THEATRICAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 1854, 3 June 1887, Page 28

THEATRICAL.

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{Contributions from the Pr of ution, chronicling their i movements and aping* art invited. Allcommumcationt to be addreted Uf tl Pcuwin,"'Otago Wttnett Office.)

NOTES BY PASQUIN. When and 'how our' own poor playhouse i to be reopened will be known \ hereafter. It is certainly, n^knjown how.; Beyond the* fact that th^'.well-pourished. 'figure of'Dr.i Lynn is to, reappear upon th^e "stage ..shortly' before he heads for foreign "parts, nothing is arranged.^The^genial doctors-will -produce some bowls of gold "fish T from.his coat tails, or such other region's as* he' may/choose,- talk a hurricane, chaff a few committees, behead a man or two, and then take .himself .off to Rio de Janeiro. ,■-•■'>"»*• ,;•-< From the North news comes of the continued success of the "'Mikado"' company. At Napier they gave (by, cabled permission of Mr J. C. Williamson) a. matinee performance of " Patience " for the. benefit of the sufferers by the recent wrecks. , The death of Mr W. E. Sheridan in Sydney, which has just been announced, will be heard with general regret in New Zealand, where his brilliant if uneven acting attracted much attention .some short time ago. The following is an outline of his career : — He was • born in Boston, Massachusetts, in June 1839.' He entered the dramatic profession in 1858. In 1861, when the civil war broke out, he left the stage and joined the army, ' His career as a soldier is said tp have been a brilliant one. He served with" the army of the Cumberland, and was appointed captain and instructor of the signal corps on General Rosecran's staff. During a severe engagement at Resacca, Georgia, he was shot in the right arm, and the wound nearly proved fatal. At the conclusion of the war he, returned to the theatrical profession. He played, at .the theatres throughout the United States, and won for himself a great name in his performances of King Lear, ! Louis XI, and Shylock. In 1880 he went to London with the M'Kee-Rankin company. In California he is reported to have met with a brilliant reeep'tion, and-, in San Francisco played one of the longest 'engagements in the legitimate drama that had been known there. Mr Sheridan .'was' said to be a great favourite' with the American" army, and often gave., performances at various military posts. > „ Just before sailing for Australia he appeared before the officers and •.soldiers of the Vancouver barracks as Car.dinal Richelieu. -. General Morrow, the commandant, introduced him with the' following -complimentary .remarks :-r- V I find great pleasure in introducing Mr Sheridan to the .garrison. He has claims on your sympathy ;and respect, not only for his distinguished ability as an actor — a role in which he has few superiors — but from the fact that he was a brave man and served his" country faithfully in the great.'war of the rebellion. Perhaps his great success on the mimic stage : is largely due to the fact that he played on the field of actual war." Mr Sheridan leaves a widow, best known by her stage name, Miss Xouise Davenport. .In Brisbane Miss Minnie, Palmer has just -opened in her newest piece, " Pert and Her Stepmother," to a crowded house. She was accorded quite an ovation^ and- was called before the curtain at the conclusion of each act.

Signor Verdi is at present in Sydney •organising an opera company to go northward. 4 , Miss Amy Stierwin,^ native of Tasmania,, and a delightful soprano who sang in Melbourne with much success a few years since, both in opera and concert, has announced her intention of shortly - making a concert tour of Australia, and is .expected to arrive in Melbourne about the beginning of ' this month. .Mr JHugo^Gorlitz, her ' agent,' is ; at present arranging for tier forthcoming series of concerts. Dunedinites wilL.be glad to learn that Mr H. W. Stockwell has secured an engagement with this concert company, who will probably extend their tour_ to New Zealand.

The Queen lately visited the Paris Hippodrome at South Kensington, to witness a private performance of" the celebrated Olympia company, -now appearing there. In anticipation of .-the royal visit- great preparations were Biade, and with a yies? po affording special facilities and to avoid any ipossible inconvenience, a magnificently appointed dais, surrounded by the Imperial Crown, was erected for the accommodation of her Majesty and suite. Mrs Brown Potter, remarks a London paper, has already .decided that one of her American friends wa* pretty near the mark' vrken giving off the opin&n that it's one thing to be a fashionable' amateur #nd play at acting to a party of admiring acquaintances, but quite another to do the regular thing, beforr- x oeM-blooded audience, who have paa.i dfe v. .jad and are going to get — or think tbey iav— their moneys worth. The, Prince of Waios . fcsis been again, and " still will go "; buG somehow or other -the paying public do not seem to regard, the Haymarket as" a little heaven ; below* 1 while she plays Anne Silvester.

Messrs Alfred Cellier and B; C/Stepheneon have arrived in England in company, by the Potosi.

Nelly Farren has found.a new character in Smike in " Nicholas Nickelby," which she is going to playior her benefit. Old playgoers still speak with enthusiasm of Mrs Keeley's Smike and .the present generation have affectionate, memories of the part as played by Miss Lydia Foote in Halliaay's version. M. Zola was recently interviewed, and informed the reporter that it .was his ambition to be the man who would sweep the stage of all its old time conventionalities, and so enlarge it that the trees, and even the background, " would tremble with real life." Then he went on to tell how he wrote a piece called "Renee" for the Theatre Franoaisat the request of Sarah Bernhardt and the late Mr Perrin. "When it was ready," said he, * 4 the Comedie Frangiaa refused it, Koning recoiled in horror from it, and Porel, who hunted me up one. night at 10 o'clock expressly to ask for.it, put, the manuscript in his p.gcket"fand never would give me aa answer on the subject." His

" Therese Raquin " had pretty . much' ihe same fate in Paris, bat as it has been played in Spain, Portugal, Russia, and Germany, the author, feels somewhat consoled. - He and Busnach dream of working a great dramatic revolution, for which perhaps the public are not yet ready. "As for < myself," says ;he, " I am not for the present prepared to say what' form, the drama of ,~ the, future will assume ; lam still seeking the path that .the 'stage^must follow ; it is necessary to reopen all the old questions, to clear the boards, to create a world, the elements of which shall be taken from life outside of all traditions. ■The future belongs to naturalism, of Jfchaf" I am fully persuaded. In such a revolution as that I dream of, no smalltvictbrywill suffice. What we must have is a brilliant victory that will confound our adversaries .and win the masses over to, our side. . Ihe field for novel writing |s overcrowded, but; the stage is still, unencumbered, and .among the' dreams' that a writer of 'our -epoch can .make' there 'is' none vaster and more attractive than that' of being the apostle of an Entirely new school of dramatic nature." Mr, Irving has himself ; prepared the stage version of Lord Byrpn's dark and .dreadful " Werner," which he produces at the Lyceum on June 1. Robert Buchanan has written a new one act play called " A Dark Night's Bridal," which is played at the Vaudeville. In London comic opera is dead — stone dead. Even the Comedy Theatre, long its home, has given up this class of entertainment. " Ruddigofe," of course, does not count as comic opera. It is merely a Gilbertism. Mrs Langtry being continually by popular rumour about to marry again, f notwjthstanding the! well-known fact that Mr Langtry lives, and that his digestion is in good order, a New York reporter has interviewed the lady and requested her to make, things clear. Mrs Langtry is alleged to have replied, not without justifiable warmth: — ' " The people here don't seem to remember that I am a married woman, and not in a position to marry again unless divorced. The public," she added, laughing for the first time, "however, Have given. me in marriage scores and s'cores'of times, both here and on the other side of. the water, „ Quite scandalous, is it not ? Why, they seem to think I ought to be a female Brigham Young." . " It is said you have pending proceedingsfor"a divorce.. Could you say anything direct on this subject 1 " . ' "'Well,!' said the Lily, rather nervously, " I don't quite know if that is a subject, on which I care to give views for publication. Such things are best kept quiet, and if such an event were to occur, it would not be known to the world at large until it had been completed." 11 And Mrs Brown Potter ; what of her ? " "There has been a determined effort to represent me in many of the newspapers of this country as unfriendly .to both Mrs Brown Potter and Miss Fdrtescue. I have not a word to say against either of them. Indeed, I give Mrs Potter my good wishes. She has started on the same career as I did some years ago, and it is one of constant study and exertion." A stupid report has gone the rounds to the effect that Mr Irving has joined the Roman Catholic Church. The pleasant but impracticable v idea of throwing all the London theatres open free on Jubilee Night has been abandoned. At the jubilee of George 111 the theatres were opened gratuitously, but there were then, but few of them, and the "patent" theatres were more or less under royal control. At the present time there are in London .'37 theatres, 27 music-halls, and 48 concert rooms and other places licensed for • the public performance of music. To allow a mob to invade all these places would imply compensation, not only for the loss of the night's receipts, but also for damage to the seats, and destruction of property. Sir Arthur Sullivan is ,in Berlin to conduct the first performance *of " "Patience" in German. Wilson Barrett, during his " absence in America, has lost the London Princess -Theatre, the reputation of which he built up by years of labour. There was an unlucky delay in communicating with the owners about the renewal of- his lease of which he had the privilege. Madame Sarah Bernhardt's latest pet is a young .tiger cat which she fondles' in .her arms and calls "Tigrette." •Speaking of Mr Marshall Wilder, the clever little American entertainer who is shortly expected back j[n. London, ,the. "Giddy G.usher " tells a capital story at the expense of a titled young, English aristocrat:—This young man arrived at' the Brevoort and went out three times during the week that the Ethiopia was in port, in company with his valet. He came on the Ethiopia and went back on the Ethiopia. "Didn't like Americans at all." He conversed wif \n*t- five Americans while he was here. ■ "You're weally a wonderful wace of cweachers." "Didn't you ever know any Yankees in England?" " Yes. I met a few. I have a friend who has a taste for that sort of thing. She introduced me to Miss Detchon and Mr Frank Lincoln and- Mr 1 Marshall, Wilder. What queer noises you Americans can make in your thwotes, don't yoa)pp.w?" ' '