MR HOWARD VERNONS EXPERIENCES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2671, 24 May 1905, Page 61

MR HOWARD VERNONS EXPERIENCES.

AN INTERESTING INTERVIEW. Of all the actors who have periodically i visited . Ohristchurch for many years past, none can lay claim to * greater share of popularity, to a warmer place in the affections of the public than Mr Howard Vernon, who has again, in the characters of Reginald Bunthoroe. the General, the Lord Chancellor, and so on, delighted many who saw him impersonate them for the firsfc I time at the Theatre Royal over 20 year* ago.- The popularity of Mr Vernon was I strikingly exhibited 3iy the enthusiastic applause with which he was received on the first night of his reappearance in " Patiehoe." Interviewed by a Chriatchurch pressman, Mr Vernon said: "From my earliest years I have lived in an atmosphere of show business — amongst tragedians, ! singers, comedians, minstrels, and circus I riders, and many a flower have I plucked \ from the garden of that experience. I have been a player of many parts. I have been through all the range of opera comique, opera, tragedy, and comedy. I have sung in 'JFaust,' ' Trovatore,' ' Marita-na,' ' Die Frieschutst.' and hosts of other plays, both in grand and comic opera. I have played in ' Hamlet,' * Othello,' ' Macbeth,' ' Richard III,' 'The Merchant of Venice,' 'Romeo and Juliet,' ' The Taming of the Shrew,' and so on. As I was the manager, I could play any part I wished, except, of course, the star part, which was always taken by Boothroyd Fairclougth, one of the greatest actors the world hap. ever seen. That was in India and the East. That same actor- packed the Town Hall Sunday after Sunday to hear him" read the Biblo only. But an act was brought in to prevent charging money at the doors on Sunday, and! so the Bible-reading; collapsed. Boothroyd Fairclough was a relative of the great Booth family of American theatricals. I have seen the drama under various conditions — in Hindustani, Burmese, Japanese, j Siamese, Chinese, and Javanese." | Which interested you most? "Oh, the Japanese, for it appears to me. from what I have read of Greek plays and oratory, to be a relic of that ancient form of the dr-am-a-. In Japan to-day you have the revolving stage. There is a. chorus. An actor comes through the audience from the back of the pit, as it were and describes the action of the piece. The tragedians have a lofty style of delivering their lines — an extraordinary mixture of shouting and speaking, but always with the same time, and «v<w nisrht in the same key. Salt is also sprinkled in front of the door before the performance begin? to brinor good luck." Speaking- of Gilbert and Sullivan's operas. Mr Vernon said : "I have always fancied that I had something: like a claim lo perform in Gilbert and Sullivan's works. I was in London when the D'Hylev Carl* svndieate was formed. Alice May and G. B. Allen, both New Zealand favourite?, I were engaged, the one as prima donna, the other as conducto*. 'The Sorcerer' jt-aa

the first opera produced under the manage mont of the syndicate. I saw the roliea>'sals. and thought I und-crptood the style, so I immediately returned to India and produced it throughout the Orient.'" Are actors and actresses as a class religious? "I think all actors and actresses b-ava a deep sense of the supernatural. Sometimes the best effects in acting and sinsing come so suddenly and without premeditation that one must naturally wonder why it is so, and if one weighs the matter out cr.rofully, the conclusion is irresistible that underlying human thought is an intelligence that wishes to be understood. This power> does not always reveal itself. If the aitor could rely on it coming at will there would! bs no nervousness. Many a time with a new part the performer is in despair. He knows no human power can help him. lie is afraid that the unknown power will not help. When it does, just watch the faca of her or him who trusts to it, and then you will know that there is a secret trust' somewhere.' '

What do you consider to be the present tendencies in the theatrical world ?

*' Everything is on the upward grade, and it only requires an actor with a spark oi histrionic fire to whet the public appetite. Shakespeare is about due now-, as far as theatrical taste is drifting^. I suppose the hour will supply the man. The actors of the past relied on facial expression and' by-play, which appears to be almost extinct now. If I ever indulge- in by-play, the critics say I am over-doing my part. I know that I have not altered my 'rendering of Gilbert's parts in the slightest. , It is the taste of the public that has -changed. They see points differently now, and so they set it down that I am wrong: and that they arc rigjit. The public is wearying of pageantry and colour, and vrill certainly go hack to the. intellectual in theatrical performances. The human voice and figure will always be the centre of admiration in. plays, and "when the market is filled by theatrical a«ph - ants. then will come, the change, and the public will require the intelligent rendering of a part from beginning to end."

Do yoti advise aspirants to take up the stage as a career? " It is the tendency of fathers and mothers to deter their offspring from attempting a stage career. I venture to say that a stage life is absolutely one of the best modes of getting a living that a person can choose. t And for some temperaments it is an absolute necessity. All the emotions can have full sway. Some may fail through imperfect training, others through not having proper parts assigned to them, and fromi various other causes. But a year at theatrical work will do a great deal to improve the mind, and it certainly makes the heart more charitably inclined.. A nervoiis theatrical^ is a most pitiable object. His very look suggests despair. Of course, it is .very difficult to get a congenial engagement. As a. rule the poor creature who wishes to be an actor or actress is thrown into a company where th© manager is a petty tyrant, who imagines that because he has the control of a few people he has all the attributes of a genius."