ENGLISH NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7924, 1 February 1904, Page 4

ENGLISH NOTES.

[From Otxr Correspondent.] LONDON, December 4. The latest attraction at the Hippodrome is " Consul." Without a knowledge of who or what he is, a recital of the new artist's, performances would, not perhaps appear very remarkable. "Consul," who stands less that three feet in' height, and dresses in an ill-fitting suit of tweeds, with hat and overcoat, sits down to dinner on the stage an< i plies his knife and fork with gravity and due deliberation. Then ,he rings" for a cigar, lights up, and has a smoke. Afterwards he rides round on a bicycle, bangs a pianoforte, has a game of hide-and-seek with a little negro boy, and finally undresses himself and gets into bed. The reason why these doings of " Consul's " should possess any interest for the public is that h e happens to be a chimpanzee ! The " human " intelligence displayed by this unlovely simian is, indeed, extraordinary, as. Avell as mirth-provoking. Sometimes, it is true, h e gets into bed at the wrong end, and sometimes in dressing he puts his coat on first and his shirt over it; but these may be merely eccentricities — and not altogether unhuman, either. " Counsel," who is only four and a half years old, has already appeared in public in America, and Paris. His stay at the Hippodrome is limited to three weekfe. ; Dion Boucicault's dramatic version of " The Cricket on the Hearth " was revived this week at the Garrick by Mr Arthur Bourcbier. This adaptation of Dickens' cheery Christmas tale was first seen in London in the early part of 1852, when it was produced at the old Adelpni under the. title of "Dot," with Mr J. L. Toole B*s Caleb Plummer. Beviving the play by permission of Mr Toole, under the title which Dickens used, Mr Bourchier has tried ." to go as near ; to Dickens as he can for £2000," and the result is a production to delight the hearts of the children, for whose Yuletide entertainment it is chiefly designed Mr Bourchier takes the part of Caleb, and Mr J. H. Barnes that of John Peerybingle, while Miss Violet Vanbrugh is Bertha, the blind, girl. A crowded and enthusiastic house welcomed the opening performance on Tuesday evening. Mr Toole sent a kindly telegram "wishing you all a pleasant evening." Joseph Mayer, the famous " Christus " in the Oberammergau Passion Play in 1870, 1880 and 1890 died this "week 'at Munich. In this humble Bavarian peasant tfc* world has lost an artist who was really gweat. Knowing nothing of professional dramatic art, as found in the theatres, Mayer entered into the character of the Divine Passionist with a reverend' sympathy aid natural power which profoundly moved all who witnessed his performance. Lady Burton has described him thus :— " Mayer, who playa this part, is a very tall, well-knit, splendid-ly-made man, a model for a sculptor. He hag long, dark, flowing hair, moustache, irad beard* which, he wears as our Saviour,

is represented to have done. We are used to think of a chestnut-haired Christ with beautiful features. Mayer as not that, but he makes you forget it by his manner, which is modest, gentle, manly, with- an admirable dignity, which he never loses in his greatest humiliation. His sad, majestic melancholy, his expression of pain, sorrow, and patient endurance, his walk, dress, voice, manner, his natural, noble bearing, his stamp of refined, intellect, all combined, make you feel as if Christ had stepped down from those, innumerable pictures- and images we know from our childhood, and was again walking . about upon earth, and that you were following Him with His disciples." Never was the British stage more prosperous than to-day. In London alone something like £4,000,000 is spent on the drama every year. London has twenty-six theatres, employing 25,000 people, and the public have responded in larger numbers than ever before. And yet, according to j Mr Jerome K. Jerome, all is not well with , — c stage. Lecturing before tie Old Playgoers' Club on Sunday night, Mr Jerome contended that everything necessary for the success of the British stage was present except— the British drama. Did any other country take the care that we did to exclude literature from the stage? The author was told not to think of literature, not to think of the drama, but keep his eye on, the market. Under these circumstances they could have no care for the drama. The cost of producing a new play in a West End theatre was £1400, and the cost of running about £800 a week, and it was a failure unless it ran for one hundred nights. The modern theatre was likely to offer less and less prospects to the writers of the literary drama. Twenty-five years ago, twenty theatres were playing drama against five who gave what he called afterdinner entertainments. Now seven theatres were sufficient for serious drama. He saw, with the disappearance of the stock companies, no training groundi for actors in the future. He agreed that the taste of the public invariably ebbed and. flowed; and possibly there was a good time coming for the drama, but at present the indications were slight. To keep the drama alive, Mr Jerome suggested the creation of a central theatre, with a staff composed of a company always working together by mutual interests and enthusiasm. Enthusiasm would have to be the keynote of the scheme, and he held it was no use relying on the County Council or the bored millionaire. The playgoers would have to do the work themselves. He estimated the cost at £25,000 to build, with a weekly rental of about £40, and could hold about £100 when filled. He believed sufficient^ people wanted such a theatre as- to be able' to pay for it. . Their aim would eimply be to present good plays by good actors, well staged. „ -