ON A JAPANESE STAGE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XV, Issue V, 3 August 1895, Page 126

ON A JAPANESE STAGE.

MR VANDERLIP, the husband and manager of Elsie Adair, who has just returned from a trip

through the Orient with a theatrical company, was, while in Japan, the guest of Kawakami Otojiro, the leading actor of that country, whose success and dissipations were alike marvellous, and whose death has just been reported. ‘ While in Japan,’ Mr Vanderlin told an interviewer, ‘ I conceived the idea of appearing before native audiences in Tokio with a company which should play American comedies and farces with not only the American actors, but also native actors in the cast, who should speak their lines in their own language. This idea I carried out. Although the Americans spoke in English, the Japanese were able to take their cues from an arrangement of gestures. The Japanese were given the bulk of the play, so that the native audience easily followed it. My leading comedian was paid a salary of 26 cents per night, and was a very clever man at that. ‘ The plays were given in the Japanese theatres. Their theatres are arranged in much the same manner as are ours, with gallery, balcony, and orchestra. But the stage is raised only about twelve inches above the orchestra, so that the audience, which sits on mats spread over the floor, is enabled to see easily. The audiences’ habit of sitting on the floor gives to a theatre the size of an ordinary one here a capacity of about 5,000. A runway about three feet wide is made through the middle of the orchestra and parquet, on which at certain times, as during stage battles, the actors rush forth and fight in the midst of the audience. THEY CHECK THEIR SHOES. ‘The Japanese remove their shoes on entering the theatre, and check them at the door, as we would our umbrellas and overcoats, paying five cents, for the privilege. The stages are large and roomy, and are made cir-

cular in form. By this arrangement one setting can be made during the action in another, and the revolving of the stage presents it to the audience after only a few seconds of delay. ‘ We opened to a tremendous house and did a capital business. There were some things that might be considered a bit extraordinary here. As a matter of fact I nearly lost my life at our first night s oerformance. It was owing to THE EXCESSIVE ZEAL OF OSK OF THE JAPANESE ACTORS. In one of the acts of the comedy which we were producing a cannon was to be fired at me, and 1, unarmed and defiant, was seemingly to extract the ball from my stomach and throw it scornfully upon the stage. This, according to my plan, was to be safely accomplished by merely slipping the ball with which the cannon was apparently loaded by the side of the muzzle, instead of into it, keeping it concealed from the audience, while I carried another ball concealed beneath my coat, which a little prestidigitation would produce at the proper moment. ‘Unfortunately, the Japanese actor who was to load and fire the cannon had become wildly excited. He neglected to slip the ball behind the cannon. On the contrary, he LOADED IT IN DEADLY EARNEST. lie fired. There was a roar, a crash ! My hat was blown to atoms. The wall above my head revealed a gaping hole. In my amazement and anger I sprang upon the unlucky actor, seized him by the neck, and pitched him into the orchestra, 'the humour of the event, however, conu" ’ n the fact that the whole audience thought it was all in the and went nearly cj4 zy with delight. And since that nigtij j’emay.ds have made it necessary for me to leap upon the ..ctor always who fires the fatal shot, and hurl him afar. THE GREAT JAPANESE STAR. All the native actors in Tokio called upon us with the greatest courtesy, among the others, of course, Kawakami. All of them gave to us gifts in token of their friendship, Kawakami Otojiro, is, as is well-known, the

most famous of modern Japanese actors. He is a young man, about twenty-eight years of age, short, well formed and extremely intelligent. An invitation was extended to us by him to attend his theatre to witness the production of his play “Japan and China,’’ which was then playing to crowded houses. As'our performance was in the evening and his began at noon and ended about eight o’clock, we were able to accept his offer. ‘ On our arrival there we found the building’s front one mass of flags, banners, and lanterns, and a brass band of twenty-eight pieces met us at the door. Kawakami’s entire company, to the number of more than a hundred, were gathered at the entrance to greet us. A procession was formed with the band in front, and we marched through the theatre to our seats in the tier boxes overhanging the stage. During the whole time of our triumphal progress the band played “ Marching Through Georgia.” ‘ The audience was immense, more than seven thousand Japanese being crowded within the house, for Kawakami had made a special advertisement of our expected attendance. • When the curtain rose on the first act the stage setting was as good as anything we had ever seen in New York city. Kawakami has travelled through Europe studying his profession, and his artist studied for six years in this city with an American firm of scenic artists. BOMBARDMENT OF PEKIN.

‘ One scene in particular was wonderfully well done. It was the attack on the Chinese man-of-war by the open boats of the Tapanese war ship lying in the distance. Finally the climax came in the blowingupof the Chinese man-of-war, which was done in a manner strikingly realistic. The final scene, too —the bombardment and capture of Pekin —was something from which our American stage managers could gain many points. The pyrotechnic display was amazingly beautiful. Bombs were shot across the stage, exploding as they went, and every effect was similarly exact and effective. * In this part the acting of Kawakami becomes sublime. He appears in the character of a war correspondent, and as such is captured and brought before the Viceroy, Li Hung Chang, who condemns him to death. Then Kawakami utters his defiance. His acting is marvellous. Tears run down his cheeks in streams. The audience rises to its feet in breathless interest. When the last words have passed his lips an attendant strikeshim. So wrought up were his hearers by his acting that when we attended he had no sooner received the blow than THE WHOLE AUDIENCE SURGED FORWARD IN THEIR SYMPATHY, while four Japanese leaped from their boxes and sprang upon the attendant who had dared strike Kawakami. In the melee which followed, the actor whoplayedthe part of the attendant was severely mauled, while the supositious Li Hung Chang fled in terror from the stage. ‘ Kawakami is known in Japan as a “ thirty curtain ” acto. It is a custom among rich people there to present a drop curtain to the favourite actor, and of these gifts Kawakami has received thirty, all of silk, richly embroidered. No other actor has received an equal number.’