A CYCLE OF FANTASIES.

Waikato Times, Volume 99, Issue 16654, 20 November 1925, Page 3

A CYCLE OF FANTASIES.

BARRIE ON THE STAGE. \

NO FAIRIES IN AUSTRALIA. A cycle of Barrie plays is to be produced in Australia and New Zealand , next year by Mi* Dion Boticicault and a London company. The prospect | has raised the quesfion why Austro- j lions, alone among theatre-goers,! hithcrlo have failed to appreciate the ; whimsical work of Sir Barrie, j "]| is an extraordinary fact that Australia is the only English-speak- , ing country in Iho world in which j Barrie plays have not been very sue- j ccssfttj,” said Sir George Tallis re - i contly, to a Melbourne interviewer. | •“Throughout England and America, j and even South Africa, Barrie is en- | joyed from one year’s end to the ■ oilier. Only last year no less than three Barrie plays were presented j simultaneously in London, while, at the ■ same lime. ‘Peter Pan' was boomed j

at Ihe picture houses. “It has been rather a sore point I with Barrie, for a great number of | years, that so many of his pieces l iiave been comparative failures in this country. At one period he was disinclined io give any further permission for his plays to be presented in Australia. Wc have been able to v convince him, however, that conditions have changed greatly during recent j years, and he is now interested in the , forthcoming venture. “Of all the Barrie plays wc have; staged in this country in the past 23 years 'The Admirable Crichton’ has, been the most successful from a; financial point of view. Cuvier Hast- i ings had the title role in that pro - j duction, and Edmund Gvvenn, now a | great favourite in London, was the i old Lord. !

“‘Peter Pan,’ on the other hand. ■ was our greatest disappointment. As this bad won extraordinary favour in England and America, wc thought it j would iiave a universal appeal, but j somehow it just failed io get over in • Australia. I do not think the public quite understood Ihe fantasy. After the first act on the first night in the 1 Princess, 20 years ago. a mail came io me with bis pass-out check, and i demanded his money hack, lie j thought it was alt rot that Peter Pan , and Wendy should fly through ihe window. But In New Zealand ‘Peter j Pan' was quite a success. “I have always ascribed the Alls- j tralian failure of ‘Peter Pan* to cl i- : matic conditions. In Great Britain the long winter nights by the fireside create an atmosphere of mysticism and romance, which is entirely missing among the average children of this country. This lack of romance and sentiment in the average Australian child was probably responsible for the failure of the play there. I! is rather significant that the piece was a success in New Zealand, where cli-

matic conditions are somewhat similar to those of England and America. ‘••The Little Minister’ was also a disappointment. Wc engaged a special company in England for this production, and brought back to Australia a very old favourite in Paltie Browne for Babbie. We had a wonderful east, including some excellent types for the Scotch elders, but it was not a financial success. “‘What Every Woman Knows',; with Nellie Stewart and llarcourl 1 Beatty in Ihe leading roles, was much j more satisfactory from a financial j point of view, but it failed to reach anything like the popularity achieved In England and America. ‘“Quality Street’ I witnessed in ; London, with Seymour .Hicks and El-j laline Tcrri.ss in the cast, more than j 20 years ago, and was so delighted that, on my return to Australia, 1 induced the late Robert Brough to pro- j duce it during one of his seasons at j the old Princess Theatre. If I re- j member rightly, it ran for only two j or three weeks, though a most delightful all-round performance was given. To us it was a most inexptic- j able failure.

“Last year, at the Ilaymarkct Theatre, London. I saw a very fine performance of ‘A Kiss for Cinderella,’ with Norman McKinncll as the policeman, and incidentally Lady Patricia Blackwood, who lias improved enormously. as ihe nurse. Wc shall certainly include ‘A Kiss for Cinderella’ among our Barrie repertoire. “However, I am not a bit undaunted by the comparative financial failure of previous Barrie seasons in this country. I am confident that the taste of theatre-goers has greatly changed for the better since those days, and I am looking forward with every confidence to an enormous success.”