STAGE NOTES.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1473, 18 July 1918, Page 4

STAGE NOTES.

“Model yourself on Ethel!” All those who have seen Miss Sara Allgood in “Peg o’ My Heart” will be glad to learn that the magnetic Irish actress is coming back once more with the comedy that her name is indelibly associated with in this country. Ever since she has been away from New Zealand she has been playing this sparkling comedy, and never do the public appear to tire of it. Can you not hear Miss Allgood imitating the snuffy Mrs. Chichester, when she says to the lone little Irish wench: “Model yourself on Ethel!” “Peg” is a delightful comedy for all. It has that universality of appeal which makes its own welcome everywhere, and Messrs. J. and N. Tait have already made a small fortune out of the play. Since “Peg” was&avritten, the author, Hartley Manners, has written another great success, “Out There,” which is at present being toured for patriotic purposes in America, with Wolf Hopper ahead to sell the seats by auction.

After looking over the leading men in the companies playing “The Thirteenth Chair” in America, Mr. Bayard Veiller (the author) selected Brinsley Shaw for the Australian season of his drama. The new-comer (says a Sydney paper) is an actor who has a distinguished presence. His name has figured on many New

York programmes in high - class dramatic productions. Mr. Shaw left the stage for three years to direct motion pictures, and returned again when the silent drama ceased to interest him. “There is never quite the same feeling about studio work as there is in acting in the spoken drama,” he says. “The appreciation is not so immediate. After one has been trained to know immediately whether audiences are held by a scene, and to be stimulated by their applause, it is cold and cheerless work to direct people for the camera. It is interesting for a while, but anyone who has been schooled in the theatre misses the direct contact with audiences. I should think thati a journalist used to writing for a daily paper would experience much the same feeling if he suddenly found himself on the staff of an annual publication. He has to wait too long to get in touch with his public.”

There was never a doubt about the success of Beatrice Holloway from the first moment she walked on in “Time, Please,” says Melbourne “Punch.” Our own little Australian has the capacity for quick change in costume and in acting. For example, in the trench scene she is an adorable young soldier, who, naturally, never gives his legs a thought, while in the last scene, when she comes on in flying clothes, she is all girl, and, therefore, quite aware of her trousers.