Music and Drama.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIX, Issue 24, 11 June 1913, Page 13

Music and Drama.

By

BAYREUTH.

BOOKINGS. (Dates subject to alteration.) H.M. THEATRE, AUCKLAND. June 9 to June 25—Geo. Marlow, Ltd. June 26 to July 5—J. C. Williamson, Ltd. July 7 to 19s—Allen Doone. August 4 to 16—J. C. Williamson, Ltd. August 28 to September 27 —Branseombe Co. October 1 to 11—J. C. Williamson, Ltd. •AUCKLAND PICTURE SHOWS. Globe Theatre, Queen Street —Continuous. Social Problems—Two Flays. GTTT NOTABLE play called “The _.J I Necessary Evil,” by Charles r~i Rann Kennedy (Harper's), deals "*■ with a great social problem with a spiritual exaltation ot manner and spiritual indignation rather unusual in a dramatist. His whole argument is against the dogma that there is a “necessary evil” —especially the Social Evil. Here is the gist of the play as told by the New York “Times.” The Dark Woman. “It raises a social fact into the realm of idealism. It is symmetrical in construction, and is fraught with earnestness and with refreshing tenderness. “While Mr Kennedy's ‘dark woman’ is representative of many poetic qualities, she is also the living evidence of the so-called ‘necessary evil,’ which the girl's brother declares, brands every man alive. She is the human reminder of the girl's dead mother, who, like so many other mothers of the world, believes innocence to be more white if guarded by ignorance. But through the women of the streets Mr Kennedy means more than this; she cornea to take the place of the girl’s dead mother; she serves to illustrate to the girl, just awakening into womanhood, the principle that purity is not a passive but an active element in one’s nature. “This is all very skilfully portrayed by Mr Kennedy. Beginning with the preparations for a birtli/day celebration for tire girl living alone with a dreamy musician father, the play enters into a period of storm when the worldly son and brother arrives with the atmosphere of the city about him. Then arrives also the woman, and her presence awakens the girl, rouses the fire of the son, and stirs the father to the wantonness of this ‘necessary’ evil. In diction the special pleadings are dramatically effective, and in attitude socially true. What the Father Says. “Though the son call the father dreamer, unworldly, nevertheless he is a keen observer of the world. He has a word to say about club men, who have told him he knows nothing of temptation. And he adds further: — “Don’t you make any mistake about it, my boy. I know all about it. I know everything these men of the world know. But I know something else as well. . . . That there is a Man in this world —a Real Man, an Alive Man— Who is the power unto salvation from sin.’ “When the son claims that art is on his side of the argument, the father, as " artist, protests. “Mi - Kennedy's realism is shot through with idealism of the right sort. The -innocent girl is not any the less innocent because she has been told a thing or two by a stranger—a woman whose symbolical force gives her the right to enter unbidden into the room spread for a birthday celebration. This is what the woman preaches: What the Woman Says. “ ‘First, then, your innocence. Cherish it, keep it unspotted—within, mind you, deep within; and let it grow. Seek wisdom and Understanding with it. Don't be content any longer to be babies, playthings, dreaming dolls. Grow up. Learn to be. Next, save your men. The men around you, the men you have to do ■with, every one of them, even the worst. . . . Then when the time come', marry. Refuse to be married. Don't let them "give you away in darkness. Marry in daylight. Ask; ascertain; don’t bo put off with lies. And one thing above

all. don't marry an übelean man. Help, pity, if you can: but don’t marry him.’ •‘When the dark woman passes from the house the girl of twenty-one hastens to her room, her innocence burning; the son leaven his father, after confessing his shame and hoping for salvation, while the father, left alone with the portrait of his dead wife, finishes Brahm's intermezzo, with which the play begins.* A Flay for Congress. This play of Mr Kennedy’s is an indication of the remarkable way in which, at the present moment, the United Stater: is dealing with the Social Evil. To still further emphasise the need for action to the United States Congress, arrangements have been made for a dramatie representation of the famous play by Brieux called “Les Avaries” (“Damaged Goods”). “Those who are promoting the movement intend to give ‘Damaged Goods’ at Washington before a Congressional audience, and perhaps also at the State capitals during the legislative session,” says the New York “Independent.” “For this purpose the drama is especially adapted, as the last act is nothing more than a lesson to legislators, though Brieux is not one who believes that social evils are to be cured by laws and yet more laws. He believes that most of the trouble is caused by ignofanee, and urges education, public enlightenment, and franker recognition of existing conditions. All this may Ire needed, but still we may well doubt its effectiveness as a remedy. The drunken Helot argument is not a strong one, and. those who live a vicious life know more about its risks than any teacher or preacher could tell them. Brieux also urges the requirement of health certificates of marriage, such as many clergymen now insist upon, and which, doubtless, will be made compulsory before long in many of our States. An Absurd Argument. “Brieux paints in black colours, yet is no fanatic; in fact, he will be criticised by many as being too tolerant of human weakness. The conditions of society and the moral standards of France are so different from those of America that hi? point of view and his proposals for reform will not meet with general acceptance, but it is encouraging to find a dramatist who realises the importance of being earnest, and who uses his art in defence of virtue instead of its destruction. “Whatever' one may think of the propriety or advisability of discussing such a theme upon the stage,” says the “Independent,” “there is something absurd and more than absurd in the fact that hundreds of plays are being given depicting in glowing colours the joys of licentiousness, and yet the one play which shows its dangers is prohibited.” A Flay fox- Doctors. A remarkable medical audience has already witnessed, in the United State,?, the play “Damaged Goods.” “A subscription performance was given in New York on March 14, under the auspices of the ‘Medical Review of Reviews,’ to an audience very different, but even more distinguished, than usually attends a ‘first night,’ for the-Fulton Theatre was packed with physicians, settlement workers, eugenists, philanthropists, authors, suffragists, ministers, and. university professors, about equal numbers of ladies and gentlemen. The play was introduced by the reading of Shaw's preface by the Rev. J. H. Holmes, of the Church of the Messiah. “How far they advanced the definite aim of those who were instrumental in getting the play produced — the enactment of a Federal law which shall forbid marriage .without certificates of good health from both parties—only time can tell,” says the Chicago “Dial.” “Certainly no speech received quite so much applause as the doctor’s arraignment of the old notary for investigating hie prospective son-in-law's financial and moral standing, and asking nothing about his physical health; but the applause at this point may prove only that the audience knew why it had been asked to hear the play. Whatever one may think about the advisability of producing ‘Les Avaries’ it

cannot be denied that this particular presentation was conducted with dignity and seriousness, and was admirably acted throughout, so that full justice was done to both the dramatic and the sociological values of Brieuxs play.*’ Jl The Lure of Crime—'The Good-Bad Hero. We are tilling our heads with a lot of sentimental nonsense when we take it without question that the criminal of stage and fiction and the criminal of real life are one and the same. Mr Arthur Stringer, who knows some thing about both types. having dealt with them in real -life for the sake of his fiction, declares they are about as wide apart as the poles. He finds it high time for someone to point out this fact, and to stop the stultification of one’s intelligence with such beliefs. The “crime writers." lie reminds us. have been “solemnly announcing themselves as realists." Even editors are beginning to affix footnotes to say that their crime stories are transcripts of real life. A crime novel asserts that it is an actual portrayal of police conditions. A playwright gels an ex-convict to form a member of the cast. Some of the ways in which these so-called realists fool the

gullible among us are set forth by Mr ■Stringer in the Xew York “Times’” “Review of Books”:— "I know of one novelist who describes, a safe-breaking scene wherein the mas-ter-crook attaches a wire to a chandelier and an electrode to the end of this wire, and by the deliciously naive means of a mere lighting circuit burns his way through a ponderous steel door. It would be no more ridiculous to say that he prised that door oil with his fountain pen. Another novelist with an international reputation has his villain sit on a steamer's deck and quietly read at the 'masthead an incoming wireless message. Itais of little consequence, of course, that the professional operator in the wireless room is compelled to have a microphone of the most delicate nature held close to his ear before he can even piek up that same incoming message. This same villain, I take it, could stand on the Singer Tower and hear a hairpin fall off a bureau up in Albany. An important feature in a reigning ‘realistic’ crook play is a Maxim silencer, which is used as a revolver, despite the fact that a silencer cannot be and never has been attached to a revolver. In still another Broadway sleutTi-play a woman under suspicion casually takes up a sheet of writ-ing-paper from the desk of a man mysteriously murdered. The detective on the trail of the offender holds up this sheet to the audience, showing the. finger prints thereon impressed as plainly marked as ink spots. Now, the murdered gentleman may or may not have had the hobby of inditing his correspondence on chemically sensitised note-paper. Or, on the other , hand tho lady under suspicion may have been opening a tin of printer’s Ink in ono of the rooms off-stage. But without ono of these two extremely remote contingencies the over-convenient! appearance of those nice black blots must bo accepted as either absurd or miraculous.”

No Baffles in Beal Life, These arc perhaps only absurdities showing how shallow is the author's real knowledge of crime. His portrayal of the criminal himself, Mr. Stringer avers, is a more open aud offensive sin: “ There is no such thing as a romantic criminal. By this I mean that there is no romance about professional crime. There ie no Rattles in real life. As McClusky once said down at police headquarters: ‘A crook i-s a crook at heart. Day or night, drunk or sober, he is swayed by his criminal instincts.’ “The playwright who exploits crime loves to have his hero bad only nor’ nor*east. When the wind is in the other quarter he is the gentlest of lovers and the most impeccable of characters. It is the same with the book criminal. Even his felonies are prompted by a supposedly ameliorating love of adventure. He follows the gentle art of burglary for the thrill that’s in it. He likes the game for the game’s sake. He makes housebreaking and highway robbery lose half their evil by losing all their grossnqse. He seduces you into the belief that it’s quite fit an<! proper for him to take toll of the over-jewelled ladies who are epjoying the same week-end with him in the same country house, or to exact midnight largesse from the altogether unsympathetic jeweller who has not appreciated his devil-may-care audacities, his good breeding, ami his languidly enunciated epigrams. We remember that it's only human to sympathise with the bad and tolerate the good. XVe follow our fiction-made villain through his round of denatured adventures; we feel that he is being true to some wider scheme of things than the trivial laws that he is breaking: we like to witness ■his leap through the paper hoops of the ■temporal while swayed by thinse emotions which we regard as eternal. We watch him in a pink light, or we see him stalk through his chapters like a Christy illustration, and we imagine that wc have at bust coxie face to face with th( sombre and true side of this seamy life of ours. But he's no more the real eriminal of to-day t-han is Ali Baba or Robin Hood of yesterday. And his adventures are no more actual criminal life than were the adventures of the Forty Thieves. You are really eating pink gum-drops and. from their colour, imagining them raw beef. Always a Defective. ’’ The habitual eriminal is always a defective. If he is not a weakling physically, he's a weakling mentally. His ranks are recruited from incompetents and degenerates. His mind may not differ much from the ordinary man’s in 'many respects, but it is a mind that ie either stupid and narrow on the one hand or passionate and uncontrolled on the other. He has a craving for alcohol, for drums, or for artificial and unhealthy excitement. Only too often his spirit has been further brutalised by the cruelly of gaol punishment. He is a man of no settled place of abode, no knowledge of trade, ami no desire for honest work; no technical equipment for earning his living: no place in the industrial scheme of things. He is a graduate in idleness, who will live off a woman if he is able to. blackjack an invalid if need be. sleep in vermilions lodging-houses, ami poison his own enfeebled body with fusel-oil whiskx. Inspector SchniitAbergcr once told how even Monk Eastman begged to be pul in a cell because ho didn’t have a gun and tire Kellys were after him. ' XX hen I d thrown him out of tiie station house,' Schmittberget said, ’ he slunk into a, hallway and went to his kennel by way of the roofs.’ And, as the same inspector has pointed out, tho spirit of adventure no more enters into the make-up of the East- Sale ciiniinal than does the respect for women or the will to work X- Schmittberger put it, he's usually a cadet out of work.. . . The Criminal Instinct. "The last time I was down at jmlieo headquarters I happened to see burglar who had beeonu lamons, or rather Infamous, ill the evening papers, fh's devil-may-care robber, who •• newspaper description had excited such sympathy among dove eyed ladies, wi- being put through his Identification Bureau examination, mugged and measured. I watched him take off his poor. old. runover gaping toed shoes to get ready for tho Bertillon measurements. Thera we.ro no solos or feet left to bls socks. ITo was not terrified, but Just pathetic(illy ill nourished and iil-elothed nn 1 anaemic and unclean end intnkeib

cheeked. lli*s teeth were bad and hia vapid blue eyes were foolish-looking. His whole life was foolish, just as his commitment for so many years up the river must have struck the presiding judge as foolish, if the judge was a man of thought.” This is one of the ways, as the late P. T. Barnum found out, that the public loves to ‘be footed. And we love it, adds Mr. Stringer, because “ under the veneer of civilisation exist our racial and elemental passions.” Further: — “ As Felix Adler has said, the criminal instinct is more deeply rooted than is generally imagined. In us survives an older and rebellious spirit of adventure. It crops out in childhood, when . the healthy-bodied boy aches to be a ‘pirate or a Deadwood - Dick. Then, as life becomes more restricted, we have a greater weakness for the audacity of man rebelling against powers older and greater than himself. The more we arc hemmed in by law, the more we like the man who can defy what we have to respect. The core of romance is peril. There is a zest in uncertainties. The romantic criminal unmasks our potentialities. ... In fact, nearly all the literature of the world is about its w'icked people, from Adam and Cain down to the ’ Iliad ’ and Ali .Baba and Shakespeare and Hugo and Stevenson. But there is much written about the wicked that will never be literature, and the first and greatest reason why it can’t be literature is because it isn’t true. It is neither true to humanity nor true to facts.” & Caruso Sings to 900 Convicts. ‘•Caruso in Prison” is the arresting headline in the newspapers (cabled the New York correspondent of the ‘'Daily News” one day last month). He sang last night to 900 convicts in the federal penitentiary, Atlanta, melting to tears the audience and himself. The great singer chose ‘*o Paradiso, “Ridi Pagliacci,” and one of Tosti’s ballads. Moved by hid surroundings he |hrew unusual pathos into h’is notes, afterwards declaring that he knew he never sang better in his life. Apologising for being so deeply affected, he said: "I can’t help it as I think of all these men whom the world shuts out and bars shut in. I would rather gtivo them a few moments pleasure than sing before kings.” The audience included Lupo, the wolf, many Italian ’•blackhanders,” and Julian Hawthorne, son of America’s most famous novelist. Hawthorne composed a poem for the occasion, the la«t linen being: We were men once again in a sunlit day, Sin and grief and punishment, all Were lost in that human trumpet call. How then, if such be music’s spell, Shall we doubt that (Mtrist still conquers Hell? J* Brainless Plays. M. Marcel Prevord. in a lecture, has given it as h’s opinion that women ar? responsible for most of the empty and brainless plays, or parts of plays, which arc seen on the Paris stage, .says the •’Daily News.’’ He had often remarked, he said, when he found himself near ladies at a “first night” that their remarks had generally nothing to do with the piece itself. What lie heard were such remarks as “That dr iss of Braude’s in ideal,” or “The light Spoils that blur pastel,” or “Oh. do look at that cloak which Dorziat ha.s . . .” W amen were thus responsible for most of the useless feminine roles in modern pi :ces, and for the number of empty acks in which the scene was laid at a ball or at the seaside, simply to furnish an exci.se for a great display of dresKes. They were equally responsible for the poor welcome which greeted plays rich in interest but poor in toilettes. M. Prevost described how he mice hail tlu* idea of presenting a simple bourgeois piece. At the final rehearsals he discovered that ‘the producer had had the ActresHps clothed in toO dresses, with h.its and fans on a similar acale. H<* had them all sent back, and made the company wear oimple middle-class clothing. The result was that the piece ran for twelve nights., It wits Immediately Haiti that “Prevost’r* show has no dresses in it.” ami was ennaequently ignored.

One of the moat curious yhg.raeteriatlcs of the stage, In the famous dramatist'rt opinion, in ila conception of age. People nowadays, he

says, refuse to grow old. and cited Balzac’s “old man” of forty-four, and George Saud’s aged lover of 30. He prophesies a. change, however, and even reaction. At the end of the twentieth century, he concluded, we shall have another Balzac writing a drama of pa*«rionate love, entitled “The Woman of Seventy-five.” & Jt What Theatres Want—” The Play with a Punch.” The new bee that buzzes in the bonnet of the theatrical manager is said to hum an insistent note about “the play with a punch.” “The play with a punch,” explains Mr Adolph Klauber in the New York “Times,” "is the kind that contains at least one oratorical, emotional, or extravagant period, leaving the auditor breathless when the curtain falls.” The authors may not be wholly to blame for the inconsistencies of character and plot involved in landing these “punches,” but the fact that their plays present these inconsistencies degrades them from playwrights to play-makers, asserts this writer. It is apparently only another mistaken fetish of the producer, like hbs substitution of “types” for actors, for experience is showing that “as many plays are ruined by such climaxes a.s are saved by them.” Mr Klauber goes on: “It is possible as in ‘A Bridal Path/ to produce such a sudden change of mood in an audience that what has hitherto seemed moderately agreeable and diverting becomes pallid ami unprofitable by contrast with the more highly coloured incident. And if there is only one such incident, or high point, in a play which is otherwise on the flat, it will be hardly enough to satisfy an appetite for the sensational. “The mistake is due to a misunderstanding or a complete ignorance of dramatic laws ami values. “Drama and melodrama are chiefly dependent for their effect upon the objective exposition. In fact, many such pieces might be played in pantomime and still be intelligible and interesting. “In comedy, however, the play of wit ana humour and the contrast of character and point of view are far more important than mere extraneous incident. When the play-maker, then, proceeds to pull his comic exposition apart in order to introduce the so-called ‘punch/ he is engaged in an exceedingly dangerous process. And in nine times out of ten his play falls to pieces at this very point. Worshipping a Fetish. ‘’There can be no doubt in the mind of anyone familiar with the practical workings o{ the theatre that much may be done in the way of shaping and amending the form and substance of a play in ■tho course of rehearsals. But something inoro Is necessary than the mere familiarity with pointe of favour in current successes and the reproduction of those points. ‘.’Time, and again plays are offered in which the tampering has been done without any regard for the character of the play under consideration. And in this way the insistent cry for ’the punch’ has worked no end of harm. “It is exactly at the point in which he attempts to introduce ’the punch/for example, that Mr Edward Sheldon has shot widest of the mark in his otherwise charmingly conceived and beautifully •written play, Romance/ But there is here less obvious violence and a lesser sense of the making of a climax without respect to what has been developed previously. “And, after all, though it i.s true that several plays containing the big, forceful scene, ‘the punch/ in fact, have been unusually successful, it is equally true that its absence has not prevented a success in other cases. “Is there a ‘punch* in ‘Milestones?’ “Is there a ’punch’ in ’Years of Discretion?* “Certainly not what the average producer won hl regard as such. “A punch, yen. but not represented in violent incident. The punch of these plays consists in their naturally human qualities, in their consistent development. “Tho freshest inspiration this season ha« shown, yes, several seasons, is found in ‘The Poor Lillie Rich .Girl/ , And tjie public liken iL The public in pcmsibly larger Bumpers than have any Belastm production in yeu(s is',rushing to see ‘Years of Discretion.’ That same public has been liberal in it« patronage

of ‘Milestones,’ and its long London run is a matter of common knowledge. "It will be a good thing when our playmakers and our producers stop worshipping this recently-discovered fetish of •the punch.’ Let them strive a little more for plausibility and consistency. And it’s dollars to a pass-out check that they will find it more profitable in the long run, and—in long runs.” The Early Days of the Stage. Reverting to the musical advertisement which took the place of the playbill and the newspaper in the early stage days in England, some actors resented the musical preface to their efforts. It is on record that the Lincolnshire company of players considered it both objectionable and derogatory. They therefore determined on one of their visits to Grantham to dispense with the old-estab-lished sounds. Thereupon, the "revered, well-remembered, and beloved Marquis of Granby” sent for the manager of the ■troupe and thus addressed him:—“Mr Manager, I like a play, I like a player, and shall be glad to serve you. But. my good friend, why are you all so offended at and adverse to the noble sound of a drum? I like it, and all the inhabitants like it. Put my name on your playbill, provided you drum, but not otherwise. Try the effect to-morrow night; if then you are as thinly attended as you have lately been, shut up your playhouse at once; but if you succeed drum away.” The players withdrew their opposition, and followed the counsel of the Marquis. The musical prelude was again heard in the streets of Grantham, and crowded houses \ygre obtained. It is rather interesting to note that with the rise and growth of the Press in England came the expediency of advertising the performances of the theatres in the columns of the newspapers. Today the theatre, being a commercial enterprise, the advertising account figures largely in the expenses sheet. But of old the position .was the reverse. So far from the manager paying for the insertion of his advertisements, he absolutely received profits from this source. In 1721 the following appeared in the. London “Daily Post”: —"The managers of Drury Lane think it proper to give notice that advertisements of their plays by authority are published only in this paper and in the ‘Daily Courant,’ and that the publishers of all other papers who insert advertisements of the same plays can do it only by some surreptitious intelligence or hearsay, which frequently leads them to commit gross errors, as mentioning one play for another, falsely representing the parts, etc., to the misinformation of the town, and. the great detriment of the said theatre.” And the chronicler adds: —“It is clear that the science of advertising was but dimly understood at this date.” “ Star ” in Five Minutes. In the search for talent for the stage no London manager has made such successful efforts as Mr George Edwardes, and in an interview he disclosed the discovery of an unknown artist who will, he says, “rank with the greatest singer or actress presented at any time under my management. “She knew no one in anv theatre, man-

ager or player, until she walked into my office one day about seven or eight weeks ago and said that she had heard that Mr Edwardes wanted someone who could speak Italian to play a |r.irt. “Five minutes later, when she stood on the stage at Daly’s Theatre —the first time she had ever looked across the footlights—the workpeople in the house, who rarely take notice of a voice trial or a rehearsal, stopped and listened to the young artist with a most wonderful voice, whose name even I did not know. The result of that interview was that she secured the consent of her friends to go on the stage, and I am now having her trained in dancing, singing, fencing, and elocution. Before the end of a year she will appear as the “star” in a new play in one of my London theatre.?, and her name will be Louise Duval.” ‘ J* Women Composers. Dr. Ethel Smyth, tiie militant suffragist, has been saying various hard things about mere men’s attitude to women composers. Among other sitings, she alleged that women’s musical work is thought lightly of, simply because it is women’s. Therefore, the distinguished composer of “The Wreckers” has been given a lecture by a smart London musical journal. The writer pointed out with justice that of two works of equal merit and attraction, that by a woman would be received the better, because of its comparative rarity. Further, tlie writer stated that in the matter of light songwriting, where gracefulness is the chief desideratum, women hold their own, and that tlie number of male composers of this type of art form do not compare particularly favourably with the names of

Chaminade, Daisy M’Geogh, DorothyForster, Guy d’Hardelot. Maude Valerie - White; Teresa del Riego, Florence Aylward, Ellen CowdMl, Biza Lehmann, Isabel Hearne, Olive Linnell, and Amy Woodforde Finden. It was also pointed out that with the exception of Mlle. Chaminade, none of the ladies named have shown any special aptitude for "writing pianoforte pieces, while in the higher realms of art, Dr. Smyth herself stands almost alone. The writer then ended with the following neat tilt against the suffragettes: — “Rut a lady who indulges in militant suffragism must necessarily be imbued with a masculinity quite abnormal in the gentler sex. There, possibly, is cause and effect, though it is a point which we . suggest somewhat timidly. For it would imply that to be a strong composer a woman must be a suffragist, and ■we do not desire to hold out any- extra inducement to the suffragist cause. We should prefer to think that there is nothing in common between votes and notes.” “ Midsummer Night's Dream. ' A grand production of Shakespeare’s "Midsummer Night’s Dream,” coupled with Mendelssohn’s delightful music, will be given in the Town Hall on Thursday, June 19th. Professor Maxwell Walker and Mr Thomas Harris are responsible for the literary- and elocutionary section, and a tine east of characters has been secured. Herr Johann Wielaert has under his baton the members of the Auckland Orchestral Society, and a select chorus of ladies* voices. The popular "Over Hill, Over Dale” and “I Know a Dank” will also be rendered. Altogether this production promises to be a most successful and novel event. The Globe Theatre. Moving pictures at the Globe Theatre have attracted large audiences during the past week. The entertainment at this theatre can always be relied upon; the programme always contains something worth while. “ The Monk and the Woman.” The author of "The -Monk and the Woman,” which was produced with conspicuous success at His Majesty’s Theatre on Monday night, under Mr. George Marlow s auspices, has not troubled to enlighten’ the (theatrfe-going. public as to what century his plot is laid in, or in what country all its stirring incidents occur. It might be the fifteenth century from the costuming. of the actors; in France for the names of the characters; ami in Naples for the terrible eruption that overwhelms the royal palace (of anywhere), and destroys all those wicked individuals who sought to disturb the course of true love. Apparently the piece is supposed to be a story of France, and the volcano that belches fire and brimstone in the last act is specially transplanted by a wrathful ■Providence to confound the man who declares when he finds his prey taken from him that he cares for neither God nor man. The tableau that follows is appalling. "The Monk anjl the Woman” is not an ordinary melodrama, however. It is considerably higher in the dramatic deale, and, to the right kind of audience, offers all the orthodox attractions of sentiment. intrigue, cruelty, lust, and slaughter, while the monastic touches possess some stage novelty. The play- concerns the passion of the king for a young lady of the Court named Liane. She escapes, and takes refuge in a monastery, where she is overtaken by Henri de Montrale, the king's favourite and a conspirator for the throne. Incidentally, he, too, has an appreciative eye for the charms of Liane. -She is kept prisoner in the monastery, and a young novice named Paul is set to guard her. He falls a victim to her charms, losing much of his peace of mind in the process, and eventually becomes her champion and rescuer. In an impossible wedding scene he impersonates de Montrale, and is married to All the monks are thereupon sentenced to death. The king’s mistress. Mme. de Vigne, however, acts the good fairy, sets Paul free, and is killed by the conspirators, who finally and in turn fall victims to the earthquake and eruption. The play was well acted, and, aided by good acenery and effective costuming,' a thoroughly successful performance resulted. •'The 'Monk and the Woman” will be staged nightly Until further notice.

Stray Note*. Mr Augiuste van Biene, described in his will as an "actor-musician,” who is remembered for his 6,000 appearances in “The Broken Melody,” and who died suddenly at Brighton Hippodrome on January 23, left estate of the value of £228. "A Woman of Impulse,” a London success, will be the main drawing eard through New Zealand of the HaaniltonPlimmer Dramatic Company’s tour. This play has scored in Sydney and Melbourne, which demonstrates forcibly that it is adapted for Australasian audiences as well as the London theatre-going public— not always the case. The “Melbourne Age” of May Sth said, in the course of a very flattering criticism: — "There is much to be said for the drama of Mr Victor Widnell. It is crowded with incident, and affords scope for the display of every kind of emotion —from grave to gay, and from lively to sincere. If it did nothing else it Would be worth seeing, for the opportunity it affords to almost every one of the members of the present company.” People always laugh at me when I assure them that Hamlet was a fat man (writes H. C. Ferraby, in the London “Daily Express”). They think I want to be original, wlrereas in point of fact, all I want to do is to be accurate. The traditional Hamlet of our stage is a lean, ascetic young person, an idealised, etherealised, heroic creature, evolved for the delectation of the matinee girl. He is a horrid sham. Is it creditable that such a man would have lacked the determination, the purposefulness to put his revenge into operation pat upon the discovery? It is all very well to argue about his mental balance; it was his sluggish liver that stayed him and hampered him. Mr Ferraby proceeds to quote from the play itself in proof of his contention, and proceeds: "Not merely do we learn that Hamlet was'a fat man, but also that he was an unhappy fat man. .Some there be, like Falstaff, that are jovial, hearty spirits with their fat, but Hamlet was a man to whom his bulk was an affliction. He was handicapped by it, and knew that he was. Some such idea is discernible in every one of the great soliloquies.” Chief among the novelties at the London Coliseum is a modern Morality play, entitled “Everywife,” which comes from the United States. It is quite a serious affair, and the lesson to be drawn from it is of the most edifying description. Symbolism is, of course, used as a mantle to cover the characters and the incidents of everyday life. Thus, in place of hero and heroine, you have Everyhusband and Everywife, who have Happiness for their serving-maid. Unfortunately, Everyhusband falls under the influence of Rhyme, a motley’ jester, who tempts him into devious paths, much to the indignation of Reason, whose excellent counsels are swept aside. The final touch is put to the situation by the appearance of Jealousy, a fascinating lady in a green gown, with the result that Happiness promptly’ gives notice and betakes herself elsewhere. The sequel shows Every husband's headlong plunge into dissipation, and subsequent return to the domesticity’ of his own fireside, a better and a wiser man. Mr. Charles Frohman states that the largest financial success this season of all plays throughout America is “Peter Pan,” with Maude Adams. Another extraordinary financial success is Pinero's “Th% ‘Mind the Paint’ Girl,” with Billie Burke in the title role. Then there are “The Perplexed Husband,” with John Drew; “The Sunshine Girl,” with Julia Sanderson; the revival of “Liberty Hall,” and “Bella Donna,” with Nazimova. “These are among the New’ York season’s big successes outside of American plays. In New York itself a great many new theatres have gone up, and a great many old ones are going down rapidly. For London,” he announces, “I have A ears of Discretion,' which I propose to produce in the autumn. I have J. M. Barrie's full evening’s play, 'The Legend of Leonora,’ ami something else that I am not going to tell you about, and a new play by Haddon Chambers. W. Somerset Maugham, I am delighted to say, is at work on a new play. Mr. Maugham came to America to write an English play’. I also have a new comedy by William Gillette.” The name part of "A Woman of Impulse,” one of the llaniilton-Plimmer Company’s productions for their forthcoming season here, which commences on August 4, will be taken by Miss Beatrice Day, who has recently made a great hit as Lady Im ng ford —that is her character—in Sydney and Melbourne. Mrs Robert Brough, Messrs H. R.

Roberts, Harry Plimmer, Winter Hail, /Sydney Stirling, Arthur Styan, and the rest of this company are cast .in roles that are said to suit them, individually, to perfection. J. C. Williamson, Ltd., has secured a two years’ extension of the lease of the Opera House in Wellington. This will mean that next year both the “Grand”, and the Opera Houfte will be under lease to the “firm.” Miss May Wirth, the well-known Australian circus racer, and now in a big feature act with the Barnum and Bailey shows in America, was rather seriously injured at Brooklyn. New York, in April. Miss Wirth had finished her act, and was bowing, when her foot slipped ami caught in a rojie stirrup used by the attendants who take part in the act. Miss Wirth's Arabian horse .Juno, usually very’ quiet, shied and galloped round the ring. Before he was stopped, Miss Wirth had been dragged a considerable distance, and although badly hurt, no bones were broken. When the ’mail Je>ft it was expected that Miss Wirth would be laid aside for two or three weeks. An unusual number of new pieces have failed during the first quarter of the year in London, and thiis fact probably accounts for the revival of several eucceesful plays of a past generation. One of these is Pinero’s early effort. “The Schoolmistress.” with Winifred Lmery in the name-part, a character which has been played both by Maggie Moore and Mi’S Brough. The London cast brought forward Dion G. Boucicault as Vereker, the impecunious, supper-giving little husband of the schoolmistress, and it is interesting to note that the actor played the same part in Australia nearly 20 years ago. On March 26 “Diplomacy” was revived at Wyndham’s Theatre. The Bancrofts originally produced Sardou’s comedy-drama in 1878, with Mrs Kendal as Dora. The play has now been superficially modernised, with references to taxi cabs and telephones, and the abolition of soliloquies. But in effect it remains the same “well-made play of Sardou," and the up-to-date critics, whilst apologising for it on that account, have been forced to record an astonishing success with the audience. Miss Gladys Cooper as Dora, Mr Owen Nares as the husband (.Julian), Mr Gerald du Maurier as Henry Beauclerc, Mr Norman Forbes as Baron Stein, Mies Ellis Jeffreys as Countess Zicka. and Mr Arthur Wontner as Orloff, are described as carrying all before them. Sir Herbert Tree has produced “The Happy Island*’ at Her Majesty’s, a poor kind of piece adapted from the Hungarian. “Vigorous colouring, variegated lights, dancing natives, and a general air of pantomime represented the South Sea Island, where fortunes were made in radium.” The “Westminster Gazette” sums up the whole thing as “rubbish”: other papers let it down very gently indeed, or praise it altoget her. “Within the Law.” at Melbourne Theatre Royal, has broken all records for drama under the J. C. Williamson management. With the exception of •that put up by “The Whip” at Her Majesty's Theatre, the bidding capacity of which theatre is much larger than that, of the Theatre Royal. There is every probability that the phenomenal success

of the play will continue, and that the Reason wilt be numbered amongst the most brilliant the firm has yet ex perienced. The return of Caruho to Covcnt Garden, after an absence of some years, is one of the features of the present grand opera season in London. He is said to be receiving £5OO a night. Three new operas will be amongst those produced —Charpentier's “Julien” (the sequel to “Louise”), and two by unknown composers, Camussi's “La du Barry” and von Waiterhausen’s “Oberst Chabert,” both recent Continental successes. “La du Barry,” whose composer is looked upon as a coming man in his own country, was produced at Milan last autumn, and was enthusiastically revived. “Oberst Chabert,” which its composer describes as a “music tragedy,” has a libretto adapted from Balzac's novel. “La Comtesse a deux Maris.” In addition to Caruso, the principals will include favourite artists as Melba, Destinn, Kirkby Lunn. Martinelli, McCormack, Sammarcd, Scotti, ami Van Rooy. The “Ring” performances will be given in “festival” form—that is to say, there will be long intervals between each act, and the performances will commence in the afternoon at 5 o'clock ami 4.30, except for Between the second and third acts the interval will be an hour and a half, to allow the audience to got dinner in comfort. The subscription list for seats for the season is larger this year than it has ever been before.