THE STAGE

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XII, Issue 707, 24 September 1903, Page 18

THE STAGE

HIS MAJESTY’S THEATRE

“ THE LADY SLAVEY.” The welcome reappearance of that consummate comedian John F. Sheridan was signalised by a packed house, and the vast audience, after chortling with delight for what appeared to them to be about an hour and a-half, were surprised on emerging from the theatre in the rain to note that the hands of the Exchange clock pointed to eleven .' The “Slavey" has been a complete and pronounced success, and serves to confirm the lor.*gesltablished opinion that Mr Sheridan is not only an exceptionally clever artist B himself, but that he possesses the some- ™ what rare faculty of being able to select and train a company that shall act up To him and with him, and not merely serve as a foil to his own personality. The plot of “The (Lady Slavey” has alj ready been given sufficient fulness in a previous issue. Its tissue is slight, but amply sufficient to make the play interesting and homogeneous, while its elasticity admits of the inclusion of extraordinary variety.- Pure comedy, little spots of drama, plenty of bright and tuneful singing, are bound up with the. pleasantest features of the ballet and pantomime, while the mise en scene is something more than sumptuous. Even Mr Williamson and Mr Musgrove give us nothing finer or more appropriate in the shape of scenery and dresses than Mr Sheridan has brought with him. As to the personnel of the comedy it may be said without hesitation that there are [no obtrusively weak points. It would Ihimply no demand for allowances if one Bvere told that the piece had been writHen* and composed for its present exponents. So far as Mr Sheridan himself concerned it is impossible to believe anybody could play the bailiff than he plays it. It is one of the exuberantly funny parts in the whole range of musical comedy, and the peculiar thing about it is that the actor himself seems to be utterly unconscious of the fact that he is amusing—a characteristic, alas, that is rare in these | days. Roberts, the bailiff, whether in I-his own greasy, second-hand slops, in kthe ill-fitting . togs of the flunkey, or in Tthe egregious ge't-up of the bogus fills the public eye with tears of laughter. His songs, “The Tears Rolled Down His Cheek” and J “The Big Boss Dude from Ohio,” bring hiisk memories of the days when there weve such people as comic minstrels. W1 at a corner-man Johnny would have made when Campbell and Emery, and Rockefeller and Brabm used to do the serious business ! However, the bailiff is much better than a corner-man. Miss Mavis is a quite too delightful Slavev, and the Chicago Millionaire would be quite unworthy of his nation and progenitors if he did not see through the disguise straight off. Miss Mavis is one

of the sprightliest soubrettes on the Colonial stage, and she possesses a sweet and effective voice that is heard with striking effect in a couple of pretty ballads and a duet. Miss Heba Barlow’s Flo Honeydew, “from the Empire,” is also a dainty bit of characterisation, and this little lady has a special talent for' dancing. Mr Wentworth plays a broken military man acting as a bailiff, and makes a capital second to Roberts. Mr Needham is more than good as the embarrassed Major, and the role of the Millionaire is well-sustained by Mr Sidney Carden, a tenor with a fresh, strong voice and the sense to use it well. His solo “In Friendship’s Name.” is a genuine success. The limp johnny, Lord Lavender, who comes to heel when Miss Lavender whistles, is a part in which Mr Curran evidently takes great delighl. So consistent is he on the whole, that it is almost a pity to ask him to sing a weepful, George Deanesque ditty like “That’s Why 1 Went to the War.” There are lots of others all good and much too numerous to mention, including the fairy “Criterion Dancers,” but a word must be said about “Little Gulliver,” the Lion Comique from Lilliput. His pneumatic nibs bounces over the stage in the most grotesque of all possible dances, and sings the quaintest of topical songs in a voice that would make a Kukuburra die of envy. If you want something to cheer you up after reading the Parliamentary debates, you should certainly go and see “ The Lady Slavey.”

“ MRS DOOLEY’S LITTLE JOKE.”

This is the comedy that is to follow “ The Lady Slavey ” on Saturday. To give a joke away is bad policy, but for the benefit of those who may suspect Mr Sheridan of having one at their expense it may be explained that it refers chiefly to a man who had a rooted aversion to mothersrin-law, and much as he loved his wife, he had the conviction that she had no business to have a mother, or, if she had, she should keep her at a distance. So the wife and a friend invented “ Mrs Dooley,” who came, saw, and conquered, and turned out to be just the sort of mother-in-law the man wanted.

OPERA HOUSE.

THE WOODS-WILLIAMSON COMPANY. This indefatigable combination has presented two more powerful plays, both from the facile pen of Miss Williamson, during the week. The first of these was an adaptation of Hall Caine’s famous novel, “ The Manxman,” produced under the somewhat more appropriate title of “ A Woman’s Sin.” The drama was, admirably interpreted, not only by the leading artists, who made splendid use of the fine material to hand, but by every member in the exceptionally long cast.

Mr Woods’ Pete Quilliam served to show this clever and versatile actor at his best, while Miss Williamson’s delineation of the unhappy woman, more sinned against than sinning, was strikingly beautiful. On Saturday the ’company staged “ Barabbas,” Marie Corelli’s daringromance. The subject is one that calls for the utmost delicacy of treatment, and the dramatist has followed the novelist in her skilful avoidance of pitfalls. It is rare that any play of the dimensions of “ Barabbas ” is staged, still more seldom that it can be reckoned a success. It implies no light praise, therefore, when it is conceded that the Woods-Williamson production thoroughly satisfied the large audiences that have assembled to witness it. Barabbas, as all readers know, is not exactly the kind of person he is depicted in the Scripture. In the play he is what is called “ manly,” and therefore popular with the audience. Mr Woods makes him a conspicuous success. Miss Williamson gives another fine dramatic portrait of Judith, sister of Judas, and the other parts are played with care, and even with some degree of brilliancy. In particular may be mentioned the Pilot of Mr Buckler, the Caraphas of Mr Boothman, the Hanan of Mr Beaumont, and the Claudia of Miss Nita Steele. The action of the play is carried out with great skill, - and the scenery and mounting- are, as already hinted, admirable.

THE CITY HALL

FULLER’S ENTERTAINERS. Mr John Fidler’s people are still keeping up the steady flow of melody and mirth at the old home of vaudeville. There are constant changes in music and faces, and if John keeps on at thisi policy (which gives immense satisfaction, by the way) he will be fairly entitled to call his show the “ Living Kaleidoscope,” or something equally appropriate. The latest attraction is Miss May Fuller, a charming serio-comic singer, but as things are she will soon become by comparison an old identity. The present programme is particularly sparkling, and embraces the most successful efforts! of the

Mintons, the Driscoll Boys, the Dashing Elmores, Bob Bell, Hugo Lear, Miss Annie Kinnaird, and Mr Fuller himself, who remains, as he always was, first favourite. At the enterprising manager’s popular prices, it is no wonder that the City Hall is so well patronised.

A concert and dance in aid of the Battalion Band will be held at St. Benedict’s Hall on Monday next the 28th inst. Under the management of that most enterprising of men, Mr P. Quinlan, whose efforts in furthering all worthy objects is beyond praise, the entertainment is certain to prove a great success.

The Beatrice Vartha Concert Company have been giving the music-loving folk of Whangarei a treat such as does not often fall to their lot.. On Saturday week last they opened to a large and appreciative audience. Encores were frequent, but in some cases these are rather unreasonable, and after a long- and difficult but excellent rendering of one of Liszt’s fine concerted pieces the principals Miss Vartha and Herr Zehman’ merely bowed their acknowledgments. Miss " Florence Narelle sang with much effect in spite of a sore throat frbm which she was suffering. This gifted young lady’s voice gives evidence of the improvement that training and use bring about. Mr Francis also received a well-deserved encore. The company met with bumper houses and enthusiastic audiences at Kamo and Kikurangi, and will now tour the Waikato.

Mr J. F. Sheridan has several new pieces for his next Sydney season, odo >” “ haughty Nancy,” and Known to the Police,” are amono- the lot. * * •*

It is said that Miss Ada Reeve intends to go into management on her own account shortly.

“ Topsy Turvy ” has been secured to Australia by Willoughby and Geach. It is said to be a genuine “ hummer.”

Mistakes Will Happen ” require heavy mounting. One scene representing a stable and hay-loft cost £3OO.

SIR HENRY IRVING’S ‘ ‘

The remodelled and beautifully-decor-ated Drury Lane Theatre was crowded in every part when Sir Henry Irving- closed his season at that historic house. The production of “ Dante,” with our leading actor in the title role, was, indeed, a notable event in the annals ol a theatre whose history has been so closely and honourably associated with the English stage. Sir Henry’s embodiment of the part has proved an artistic triumph second in importance to none of his previous creations ; and there can be no doubt that the success which has attended his London season will be repeated in his forthcoming provincial and American tour. Sir Henry's representation seemed to be even more powerful and effective than at the first performance, and was received with even greater en thusiasm than on that occasion. Miss Lena Ashwell in the parts of Pia and Gemma was also seen at her best, and she was several times called before the curtain to share the honours with Sir Henry. At the final fall of the curtain he made a brief but graceful little speech, and some amusement was caused by an admirer in the gallery shouting in stentorian tones “ Good luck to you, wherever you go, old mate.” There was no mistaking the sincerity of the sentiment, and the speaker, in his rough-and-ready fashion, voiced the feelings of the entire audience. The words of Sir Henry’s addrews were as follows : —“ I cannot miss this opportunity of thanking you at the close of our season for the great favour with which you' have received this play of Sardou's—this “ Dante ” at thia historic stage. We have now to fulfil contracts for its production in Great Britain and in the Lnited States and Canada. These travels, which will begin early in September, will occupy us for the next twelve months, during which time we shall, I trust, be sometimes l in your memory. I am not likely to forget this sojourn in Drury Lane Theatre—the courtesy and help of Mr Arthur Collins and his staff before and behind the curtain ; above all, the abundant sympathy and favour with which you have rewarded our efforts. With these grateful remembrances, and with the belief that your constant goodwill can never be impaired by our absence, for one and all I thank you, and respectfully and affectionately bid you good-bye.”

THE LONDON OPERA SEASON

The opera season, which ran to nearly eighty performances, came to a close at the end of July (says a well-known critic), when “ Romeo et Juliette ” was presented for the sixth time, with Alvarez, the Romeo of the decade, as Romeo, and Melba, the Juliette for all time, as Juliette. The season has been enough to test, even to. strain the capabilities of the strongest executive, and so far as financial success . is concerned the Opera Syndicate have every reason to congratulate themselves on the result of their activity. The twenty-three operas that have been given include one novelty, M. Messa’s “ Maguelone,” which was awarded two representations during the

last nights of the season. Some writers have been mighty humorous over ti.e Syndicate’s paucity of new' productions, but one fails to see why the lack, of novelties should be laid at their doors. They have done their best to encourage native composers to turn their attention to grand opera, and if home talent is not equal to the task we can scarcely blame a management if they decline to mount pieces that the public will not come to see. At Covent Garden they charge high prices and present the best that the musical world has to give : if that best still consists of works that have been heard many times before, the modern composers and not the impresarios are at fault. In all matters appertaining to the production and interpretation of the operas and to the arrangements for the comfort of the audiences, the past season has been the most pleasing that opera-geers can remember. In Mr Francis Neilson the Syndicate have got at once the most artistic and the most capable stage manager that has ever been employed at Covent Garden. He cannot, because I suppose he may not, defy the traditions which render the garden scene in “Faust” a “ twopenny coloured ” convention, and the garden scene in “ Rigoletto ” a . sheer bit of pantomime ; but when it comes to putting his own personality and temperament in a production he is unsurpassed. If Mr Neilson could be given a free hand to stage, say “ Faust ” after his own heart, all London would crowd to see it. There are, of course, two arguments that might be used against such a revolutionary innovation. In the first place would the artists adopt the revision of the business —convention in this respect relieving them of the labours of rehearsals ? In the second place, while Melba or Calve and Alvarez and Plancon in “Faust” can always fill the theatre to its utmost capacity without the additional expenditure of a dollar for paint or new props., would a commercial syndicate be justified in rushing into extra expense ? On the domestic side, so to speak, of the season, Mr Neil Forsyth has again won golden opinions. He has made the comfort of his patrons his fetish, and even the musical critics have not foreborne to cheer his attention to their convenience. Recently they dined him in state at the Imperial Restaurant', the ostensible object being to felicitate him upon his receipt of the “Academic Palms” at the hands of the French President, but in reality it was an attempt, and a most successful

one, to register the affectionate regard in which his invariable courtesy and unfailtact have caused him to be held by the musical representatives of the Metropolitan Press.

The name of the late Miss Romer, the well-known actress, in private life was Mrs Gibson. She was, as already stated in these columns, the mother of Miss Brenda Gibson. Miss Romer first married a Mr Brough, by whom she was the mother of Mr Robert Brough. In her youthful days (says “Prospero”) she was a soprano in comic opera, and after several years provincial experience she became principal singer in the burlesque staged by the late Alfred Wigan at the St. James’s Theatre, London, in iB6O. Miss Romer stayed three years at that theatre, and then j-ofined J. B. Buckstonte’s management at the Haymarket. After that the actress permanently embarked upon regular drama, and was for long associated with Madge Robertson (Mrs Kendal) in the provinces. She was associated with the Brough Comedy Company for ten years, and played the characters known on the stage as grande dame parts excellently.

The Eldorado Summer Theatre, Madrid, was destroyed by fire recently. Some persons were injured. Three adjoining houses were also burned to the ground. The building was of wood, and soon became ablaze from top to bottom and was quickly destroyed. The flames were communicated by adjoining trees to three palatial residences opposite. The police fired revolvers and threw stones at the windows of these houses to awaken the inhabitants, who hastily sought refuge in the streets, scantily attired. Among them was an Under-Secretary of State and his wife. A large crowd collected and saved a number of women and children and sick persons. There was a moment of jpanic when the flames threatened to detach the electric tramway cables and bring them down ow the crowd, which fled shrieking. The cause of the fire was the fusing of an electric wire. A safe containing valuables belonging to a millionaire which w’as brought out of the house was put in the street, and guarded bv a posse of police.

A new romantic one-act play by C. W. Hogg, entitled, “His Life for Hers,” has been produced in England. The

plot deals with the period of the French Revolution?. Henri, Due De Chatillon, loves Margot and his love is returned, but owing to a false report she believes he is already secretly married, so has wedded the Marquis De Lussac. Her husband being wounded in a fight with the mob, they both flee, and take ref in the house of the Due De Chatillon. Recognition and explanation take place between Margot and Henri, when he learns too late why she never married him, also that, though not loving her husband,' she has learnt to admire his goodness and bravery. On the husband re-entering the room, finding Henri kneeling at his wife’s feet, a stormy interview is about to take place when* the house is attacked by the revolutionists. Owing to a secret panel behind a picture in his bedroom, Henri is able to save the lives of Margot and her husband, hut at the sacrifice of his own, for, being the last, he is unable to leave the room to gain safety before he is attacked by the sans-culottes and killed fighting to the last, thus giving his life for hers. It is a costume play, and makes a pretty and interesting curtain-raiser. A sensational accident happened at the Tivoli, Birmingham, a few weeks ago. Miss Payne, who performs as “Miss Moto,” was engaged in the motor-car performance of “hooping the hoop,” and had just entered the hoop from the incline when the front wheel of the car, which was running at a tremendous rate, struck a small guid rail which Jiad become displaced, and the car, with its occupant, fell a distance of 20ft. to the stage. The car was badly smashed, but the young lady escaped with a severe shock and some nasty bruises. The authorities stopped the performance the next evening. * * * Air and Mrs Sidney Drew, once with Rickards, were playing, during August, “ The Yellow Dragon,” in Oxford. A London trick banjoist-, France Piper, plays two banjos while spinning them 300 revolutions a minute. ♦■* « • “In Mizzouri ” reminds the “ Newsletter ” of the ill-fated Nat Goo win, whose Australian tour spelt no cash. His American version of “ The Rivals ” and “ The Nominee ” were not calculated to amuse. “In Mizzouri ” was, but it came too late in the season.

DICKENS AND THE DRAMA.

The recent “ boom ” in adaptations from the works of Charles Dickens recalls (says the “Era”) the numerous occasions on which the great novelist came into touch with the drama and with stage life. Throughout Dickens’s writings we constantly come upon allusions to the theatrical life of his time. In One of the Sketches by “ Boz ” entitled “ Private Theatres,” an interesting account is given of the system by which the aspirants to histrionic fame purchased parts of a performance at rates like the following :— “ Richard the Third, Duke of Glo’ster, £2 ; Earl of Richmond, £1 ; Duke of Buckingham, 15s ; Catesby, 12s ; Tressell, 10s 6d; Lord Stanley, 5s ; Lord Mayor of London, 2s 6d.” There is a description in the same volume of an amateur representation of “ Othello,” which was given in the house of Mr Gattleton, of Clapham Rise, in which none of the performers could walk in their tights, or move their arms in their jackets ; in which the pantaloons were too simall, the boots too large, and the swords of all shapes and sizes, in which the Roderigo, x.aturally too tall for the scenery, wore a black velvet hat with white plumes, the glory of which was lost in the “flies,” and an inconvenience of which was that when it was oft his head he could not put it on, and when it was on he could not take it off. It is notable that Dickens, in his descriptions of stage life is invariably goodnatured. Even Mr Alfred Jingle, who is not an actor as much as an adventurer, is rather an amusing than a repulsive personage. The “ Memoirs of Joseph Girmaldi,” edited by ‘‘ Boz,” shows the invention and industry required in that then very important personage, a pantomime clown. In “ Nicholas Nickleby,” in which the celebrated company under the management of Mr Vincent Crummies is described, the author shows himself rather a humourist than a satirist., and does full justice to the kindliness and generosity of the actor’s nature. In “ Little Dorrit

there is the touching story of poor old Frederick Dorrit when he played the clarionet in a small London theatre, and a graphic description of a ballet rehearsal. A type of actor who is now almost becaming extinct is Mr Wopsle, in “Great Expectations.” In all Dickens’s pictures of the stage of hist, time we. are struck by the squalid nature of the surroundings and the mounting, especially at the minor theatres. When Tip visited Mr Wopsle at the Temple of the Trama, after the latter “ took to the stage,” he found “ the King and Queen of Denmark elevated in two kitchen chairs' on a kitchen table, holding a Court. The whole of the Dan ish nobility were in attendance, consisting of a noble boy in the wash-leather boots of a gigantic ancestor, a vent rable Seer with a dirty face, who seemed to ave risen from the people late in life, and the Danish Chivalry with a comb in its hair and a pair of white silk leps,

presenting on the whole a feminine appearance. The late King of the country not only appeared to have been troubled with a cough at the time of his decease, but to have tgken it with him to the tomb, and to have brought it back. The royal phantom also carried a ghostly manuscript round its truncheon, to which it had the appearance of occasionally referring, and that, too, with an air of anxiety and a tendency to lose the place of reference which were suggestive of a state of mortality. It was this led to the shade's being advised by the gallery to ‘ turn over.’ The noble boy in the ancestral boots was inconsistent, representing himself, as it were in one breath, as an able seaman, a strolling actor, a gravedigger, a clergyman, and a person of the utmost importance at a Court fencing ma ch. This gradually led to a want of tol ration for him. and exen —on his beingdet cted in holy orders and declining to p: rform the funeral service—to the general indigation taking the form of nuts. Ophelia was a prey to such slow musical

madness that when in the course, of time she had taken off her white muslin scarf, folded it up and buried it, a sulky man, who had been cooling his impatient nose against an iron bar in the front row of the gallery,growled, ‘ Now the baby’s put to bed let's have some supper. When the Prince asked the question whether nobler in the mind to suffer, some reared yes and some no ; and some inclining to both opinions siaid, ‘ toss up for it ! When he appeared with his stocking disc ordered —its disorder expressed, according to usage, by one very neat fold in the top, got up with a flat iron—conversation took place in the gallery respecting the paleness of his leg, and whether it wad occasioned by the turn the ghost had given him.” Mr Wopsle, in a comprehensive black cloak, was detected in the churchyard, which had a kind of small ecclesiastical wash-house on one side and a turnpike gate on the other. The gravedigger was admonished in a friendly way. “ Look out ! the undertaker’s a-comdng to see how you’re getting on with your work I” When Mr Wopsle returned the skull, after dusting his lingers on a white napkin taken from his breast , that innocent and indispensable action did not pass without comment. “‘Waiter!’’ “Your out of your reading of Hamlet,” said Mr “ Waldengarver’s ” dresser, “ when you get your leags in profile. The last HamTet as I dressed made the same mistakes in his reading at rehearsal, till I got him to put a large red wafer on each of his shins ; and then at the last rehearsal 1 went in front, sir, to the back of the pit, • and whenever his reading brought him into profile, I called out 4 I don’t see no wafers !’ And at night his reading was lovely.” What a strange life was that of the actor in Dickens’ time ! What squalor in the surroundings, what slovenliness in the dressing and mounting, what coarse familiarity between the audience and the artists on the stage '. It is amusing to read about, but it must have been very unpleasant for any individual of refined and artistic taste to experience. The stock company system, with its scamped and hasty rehearsals and its killing drudgery, had a g-ood deal to answer for ; but the whole stage life then had over it a trail of dingy and disreputable P.oiiemianism. It was the age of pint pots, imperfect ablutions, orange peel effluvia, and Shakespeare burlesqued by inadequate treatment and sordid mis-en-scene. We may well congratulate ourselves after reading descriptions, that those terrible times are over, that acting now takes its proper place amongst the arts, and that actors are no longer looked upon as descendants of “ the rogues and vagabonds ” of the Elizabethan period.

NEW VERSION OF “ DAVID GARRICK.”

The Dublin correspondent of the “Era ” thus describes the new one-act comedy

produced for the first time at the Royal on Julv 21

This version of the story of David Garrick and the maid who fell in love with him on seeing his performance in “ Hamlet ” has been specially written for Mr Arthur Holmes-Gore by Mr Harry A. Leader in a most masterly and effective manner. Unlike many other versions,. the action, which takes place in one scene, opens with an interview between the Hon. Dick Grinaway and Virginia, in which Dick appeals to her once more to return his love. She, reading from “ Hamlet,” declares her single-hearted attachment to Garrick, and he in high dudgeon leaves the house, refusing Councillor Eversham’s invitation to remain to dinner. After the discovery by her father that Virginia’s thoughts are still harping on the actor fellow, she is bidden to prepare for her guests. Garrick enters in obedience to a note from Eversham, and learns that he is expected to cure the love-sick maid. He gives his word of honour as an actor and a gentleman that he will kill her love. Voices of the arriving guests are heard, and Eversham and Garrick retire to mature the scheme. The amusing arrival of the visitors follows, and Eversham greets them, introducing Garrick, who discovers in Virginia the maid whose eyes from the boxes had won from him an ideal love. His actor’s honour bids him fulfil his pledge, and at the dinner table where all are seated Garrick feigns drunkenness., insults the guests, and disgusts the woman he loves. In a very touching scene she orders him to leave the house. As he is going, Grinaway returns, and, after Learning from Garrick the story of his promise and its fulfilment, challenges him tor the insult to his lady-love. As their swords meet in deadly earnest Virginia, who has overheard the conversation detailing the plot, orders them to put up their swords, dismisses Grinaway, and defends Garrick’s honour to her irate father, and in his presence their mutual devotion is sealed in a true lover’s kiss with the beautiful quotation from Lovelace :— J could not love thee, dear, so well, Loved I not honour more.

The Lady Slavey ” is now, in its ‘tenth year of success in England and and America. * *' * * The family to which l ittle Gulliver belongs runs in different sizes. He lias a sister aged nineteen, a head shorter than himself, but to make up tor this, another brother and sister are over 6 feet high. Little Johnny does not look his twenty-eight years. * * Rumoured that the Slapoffskis are going into operatic management on their own, financed by sundry w promoters. Grand opera as illustrated by “ Martha,” “La Sonnambula,” “ Earlier of Seville/’ “ Daughter of the Regiment,” etc., will probably be the staple fare!