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Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 584, 9 February 1929, Page 24

May Beatty is seriously ill in Sydney and has been forced to leave the cast of “The Girl Friend” and “Hit the Deck.” The latest London theatre papers to hand publish some charming pictures of Isobel Wilford (daughter of the Minister of Justice), who is playing in “A Damsel in Distress,” the lan Hay-P. G. Wodehouse comedy. “The Vagabond King,” the spectacular musical production opening at His Majesty's Theatre on February 12, is one of the most elaborate shows ever presented by J. C. Williamson. Strella Wilson, last here with the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, and James Liddy, of “The Student Prince” and “Madame Pompadour” fame, play the leading roles. At the Criterion Theatre, Sydney, recently J. C. Williamson, Ltd., presented the comedy “The Patsy” for its 150tL performance, an Australian record for an entertainment of this description. The cast, headed by Irene Homer, remained the same a 3 at the initial performance in Melbourne, where the play ran for 14 weeks. * * * Paul Montford, the eminent English sculptor, who is doing the shrine of remembrance for the war memorial in Melbourne, and who has done the busts of many of the famous men in Australia, has recently completed a life-sized bust of Allan Wilkie as Mark Antony in “Julius Caesar.” This bust will be on view in Auckland during the Allan Wilkie Shakespearean Company’s season which commences on March 2. While in Melbourne a few weeks ago Mr. Wilkie sat for Mr. William Rowell, the well-known Melboui ne artist., who painted him in the character of Cardinal Wolsey in “King Henry the Eighth.” This portrait was sent to Sydney to compete for the Archibald annual prize of £SOO.

Sir Barry Jackson's plans at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre for this year include productions of “The Mayor,” a new comedy by Adelaide Philpotts; “The White Assegai,” by Allan King: “The Switchback,” a comedy by James Bridle; Strindberg’s “Easter”; “Out of the Frying Pan,” by Ralph Stock, the author of “Quest”; “Jita’s Atonement,” Bernard Shaw’s translation of the play by his Austrian translator, Trebitsch; “Safe Among the Pigs,” by Harold Brigliouse; and revivals of “Mary Rose” and “On AppVoval.”