AN AUCKLANDER’S SUCCESS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1573, 17 June 1920, Page 37

AN AUCKLANDER’S SUCCESS.

Mr. F. Shayle Gardner, of Auckland, who went Home a few years ago and established his success on the stage, is the subject of laudatory comment by the “British Australasian,” which paper discusses his progress as under: About eight years ago a young New Zealander startled his fellow students at the Academy of Dramatic Art, in Gower Street, by carrying off most of the honours of the year. He won the Lady Gilbert medal for tragedy, the Forbes-Robertson medal for elocution, the fencing prize, and a scholarship tenable for one year. This was Mr. Shayle Gardner, who impersonated Nadir Shah, of Persia, in the recent production of “The Sunshine of the World,” at the Empire Theatre. His first professional experience was as understudy to Aubrey Smith on tour, the latter’s repertoire including “Marjorie Marries,” a comedy by Norman McKeown, an Australian writer. Then, from walking on in Tree’s production of “Joseph and His Brethern,” he reached the altitude of appearing as the central figure in a special performance of “Hamlet” before an Educational Congress at the Imperial Institute. A season at the Little Theatre fol-

lowed, and then he became a member of Mr. Philip Carr’s company at the Petite Theatre, Angles, and afterwards at the Court Theatre, London, in a Shakespearean repertoire. He was in the first production in England of “Damaged Goods,” and in the original production of Barrie’s one act play, “Der Tag,” at the Coloseum. Subsequently he played one of the leading parts in “The Land of Promise,” on a provincial tour. Rejected three times in England, Mr. Gardner enlisted with the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces in the Dominion, rising from the ranks to be captain, serving altogether three and a half years. Ten months before his discharge General Russell appointed him Director of Entertainments, when he had the control of two cinemas and three or four companies, the most notable being “The Kiwis.” On his discharge he was cast for one of the principal parts in “Eyes of Youth,” at St. James’s Theatre. The actor, in the intervals of stage work, has acted for the movies, one of his characters being Christopher Codrington in a screene version of Philip Gibbs’

novel of the Press world, “The Street of Adventure.” Mr. Gardner, is a grandson of Francis Shayle Gardner, poet and educationalist, and a nephew of the late Dr. Boyd Carpenter, who for 27 years was Bishop of Ripon.