Plays and Players.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XIX, Issue IX, 21 August 1897, Page 271

Plays and Players.

TE Brough season opened at the Theatre Royal on Saturday week to a packed house, when * A Woman of No Importance * was staged. On the appearance of Mrs Brough several minutes elapsed in applause before she was allowed to go on with her part. In Wellington the Broughs are playing to full houses, and their performances are much enjoyed. The play * Caste,’ which has been in rehearsal for some time in Hamilton by amateurs, came off on Tuesday evening in the Volunteer Hall, and was a decided success. Not a hitch occurred, all playing their parts well to a crowded house. The manager, performers, orchestra, and scenic artist have all to be complimented on combining to make the entertainment so very successful. Mr Swarbrick as Eccles, and Mr Manning as Sam Gerridge, were quite above the ordinary run of amateurs. Of the ladies. Mrs Swarbrick, as the Marquise, and Miss Ida Cussen, Polly Eccles, acted their parts in a manner which left little to be desired, the latter young lady especially frequently carried the house with her, and gives great promise of being a valuable acquisition to the Dramatic Club. Mr Sydney Grundy, who was going to write no more until he had come to a definite understanding with the public as to what they wanted, seems to have settled his doubts (says a contemporary). His new adaptation, * A Marriage of Convenience,’ is drawing splendidly at the Haymarket, and Mr Beerbohm Tree is about to produce at his new theatre, Her Majesty’s, an adaptation by the same author of Dumas’ ‘Mdlle. de Belle-Isle.’ So Mr Grundy appears to have decided that ‘ Back to the French ’ is the mandate of English playgoers. Bland Holt finished a thirty-five weeks’ season in Melbourne on July 23rd, and is now in Brisbane drawing large audiences, as usual.

Howard Vernon has gone in for drama on his own account, his operatic venture, it is understood, not proving all that could be desired , from the financial standpoint at least.

Miss May Hill, daughter of that well-known actress, Mrs Walter Hill, is well spoken of in Christchurch for her acting in * A Woman of No Importance.’

The report goes that the reason why Mr Pete Hughes’ upper lip is now destitute of its well-cared-for appendage was not a desire on his part to conform to a prevailing fashion in and outside of the profession. His mcnstache, like the hair of the Prisoner of Chillon, is said to have grown white, or some colour akin to white, in a single night. The change was not, however, the result of * sudden fright,’ but, we are given to understand, was merely due to the result of experimenting with somebody’s ‘ wash.’

The Paulton-Stanley Company will tour New Zealand some time in December. Messrs Williamson and Musgrove, who are running the show, have decided that only the principal towns will be visited and the season short.

Arthur W. Pinero to pay a compliment—an unnsual compliment for an Englishman—to the abilities of American actresses. He said : *lt is impossible for me to express sufficiently my admiration for American actresses. They are so bright and so receptive of your wishes. I think they have a great future on the London stage. The American stage has the advantage of ours in one respect, namely, in the clear and distinct pronunciation of their artists.

The first and the only woman’s theatre of which the world has ever known is being constructed in Paris. The place of site is adjoining the ladies’ club known as the Cercle Pigalle, near Montmartre. In France it will be the ‘Theatre Feministe,’ which means a theatre for women, by women and in the interests of women only. There is only one weak spot in this armour of femininity, and that is the fact that the manager is to be a man, but the ladies who are the soul of the enterprise say he will not count, as, like the rest of his sex, he will merely be their slave. Au sfrieux, though, it is to be a genuine place for women. The White Theatre, where only plays of absolute purity were to be tolerated, was the first entrance of woman into the managerial capacity. This victory gave such confidence to the women that they were determined to star their own ideas exclusively, and the result is the Theatre Feministe. The establishment is not to be limited. No pent up France will confine its powers, and the ladies of every country will be at liberty to air their grievances, assert their privileges and defend their interests through the medium of the drama or the opera. For a long time the question of management was discussed pro and con by the members of the club which had the project in hand. Opinion was divided, not as to the ability of woman to take entire charge of every

detail, but as to whether it would not be wise to have some man to do the drudgery and let honour and glory be the lot of the women. Finally, it was decided that if a man could be found who would face the prospect he should be engaged on the spot. As the Frenchman is fond of excitement and loves to brave adventure, the necessary male was easily discovered and has already become the Adam in this otherwise Adamless Eden.

It is provided in the agreement that he shall receive instructions from the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors, which is composed of five women. Thus far he has accomplished the unparalleled feat of pleasing all five, and is very popular. The circulars or advance announcements of the theatre and its purposes do not bear the name of the manager, but state that the theatre is under the sole control of the Board of Directors, composed entirely of women. They farther state that only plays treating of woman’s rights will be presented, unless some specially good play by a woman receives the endorsement of the committee. Another committee of the directors bears the title of Committee on Plays. Its duty is to pass on all plays which are presented to it, sift the wheat from the chaff, and then submit its selection to the full Board of Directors for approval. Each play is to be read through to the board, and then, to insure acceptance, the authoress, or possibly the author, must incorporate all suggestions of the board. The unkind men who have heard of this project say that he who runs and reads may attend one performance, but that he who reads will run after seeing a second announcement thereof. Aside from the manager, the only condition under which men can hope to obtain a little scrap of the success which this theatre, according to its projectors, is sure to attain is to write plays or musical compositions which will bear on the subject of woman’s rights. The authors of these efforts may come from any part of the world they wish to, and their nationality will be considered no bar. The ladies say that the men will be criticised in that same spirit of fairness in which a woman always considers her own sex, and therefore they may be sure of absolute justice.

Mme. Loevy, who will direct the foreign department of the new theatre, is very decided in her statements as to the purpose and probable result of the enterprise. Heretofore, she says, the fact that a play was written by a woman has been sufficient in most instances to insure its failure. The only instances where this has not been the case have occurred in the United States. Now this sort of thing is to end. Women are to have the precedence in at least one theatre, and the men will have to take second place, if they are sufficiently fortunate to seenre any place at all.