THEATRE OVERCROWDING.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVII, Issue 965, 3 September 1908, Page 18

THEATRE OVERCROWDING.

INFORMATIONS DISMISSED. The Northern Boxing Association was proceeded against by Mr Maxwell, city building inspector, at the Police Court on Saturday, on charges of having allowed overcrowding in the dress circle at His Majesty’s Theatre pn the occasion of the recent Tracey-Ross boxing contest, and, further,, with having allowed more persons to remain in the building than it was licensed to contain, viz., 1528. Alternate informations were laid against Mr F. D. Yonge,-as being secretary of the association. Mr Stanton appeared for the prosecution, and Mr R. Singer for the defence. Mr Maxwell gave evidence, stating that he had counted 55 people standing in the dress circle, the seating accommodation being fully occupied; eight standing in the stalls, with two unoccupied seats; 2% rows of people standing at the back of the family circle, about 60 people in excess of its seating capacity; while between

80 and 100 people were on the stage. Mr Singer contended that no evidence had been called to show that the Boxing Association or Mr Yonge were the occupiers of the building.

Mr Maxwell: I was introduced to Mr Yonge at the theatre, as being the secretary of the association. Mr Kettle: There is certainly no evidence either that there is any association called the Boxing Association, or that Mr Yonge was acting on their behalf. All that is proved is that Mr Maxwell was at a performance and saw persons standing and sitting. If the City Council wants to get a conviction there should be no difficulty whatever in getting the evidence, if it exists. But lam not going to make proof or going to assume it.' The case will be dismissed without prejudice, with costs £1 Is against the prosecution.

The Elton Comedy Company are about to commence a tour of New Zealand. Among the artists is Grace Elton, emotional actress, who can play ,17 instruments, and is a serio and dancer. She has just finished sixteen weeks on the Rickards’ circuit in a musical act, comprising bells, xylophone, and acrobatic violinist playing.

Although it was decided long ago that a stage play must not be performed in a music hall, the question whether a variety entertainment may be given in a theatre was left open. At the Clerkenwell Sessions, London, recently, it was held that the Lord Chamberlain’s license does not permit of this kind of entertainment being given. If this applied out here it would be good-bye to the touring variety shows.

Madame Clara Butt and Mr Kennerly Rumford gave their first concert since their return from Australia on June 27 at the Albert Hall, London. Both singers were in capital voice. The Maori song by Mr Alfred Hill, was so well received that Mr Rumford had to repeat it.

The production of “ The Gayest of the Gay,” William Anderson’s recent Drury Lane purchase, has been put back for a few weeks, and will be staged at the King’s Theatre after Fleet time. A scene in it is a lake of water, with people in boats rowing on it.

Miss Clara Clifton, the musical comedy actress, for some time past a member of J. C. Williamson’s companies, who went to England for a

six months’ holiday, will return to Sydney in time to join the Royal Comic Opera Company for the Christmas production.

“ Miss Hook of Holland ” is drawing crowded houses at the Criterion Theatre, Sydney, where the delightful Dutch comic, opera is in its, fourth week. Judging by present indications, the .: Melbourne run of ten weeks will be exceeded., “Miss Hook will be revived in Melbourne after the production of the Christmas pantomime of “ Cinderella.”

The New Zealand tour of the Harr court Beatty-Madge Mclntosh Co., now drawing to a close, has been a successful one, good houses being the rule throughout the Dominion. For the forthcoming season in Adelaide commencing on September 19, an interesting repertoire will be presented, comprising “ A Beggar on Horseback,” “ Fedora,” Her Love Against the World,” and “ Masks and Faces.”

On the conclusion of the Adelaide season ,the Harcourt Beatty-Madge Mclntosh Co. will be disbanded. Miss Mclntosh, Harcourt Beatty, and Gaston Mervale will be the principals of a company to be formed later, and for which Meynell and Gunn are securing an entirely new repertoire.

Adelaide audiences will see Madge Mclntosh as Peg Woffington in “ Masks and Faces ” for the first time in Australia. It was in this role that Miss Mclntosh made a success in London and the provinces. Mr Beatty will be Triplet, and Mr Gaston Morvale Sir Charles Pomander.

When the Pericles drew near her berth in the Yarra last Monday week the wharf was thronged with Welshmen, assembled there to bid a rousing welcome to the Royal Welsh Male Choir, and as the vessel warped in they struck up, as though by a preconcerted arrangement, their hymn “ Land of our Fathers.” The effect was fine, but it was even more so when the Choir responded. They were not together, small groups were congregated here and there along the

deck from bow to stern, but so perfect . was their training that their voices blended and their time was as well defined as though they were on a platform under the conductor’s baton. When they had finished “ The Men of Harlech ” followed, and it was to the stirring strains of that march that the steamer made fast. It was a great introduction to Australia, and the Choir, as well as their countrymen here, must have felt the impetus of national pride on the occasion. They only stayed a day or two in Melbourne, before going on to Sydney, there to open their tour on Tuesday next, September Ist, under the direction of Messrs J. and N. Tait. The Royal Welsh Male Choir had a royal time of it coming out on the Pericles. They were kings of the ship as a matter of fact, and their capacity for entertaining the ship’s company was practically unlimited. When they got to Capetown some musical enthusiasts discovered they were round, and though the ship was only to stay 24 hours in port they “ hustled ” and arranged a concert for the evening. There was no preliminary announcement —-not even press advertisements, and placards and handbills were all that were used to publish the news, but in spite of these drawbacks there was a bigger attendance at the concert than had ever before been gathered in Capetown. «. * * * Mark Hambourg proved so popular with Melbourne music lovers that Messrs J. and N. Tait were compelled to arrange no less than three extra concerts in that city. One, a Beethoven concert, on the lines of the Chopin recital, earlier in the service, was given in response to shoals of begging letter asking the young virtuoso to devote one of his programmes entirely to that great master. Mark Hambourg is playing in Melbourne for Fleet week. Visits to Tasmania and New Zealand follow. « i ♦ * When Blumenthal, the great Berlin manager, confessed to Tolstoi that he didn’t understand Ibsen, Toistol remarked: “ Ibsen doesn’t understand his own plays; he just writes them and sits down and waits. After a while his expounders and explainers come and tell him what he meant.”