THE PLAY AND THE PLAYERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6136, 24 March 1898, Page 3

THE PLAY AND THE PLAYERS.

[Br Prompter in "Canterbury Times."'] • It is reported that Mr Orpheus M*Adoo's | Coloured Minstrel and Vaudeville Company I will visit New Zealand shortly. j Miss Lucia Harwood, who toured the ; colony with the Majeronis in 1887,. bas j married Mr Donald King, a wealthy Indian banker. The Messrs Fitzgerald bad a remarkably successful season with their circus in Wellington. The season ended on Saturday night. They are now in Masterton. Mr Edwin Geach sends a oritioism taken from the Indian Daily Nevjs of Feb. 3, on Carl Hertz's opening performance in Calcutta. The writer remarks that the conjuror should easily attract overflowing audiences during his brief season. " Miss Edith Crane, who visited New Zealand with the Trilby Company, ia highly praised for her portrayal of Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew at New York. One journal refers to her as " the only heiress to the talent of Ada Eehan." Mr Frank Thornton has had a most successful season in Dunedin. The StrangeAdventures of Miss Brown might have run profitably for a few nights longer than it actually did. It was replaced by Sweet Lavender, which gave way in turn to The Private Secretary. The company will open here on March 25. In connection with Mr Bland Holt's revival of A Sailor's Knot to-nightj it is interesting to note that of the artists who played in the first production ol the play in Christchurch, Miss Ajjoie- Taylor, who "played Dame Barbara t is dead; ijlv R. Inman (Andre Destroy) recently visited New Zealand wfth, a company of his own; Mr Waltft; Ifowe (Harry "Westward) is in Aideilca; and Mr Brian England (Captain, Vernon) is stated to h.BY§ Ooffi§ i&tQ a fortune in England. ... Miss ■ Ethel Clarke, a daughter of the late Marcus Clarke, author ;of " For the Term of His Natural Life," is desirous of going on the stage. Miss Edith Morley is the ftp.Jft d,? Ijh&fttre of Miss Cartwright, wh,6. ma.de. her, first appearance on any s^agfk at the. Bijou, Melbourne, on Safuyday, Fepruary 19, in Mr Charles Oartwr»ght'§ production of T/ie Sqylw QfJPames. Mr- Wilson Barrett's initial production of Hamlet in Melbourne attracted a large aiuUence, _ On tbejoljowing mojnijjg a, certain section of the press' assailed jMr Barrettfs performance, with the result that the audience 1 in the evening was larger still,. This the actor-manager made the text of a shorfc Bpeeca which he made from the stage before the performance l? e gan. On the following night, the last of tlte, season, Othello was played. By the way, Melbourne t,b.eatre-goers profess great dia* appointment that Mr Barrett did not produce. TJie Sign of the Cross. , ; v Paragraphs from Jbhe Sydney^Bulletin :-.- Barrett . distributes his. castes on. Bernhardt's principle, ladling out the fat?, the turtle callipash and callipee, impartially, so that no actor— save himself— had any claim to a particular line. Sarah has four leading men in Australia, and they had to fill up anyhow. There cannot be much swelled head in Barrett's company. If a man is King Dick this week, he will be "Charles, his friend," next. How all the old lines of acting have gone into the melting pot! Heavy man, juvenile lead, first low; second low, first, second and third old man, first light, and so on. All utility. * * * During a very rough passage on the M.L. coast, the steamer was facing a fierce gale doing its , best to get off the lee - shore, when, up on the bridge, appeared a married member of a mumming company on board— bearing the bass drum, to which was lashed his heir. , Clasping his hands, he fell on his knees .before the wondering old skipper, and .yelled, above the shrieking of the gale, "Captain, for the love of Christ, who loved little children, put me ashore. Anywhere ! anywhere ! Only put me ashore where I can get a , cab !". This, off a rpek-boundcoast, a hundred miles from any town." "* *• * Wonderful how easily the recenj^o'u of a now performance can-be-misu'nderstood by the people chiefly interested in its' 'success or failure. The first night of The Squire %f Dames at Melbourne Bijou was celebrated by a supper-party at Menzies' Hotel, and a number of unprofessional boarders who had attended the performance were astonished to hear the festive gatherers congratulating themselves on a " splendid triumph," <fec, as they wished one another good-night in the corridor. The comedy had fallen flat, but the actors felt no misgiving as to the result. It is stated that Charles Godfrey, Dan Leno, and Clurgwin contemplate visiting Australia with powerful attractions shortly. Mr Charles Arnold is trying to place in a West End (London) theatre his American acquisition, What Happened to Jones, prior to sailing for Australia in about six weeks. The London correspondent of this paper writes : — Miss Nellie Farren was the guest of some sixty members of the Eccentric Club at a strange performance of Robinson Crusoe at the Brixton Theatre the other night. Thirty motor cabs took these queer cards to the theatre. Arrived there, after a perusal of the programme printed backwards, they pelted the performers every few minutes with- dainty boxes tied with red ribbon, and containing sweets and chocolates, varying their compliments by occasional floral tributes hurled with no light hand. When the author appeared he was bombarded for five minutes with a fusillade of chocolates. Having caught some two pounJs in his hat, he retired, and let in Mrs Crusoe, who expressed the delight of all at seeing their "dear old friend " Nellie Farren. A frantic outburst of cheering followed, so moving the old Gaiety favourite that the tears came to her eyes as she had to bow again and again from her box her acknowledgments for the hearty welcome.