STAGELAND

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 259, 5 December 1914, Page 4

STAGELAND

BOOKINGS. To-night—Children's Pantomime. December B—Nazareth House Concert. December 9—Orchestral Society. December 18—Liedertafel Concert. December 26 to January 7—J. C. Williamson, Ltd. January 9 to 16—George WiUoughby Company. W. S. Percy, by latest advices, was .playing in a sketch written by himself ... at one of the London music halls. •' The English dramatists J. Sf. Barri'e v and A. E. W. Mason left London for ' New York in September to combat the ■ German "lie campaign" in America. : One of the most important of the i J. C. Williamson enterprises yet sent to " New Zealand will be the season in the p " Dominion of the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company. The tour will open at V Auckland on Boxing Night, December I 26,-, with "The Gondoliers. 0 The com- ''■ pany is due to open in Christchurch on * February 15. An especially attractive repertoire has been arranged, the operas w to be produced including "lolanthe," "The Yeoman of the Guard," "Pinafore, »' "The Gondoliers,'' "The Mi- . kado," "Trial by Jury," and "The , Pirates of Penzance.'' George "WiUoughby notifies that he is - sending over another dramatic company, headed by George Cross. The repertoire will include "The Ever-open a new melodrama which has met with considerable success in Sydney and Melbourne, "Under Two Flags,?' and "Caanille.'' The company opens in'Dunedin on Boxing Night, and plays for seven ttights, then comes to Christchurch, opening here on Saturday, _ January 9, and playing another seven' nights. After that the company goes on to Wellington and Auckland, via the "smalls." News of the death of that famous actress, Miss Fanny Brough, was cabled from London last Wednesday. Miss Brough (Mrs B. S. Boleyn) was a niece of the late William .Brough, author and dramatist, and of Lionel Brough, the aetor, and a sister of the late Robert Brough. She was born in Paris in 1854, and made her first appearance at Man-. r -Chester in 1869, in a pantomime written by her uncle. She was a clever comedienne, and appeared in all the most successful comedies and a good many dramas produced in 1870 and 1910. In 190$ shg toured" rica'with Charles Hawtfeyi "During; her life she took leading parts in nearly 80 different plays, many of which _had'f|ong runs. . She took a--keen ||&er|>s% i|| the wolf are" of her sister" Icfressfcs, paod helped greatly in improving-tftel* conditions.. She. .was .preßidcntr,of^th;fr; ; cal Ladies' Guild. Arrangements have been made by J. and N. Tait for the celebrated basso, Peter Dawson, to tour Dominion,

the opening concert being given in Wellington about December 9. Mr Dawson has been engaged to sing in the "Messiah" on December 18 with the Royal Wellington Choral Society. One of the results of the European war is that the tour of the Quinlan Opera. Company has "been abandoned. This is bad news for members of the company, as several of them at least 1 will be unable at the present crisis to secure other engagements. The Kennedy Concert Party, who api peared some time ago at the Theatre , Royal, are again in this island, where they intend playing return visits to In- ' vercargill, Gore, Dunedin (Christmas and New Year), and Christchurch, returning to Wellington in February for a ' season. Yet again! Loudon advices state that Sir J. Forbes Robertson has embarked on a farewell tour of America and Canada witli a repertory consisting of "Hamlet," "The Passing of the Third Floor Back," "The Light that Failed," and "Cassar and Cleopatra." This makes his seeorid farewell tour of America. So far Madame Patti still holds the record for the largest number of "positively last" appearances, but Bernhardt now runs her close. The Actors' Union should set a limit. Lillah McCarthy is in London, appearing in Haddon, Chambers's new play, "The Impossible Woman," an adaptation of 'Mrs Sedgwick's novel, "Teute." Godfrey Tearle is also in the caste. A Williamson company is on the way to South Africa, under the stage direction of Wybert Stamford, to play the Niblo-Cohan repertoire there. Members '-of the casts will include Bob Greig, Beatrice Holloway, Edwkrd O 'Neill, Plumptori Wilson, Herbert Leigh, Chas. Wheeler, Geoffrey Berwick, and Esther "Mitchell. An American comedian named Webster will head the company. The plays to be presented are "Seven Keys to Baldpate," "Officer 666," "Never Say Die," "The Fortune Hunter,''' and "Stop Thief." A Sydney newspaper stated that Fatima (an Oriental dancer on a vaudeville circuit) escaped from the harem of a Sultan, and the Sydney " Theatre," after seeing her, wonders if she encountered much - difficulty. : That rather foolish' piece of drama, "An Englishman's Home," has been remodelled for the picture theatres. .The J.C.W. pantomime, "Cinderella," which opens'-in Melbourne shortly, and which will tour New Zealand, will introduce one of the old-time harlequinades, in•-..which Barry Lupino will be concerned. For over 100 years in England the Lupinos have been noted as clowns in this old pantomime asset, and on the

• abolition of it a few years ago Barry i Lupino's father made his last appear- • ance in the harlequinade at Drury Lane. Vera Dampier, theatrical artist (who gave her age as 29), petitioned in Mel--1 bourne a few days ago for a divorce 1 from A. J. Dampier, actor, son of the • late Alfred Dampier, on the ground of \ desertion. She stated that she married ' Dampier in 1905, the ceremony being ' kept secret. Dampier went to England, and she lived in Sydney with her mother. She next saw Dampier at Rusheutters' , Bay, Sydney, in 1908, and since then [ she had not seen him, but she believed ' he v/as in America. A decree nisi was , granted. New Zealand was represented by no fewer than three song-birds during the opera season at Middlesex Theatre, ; Drury Lane. They were Adelaide van Staveren, daughter of the Rabbi of Wellington; Nora D'Argel, of the same city; and Mrs Manson, once Mabel Braithwaite, of Dunedin. It is probable that Mr Graham Moffat and his company will play a short return season in Wellington on December 10, 11, and 12, before returning to Australia. Mrs Courtneidge, wife of the producer and actor-manager, died in England recently, after a prolonged and -painful illness. She appeared in Australia several years ago under the stage name, of Missßosie Nett, and was a charming, if minor member of George Musgrove's Gaiety Company, whereof her husband was a leading character. Subsequently she came to Australia with her husband 'and daughter, Cicely, and their arrival coincided with the production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," by the j George Musgrove Company. Robert] Courtneidge had charge of the stage arrangements for this truly memorable show, and little Cicely had the part of Peablossom. The daughter, now grown up, is pursuing a brilliant stage career of her own. i The American Treasury Department has ruled that opera singers and other artists who go to the United States and later return to their foreign homes, hereafter will have to pay an income tax in like manner as American citi-1 zens. The same law is enforced in New Zealand. . ' Arthur Greenaway was lately appearing in the New York production of Sardou's "Diplomacy," being associated with Wm. Gillette (the original Sherlock Holmes) and Blanche Bates. Miss Irby Marshall, a Queenslander, who was here with '' The Blue Bird,'' is playing second lead parts in the New York production of <|The Elder Son." In the cast also is Miss Cynthia Brooke, who was seen in the Dominion in "A Midsummer . Night's Dream."