THE STAGE IN AUSTRALIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 1916, 10 August 1888, Page 28

THE STAGE IN AUSTRALIA.

Notes by Scalfax.

Melbourne, July 30.

Exhibition, the Exhibition, and nothing but the Exhibition is our daily talk now ; everything pales before that absorbing theme. We are looking forward to a super -excellent six months of prosperity, and very few think of the time when the monstrous bill will have to be paid. Paying the bill is always the awkward part of any transaction, acd we cannot hope for any special indulgence to us. There are to be balls, parties, and feast galore during the next few weeks, and when it is all over we can probably say with the gentleman who was in much demand during jubilee week, " What a drunken old time it was."

" Jack and I " was Miss Carrie Swain's bid for public appreciation at the Royal on Saturday evening, and a fair house was the result. " Jack and I " is a drama in five acts, which reminds one all through of " The Miner's Daughter," with a considerable quantity of genuine Bret Harte thrown in. The plot is full of heavy sensation from start to finish. Luke Thorn, who lives with his sister Rhoda in some part of the Sierra Nevada, is part owner of the Royal Lion mine, and not a bad sort of a fellow. Rhoda falls in love with a professional gambler, JackOakhurst, whom all readers of Bret Harte must know. Luke, however, objects to his sister marrying a gambler, and, the mine panning out rich, buys a villa in Now York ard puts on style. Here a former partner, Frank Kirby, who has been put into a lunatic asylum by a Frenchman named Le Clair, wanted to get the husband's share of the mroe. The wife before this has fled to Luke for protection, and believing her husband dead, has married him. Kirby accuses Luke of many things, and a pistol duel follows, where Kirby gets killed by a foul shot intended for Luke. Le Clair gets shot by Oakhurst just as he is about to shoot Luke, and thereby the opposition of the brother ia overcome. Oakhurst marries Rhoda and Luke retain* possession of his peculiar wife, and it is to be hoped marries her again. " Jack and I" is not a particularly good drama, neither is it a particularly bad one. It pleases the stalls and gallery, and that is all it ia wanted to do. Miss Carrie Swain was the Rhoda Thorn, who is only Mab under another name. She sang three songs which gained much applause, Mr G. P. Carey was Oakhurst, the gambler; Mr Hoyt, Le Clair; Mr Frank Cates, Kirby; and Mr D'Orsay Ogden, Luke Thorn. The scenic effects were in Mr George Gordon's hands, and that is saying all that it is necessary to say. On August 9 and 10 the Roscians, by far the best amateur dramatic club we have here, will give their annual performance at this theatre. "As You Like It " and " Hamlet" are the troubles ahead for us this time. " Comrades," a new and original comedy in three acts by Messrs Brandon Thomas and B. C. Stephenson, drew a packed house to the Bijou on Saturday. The comrades are Captain Darleigh (Mr G. S. Titheradge) and Arthur Dexter (Mr H. Ohichester), whom we find at Hazley Hall, the seat of Sir George Dexter (Mr Harry St. Maur), an old retired military man. Young Dexter has an aunt, Miss Grant (Miss Meta Pelham), who does not believe him to be fit to be a soldier, and wants him to manage a bank she owns, and marry Lady Constance (Miss Lillian Gilmore), hia cousin. Arthur has no particular objections, but Lady Constanc9 and Captain Darleigh fall mutually in love, and all the plans are upset, the amorous Captain having nothing but his pay, and also no particularly accurate account of his father. Miss Grant contrives to separate the lovers, and many complications arise. The soldiers have to sail for India to repel a sudden rising of the natives, and return home covered with' much glory, Darleigh amongst other things having saved Arthur's life. Sir George Dexter then discovers that Darleigh is his son by his first wife, and joins his hand to Lady Constance, while Arthur is left out in the cold, and a few other people marry each other to the probable joy of the local clergyman. " Comrades " cannot be called, brilliant in any part, but it is interesting enough, and was admirably acted by those whose names I have mentioned. The comedy was magnificently staged and dressed, and will run for a few weeks in these holiday times. The Gaiety company at the Pi'incess Theatre are piling up money in a manner which must be exasperating even to a land speculator jusb now. " Miss Esmeralda " is not such a taking burlesque as " Monte Christo, Jun," but the company is the same and the people go more, I believo, to see tbe aofcors than th-* pi' j ce. Mr Ffnl Leslie is a part author of it, and you can j i easily imagine that he has got a part which fits j him like the proverbial j;love, although my ex- ' perience of gloves is that, as a rule-, thc-y do anything but fit until it is tinie to tbrow them away, when they suddenly become all a gloveought to be. Saturday's matinee was crowded a3 usual. There will be no matinee on Saturday next as we have a great race meeting on, and everybody is going to ib. To-morrow night the Princess will shine with unusual splendour, as no less than six intercolonial Governors and their suites are to be present. The dress circle prices have been' "raised to £1 and the stalls to lOs-for this evening. Truly G , W., and M. must be getting fabulously rich. " Faust" has been drawing good houses all the week at the Opera House, and it is to run through this week. Herr Benno Scherek has. been replaced by Signor Hazon as orchestral conductor. I believe Herr Scherek's intention is to remain here and start teaching. " The Golden Farmer " and the well-known farce " A Dead Shot " is the programme at the Alexandra. It is a marvel to me how the company manages to exist ; but it does. The Cogill and Rickards company are doing well tit St. George's Hall. Mr Frank Clark has started that atrocity an amateur clog contest at the Victoria Hall in connection with his " All Star combination,"

Miss Yon Finkelstein commenced her second series of lectures on the Holy Land at the Town Hall on Saturday, with " The Homes and Haunts 1 of Jesus," in the presence of a very large audience. The Very Rev. the Dean of Melbourne occupied the chair. Miss Yon Finkelstein gave a cosy little supper to a number of literary. and clerical gentlemen at the Grand Hotel the same evening. To-night and to-morrow her final lectures are to be given, as she goes on to Sydney on Wednesday. The third subscription concert for the year of the Philharmonic Society takes place on Saturday afternoon,' August 11, in She Town Hall, under very distinguished patronage. Sir Arthur Sullivan's " Golden Legend " has been selected for the occasion Sydney. — " Alone in London" was the latest sensational attraction at the Theatre Royal with the evergreen Bland Holt and Miss Myra Kemble well up in the cast ; Mr Charles Warner and "Drink" followed on Saturday. 11 Modern Wives" was producad at the Criterion on Saturday evening. " Life for Life," Mr Duff's dramatisation of "Mr Barnes of New York" did not suit the Standard people, so Messrs Stanfield and Dark's " Merry Moments " now fills the bill. " The Lights o' London "is still popular at Her Majestys. The French Comedy Company are a failure at the Gaiety. | They return to Melbourne for a short season, ! and then go to New Caledonia and the Mauri- | tius. Brisbane. — "La Mascottt," with Miss Leonora Braham, is paying good dividends at the Opera House. Mr Alfred Dampier has been playing that dreadful " East Lynne " at the Gaiety. Miss Marian Willis is ab the Gaiety, and has got a real water river in " Face to Face." This sort of thing 'appears to be travelling all over the continent. I suppose it it more interesting to see people into tanks of water, which no amount of- scenery can make look half as well as a painted river. Perhaps, though, it is only more funny, and the public must be amused, as the celebrated Crummies truly observes. Adelaide. — The Holloway company at the Theatre Royal, and the Vivians with " Missing at Lloyds" at the Gaiety, are the only dramatic attractions here. It is stated that Miss Essie Jenyns has refused about 22 offers of marriage this year, and hopes to bring the record up to a full 50 before Christmas. Considering that this is leap year she is very fortunate. There is a dearth of anj particular interesting topics this week in theatrical news, so I will finish with a little story I heird the other day. , The scene is a fashionable drawing room, and the dramatis persona an old Scotchman and a young Englishman. The Scotchman took a particularly strong snuff, and offered his young friend a pinch. It was accepted, and the facial contortions of the victim attracted the attention of the giver. " What's the matter," said he, " anything wrong with the snuff ?" " No," was answer, " I think not. Do I stop here, or go into the yard to die ?"