THEATRICAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 1848, 22 April 1887, Page 28

THEATRICAL.

(Contrioutionsfrttx the Profeuion chronicling their movements and wings are invited. AH communications to be addreteita u Pasquin X'K ' Otago Witness Office.) NOTES BY PASQUIN. Granting that Messrs MacMahon and Leitch were able to show the falsity of the impression conveyed by the paragraph in tbe Evening Post and the message of the Press Association, it would have been hard if they could not get damages. The libel stated that they (Messrs MacMahon and Leitch) had disbanded their company and gone to Fiji, leaving a number of •' anxious inquirers " behind them in Wellington. We all know what is meant by " anxious 'inquirers " in a connection of this sort. Mr Leitch swore that they expected to play to profitable business in Sydney at Easter, and were prevented by the necessity- of bringing these actions. He denied that any but disputed accounts had been left unsettled by the partners when they went to Fiji " for a rest and holiday." Result — £150 damages against the Evening Post and £200 against the Press Association. By-the-way, the Association took the libel from the columns of the Evening New 6, and all the other papers of the colony took it from the Association. His Honor directed that if the Association unwittingly published a damaging statement, even if taken from a newspaper, that did not relieve them of responsibility. Similarly .then if newspapers publish a damaging statement, even if taken from the Association, tliey are not relieved of responsibility. I would suggest, therefore, that. Messrs MacMahon and Leitch should follow up their initial success by proceeding seriatim against the newspapers of New Zealand. At even £100 damages per paper the " run " would be profitable. Certain amateurs — the members of tbe Amateur Dramatic and Operatic Club, to wife— have braced themselves up and determined, come what may, to play Byron's " Our Boys " at the Dunedin Princess Theatre on Friday and Saturday next. Fryer's Circus and Japanese Village, which did well all last week in Dunedin, is showing this week at Oamaru and Timaru, and bursts upon Chnstchurch on Saturday. Shillito is fihe cleverest musical clown I have heen in the colonies. The Royal Comic Opera Company have continued to do first-class business in Chnstchurch. " Patience "is being played at the time of writing, and " The Pirates " till the bill on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, the last three nights of the season. Wellington is the next on the route. Mr John L. Hall, who has been playing with the " Australian Yokes " in Wellington, took a farewell benefit as the Widow Twankey in " Alladin " on Monday night. Thompson's diorama of the Zulu war has also been showing in Wellington, and is shortly to be exhibited up country, with Mr Alfred Wyburd as lecturer. The Royal Comedy Company took their leave of the Auckland public on Saturday last, reviving "The Magistrate" for that night. "Written in Sand," "Nita's First," and "Betsy" were all played during the final week. Tbe tour is finished now, and it is a standing black mark against New Zealand playgoers that it has been so very little removed from an absolute failure. This company that has just left us was the best that has travelled through New Zealand for years past — probably tbe best we have ever bad here. Mr Gardner's London Comedy Company were perhaps a shade better, but very little anyhow, and they confined themselves lo Australia. Dr Lynn, the illusionist, opened at the Auckland Opera House on Monday night, announcing himself neatly as follows :-- —Aged ear 6 play truant at his tales, And younger hearings are quite ravished. So sweet and volubie is his discourse. Everyone will admit that the doctor's discourse is voluble at anj- rate. As to sweetness — well, that is a quality difficult to define. Mr J. W. Dodge, who hab been suffering for years with lung disease, is now in Hobart under medical treatment. The season of the Wyberfc Reeve Company in Hobart. was remarkably .snccossl'ul and there was especially one big night at ad vanoed prices, when tbe Governor, Sir Robert Hamilton, attended a performance of " Diplomacy." Messrs Brougb and Boucicault will not visit New Zealand, rnore's the pity. They are. about commencing a season of burlesque in Adelaide, under engagement to the triutuviratf. Mi-fe G. B. Lewis is selling her wardrobe, books, &c., preparatory, it is supposed, to her retirement from the profession. Tbe matinee given by tbe members of the dramatic profpssion in Melbourne for tbe widow an<i übild of the late Wilh'am Hoskins was a brilliant success. Mrs Lobr and Mrs Slockwell (who were both ill) were the only members of the profession absent. Tbe receipts of the performance were £278, and the donations from, members of the profession £81 ;' so that, with Mr lrving's donation of £100, tbe widow will get a cheque for £:io7, as the expenses only came to £40. Signora Agrati, wife of the well-known eitircprenuswr, has died iv Sydney under peculiar circumstances. According to the evidence given at the inquest the deceased, who was about 32 years of age, commenced grieving over business losses, and drank rather heavily. She became subject to fits, ;ind Dr Kyngdon, who was called in, administered'a large injection of morphia to soothe the patient, who died in 12 or 14 hours. The general state of the organs of the deceased are asserted to be such as to fully account for the death; but morphia was administered in a much larger quantity than usual, owing to the representations of Signor Agrati that small injections had proved useless on former occasions. Tbe inquest was adjourned to allow of an analysis of the contents of the deceased's stomach. Miss Maggie Moore (Mrs J. C. Williamson) returned to Sydney by the Zealandia from Frisco this week. On April 22 Miss Minnie Palmer leaves Melbourne to play a short engagement in Brisbane, returning afterwards to Sydney.

It is said that she intends to sail for America on July 13, which means that all idea of a New Zealand tour has been definitely abandoned. Mr G. P. Carey has just arrived in Sydney after his most unfortunate campaign in New Zealand. The contract price for the Alexandra Theatre, Melbourne, was £17,599 15s 6d. The Melbourne Shakespearian Society know -most things, but' a difference of opinion has somehow arisen among them as to the precise mental and physical condition of Julius Caesar when he uttered his memorable "et tv Brute." At a recent meeting of the society DrNeild stoutly maintained, according to a Melbourne daily, " that the death of the emperor was caused by the severance of some vital duct, missed by the inexperienced assassin, while other speakers attributed it to the mental agony he felt at the perfidy of those whom he had every reason to count among his friends." Here truly is a i great deal of erudition running to waste. Between £40 and £50 was realised for the Bulli relief fund in the shape of 10 per cent, of the receipts of six performances by Mr Grattan Riggs at the Sydney Opera House. ! A concert given at Manly for the same object was, however, a failure, redeemed only by the excellent singing of our old friend Mr Knight Aston. Mr George Darrell's friends will be glad to ' learn that he is slowly recovering his health. It was advertised by someone in the Mcl- ! bourne papers that Mr John R. Rogers, manager for Miss Minnie Palmer, would give free admissions for the Bijou to the first 100 ' people who presented a newspaper s paragraph. The 100 rolled up and were not ' admitted, and the question is debated whether Mr Rogers " sold " the hundred, or whether somebody else " sold " Rogers. Everybody who sees " Held by the Enemy" in New York marvels at the cleverness with which the sound of galloping horses is imitated. Someone of an inquisitive'turn of mind though has looked behind tbe scenes and found the tuechanism disap- ! pointingly simple. Outside of tbe entrance to tbe tent stands the property-man, and attached to his bands by straps, like shampooing brushes, are two blocks of wood shaped something like horses' hoofs and hollowed out. To these are loosely tacked real horse shoes. With these appliances the property man makes all tbe noise, and the rocky road is simply a thin slab of sandstone covered with a bit of rubber cloth and resting on wooden uprights. At Patti's farewell concert at tbe Grand Opera House, San Francisco, a bomb exploded in the bands of an aged "crank," Dr James Hodges, whom the police believe to be insane. He was sitting in the gallery, and whatever he may have meant to do with the. bomb the explosion as it occurred was premature. No one was hurt but Dr Hodges himself, and a panic was averted by Patti's coolness. Tbe indefatigable Mrs Conover's next essay in London is to be a dramatic adaptation of " Lady Clara Vcre de Vere," written by a Mr Ray Brown. Tbe project sounds more curious than promising. Gerald Maxwell, tbe late member of Wilson Barrett's Company, whom I mentioned last week as being insane, literally went mad on the stage as be was at tbe time playing Guildenstem to Mr Barrett's Hamlet. '•The Mikado "' is to be produced forthwith at the Eden Theatre, Paris, as a sort of preliminary experiment to test the tolerance of the Parisian public before the production of " Lohengrin." Mr Gilbert's insult . to France, it" not quite so deadly as Wagner's, is more recent, and it will be interesting to see how the French will listen to the work of a poet who haw written in " Ruddygore : — For to fight the French, t'al-lal, its like hitting of a gal. It's a lubberly thing for to do. It. is not always judicious for musicians to become active politicians. Last year when Hans Yon Bulow was at Prague, he fraternised so ostentatiously with tbe Tcbecks as to exasperate the Germans, and on bis return to Dresden, his native city, be was hissed off the platform when endeavouring to give a concert. He met with tbe same reception at Cassel, at Leipsec, and whereever he presented himself in public. '• Get out. Hanouche"! (Hanouche is Tcheck for Hans) was the universal cry. A repetition of these scenes was expected at, the opening of the new hall of the Musikverein in Vienna, where. Yon Bulow had been announced to give a series of " conferences on the piano," but such a strong force of tbe secret agents of the police and of tbe municipal guard wah present, that the students who bad cotno io bi.-s wore silenced, and Ibo conceit \va.-' allowed lo proceed in peace. , Good musical entertainments by good artists fall dead sometimes elsewhere than in New Zealand. Mdrne. Trebelli, the famous contralto, assisted by a young violinist of the first rank — Ovide Musin— has been performing to empty chairs in San Francisco. Nobody knows why, but so it is ; and critics have in vain tried to stimulate the public attendance at these concerts. Of Trebelli one writes : — ! It was she who stepped into Alboni's place ; wßen that great contralto retired from opera into concert. It is she whose Azuceua is accepted the world over as the ideal representaj tion of the Gypsy queen. It is she whose ■ Rosina, whose Arsace, whose Carmen the operagoers of the Old World uever tire to hpeak of in praise. It is she for whom Ambrose Thomas composed that charming gavotte iv Mignon. The years that have passed shie« she, as a pupil ' of Wartel, the great teacher of Paris — Nilssou'6 ; teacher— made her debut at the Teatro Reale, in i Madrid, have left bub few traces in her wonderful contralto voice. If the upper notes are now thin in tone and slightly strident, the lower notes have still, in all its fulness, the rich, deep, almost masculine quality. Th9re is still the same unusual degree of evenness in her middle register. That her art is as perfect as ever is a matter of course. Study and inclination bay« combined in this woman, and no more artistic singer exists. Her Majesty recently " commanded '* a performance of a couple of one-act comediettas by tbe Kendals', at Osborne, and at. its close presented Mrs Kendal with a trinket, and invited her and her husband to tbe royal supper table. Mr Rowley Cathcart, however, who stage-managed and played

with the Kendalsj was' not bidden j but was regaled in the servants' hall. Edwin Booth is playing with immense success in San Francisco, the city which was the' scene of his early struggles in his profession. Ten years ago the cultured and intelligent people of the community first flocked in crowds to the California Theatre to see him. San Francisco is lucky theatrically just now. They have at present Edwin Booth, beside whom Lawrence Barrett and W. E. Sheridan sink into insignificance. Henry Irving will play there in a few months, and so will Sara Bernhardt and Mrs Langtry. , It is once more given out that MrsLangfcry sails shortly for Australia. September is the date named. Miss Mary Anderson will shortly appear in a poetical play written by Mr Wills,, entitled " Cleopatra," in which it is said ample scope will be allowed for the display of those physical beauties which so materially assist her dramatic talent. Here are some interesting figures about old time salaries. The salary at Drury Lane, in 1802, of Miss Melton, who afterwards became Duchess of St. Albans, was only £5 a week. John Kemble, as actor and manager, had £56 14s ; Suett, £12; Dowton, £8 ; Mrs Jordon, an average of £31 10s ; and Mrs Siddons, £42. The roll of men at Drury Lane at this time contained 18 names, and among them were the two Kembles, Braham, Palmer, Barrymore, Moody, King, Bannister, Suett, Dignum, and Dodd, with others of considerable but lesser excellence. "Rapier," in the Sporting and Dramatic News, has been giving an ideal cast of " The School for Scandal," assuming of course that he had the whole resources of the London stage at his command. This is how he brings out: Sir Peter Teazle, Mr Farren ; Sir Oliver Surface, Mr Hare ; Sir Harry Bumper (with song), Mr Hayden Coffin ; Sir Benjamin Backbite, Mr Beerbohm-Tree ; Joseph Surface, Mr Henry Irving ;, Charles Surface, Mr Coghlan ; Careless, Mr H. B. Con way ; Snake, Mr Willard ; Crabtrec, Mr Kemble ; Rowley, Mr Howe ; Moses, Mr David James ; Trip, Mr Sugden ; Lady Teazle, Miss Ellen Terry ; Lady Sneerwell, Mrs Arthur Sterling ; Mrs Candour, Mrs Kendal ; Maria, Miss Marie Linden. This would indeed be a performance to .see ! This is > how a keen American critic discusses* Gilbert and Sullivan : — " Gilbert is not a story-maker. He is a balladist. He has been working the Bad Ballads over for 10 years. Sullivan, on the other hand, is a musician, and there never was a capable musician in so unenviable a position as he. The. whole English-speaking world is begging him to be a mountebank, and he has partly consented. Now and then his conscience upbraids him, and he tries to do good work. Then up rises the whole populace and yawns at him. • Why, that isn't funny at all ! ' they cry. Gilbert l^minds me of a valentine, writer who tries to make an , epic. He is i always f ragmentaiy. His best work is trifles. ' Like all satirists, he writes epigrams and sonnets, not stories, and even then he works a paradox into the earth." Mr Walter Bentley, who, as most people are aware, is a son of the late Rev. Dr Begg, seems to be making good progress on the stage, and is now playing an engagement in Scottish towns. His first professional appearance was made in the Princo of Wales Theatre, Auckland. In 1874 he went to London, and in October of that year commenced what proved to be a highly successful engagement with Mr Charles Wyndham, at the Court Theatre. There bis abilities attracted the notice of Henry Irving, and he commenced an engagement which lasted three seasons at the Lyceum. Selecting the offer of Mr A. D. M'Niel, of the Princes Theatre, Edinburgh, Mr Bentley commenced, in 1879, a tour under bis auspices at his theatre as Alfred Evelyn, in '" Money," and subsequently appeared as Claude Melnotte, John Mildmay, and Hamlet, and as the tour ■ turned out a great success, he added to his I repertoire Macbeth, Othello, lago, Shylock, Mathias, and Romeo. He was specially en- j gaged to appear with Ristori on her first ! English-speaking tour, being starred underneath that great artiste ; and went to America in 1883 to play "The Silver King." His tour in the States was an unqualified success.