STAGELAND

Southland Times, Issue 18990, 11 July 1923, Page 10

STAGELAND

Of Plays and Players (By “The Limelight Man") July 12.—Orange Concert. July 14 and 16—Laszlo Schwartz, a Hun ganan violinist, supported by an Auckland vocalist. • I notice that Wellington was rather disappointed with “The Toreador,” the first production of the Wellington amateurs under the direction of T. E. Foster, who is now the producer for the federated amateur operatic societies. London has been flocking to see the Teatro die Piccoli of Rome, the most famous marionette theatre in the world. Shaw used to insist that the mannerisms and tricks of human players were so annoying and so destructive of dramatic art that marionettes were preferable, and he must have had this Roman company in mind at the time. The marionette theatre produces dramas of all kinds. Late in May the bill was Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.’’ I understand that a group of enthusiasts has under consideration the presentation of a one-acter by Alan C. Mulgan, of Auckland. Boyd Irwin, who is in pictures in U.S.A., is one of the moving spirits of the Hollywood Community Theatre. Irwin was often in Invercargill with J.C.W. companies. C. B. Westmacott, the general manager of J. C. Williamson, Ltd., referred recently to rumours that the recent venture of the Gilbert and Sullivan Company in the East had met with disaster. "The best answer,” be said, “was to be found in the fact that dates had been booked, commencing in October, for another company to tour the East with ail the new musical comedies, including the whole repertoire made familiar to the Australian public during the past eighteen months, as well as The Cabaret Girl,' as yet unproduced in Australia. We have no intention of eliminating Japan from the forthcoming tour,” went on Mr Westmacott. “If in that quarter the business was not as good as in the rest of the East, it was attributed by our representatives to the fact that the more modern plays and the world-famous Australian ballets were not in evidence.” Piccadilly, which has existed throughout its long career without a playhouse, will shortly be supplied with two, to be erected side by side on the historic site at present occupied by Devonshire House. The price asked for the plot is £1,000,000. Yet this works out at only a little over £26 per foot, much less than the price of land for business purposes in the city. One of the new theatres will be conducted by Sir Gerald Du Maurier, and the other by J. Harry Benrimo.

A welcome revival in London was Barrie's “What Every Woman Knows.” The piece was first produced in 1908 at the Duke of York's Theatre, where it ran for nearly 12 months; and Lady Tree and Miss Hilda Trevelyan were seen again in the parts they originally acted. Godfrey Tearle appeared as John Shand, a role that Sir Gerald Du Maurier made a remarkable success.

James Elroy Flecker’s poetic drama, “Hassan,” after many postponements, has been scheduled to be produced in London at His Majesty’s Theatre. Flecker wrote the play in the Levant, where he was serving as a viceconsul, and sent it on a weary round from manager to manager. Bernard Shaw, who read the drama, was enthusiastic about it, and declared it to be “the best thing of its kind since Shakespeare,” but rejection after rejection followed. At last, however, Sir Herbert Tree accepted the play and was several times on the point of producing it. Even when rehearsals were to commence, he changed his mind and abandoned the project indefinitely.

The greatest actress in Scandinavia at present is Betty Nansen. She has recently staged in her own theatre in Copenhagen, “Comedy,” by Nini Roll Anker, George Brandes saw the play, read the book, and wrote: “Nini Roll Anker, though unknown, is the greatest of living Scandinavian dramatists.”

Fifteen dramas produced in London between January 1 and April 30, between them, only managed to secure 474 performances, or a fraction of just over 31 for each. As the expenses of keeping a play on a bill at a West End house average £lOOO a week, while the initial cost of pro duction is also very heavy, an enormous amount of money has thus been lost. This shows the risk of theatrical speculation. Still, “hope springs eternal,” and one successful plays wipes out a great many failures.

A. W. Mathews, comedian, is shortly lining the ranks of London managers, and will as such commence a season at the Duke of York’s Theatre, with an Amman farce. “Her Temporary Husband.” by Edward Paulton. The leading lady will be Miss Edna Best, who last Christmas appeared as “Peter Pan” in London.

Harry Corson Clarke is dead. He visited New Zealand with “Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford” a Cohan comedy which introduced Fred Niblo to these parts. Clarke was an inveterate globe-trotter and took small eompanies into all sorts of outlandish places. His wife also appeared. Clarke was a skilful publicity man and used to bombard his newspaper friends with articles •nd interviews from various parts of th** world. He was never robust, but he stood up to the racket of small show touring for many years.

Maude Fane has retired from the stage. *he came to Australia originally with the Scarlet Troubadours, after having had a lot of experience in costume comedy work in the Old Country. She was married to Edgar Warwick, the chief comedian of the Troubadours and later th* s owner of the Court Cards- She was with the Court Cards when Dorothy Brunton's pending departure from Australia secured for her a lucrative engagement with J. C. William•on, Ltd. With the firm she made an instantaneous success and her departure wili be a loss to the Australian stage.

Emilie Polini’s season in Dunedin opens >n July 26. There she will play Knoblock's "My Lady’s Dress,” which has been seen here in films, “The Lie,” by Henry Arthur Jones. ‘Trench Leave,” by Reginald Berkeley, and “The Flaw,” by Miss Polini •nd Doris Egerton Jones.

Eddie and Decima M'Lean appeared in "Mary,” commencing at the Theatre Royal on July 7. have danced their way through many countries (says the Sydney Tele graph', but they have never forgotten they were born in Sydney—the one in Randwick, the other in Paddington. Throughout the world their programme b’lling has been “The Australian M'Leans” and since their whirlwind dances have been featured on the stages of the most notable theatres in Europe and America, they may be regarded as first-rate advertisers of a first-rate country. Starting their profes •irnal careers at the ages of four and a-half and six, the little M'Leans did imitations of the Dartos, then highly popular, and won instant recognition, subsequently playing in eight consecutive pantomimes with J. C. Williamson. Their father was for twelve years ballet master for J. C. Williamson, Ltd. His influence won them an instant engagement at the London Palace, and their talent did the rest. Since they they have shown almost continuously in vaudeville, except for a profitable engagement in a Folies Bergere revue in Paris, when, they were the only English-