MIMES AND MUMMERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10180, 15 June 1911, Page 2

MIMES AND MUMMERS.

(By THE. LIMELIGHT MAN.) Bland Holt is on 'his way back to Australia, and already people are inquiring if he intends to return to the stage. • Miss Florence Redfern, of the New Company of Comedians (.hue Hugh .). Ward's), has announced that she has been married since January and that &ho will leave the stage shortly. In the new production of " Seven Days," Robert Oreig plays James Wilson. and, oi course, appears as a fat gentleman. It is the fatness of Wilson that gave iKiint to much of the hiiarity in '' When a Man Marries," tho hook from which the play was taken and in the New York production. G. 15. Shaw's latest outburst has been a play smiting the critics heavily. The drama was entitled " Fanny's First Play,'' and, though it was produced anonymously, according to the rules of the Little Theatre, its source is undoubted. The critics in London have not taken kindly to Shaw's tilting, but tho play has caused amusement.

John Philip Sousa, tho baudman, is not without humour. At the conclusion of tho Sydney season of the band the audience in the Town Hall cheered and begged loudly for more, and then Sousa walked on. As soon as the applause and cheers had subsided ho called : "Can you all hear me?" There was a healthy '"Yes" screamed back, and as the people waited in anticipation the bandmaster quietly said, " Oh, then, goad-night." When'the audience had recovered he had disappeared.

A fine healthy, bouncing rumour has been born in WellingtoiC and is now trotting about. It 13 to the effect that a well-known firm of theatrical persons has been approached with a view to erecting a new playhouse in AutKland, and that the firm has replied that it would seriously consider a'similar proposal with the scene laid in Wellington. The site suggested for the playhouse in Wellington is right in the heart of the business city, and is at present occupied by an hotel. The negotiations are to endeavour to include the theatrical people with a syndicate, and the proposal is for a big theatre. * Following on the suggestion to the Christchnrch Comedy Club is this official list of the plays which Gregan M'Malion's Melbourne Repertory Theatre is going to produce.:--" The Return of the Prodigal" (Hankin), " Interieur " (Maeterlinck), ''Chains''' (Baker), " Laborcmus" (Bjorusen), "The Comedy of Errors" (Shakespeare), "The Night Shelter" (Gorkv), "The Trojcn Woman" (Euripides), "Tho Poor Gentleman" (Coleman), "Tho Voysey Inheritance" (Granville Barker), "Justice-" (Galsworthy), " Le .Monde 011 I'on s'ennuie" (Pailleron), "•'Candida'' and "You Never Can Tell" (Shaw), and "The Wild Duck," "The Doll's House" and "An Enemy of tho People" (Ibsen).

The. Mayor, during tho week, has received numerous complaints iibout the po,sUu\s employed by '• Tho Bad Girl of the Family" Co., and tho m? linger of thn coinpanv interviewed Mr T. ¥.. Taylor, M.P.,* on tho subject, but. it is understood that no notion will bo taken. Some of tho posters arc 1 , certainly sensational, but there is nothing- in them to call for public objection. Posters of the kind ;ire necessary to melodrama, but "there is nothing objectionable in (hem. The one bill that is prob.-ibly the cause of tbo flutt;>r en is not justify the worry, ;ui active misatip, is started

against many mercantile advertisements of a. more questionable character, which, by reason of tho subject of the display. arc in a. very slender way related to this "Bad Girl" postor.

"Why and how should melodrama be criticised:-'" is the question that confronts anyone who ga-Kes on the peculiar form of drama of which "The Bad Girl of the Family" is a, type. As a matter of uncompromising fact the "Bad Girl" is no more drama than a penny-in-the-slot novel is literature, and few persons priding themselves on being literary critics would waste time in endeavouring to analyse the intricacies of those wonderful productions. Melodrama as a term is now very loosely applied, and it is used to "describe all kinds of plays, from an American drama produced in England down to the latest and most fearful specialty in blood and thunder capped with a title that recalls the yellowest of America's yellow novels. Melodrama should be subdivided into many classes, and " The Bad Girl of tho 'Family" should drop into class Z.

But as to criticism. One cannot deal with the literary merits of its dialogue, even if there were any, and the plots of melodrama of this class are too wonderful and too complicated for contemplation. Perhaps tho number of shocks per minute, or the number of times, and the volume, of the andieuce's hoots at the villain might serve as a measure by which merits could bo gauged. Or perhaps the number of cigarettes smoked by the bad men, added to the aggregate of new jokes exposed by the comedian, might do as well. Certainly it is hard to criticise them, for they are all so much alike, all worthless, and serving to destroy taste, or. rather, to foster a taste that is altogether depraved and inimical to the interests of the theatre, the, playgoers and the drama.. "The "Bad Girl" has nightdresses and "bedroom scenes." They are supposed to bo daring, but they are merely absurd, although they fulfill that very necessary duty of giving the ooster-man somothing with which to titillate the public palate. Tho acting of the Goorgo Marlow Company is realty worthy cf a, better piece—in fact, any acting would be. Finally, "The Bad Girl," one is compelled to say, after reading the titles and authors of other plays produced by tho same management, is " Marlowdrama." very poor stuff, but decidedly moneymaking, and sujted to tho taste of a well-defined section.

The next play to be produced by the Christciiurch Comedy Club is to bo Pinero's "The Schoolmistress," which is to go on in August. No doubt the club will do as well in the piece as it has done in others, but thero is a groat danger of the organisation getting into a rut. There has been a great sameness about its productions, and it is really time that something a little dil ferent was tackled. If a littlo more ambition were infused into the club, and some of the enterprise of the Adelaide Repertory Theatre taken into serious consideration, the club would do more good. for its members. It is not too late to suggest even the plays of Shaw, which would attract, the people and afford a delightful change from the artificialities the club has indulged in. If the club's finances do not admit ot an extensive report or- in higher spheres one every year might be tried.

Although tho elocutionary and musical competitions havo been established in Cliristchurcb for three years, tho dramatic sketch lias not yet made its appearance, and it doey not seem likely that the nest elocutionary tournament will find room for it. Last year there was a good entry for the comedy-sketch class, but in the year before it was no a t so keenly contested nor so well patronised. It is all very well to say that a class for dramatic sketches would not attract entries. Perhaps it has not done so in the past, but even the competitions themselves have had in the* early staees to put up with scant entries. To provide prices for "comedians" only is not in tho best interests of the "amateur, and is certainly a very one-sided arrangement. To have a dramatic sketch class in tho programme can do very little harm, even if in three j-ears no entries should be forthcoming. It is not fair to cast it forth after one or even two years of trial, and the committee should endeavour to popularise the "straight" sketch, which undoubtedly must load to better work than the old-fashioned comedies usually utilised by competitors.