SOUTHERN STAGE NOTES.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1379, 28 September 1916, Page 34

SOUTHERN STAGE NOTES.

(By

“Lorgnette.”)

WELLINGTON, September 25

The Wellington season of the Allan Wilkie Shakespearian Company has so tar proved a great success. The various plays are excellently cast, and the result is very fine representations and also educational treats. The season will be brought to a close on Thursday evening, it having been decided to open the South Island tour at Christchurch on Saturday with “Hamlet.” The Christchurch season will extend over thirteen nights. A two nights’ season will be played at fl'imaru on the 16th and 17th, “The Merchant of Venice” and “As You Like It” being the pieces selected for production. Ihe Dunedin season opens on Wednesday, the 18th. The company return to Melbourne by the Wimmera, sailing from Dunedin on October 24th.

The next big attraction at the Grand Opera House will be Messrs. J. and N. Tait’s production of “Peg o’ My Heart,” which opens an eight nights’ season on I'uesday, October 10. The company engaged to interpret the piece come from England with firstclass reputations, and is headed by Miss Sara Allgood, who has scored a great success in the name part both in England and Australia. Miss Allgood has been described as the incarnation of all that is sweet and beautiful in “Peg,” bringing to the portrayal of the role the bewitchingbrogue and elusive half-smile that make the Irish heroine an unforgettable figure. It must be said in explanation of the artist’s triumph in “Peg” that she has had wide experience as an Irish interpreter. An Irishwoman born and bred, she was one of the first of Ireland’s young intellectual actresses to be drawn into the Irish theatre movement, which was inaugurated at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. Mr. Harold Bowden arrived from Christchurch last week to complete arrangements for the company’s New Zealand tour.

Mr. Bert Royle, New Zealand representative of the J. C. Williamson firm, left for Sydney by the Moeraki last Thursday. His mission is on business connected with the firm’s operations in the Dominion. Mr. Royle, who will also visit Melbourne, hopes to return in about three weeks. Miss Nellie Bramley, the clever young Australian actress, arrived from Sydney by the Moeraki last week on a holiday trip. Miss Bramley in private life is the wife of Mr. W. F. Russell, who is managing the New Zealand tour of the Allan Wilkie Shakespearian Company. It is quite possible that the J. C. Williamson attraction for Wellington at Christmas will be either the Royal Comic Opera Company or the Musical Comedy Company. “The Divinity of Motherhood,” at present being exhibited at the Britannia Theatre, is one of the finest motion pictures ever presented to picture lovers in the Dominion. The theme is so daring that had it not been handled with the greatest delicacy the film would doubtless not have escaped criticism, but so wonderfully is the idea carried out that the picture can be only described as delightful.