Theatrical Notes.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14153, 12 March 1910, Page 4 (Supplement)

Theatrical Notes.

"The Waltz Dream" is proving a fine medium for the last weeks of the j Royal Comic Opera Company in Syd- j ney, and ever since its opening night ■ it has been meeting with splendid sue- j cess. The large audiences who have i gathered to witness it have been both , enthusiastic and warm in their praise of j the new Strauss opera which has quite . coma up to expectations, and is certain- . ly following in the wake of '"The i Merry Widow" as a strong musical j success. j townswomen in the famous Scotch city, j Mr J. H. Campbell, the popular comedian in the "Aladdin" Pantomime, , had a birthday the other day, and he j ■pent it in giving pleasure to all the ' children engaged in the big proauc-: tion. He took them all down to lAspendale, where they revelled in sea baths and sand castles, and all the good things which had been provided to satisfy their holiday appetites. In commemoration of the day they, in their turn, presented their host with a handsome silver-backed brush, and reverting to tho character in which Mr. Campbell was brought into closest touch with them, that of the Widow Cobble in "Jack rind Jill" —they had inscribed on their v<resent —"To our dear mother from all her children." In "What Everv Woman Knows," the new comedy by J. M. Barrie, in which Hiss Nellie Stewart is to appear at Easter time at the Melbourne Princess Theatre, the plnygoing public will have an opportunity of seeing the popular Australian actress in a piece which will be altogether divested of the attractiveness of mounting and costuining which lins been a feature of so many of her productions. The new piee? is a modern comedy, and its characters pro present day individuals who u.GTe amid surroundings which are signalised by their homeliness and familiarity. Miss Stewart herself is to be a h.-raine with «. Scotch accent, and at present she is spending a fair portion o: each clay in reading with a Glasgow lady friend. whi- is giving her the tons and infection used hv her fellow

February 2Gtli insrked the first production in t of <1 £jh:iivian comedy when 'and tfi-? Man" ires produced »v tvin&'bt-Orcy coir-binr-tion to n. 1 * delighted Miidi- ! dice. As Captain Biaiitsehli. tho s;al- | lant cr. bruin. wis:- :s as hard lisadeci ; an:! uacter of fact as Sergius- is senti- | rc: 1 1 ■ and theoretical, -Mr Julius! Knight gave y : I another instance of , lis versatility and wonderful aptitude \ for enreloping himself ill the right atmosuhore, and losing 2ns own identity in the part Jte. is called upon to interpret. In the port or Bainn, Miss Kat'neiine Grey was well placed, and r.dded to the gold-'ii opinions which had already been formed o? her. As for the piece itself it was quaintly humorous, daringly original, and altogether away from the ordinary type of modern comedy, and kept the audience in a simmer of laughter and merriment Throughout the evening. The Shaw niece will only run for a, iieek as on Saturday (March 3) tho company are \ due to open for a, three weeks' season at Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne, in "The Lion and the Mouse." FAMOUS FARMYARD PLAY. Our cable news this week chronicled tie fact that King Edward, who is on a visit to France, went to see the drama '"Ciiantecler.'' Some particulars of this drama are as follows: — Seven years ago all playgoers in France —and France is a nation of playgoers —were amused and excited by the announcement- thai. M. Rostand, the famous dramatist, was writing a new work in which all the parts were to be played by actors and actresses disguised as birds-and beasts.

The dress rehearsal was fixed for I February 1903. Seven years liaye passed, and during that time the expectation of liis play has not waned, but has grown so keen that the drama of "Chantecler," or "Coot-a-doodle-do" (as it may be translated) has been one of the chief topics at French dinner tables. Now it even vies with the floods in France in its intensity of interest. M. Edmond Rostand . and a staff of clerks are dealing daily with hundreds of letters from the most distinguished people in France, begging 1 for a ticket for the "premiere," or first night, cr for one of tie rehearsals. But the house will not be filled by } "paper." The tickets have long been sold and sold again by speculative agents until the price of a seat has increased to many times the original figure. ''Regrets" have been sent in the author's name to ticket-begging writers, who base their claim on the marvellous way in which they can imitate the cries of animals, and to two ladies who think they are entitled to a place because they bear the name of Chantocler. It was as far back as 1901 that M. Rostand conceived the idea of this extraordinary play. It was when he passed by a farmyard near his country house at Cambo one day. "It was an ordinary farmyard," he wrote, "with a pigeon-lamse and hens, ducks, geese, guinea-fowl, turkeys, a sleepy cat, and a restless dog. Suddenly the cock came in, proud and domineering, heroic, and irresistible, like a conquering hero, and a king i among his subjects. Immediately the j idea of a play came to me upon thi3 } theme." I The farmyard with its animal char- ! acters began to haunt the imagination | of the dramatist. Here he seemed to j see reflected all the drama of human j life, the comedy, the tragedy, the boast- | ing pride, the humility, the tyranny ' the deceit, the love, apd the passions j of human nature. One night, when ! the'ides, had developed, he spoke to the j older Coquelin. I "Would you mind spending a whole ■ evening without showing your face, and I covered with feathers ? Would you mind j being honestly and entirely a cock? I j can still see poor Coquelin's face. He ; was completely flabbergasted. But he ! pulled himself together, and was soon i all enthusiasm.' 7 j For seven years M. Rostand has been I writing this play, interrupted frequent- j ly by illness, by family bereavement, by j otlier work; and checked at times by < the extreme difficulty of producing a j play on the farmyard world which could ! be interpreted by men and women who ( are not yet accustomed to wings, who | are unfamiliar with the characteristic | actions of cocks and hens, and who j may, tao easily, descend from the -sub- j lime to the ridiculous. ! One thing had to be settled. Could' human beings properly disguise themselves as farmyard characters ? M. Rostand, spared no pains to settle this problem. .Mtsr consulting F-rench costume artists without absolute Satisfaction, he sent for Mr. Willie Clarkeon. the famous perraquier .and costumier. Mr. CSarkson threw famssif heart and soul into his task. To study direct from nature he bought a superb cotffc-a-doodie-do, and this noble trird lived lTrajtrioasly in Mr Clarkson'B sjhop in T¥ardour-street, showing an al- - intelligence, and becoming a great favourite with the assistWptS. Then one day ixL- Clarksoniwerct to France with a number of animal and bird costumes. He was retSeived by M. Eostand and his family at Cambo. There one of the costumier's assistants, wio had been chosen because of Iris likeness to the great Coquelm, put on the costume of the Gallic cock. The whole family, says Mr Clarkson. went into the garden, where Chanticleer strutted on tnelairn and under the trees in the xayß cf the mitt,-.which, -jw&a brilliant aim golden

that day. M. Rostand and liis wife and children, were stirred to cries of enthusiasm, we are told, and afterwards the great dramatist sketched out designs for other cocks. Unfortunately some hitch occurred in the business negotiations, and Mr Clarkson is now suing for breach, of contract. This play is likely to be the cause of many lawsuits. Three have already been instituted against French papers for publishing what they allege to be the plot, and portions of the test or "Cliantecler." The secrets of the play, however, have been well kept, and the 'first night will undoubtedly be full of surprises. But this is certain—-that the stage of the Porte St. Martin will be turned into a. very realistic farmyard, that there will be beautiful scenes in deep woods by moonlight, that the plot tells : of the .passionate love story between [ Chanticleer and a beautiful lien- | pheasant, and that many of the char- ! acters of iEsop's and M. Fontaine's ! fables will appear for the first time in i French drama.