The Stage.

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, Volume VII, Issue 6, 1 March 1903, Page 482

The Stage.

By S. E. GBEVILLE- SMITH

'$MjM*R " CUYLER HASTINGS, j^mlm/Mil G y° un §" American 3lnWn\l ac ' tor ' an d the company £^(Sj^A. supporting him have been --B^3-5-- making a triumphal progress through the colony. They have brought something wholly new with them, and their mode of representation also is not without originality. What specially dif-

ferentiates the plays produced under the direction of entrepreneurs like Mr J. C. Williamson from those of the ordinary type is their completeness. Not only are the leading roles filled by artists, hut the parts of the footman, the errand boy, the paltriest accomplice of the villain,

the maid- servant and the nondescript personages who merely walk on and oft', are taken by actors and actresses who can, and on occasion do, perform work of much higher importance. Further, the scenery and mechanical effects actually fulfil the requirements of the playwright, by completing the illusion and inducing- a momentary belief in the reality of the life behind the footlights. The involuntary indications of fear, apprehension and relief, the deep inspiration, the faint shudder, and the sighs of varying degrees of duration, form the beat tribute of audiences not easily moved, not quite uncynical, and certainly not uncritical. " Sherlock Holmes " would be interesting as an ordinary melodrama acted by a .scratch company, but it would not draw the quality of audience that Mr Gillette and Mr Hastings can command. In the story of the ;-ad scamp, Francois Villon, whose life and adventures are idealised by Mr Justin Huntly McCarthy, the Company are seen in a fitter setting, one according more with their degree of excellence ; yet Villon does not excel Holmes in point of interest, the interest that absorbs. The words are better, the ideas are grander, the ideals are nobler, the atmosphere is not so essentially sordid in the one play as in the other, while the love story is .Infinitely more natural, more captivating-. But Holmes is of our day, and that fact ensnares our sympathy. " Secret Service " is a striking incident in the great Civil War in America. Love and war, these are the themes that discover the greatest charm for us, and Mr

Hastings and his Company know how to make the story live before our eyes. Mr Hastings is surmorted by a company that responds to every call upon them. It is impossible to appreciate them at their real value without seeing them in every play. No one who had observed Miss Chevalier in " Sherlock

adequate conception of the delicate power she wields as Katherine in "If I Were King/ And so with the others. Mr Atholwood, as the crafty Louis XI., seems to have stepped out of the pages of " Quentin Durward," closely followed by the barber - courtier Olivier de Dam.

Holmes " only could form any

In this number are reproduced the

portraits of the leading members of the Company, and some outlines of their biography will be appropriate. Mr Hastings is a native of Toronto (Canada), where he was called to the bar in 1890, but he has never practised. Adopting the stage as a profession he has played all sorts of parts under the leading managers of America, and was specially selected by Mr Gillette for the roles

in which Aucklanders have been privileged to see him.

Miss May Chevalier, the leading lady, came out to Australia under engagement to Mr J. G. Williamson for the " Ben Hur " production. When seen by Mr Williamson in England, she was playing the part of Mrs Dane in " Mrs Dane's Defence," having been specially chosen for the part by the author,

Mr H. A. Jones. Miss Chevalier has had a varied experience, ranging from Shakespeare to broad farce. She has played under the management of the Messrs Gatti, of the Adelphi, Mr Charles Frohman, Mr George Edwardes, Mr Charles Wyndham and at Drury Lane.

old English comedy, and the leading parts in dramas such as "Called Back/ "Alone in London " and " The Woman of the People/ Joining Mr Penley, she played leading parts in " Charley's Aunt " and other comedies of that school, and afterwards toured South Africa with Mr George Edwardes in " Under the Eed Robe," " Settled Out of Court," etc. Returning to England, she created the leading part in " The Blind Witness." Since then Miss

Miss Mabel Lane, another member of the " Ben Hur " cast, is a young Victorian who studied and began her professional career in England in Miss Sarah Thome's Company, with whom she played a round of

Lane has played Queen Elizabeth with Mr Fred Wyndham's Company in " Kenilworth/' and in many other parts before returning to Australia last year. Miss Lane io singularly gifted, and is still in the springtide of her career.

She has played with Mr Irving and her aunt in " Olivia " and " Charles 1./' with Mr Charles Wyndham in " The Silent Battle/ and with Mr and Mrs Kendal in "A White Lie " and " The Pharisee." She created the principal part in " Booties' Baby/ and after . a period of study in France she returned to play in " The Adventures of Lady Ursula/ " Sweet Lavender," and Shakesperian and other old English comedy. Her " Sweet Anne Page" is a most delightful memory. Before leaving England

Miss Minnie Terry, whose sympathetic acting has so won the hearts of New Zealand playgoers, belongs to the gifted family which has Ellen Terry for its chief glory. Miss Minnie Terry is a niece of the great actress, and the stage has been her home since she could walk.

for Australia she played with Mrs Langtry in " The Regenerates." Mr J. B. Atholwood is an Australian actor, a pupil of the veteran William Hoskina 1 , and trained in the good school of William Holloway. He is of the band of youngsters who played in the 'eighties with Essie Jenyns. Richard Stewart (now Mr Williamson's business manager) was another, and they have all done well. Mr Atholwood is one of the be.st character actors the colonial staGe

has ever seen, and for the last five years he has filled that post with Mr Williamson. He was in New Zealand with the " Siprn of the Cross," with Nance O'Neill, Wilsrm Barrett, and was also a member of Mr George Darren" s " SunnySouth " Company. He has numberless triumphs before him. Mr Hamilton- Stewart, also a member of the " Ben Hur " Company, is a young actor of great promise, who has evinced a decided talent for " villainy/ in which he

has shone in almost every successful drama during the past dozsn years. Perhaps his greatest success was in the Drury Lane production, " The Price of Peace." Before coming to Australia he played at the Hay market, under the management of Messrs Harrison and Maude, the part of Lieut. -Col. Anstruther, in Captain Marshall's play, " The Second in Command." He has also acted under the aegis of Mr Chas. Frohman, the Messrs Gatti, Mr

Edwardes and tlie late Sir Augustus Harris. Mr Lumsden-Hare is a handsome young Irishman, from Dublin, now in his twenty -seventh year, with a bright career ahead. His familywanted to make a doctor of him, but his first love was the sea. Then at 'Frisco he became enamoured of the stage, and played at the Alcazar Theatre in small parts. Jteturaiing home, he went with his brother (-now a doctor) to St.

Thomas' Hospital, where he acquired the knowledge that fits him so well for " Dr. Watson's " part. Since his return to the stage he lias played a variety of parts. That of the Colour-Sergeant, in " One of the Best/ was created by him. For eighteen months he was leading man at the Pavilion, where lie whs engaged for Australia.

peared in a round of comedy parts at the leading London theatres, his last before leaving England being in Charles Hawtrey's " The Man from. Blankley's." Mr Frank Hollins was with Mr Forbes Robertson's Shakesperian Company when he was engaged by Mr Williamson for " Dnisus," the light comedy part in " Ben Hur,"

Mr Edmund Gwenn is an actor to whom nothing comes amiss. He has played pantaloon, and he has taken Cassius in " Julius Caesar."

After trying experiences in the English provinces, where the " ghost " walked with much uncertainty, Mr Gwenn got his chance with Mr Weedon Grossmith, and played for a year in " The New Boy." Next,, under Edmund Tearle, he played no less than forty Shakesperian characters. Since then he has ap-

and he has proved the wisdom of the choice by his spirited impersonation of Noel de Jolys in " If I Were King." Mr Hollins has played in most of the successful modern comedies, including " Our Boys/ in which, under Mr Thomas Thorn©, he appeared as Charlie Middlewick.

It may be of interest to the ladies to know that in private life Miss Chevalier is Mrs Hamilton Stewart, and Miss Minnie Terry is Mrs Edmund Gwenn.

Probably there are no faces more familiar to the English people than that of the great Queen of Song, who has just completed a hurried tour of the Colony in pursuance pf a promise made some time ago. Her genius has made her kin to the whole race, and pictures of her are prized alike in the mansion and the cottage. Nevertheless, it has been considered fitting that the number of this magazine issued at a time made memorable by the diva's

visit should embrace some souvenir of the occasion. Our portrait is one of the latest. The season, short as it was, and confined to the principal centres of population, was unequalled in brilliancy, and such that no memories of the past can challenge. Melba simply demonstrated to stay-at-home New Zealanders, what the human voice can do under the fairest conditions granted by nature, genius, and consummate culture.