THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2955, 2 November 1910, Page 68

THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES.

By Pasquin.

Tuesday, November 1, 1910. The past week has been quiet theatrically, and save for the. picture shows which are always with us, there has been nothing: to disturb the placidity of things in general and theatrical matters in particular. The calm of the summer sea is over all, but the shadows portending an invasion arc creeping closer, and scon we shall be in the full swirl of another dramatic season. The coming attraction is the much-dis-cussed "Passing of the Third Floor Hack" by the reeently-organised Denniston-Plim-mer Company, which company eommeinecs a brief season at His Majesty's on Monday 3iext. In addition'to Jerome's play will be presented "the sweetest stcry ever told," "Lover's Lane." The many friends in this city of Mrs Robert Brough will be delighted to welcome the favourite artiste back with the Denniston-Plimmer Company, and to extend sincere grestings across the footlights. Another member of the company who will bo warmly received is Miss Lizette Parkes, the charming "Peter Pan" of vivid mommy. Mr George Buller, representing Mr Allan Hamilton with the Denniston-Plimmer Company, arrived in town on Saturday to make arrangements for the opening cf the dramatic season at His Majesty's on Monday next. Following hot-foot the Denniston-Plim-mer season at His Majesty's we are to have a visit from our own Miss Nellie Stewart, supported by a strong company, including amongst others Harcourt Beatty, Gaston Mervale, J. B. Atholwood, Eardley_ Turner, Gregon M'Mahcn, and A. J. Patrick, and Misses Gwen Borroughs, Roslyn Vane, Madeline Meredith, and Edith Lewis. Th 6 Dunedin season commences on Tuesday, November 15, with "When Knighthood was ill Flower," to bo followed by "Trilby," " What Every Woman Knows. " «ij Sweet

Nell of Old Drury." Altogether Dunedin lovers of the drama will be well eerved with such a repertoire. Playgoer: Yea, "A Fool There Was" will : be produced in New Zealand-, some time j next year. The title of the play is derived from Kipling's "Vampire," the opening lines of which run: "A fool (hero was, and he made his prayer— Juat like you and I To a rag and a bone and a hank of hair; The fool he called her his lady fair; We called her the lady who did not care— Just like you and I." L. H, P. (Sydney).—Pleased to hear from you again, and' note that you are doing good work in dramatic journalism. Yes, the company should do Well. One is delighted to anticipate success for New Zealanders, and always, as you say, glad to givo them a friendly lift along the ofttimes stony path of theatrical enterprise. It is not generally known that Miss Nellie Stewart played for 25 nights consecuj fcively the role of Marguerite in the grand opera "Faust." The production, which | was a very elaborate one, cost over £6OOO I to stage. On the opening night of tho seasons Mr Frederiei, who had created quito j a sensation in the role of Mephistopheles, | died suddenly whan he was making his final exit. The part of Mary Tudor in "When Knighthood was 'n Flower," which is to be staged at His Majesty's Theatre on November 15, was .specially written by Paul Kester, author of "Sweet Nell," for Miss Nellie Stewart. It is said, to be the intention of the popular actress to tour the United States of America in this role during next year. M>r Kester is at present working on a new piece for- Miss Stewart. Australian and Now Zealand critics have declared that never has Miss Nellie Stewart been seen to better advantage than as Mary Tudor. She goes through the role from first to last as if she loved it, and with that i unflagging animation which indicates her j appreciation of a medium for the display . of her histrionic ability. Only two representations of "When Knighthood was in Flower" will be given in Dunedin, and on November 17 and two following nights "Trilby" will be staged. On Monday and Tuesday, November 21 and 22 "What Every Woman Knows" will be presented for the first time, and the last nights of the sca;x>n, November 23 and 24, will be devoted to a revival of "Sweet Nell of Old Drury." The plans for the entire season will be opened at the Dresden on Friday, November 11. at 9 o'clock. At tlw close of the Dunedin season Miss Nellie Stewart, with a specially-organised company, will undertake an extensive tour of the provincial towns with "Sweet Nell of Old Drury." Paul Kcster's delightful comedy will bo staged in the same complete manner as the city production of the piece, and for that purpose he will employ a full number of stage hands and full orchestra. The combination will number 32 oeople. The following tour has been booked: —Gore, November 29; Balclutha, November 30; Oamaru, December 1: Timarii, December 2; Ashburton, December 3; Greymouth. Westport, Hokitika. Reefton, Nelson, and Blenheim will be played from December 5 to 23; Masterton. December 24; Palmerston. December 26; Marton. December 27; Wanganui. December 28 and 29 ; Stratford. December 30 ; New Plymouth, I December 31 and January 2; Hawera, 'January 3; Feilding, January 4; Dannej virke, January 5: Napier. January 6 and ■7; Hastings, January 9: Gisborne, January j 11 and 12; Hamilton. January 16; Paeroa, ■January 17; Waihi. January' lß; Rotorua, January 20; Cambridge, January 21. Mr William Desmond, the young leading I man the J. C. Williamson management recently brought from America, and who is now playing ."limsv Smith in "Paid in | Full," at the Sydney Theatre Royal, has i had wide experience. He has a reoertoire of over 103 parrs, most of which were mastered when playing in stock at Los Angeles. California. Mr Desmond has also played in Shakespeare. Mo tells an amusing storv of when he played Bnssanio to Miss Blanche Hall's Portia. They were Hearing the end of the casket scene, when somebody missr-d a line. There was a halt. "We were all lost, and the situation grew embarrassing. Somehow I cot an idea that the next speech was Portia's, so as something had to be done I 'crossed' to her and asked. 'Hast aught to say, Portia?' and Miss Hall looked up to me with a shake of her 1 ead, and answered. 'Naught !' It was the most apt interpolation in my experience. I couldn't continue for laughter, nor could anyone else, and the ecene ended right there." "The simply of girl"—Australian girl—seems absolutely inexhaustible. Whenever there is a call for show., girls—young, stylish, and attractive—mere man incurs a grave risk in trying to get in to Her Majesty's Theatre that morning. Green room, passages, even the footpath being thronged with ladies, most of whom have some pretensions to the qualities named in the advertisements, though it is to l>e confessed a few of them are a little more hopeful than truthful. The call made the other day by Mr Gerard Coventry for < pantomime aspirants, met with an overwhelming response, and so eager were the < J.r.dic S> win thi» -»arlv notion nf Mr '

I Coventry that they overflowed on to the I stage, completely ignoring the puny efforts of the two or three intrepid young men 1 who tried to stop them, and caused Mr > Coventry to regard the solid phalanx as • they drew nearer to them with dismay. • However, before they had quite pushed him off the stage into the orchestra he managed to get through the task before him, and out of the 150, or thereabouts, selected 40 or 50, all of whom, :he enthusiastically declared were fitted for any theatre in any part of the world. iia fact, they were described by one young gentleman as "a bunoh of peaches." Tho cast of "Salvation Nell," now in rehearsal at the Theatre Royal, Sydney, has caused more than ordinary trouble to the producers. There are, to begin with, 48 speaking characters, each a character study of an individual typo There is a religious feeling in the play that has to be treated! with great delicacy in an atmosphere of toughdom. The characters aTe drawn from two distinct New York districts —the Tenderloin and the Bowery. The J. C. Williamson management has been ' specially fortunate in securing Mr Burton to stage the play. Ho was associated with Mrs Flake, the "Salvation Nell" of America, in her three years' starring tour of tho States with this piece. Mr Burton knows every character so well that ho jocularly stated that no understudies were necessary — which is just as well, seeing the number of characters that would have to be duplicated. Miss Katherino Grey, however, challenged this statement, saying that Mr Burton could hardly prove equal to "Salvation Nell" or "Hallelujah Mary," parti- ■ cularly the latter, who, according: to the author's instructions, must be an overwhelmingly muscular Christian. Messrs Clarke and Meynell will not be doing a pantomime this Christinas, as they will be running a comio opera company in both Sydney and Melbourne, but the following Christmas they will stage " Dick Whittington" on- a great scale, with some of the most prominent panto' mime artists in England in the case. Those have already bean engaged, in addition to a number of specialty turns from the leading London and New York vaudeville theatres. Messrs Clarko and Meynell are making preparations a long way ahead for this pantomime, owing to tho difficulty of securing the clas3 of artists they require. Mr Clyde Meynell in London, and the firm's agent in New York are hard at work fixing things up, and concluding arrangements for what the firm promisee will be one of the finest pantomimes ever seen in Australia. The "book" has been specially written by Stanley Rogers, who wrote "Cinderella," which ran for 17 weeks in Melbourne and put up a world's record. Some things interesting, others amusing, were said at the last annual conference of the Institute of Journalists in Londcn on theatrical affairs. The guests became the critics in this case, and the critics' the criticised. Sir Edward Russell spoke from what may be considered the public side, Sir Herbert Tree as the theatrical manager. An anecdote of Delane, the groat editor of tho Times, was mentioned by Sir Edward Russell. His dramatic critic, John Oxen ford, was greatly attracted by a oertain actor. The editor of The Times, who. never went to thn> theatre, ruthlessly "cut" most of the eulogy. Oxenford simply persuaded Delano to accompany him to tne theatre, and afterwards had all the sroace he required for praise. Sir Edward Russell's view was that fair criticism was in pome measure affected by the developments in what he called tho new humour. Notices were brilliant rather than fair. He never failed to enjoy tho brilliancv. His belief was that fairness should not bo overlooked, judgment being essentially the dutv of the critic. When the brilliancy was that of a srarrulous critic, or an irresponsible freak, it simply out-Heroded Herod. The city by-laws in relation to halls of amusement are dealt with by Inspector Thomson in his half-yearly report to the Dunodin City Council for the period ended "September 30. He states that in his previous half-yearly report he had occasion to refer to the unsatisfactory methods connected with the regulating of audiences and enforcement of the city by-laws in this connection. At present ho was held responsible for any breach occurring at His Majesty's Theatre, and it was utterly impossible, under the existinor system, for anv single individual to satisfactorily* recrulate the audience and enforce tho by-laws during a crowded season. Each of tho different managers to be contended with remained here for a short period onlv, and their main endeavour was to take all the money possib'e, irrespective of the ri-k which might be caused in doing so. The employees at His Majesty's Theatre, including ushers, doorkeepers, etc., were paid by tho lessee, and occasionally received a bonus if the company did well, and th ; s. together with the fact that anyone within a certain limit might he selected for these, duties, resulted in the cmn-loyees displaying a marked interest in the welfare of the company, and often led to risks beine run which would prejudice life in case of fire or panic. On or>e occasion when visiting His Majesty's Theatre he had failed to wain admission

fib the stalls entrance, and entering the premises from the rear found the stalls door locked and bolted and the man supposed to be in charge absent. TJiere wa,9 no necessity, he pointed, out, foT him to lay stress on what might have happened under such circumstances if an outbreak of fire or panic had occurred. To overcome the difficulties existing it was essential that the council should have some control over the men employed as doorkeepers or ushers at the theatre. He wished to make it quite clear that these remarks were confined to His Majesty's Theatre, each of the remaining halls of amusement in the city being •under managers residing in the city and permanent staffs being engaged. At the same time the lack of co-operation by other officials, previously referred to, was often felt even at these halls of amusement, and it was desirable that a proper understanding by all parties concerned be arrived at in the near future. The Dunedin Fire Board received 3s. per night for every fireman told off for theatre duty, and some responsibility must therefore, he contended, be accepted under those circumstances.