THE THEATRE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7731, 15 June 1903, Page 1

THE THEATRE.

THE PLAY AND PLAYERS. Mr Charles Carter, whd is known all over the.. colonies as tenor in the Pollard Theatrical Company, is now in London for a course of 'study at the Boyal Academy of Music. He baa had several flattering offers of good operatic engagements, but has resisted all temptations'that would interfere with the career that he has now marked out for himself. ' According to a, London paper Mr Wilson Barrett, at Manchester recently, narrowly escaped death by poisoning through the carelessness of a local chemist in making up a prescription. Mr Barrett, though happily recovered, and in good health again, naturally felt the matter should 1 not be let drop, and so extracted £20 from the chem- | ist for the benefit of the Actors' Orphanage Fund. In the circumstances the gentleman got off very lightly, and 'has the advantage of knowing that his money will do more J good. to the orphans than >his.'pilis did to Mr Barrett. • ■ 1 Concerning the trouble between the Melbourne 1 "Age"" and Mr J. C. Williamson, caused l by the proprietary desiring • the entrepreneur to put fifty and odd names on the door, it may be said (says the "Critic ") that when biz is booming most showmen grudge the regular critic his seats. When • biz is bad they wish the papers would send along hundreds of deadheads instead of fifty or so. And, of course, the theatres are better advertised than any other business, not only by the publication of notices, but also by the printing of theatrical tittle-tattle. By the way, the " Daily Telegraph " (Sydney) lately applied to put forty-two names on the door of a certain theatre, it is said. It must have astonished a great many people (says the " Daily Mail ") to have heard from a person in authority at the 'i Actors'. Association's general meeting on Monday, Maxch 30, that there were in England no fewer than twenty, thousand actors and actresses. It was not quit© clear whether this number included choristers and supers, but it may probably be taken that it only applied to those who play speaking parts. A very small knowledge of the conditions of the profession proves that out of this large number a considerable proportion of persons axe .always unemployed, and, as a matter of fact r it was stated by more than one speaker at the meeting referred to that many of the members of the Association find considerable difficulty in paying their subscriptions of 10s a year, a sum. less than the subscription to most working men's trade unions'. Obviously,, then, the supply of players ig considerably in! excess of the demand. On the other hand, despite, the fact that new theatres are continually being built-in London, the proportion of failures among new productions is.on the increase. Many thousands of pounds' are loet every, season in London playhouses, and the profits earned by touring companies. are also on the decrease. The enormous returns earned by a .successful play have in the pasb;beeri «ifficieiit to attract tltespteulatbr, but tne/everincreasing proportion'of failures must surely in time tire the syndicates "which are behind most theatrical enterprises. Efclf the/money lost evecy year in" London alone w.ouldper--manently establish a repertory, theatre, in which the many plays of real interest that will not pay for a continuous period might find frequent, and successful ■performance.; The repertory theatre has long bjeen advo : cated as an artistic ideal, and it will be a curious, but not unlikely, / fact if it arrives as an economic necessity. It would probably, in .the long run, I>e found financially advantageous : by both dramatists .and actors, who (would obtain regular incomes rathfer than the large, but-y v exy, intermittent ;

returns they have under the present system. "A Message From Mars" has become completely a -Haw-trey play. But, though two of the family have produced it and played in it — Mr Charles Haw-trey in England and Mr W. F. Hawtrey throughout Australia — it is a dangerous matter to assert that the third brother, Mr G. Hawtrey, had any hand in writing it. The " Daily Express " incidentally remarked in a paragraph that the piece was practically "re-written" by that gentleman before it saw the footlights in London, and Mr Richard Ganthony, the author, has obtained £200 damages for libel in consequence. It would hardly have been thought- that a statement of fact, which, if incorrect, could atsily be sat right, would justify a verdict for that amount. Evidently draI matic authors have been sleeping on their grievances hitherto. When "Joseph of Canaan " was produced some years back in Melbourne, the reverend gentleman whost work it was objected strongly to Mr George Rignold. advertising himself as joint author. The actor-manager, however, took an adroit line. He borrowed a sentence from Mr Walters! letter of protest, and announced the play as "with managerial cuts and emendations by George Rignold." Mr Ganthony won his case notwithstanding that evidence proved the undoubted manipulation of the piece by Mr Hawtrey. It was American- in scene and flavour — Mr Ganthony is an American actor — but that characteristic was removed. Flippant dialogue, especia'llly designed to give Mr Charles Hawtrey 'his best points as the selfish man, was written in. " " You silly ass" and "What price me?" were positively sworn to as interpolated Hawtreyisms.* Other managers, Mr Forbes . Robertson among them, declared that they had rejected the play in manuscript, finding it too stiff -moving or serious ; but, on seeing it as produced by Mr Hawtrey, found it transformed into a pleasant trifle Kght as air. All this, however, did not save the paper.