THE PLAY AND PLAYERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5739, 5 December 1896, Page 7

THE PLAY AND PLAYERS.

[By Pbojiptkb in " Cantbbbuet Times."] The Ada, Delroy Company will provide th. ! Chrisfcruas attraction at the Theatre 3i yal, Chriatchurch. Theatre-goers will learii with regret that the Broiigh Cometly Company bas cancelled its dates in New Zealand. OWin«r to tho elections taking place at the time Messrs Williamson and Musgrove had decided to play "A Trip to Chinatown/ 1 in Christchurch, the proposed visit was abandoned. MrW. Hyland (Little Billie) showed me a letter be had received from Mr J. St Clair in vrbieli that well-kn own advance agent stated he was leaving Sydney on Nov. 20 for Auckland to look after the "Chinatown " Company's season in that city and in Wellington, the only two places to be visited. It was also mentioned that the Brown-Potter Company would land in the colony before the end of the year. W. E. Baker.of the Bland Holt Company, has written a curtain-raiser bearing the title "In tho Dark," It is in the hands of Mr Robert Brongh, who is likely to produce it. Mr Baker, by the way, is said to have received an offer from Mr Nat Goodwin of a forty weeks' engagement in New Tork or London. Why not abolish corner men in a minstrel show 'i (says the Sydney Referee) Ov, if they are allowed to remain on the corner, why not gag them ? Thus might inane and witless interruptions be put a stop to. -Moreover, it would be rather a cheerful sight to see each solemnly waiting his turn for the stage manager to carefully let him loose just long enough to do that turn and no niore. Patfci's manager for eighteen years, Giovanni Franehis, died at Milan lately at the age of eighty. Any circus manager in Italy who does not carry out his advertised programme, or misleads the public by means of posters, is fined .£IOO. Miss Grace Hawthorne will, at the conclusion of her present season at the St James's Theatre, London, leave for Australia, where she will apueav in "Theodora" (Sardou), "The" Eoy.ol Divorce" and " The Pilgrim's Progross." During a recent performance of " Life's Shadows" in the English provinces, an excited auditor threw a bottle at the villain, inflicting painful scalp wounds. The offender was captured, but the actor refused to complain, regarding the assault as a sincere compliment. Sir Henry Irving is having a play written round the character of George Washington, which it is his ambition to impersonate before he leaves the stage. But there is also another character he favours, that of Eobespierrre, and with regard to that lie has arranged with Sardou to be his author. When Albert Chevalier was playing in New York last winter, he refused an offer of JJ2OO to go to Washington for one afternoon and entertain the guests of a millionaire Western Senator. The offer was subsequently repeated and the great coster singer was asked to name his terms. Chevalier again declined most courteously, taking the stand made by Jean de Reszke, that his performance was essentially a stage one and could not be seen to the best advantage in a drawing room. Notmany performers arc so true to their art. There is something rotten in tho state of dramatic criticism in New York, to judge by the'following, which appeared in the Spirit of the Times : — " Every theatre that employs a newspaper critic as its press agent should be boycotted by all decent newspapers. Every newspaper that pays its dramatic critic by commissions upon theatrical advertisements should be boycotted by all decent theatres. These ire the effective remedies that should be applied promptly to two of the festering sores of journalism. J?or the hermaphrodite joiirnalists who write plays while they sriticise other people's plays the paretic sditors are solely responsible." " Paretic sditors " is, good. Perhaps one of the most ludicrous effects aver seen on the stage was witnessed a short time ago while " The Black Flag " was being presented to a Dundee audience, [n one of the scenes the stage is covered ivith a large piece of canvas representing a rast expanse of water, the movement of the waves being produced by a number of men under the canvas throwing their legs md arms about in a spasmodic manner. Dn the evening in question, the. canvas at }he front of the stage somehow got fixed to ilie act-drop, which, on.'beingraised, carried ;ho canvas .with. it. The men who were working the. waves, being blindfolded to prevent :he dust getting into their eyes, were uniwaro of what had occurred, and lay on their jacks, kicking their feet in the air in the nost amusing fashion. The audience fairly •oared with laughter, and the men, suspecting something was wrong, removed the jovers from their eyes. On realising the ibstxrdity of the situation they, one after ;he other, got up and quitted the stage. Che further representation of the scene vas omitted from the performance on this particular evening. The cl aque is an institution so thoroughly Parisian that a premiere in the grand opera vould probably be pronounced a dead "ailure were it not for tho claque. It is ;ho business of the chief to begin all lemonstrations of approval at the proper noment, ' and he carefully instructs in ;heir duties his thirty or more assistants, vho are distributed 'all over the house. From now on the chief of .the claque will )8 an official appointed b3 r the government, vho receives the sum of SOO francs (.£32) «r month, and who can dispose of. thirty iek^ets for seats at every performance. It s not for the first time either that a f Master of Applause " was on the staff of his world-famed institute. Under the

second empire a similar berth was made for Forget, the incomparably great Porget, who bore the proud title of "Entrepreneur des sueces dramatiqnes," which means, something like "Purveyor of Dramatic Successes." This Porget was a very prominent personage, undeniably one of the most important of the so-called "ToutParis." He was intimate •with the principal singers— with lesser lights he loafc none of his valuable time— and knew every composer, poet and. artist of any account. He had been for a long time a friend of Alexander Dumas, . the father, but longed to address him with the move familiar thou and thee. Oue day ho proposed this greater familiarity to Alexander Dumas, who immediately took advantage of the offer and asked him' with a pleasant smile: "Why, certainly, my dear Porget; but. Thou wilt loan me 2000 francs, won't thou?" "Of course," answered Porget, more than happy at Dumas' thou, " better take 4000," anil he could well afford it. Porget had: an •income .variously estimated at from 60,000. to 100,000 francs. While he lived modestly, he did a great deal for the advancement of art, not only by means of his claque, but by opening his purse to all his' comrades; These comrades included every important person in the theatrical and literary arena.' He was proud of "his opera," and considered himself one of its most important officers.