apply to these exhibitions. They had no wish to prevent firework displays, but they protested againsfbeing put to a disadvantage by casual entertainments on Crown lands, and in buildings never intended to be used for such purposes. The last illusion is to the exhibition building, where a so-called fair is being held. The cricket club also sent a deputation to ask for time until the views of the club could be put before the Minister. The decision in the case of the cricket club was reserved, and that of the exhibition was referred, to the Chief Secretary. There can' be no doubt that these shilling fairs and shows really do harm to the regular houses ; the public like the freedom and cheapness of them. It hardly seems right that our noble exhibition building should be let to any cheap showman at the nominal rent it is, less than that of many an ordinary hall. There is a Protestant Alliance Carnival held in it now, the principal features of which are a roller 6kater and some ordinary bide-shows. It is bad enough when we have to stand these things as charity bazaars, but when it comes to plain speculation a proper rent should be charged if the place must be let. I believe Mr Pain has obtained the use of the exhibition grounds for six weeks for his firework displays.

The attendance at the Princess Theatre is steadily thinning, and the nights of "The Mikado" must evidently be few now. "The Pirates of Penzance" will bo played on Saturday next, with Miss Alice Barnett as Ruth, her original part. The " Acromata '' show at St. George's Hall, has been doing fairly well. The managers have reduced the prices of admission and stand at the top of the steps berating the lukewarmness of thu public in their choicest Italiau. Wainratta, the marvellous wirewalker, astonishes everyone by his performance without any balancing medium. „ Tou wonder how he can possibly do what- ha does, ajod then charitably pappose he must have been born,so. He esbels the best. Japanese walker. I

Have heard of, and I was always .under^ the impression that Japan held the exclusive copyright in this particular commodity. Miss Alice Conway's high kicking is- an evident source' of <■ delight to many people, who look old enough to know 1 better.'. ,An absur-ity, entitled "The Blondin^Donkey," evidently a travestie of the great'Londonsensation of last year, the Blondin horse who really 'walked a tight rope, sends the audience home smiling. < ,

The Alexandra , Theatre, is crowded every night, and Mr, Martin Bimonsen is jubilant over his Italian opera season. He rings the changes upon "Lucia," "Npnna," and ?' Faust," now. Signor Buzzi has made a hit as Mephistbpheles in the latter opera. Mr Simonsen prints a curious notice, in which he say* " he mustly strongly object to any person taking possession of seats previously, reserved, by others. I eappose the "others also object.. Probably the. sentence should read^.Btrongly eject any person." It would sound more appropriate. < n Dr Lynn' is, continuing .his illasionsry, enter* tainment ' 'at the, Athenteum Hall with fair eucceee! , He' is assisted by Signor Gliamas, who gives a : " Round the world in 40 minutes " show by means. of dissolving views. . - The Silfcf Stockings company are doing well ■tat the Victoria HalL , , .',"■•' Miss 1 Carrie' Swain and " The Tomboy are at Adelaide, playing at the Theatre Royal during the holidays. She will considerably astonish the placid public of that too utterly roystering city. „ i Mr Arthur Garner, who was to have gone to New Zealand with the Royal Comedy company, but who was prevented , by illness, , recovered sufficiently to come into town at the end of last week. • ■ , . Mr George DarrelTs new, drama "The New Rush" was extensively patronised during the first few nights, - but the attendance fell off considerably during the latter part of the week. The hero of the drama is Karl Caradoc, a bank manager who has ruined , himself by drinking and gambling, and descends to crime to supply the wants of, an extravagant wife. Caradoc is on ,the verge' of total ruin when he wins £5000 over the Cup,' but he loses it in a gambling den to Richard Matsden, who appears to be the first and,, real husband of Mrs Caradoc The hero accuses Marsden of cheating, and has a fight with him. Caradoo's bank closes, and he gets four years' imprisonment. On his release he seeks his wife, but Marsden claims her, and gets chucked out of a window, for.-whicb. amusement the ex-banker ia " sent up" for a further six.months. .The, parties next turn up at an auriferous 'digging, the New Rush, when Marsden • keeps Alice Cdradoc prisoner in a shantyy and the ex-bank manager convict has found a big nugget. The husband and wife meet and endeavour to leave the rush, when Marsden stops them w,ith a revolyer.. Another, fight ensues, in which Alice Caradoc gets injured and ..her husband overpowered. Marsdeii accuses Caradoo of trying to murder His wife, and the miners are" about to , lynch him, when an unexpected witness, of the fight turns up, and the cheerful miners then lynch Marsden, who turns out to be the real husband of •• Bella, the Duchess," the keeper^ of the gambling den where Caradoc was^ruined. There, '..isi of * course, usual comedy couple in Bill Mopsus and Dorcas O'Dowd, and the sub-plot dealing with the loves of Fercy, Wyndham and Kate Caradoc. The drama has much to recommend it, although, perhaps, overdrawn, but it is a decided improvement on the previous original production by Mr Darrell, "The Squatfer." ' The cast is a , powerful ' irae," including Wit idoefc the author, Misses Maggie Knight, Nina Boucicault, Maggie Oliver, and Messrs Phil Beck, Walter Everard, G. L. Gordon, Oily peering, and H. Douglas. The scenery is' by John Hennings, and the colonial scenes are made as realistic as possible. I have' jnst received a letter from Mr J.R. Rogers, Miss Minnie Palmer's manager, which informs me that the little lady is doing immense business ; at- the Sydney Opera House, and that he has had the misfortune to lose his mother, the news of her death having recently been received, j t ' '• ' The -new Criterion' Theatire, . Sydney, was opened ok- Boxing Night with "Falka," the cast being practically the same as when played here. Miss Colborpe Baber sangthe National Anthem, on the arrival of the Governor. The new' act 1 drop, representing Captain Cook's landing in New ' South .Wales, painted by Mr Clint, attracted much attention. ■ ■ •• ,

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