STAGELAND

Southland Times, Issue 19492, 5 March 1925, Page 9

STAGELAND

OF PLAYS AND PLAYERS. (By “Playgoer”) Mr Paul Longuet, of Invercargill, formerly with Dion Boucicault and Irene Vanbrugh, is now playing with Maurice Moscivitch, the famous Russian actor, in Melbourne. Edgar Bey non, the Christchurch boy who won the amateur competitions that were held at Fuller’s some four years ago, is at present appearing in Devonport, England. Beynon was started in vaudeville by Mr Walter Helsdon, of Fuller’s Opera House, Christchurch.

Perfect health is the most important factor in stage dancing, according to Michael Cunningham, of Cunningham and Clements, the whirlwind dancers who are appearing in “Betty” at His Majesty’s (says Melbourne Table Talk). Stage dancing, he said, required long practice, a great degree of skill, and, above all, perfect physical condition. “We adapt our steps,” he explained, “to the speed and position of our gyrations, for at the pace at which we work we rarely do exactly the same steps nightly. When Miss Clements is whirling around me, I get my grips by a well-trained sense of touch. In fact, we could do the act with our eyes shut, for it is by touch we know each other’s position.”

Arthur Buckley, probably the finest illusionist and most expert card manipulator Australia has produced, has returned to Australia with his wife, and is now appearing in Fuller vaudeville. “In every large city throughout the States,” Mr Buckley remarks, “magic is represented by a club comprising prominent business men. I found these societies always ready to extend a cordial welcome to any visiting magician. Mrs Buckley and I enjoyed many pleasant evenings, given in our honour by these societies, and we found that they promote good fellowship among the fraternity, and are a potent factor in effecting an exposure of spiritualism.” Mr and Mrs Buckley fulfilled many flattering engagements in America.

Mr D. R. Soutar, the man who writes good plays, voiced the sentiments of Australian writers generally when, at the annual meeting of the Sydney Repertory, he pleaded in eloquent terms for the rights of the local play-writer (says an Australian paper). He aptly pointed out that one of the planks of the Repertory platform was the encouragement of local talent, but he feared that the plank was overgrown with moss. Mr Gregan McMahon, who rules the destinies of the Sydney Society, admitted that it was possible that many a good play was cast into the Umbo of forgotten M.S. because he hadn’t time to wade through the tons of plays submitted, and he made a very excellent suggestion, which was adopted by the meeting, that a sub-committee be formed to read the plays received, and pass on to him for final judgment those selected as having merit.

George Kensington, stage manager for the J. C. Williamson “Sally” company, is a native of New Zealand (says a writer in the Sydney Bulletin). He had some rough experences with small touring ventures in Massey’s Islands before he found his niche. A show he was with was one fare short for its next train journey. A derelict piano case at the back of the theatre gave an idea. Lots were drawn to see which actor-r should travel inside the case in the truck which the obliging New Zealand Railway Department provided for travelling cos.; and the lot fell to the old man of the crowd, who was consoled for his discomfort by being given a couple of bottles of beer. Unfortunately, a porter at the next station discovered the trick, and, when he and his mates insisted upon helping to unload the company’s goods, that piano case came in for some rough tumbling. When released the old man was justly indignant. “By gad, sir!” he said to the harassed manager, “I wouldn’t do it again for less than a dozen bottles of beeah.”

Mr Oscar Asche, during his leisure at his farm in Gloucestershire, is, according to the London Daily Telegraph, engaged in writing the “book” and lyrics of a new musical comedy. The piece, this authority states, is in three acts, two of which are already finished, while the lyrics pertaining to the first have been delivered by Mr Percy Fletcher, who is setting them to music. The scenes are laid in rural England, and two of the stage settings are to be modelled upon the Mitre Inn at Oxford, while the other will represent the crossroads nearby.

Mr Maurice Moscovitch, the Russian actor, who played Shylock for a ten months’ run in London, told of his new reading of this Shakespearean role when he arrived in Sydney. One important change is that in his reading of the part, Shylock is a man of about 40, instead of a grey-haired veteran. The term “Old Shylock” frequently used in the text, does not, he says, relate to the Jew’s age. If Jessica, Shylock’s daughter, is a girl of 17, it is reasonable to assume that her father is still in middle life. “Therefore, with this reading, we have, instead of an infirm old man,” says Mr Moscovitch, “a man still endowed with strength and able to confront his enemies, and this makes the impersonation all the more powerful. In other respects also—behaviour and temperament, as well as business—my reading is new. I make the part natural—everything is done in the most natural way.”

Not the last interesting feature of the panorama of stirring events and attractive scenes which make up the wonderfully fine Gaumont film, “Rob Roy,” are a number of picturesque seventeenth century Highland Ceremonies, ranging from grave to gay. There is, for instance, a most impressive picture of the ceremony of Taking the Oath of Vengeance. The dead body (in this case, of a boy), is supported on the shoulders of four stalwarts, whilst the clansmen move round, each touching the corpse with outstretched hand as he swears to avenge the murder. A little later in the film we are shown the old Highland dance—now extinct —the Pavane, very similar to a gavotte. The dance is in two movements, the second movement ending in a graceful kissing of partners. Rob Roy and Helen Campbell’s Pavane kiss is said to have been the origin of the feud between Rob and the Duke of Montrose, who very much ad-. mired the lady and was highly annoyed when The MacGregor whisked her off and married her in the Highlands. This Highland wedding by torchlight is another picturesque old ceremony, the details of which, the producer, Mr W. P. Kellino, only secured after many days of exhaustive re-

; search work, and with the help of such ' authorities as Mr ElLs, of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The picture is not, however all “ancient ceremonies”; Rob Roy having achieved a reputation for “not standing on ceremony,” most of the film is occupied with depicting his many daring, impetuous, and often surprising exploits. A very stimulating entertainment indeed! “Rob Roy” is a “Westminister” Film, released on the British National Programme by the Gaumont Company, Ltd.