AUSTRALIAN STAGE GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2253, 6 May 1897, Page 39

AUSTRALIAN STAGE GOSSIP.

S (Bpeciai.ly Written i'or ihe Otago Witness.) \ Dear Pasquin,— One of Mr Harry Ricl«rds'-: "instalments of Kaglitjli urtihU" '« in durancu j vilo. The Hayiors, ,\ team of liaglish play en, ! eime out here in astonish, tho nativsa by the ] Himalaya, and the Himalaya is ia quarantine for • a wsek or two. { Alice Learoar's contract with Itickaula runs j out on Muy 20. ! Fanny Wis'inan (now Mrs Valentine Lambart), j than whom there is no better Top&y on she Anri- ' vraluia stage, is now touihi,; with Messrs South and ) nmbert with " Uncle Tom's Oabit)." Miss Wiseman toured Maoriliiicl with John 1\ Skeri- | dan's "Fun ou the Bristol" Oonipauy in 1891, ; playing : —

I Topsy m... Uncle Tom s Cabin ' ! Bella Thompson ... „ ... " Fun on the Bristol '> ■ Miis Wiseman did not hay) ;i part hi " B'twlc- , eyed Sus»d," in which pirce sbe qppcarnd io. a j uuariet song and ■J.K.uoe v.'ith Nollie Adine, Alice Austin, and Stel'» Tiviov. s ''The Looker-cm" in the Ka'.ional Obsurvtr j alleges That J. M. Dame is tackling the— l should ! hive i.liougnt impossible— task of dramatising S "The Little Minister." "Would ua nofc be well ! advised," asks "The Looker-on," " to aJlow that i sort of ■thing fco >>c done for him by some iijni-* I practised playwright — !>y Mr JiMward .Rose, tor j example, who has bee?i ho successful with ' The [ Prisoner of Znnu.i ' and 'Under the Red Kobe'? | Though jrti*Bnme has ;»11 along shown an Lnclinu- ; tioa to the theatre— note his ' Richard Savage,' I written with Mr Marriott Watson so long ygo i as 1891 (or earlipr), his 'Jbsen's Ghojit.' bis I 'Walker, London./ his 'Professor's Love Story,' i his ' Becky Sharp,' his sbarn >n that infantile production, 'Jans Annie' — be has never yd exhibited any rdal eorntuaml of dramatic technique. To be sure he is the uusbaud of a charmJ iog lady who ha* a good deal of experience as aa I actress, and who ought to be able to give him j valuable assistance in his work as » dramatist. Still, iiovelists do not, as a rule, inalce good playwright's, and it is host to 'let play* making bo done by professional playmakers. Mr llc^e, they now say, is going to give un ' adapting ' for a ! while and take to original writing But it is I better to !ie h. skilful adapter than the writer of I original plays which do not tak-j the popular i fancy." I Miss Colbourne Babor will in future be knows 1 ai Madams Lilla Harrison. j The charms of " Charley's Aunt," it sepme, do j not wither with age. Tha "business" for the week concluded at Kydney Criterion last night j was equal to that of the play's first, week in ttydney. The r.akiags for the first three uighta of this week, in fact, were largely in excars of those for the same period of the original ueason. The real name of Alfred Woods," the actormanager (who recently took a company to Maoriland), is said to be Cork. Well, whe-he'r iff. "Wood or Cork, it has enabled him to keep afloat for a long time, although frequently on troubled waters. — JCx. Marie Lloyd ("Tricky Little Trilby"), who shortly visits Australia, is said to be only 27 years of age, having made her first appearance at the age of 14. In Heir Wulff's circus at London Crystal Palace a horse jumps a barrier 7ft high. Miss Frauces Adler, granddaughter of the late Madame Fanny Siraonsen? engaged for Williamson's Royal Comic Opera Company, is a niece of Frances Saville and a pupil of the late Madame Simsonsen aud Mr Armes Beaumont. She is only 17 years of age. Calcutta Critic, speaking of "Sally Homer" ] Wallace King, now with Hudson's Surprise ; Party, says :—": — " Who that visits the Royal does not know that cheery soul and divine siDger Mr Wallace King,? and who that knows him does not admire him as a professional and esteem him as a friend ? Many tenors have visited India's coral strand, but none is completer, none is sweeter, j than the singing of the gentleman who graces our j portrait this week. Wallace, the Critic shakes • hands with you." \ In the Adelaide production of " Matsa," Miss Miss Millie Young replaces her Bister as Simbal and Miss Mina Phillips appears as Zulieka. Mr John Coleman plays Mistress Mac Lonely, which was represented at Sydney Her Majesty's by Mr D'Arcy Stanfield at first, and subsequently by Miss Marietta Nash. Prank M. Clark's All Star Company returned last week from a tour out back. They had race week at Wyalong. Business has -been Al all through, and the ghost walked regularly. They played "Muldoon's Picnic " and "A Trip to Chinatown." In the former piece Muldoon was played by Frank M. Clark. Ella Muld'oon by Lucy Fraser, Denis Mulcahy by Martyn Hagan, and others in the company were Maude Learner (sister of Alice), Mrs Harry Hodson, Violet and Alice Nelson, Jack Lyndsay, Steve Adson, and L. Levy. Ada Mavsn (well known all through India) and Nellie Marshall are with. Will H. Speed's company at Perth. Brough's Comedy Company are at Brisbane. Sydney shortly. I Frank Thornton, at the conclusion of his present j season at Sydney Criterion, goes to Brisbane

Koyal. The Brougha will follow him at the Crf» teriou.

fcjome London items .-—Percy Lyndale is playing in "My Fr.iond tho Prince " at the Garrick. Others in the cast are Fred Kaye and Blancho Massey. both out to Australia lasi^ year with tho Gaiety Company. Courtice Pounds is playing in 'My Automatic Wife" at the Prince of Wales. .Tame 3 Norrie is singing at the Oxford. Amy Horton is playing at the Variety, Croydon In a revival of "Anthony and Cleopatra" at Manchester the part of Cleopatra, in the enforced absence of Mra Tree, was undertaken by Miss Janet Achurch, " whose careful, effective reading of the ever-changing, wayward, and passionate nature of the Egyptian queen met with hearty approbation." Miss Florence Harwood played the part of Octavia. Harry Diver, now touring with George Rignold's Dramatic Company, is a Welliugton boy, and is well known to Maoriland playgoers. Mr Diver was through Maoriland with George DarreU's Dramatic Company in ISBB, playing Felix Rolleston in " Mystery of a Hansom Cab " Julian Lascelles n "Hue and Cry" Stationmaster n "First Class" Ma'rkLivingstoneii ... "Fraud and Its Victims" Ivo Came ...* n "Sunny South" Antonio Paoli ■■ ... " Barne3 of New York " Green Jones . it ..."Ticket-of-Leave Man" Wilson ... <i "EastLynne." Five members of Mr Darrell's company of that year have passoi in their " checks." Mr Diver was not a member of DarreU's company which toured Maoriland in '89-90, on which tour George Chalmers played Roll eston in "The Mystery of a Hansom Cab " and Charley Berkley played Wilson in " E ist Lyune." In 1893 Harry Diver toured Maoriland with Maggie Moore, playing ' Dr Pear3ou in "Struck Oil" Fred Contrast... n ..." Chinese Question" ,\rthur Deuison ... n "'49" i Duke de Grandette n " Child of the Regiment " (rus i ... "Meg, ths Uastaway" Chas. Greathouse n "M'liss." j Fred Davys (" the man with the electric nose ") ! ii muking a small fortune at the Tivoli Theatre, 1 Wyalong. The theatre is very nicely fitted up, and the econery, painted by Fred Davys, is quite a, treat after some of the halls you meet out back. j Martyn Hagan and Lucy Fraser, through with I the Faust Family '90, and who have just returned fiom a tour out back with F. M. Clark's All Star Company, ure now at Sydney Tivoli. Harry Allen aud Kose Hart, a lightning change .and specialty team — Rickards'a twenty-sixth instalment of English artists— made their first I Australian appearance at Sydney Tivoli on the i SJfcii. Ada Baker, through Maoriland with Charles Godfrey, is warbling "Annie Laurie" at Sydney Tivoli. , Polly Euiery goe=; to London in June. j Carl Hertz, at the conclusion of his Maoriland ] lour ,ut Wellington about May 24, plays six: months through Austra'ia, aud then gels away to South Africa. Sydney shows, 24/4/97: "Charley's Aunt," . Criterion; "Prisoner of Ziuda," Her Majesty's; " Squattocracy." Lyceum; " Ovide Musiu Concert Company," Palace ; Rickavds's Vaiiety Company, Tivoli. I Melbourne shows, 24/4/97 : "In Sight of St. I Paul's," Royal ; *' Beggar Student," Bijou ; Rickards's Variety Company, Opera House.-— Yours truly, Poverty l J oiui, April 24. Bis.