The Stage.

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, Volume VIII, Issue 4, 1 July 1903, Page 308

The Stage.

By S. E. G-KEVILLE-SMITH,

fHE sacred lamp of farcical comedy has been raised again in New Zealand by Mr. J. 0. Williamson, with the cordial approbation of the great body of playgoers. The endless controversy concerning the stage and its " mission " is kept going mainly by good people who believe [that actors ought to be teachers of morals and religion, but the average healthy mind is quite content with the mummer who whips the follies of the age and inculcates the spirit of manliness in mirthful mood. All good comedy, from the days of Aristophanes, is sauced with satire, and salted with wit. But do we really draw less of the wisdom that keeps the world in equipoise from " The Merry Wives of Windsor " than from " Hamlet " 1 or from " Tartuffe " than from " Cinna " ? or from " Are You a Mason ? " than from (let us say) " The Christian " ? Not less, I dare affirm, but more. I do not undervalue the special uses of tragedy, which is the most consummate form of poetry, nor even of melodrama, which appeals to a class insensible to other forms of art, but for that vast indeterminate group which, knowingly or unknowingly, and in widely varying degrees, is animated by the spirit that dwelt in Horace and Montaigne, the comedy is the thing. Only unofficially, so toi say, do we know how universal is the geist of that superlative writer of comedy, the Cure of Meudon. And Don Quixote ! " God bless the man who first invented " the Knight of La Mancha ! For the Reverend Robert Spaulding and all the other mock heroic figures of the comic dramas

of to-day are mere antitypes. Let us, then, comfort ourselves with the reflection that in laughing at somedy we are not wasting precious time that should be devoted to the development of our moral and intellectual character, but really putting it to the best possible use. It is, of course, one thing to write a good comedy, and quite another thing to find its proper interpreters. And it is here that Mr. Williamson lays his heaviest debt upon us. He never sends a strong man's part in charge of a weakling. He lent us Mr. Cuyler Hastings with "Sherlock Holmes," and with " Are You a Mason ? " he gives us the brilliant actor who created the part of Amos Bloodgood at the Shaftesbury Theatre. Moreover, he has provided Mr. George Giddens with excellent support. "In some respects," Mr. Giddens tells me, " the present cast, is superior to that at the Shaftesbury." What more can we want ? We may crow about our superiority to the Mother of Nations in politics, but we do not as yet pretend that we can lead London in the fine arts. When one gets to know something of the intimate life of actors, one is struck by the number whose talent has germinated in a lawyer's office. Mr. Giddens is one of these. Born in the famous year of '55, in a staid church-going family belonging to Berkshire, he was early put to the study of the law by an uncle, in whose eyes the stage was but one of the toboggan slides to A vermis. Like his ultimate forefather, he probably longed for the forbidden fruit, or possibly it was a reversion to some forgotten Bohemian strain in his blood. Anyhow, he got into an

amateur dramatic club, and played, as many of we others have played, for pastime in the cause of charity. Amongst his friends was Sir Charles (then Mr.) Wyndham, and the rising actor, who saw him perform, put it to him that he ought to go on the stage. He even offered to find him an engagement. Young Giddens was fired with the idea, and having, with the utmost difficulty, and Mr. Wyndham' s aid, over-

come the opposition of his mother and uncle, he joined a company at Edinburgh, under the management of Mrs. Wyndham (in no way related to Sir Charles), whose maiden name was Eose Saker, a daughter of the well-known actor Horatio Saker, an associate of the famous Charles Kean. The salary was 15s. a week, and upon this, by dint of anxious economy, he lived for nearly a year, lodging with a fellow-actor since

become familiar to Colonials, Mr. George Anson. The salary of the latter was at that time a guinea a week, a sum which to young Giddens' vision seemed the income of a prince. Mr. Giddens says he has never regretted those days, hard as the work was, and meagre as was the living. In three years, rising step by step, he was playing low comedy parts with Lady Don (another old-time Australian favourite) at Nottingham, and while there received an offer from Sir

Charles Wyndham to go with a comedy company to America. Re accepted, and remained in the States for six years, playing with stock companies in New York, Chicago and San Francisco. From 'Frisco he accompanied the Californian Diamond to Australia and New Zealand, in the late 'Seventies. The visit extended over twelve months, but the impressions he received then have been completely shattered by the -experiences of the present four, so greatly has every-

thing in the Colonies changed. Hence Mr. Giddens returned to London, to Mr. Wyndham's theatre, where for the following four years he shared in all the successes that have made the Criterion famous. How the mere names of some of the long catalogue of plays stir the memory. " Pink Dominoes," " Truth," " Betsey," " Where's the Cat," " The Great Divorce," 'Tourteen Days," " Brighton," " Little Miss Miiffet," " Man with Three

Wives/ " The Candidate/ " Wild Oats/ " David Garrick," " Ceuano," and the classical comedies of Sheridan, Goldsmith, &c. During, his connection with Sir Charles Wyndham, Mr. Giddens made two more trips to America. He was afterwards three years at the Vaudeville, where he created the part of Pinglet, in " A Night Out," now called " Oh, What a Night ! " He first played the part of Bloodgood, in " Are You a Mason ? " at -thle

Shaftesbury, as already noted, finishing there last Easter twelvemonths. He was next at the Haymarket, taking part in Mr. Cyril Maude's successful revival of " Caste." The array of talent was disposed thus : — Esther, Miss Winnifred Emery ; Polly, Miss Marie Tempest ; Marquise de Saint Maur, Miss Genevieve Ward ; Hawtrey, Mr. Brandon Thomas ; Eccles, Mr. Maude, and Sam Gerridge, Mr.

Giddens — a genuine star cast ! Subsequently, Mr. Giddens took the honour and glory, and likewise the cares and anxieties of management on his own shoulders. He opened at the Royalty, and produced " Sporting Simpson," " Milky White/ and a piece by Anstey (of "• Punch ") called " Lyre and Lancet." The season,, whatever else it was, turned out a success artistically, and when it was over Mr.

Giddens closed with an offer made some sime previously by Mr. Williamson to come out here. Mr. Giddens' career has been that of a comedian, and he has wrought at his art with the zeal that only springs from a true affection, for the work. No finer exponent of the lighter side of the drama has ever visited us. Many of the characters that have, in less able hands, brought tears of laughter to oar cheeks were "created" by Mr.. Giddens, and we can only regret

that we shall see) him in so few. Mr. Giddens is accompanied by his wife, who acts with much distinction under the name of Miss Drew. It is pleasant to be able to add that Mr. Giddens' uncle lived long enough to see his " prodigal " achieve a goodly measure of fame and men's respect. Mr. Cecil Ward, who so admirably plays second to Mr. Giddens, is too well known to us all to need anything in the shape of biography. For sixteen years and more he has

worked ceaselessly at his profession in these Colonies, mostly as a member of the Brough Company. Four names must for many a year represent for us. the standard in light comedy, and these are Robert Brough, " Dot " Boucicault, George Titheradge and Cecil W r ard. Mr. Jarman, the stage manager, is an actor with a wide London experience, and the ladies of the Company have all obtained warm recogr nition at the hands of West End audiences. Miss Munro and Miss

Mollison have done the most work, but it has been the unique experience of Miss Beatty-Kingston to play the part of Sir Henry Irving' s sweetheart in Sardou's play " Robespierre/ Some of the younger male members are Colonial, and worthy representatives of the new school. The management of Mr. Williamson's Companies is invariably placed in worthy hands, and Mr. Harold Ashton and Mr. Bert Royle abundantly sustain the traditions of their chief.