June THE bygone theatrical season will be remembered for the largest number of long runs and, it may fairly be said, the highest general level of acting that Shanghai has ever seen. Between September last and the! end of May we were visited by the following companies: Frawley, Bandman Comedy (twice), Warwick, Denniston' Players, Banvard, Bandman Opera Ca., Russian Light Opera and H. B. Waring. None of these played for less than a fortnight some for considerably longer. Twice it happened that we had three companies going simultaneously at the Lyceum, Olympic and Apollo, and all doing good business. Meanwhile the A. D. C. records three productions, of which, we think, ''Aladdin' ran longer than any predecessor the French A. D. C. two; and Mischa Elman gave four recitals at the Town Hall at largely increased prices, all well attended and two crowded. If Shanghai is temporarily broke,'* it mone the less appears' to have plenty of ready dollars for anything worth seeing at the theatre.
And it will, we think, be} agreed that the great majority of all these performances fully deserved this modest amount of} praise, if not something warmer. The brilliance of such visitors as the Broughs and Matheson Tang (memorable indeed in any circumstances) is assuredly en-} hanced by the murky background} of fourth-rate companies against which they stand out in memory, the normal fare of former years, accepted tolerantly if not thank-{ fully, on the score that the Far East could expect no better.! But the past season has shown that something very decidedly better can be brought even to these distant climes, better scenery, fresher dresses, actors and actresses of a higher class: and with the public appetite thus cultivated and satisfied, theatrical managers will only have themselves to thank for disaster if they fall below this standard. The failure of the Denniston Players is significant. Ten years ago it is odds that they would have made a success. Although they included no artiste of special eminence, they were thoroughly well rehearsed and workmanlike. But they carried some plays the success of which is difficult to imagine even with the best acting in New York, and they could not stand up against the competition of other companies. Opinions vary moré} i about the theatre than most things. But looking back one recalls very little that deserves unmitigated condemnation. The Banvard Company began inauspiciously, but soon succeeded in proving what exceedingly amusing people they really were. The Bandman Opera Company pleased their supporters perhaps more at the beginning than at the end of their stay, but by that time audiences were probably growing hypercritical. The Russian Light Opera Company would have been more generally appre@ated, if we all spoke Russian. Nevertheless they had! some excellent singers and deserved the enormous business! they did. The Frawley Com-j pany were not as good as those that Mr. Frawley has previously i brought, but were vastly ahead) of the average of ten years ago. positively bad players, there are' Finally, while we remember no!
many names which evoke recollections of really admirable! Work, versatile, polished and convincing. Such are Charles Quartermaine, Christian Morrow, Jeannette Sherwin, Thorpe Mayne, Muriel Aked and, in many respects best of all, Mis Beatrix Wynn, who came to so tragic an end. For abu ity to, realize and wholly to identify herself with characters of the widest divergence and to project her personality across the footlights, Miss Wynn was one of the finest actresses that ever came to the Far East and, had she lived, might have made a great name'
Turning to the audience's side of the house, we make no apology for reverting to the perennial nuisance of latecomers, the more glaring now in contrast with the improvement of things on the stage. We are aware that these people are common to nearly every theatre in the world. But in Shanghai we have a strong communal sense, which makes such ill manners less easily endured, apart from the fact that audiences usually coming from much greater distances to Home theatres have an excuse for being late that is not to be offered in Shanghai, where moreover the curtain rises much later than in Europe or America. The trouble really begins with the theatrical dinner party. There are guests who appear incapable of arriving till twenty minutes after the stated hour; they then expect a cocktail and the now usual cigarette. The hostess has not the courage to tell the servants to cut out a couple of courses, and the performance has probably started before the party leave the table. More time is then wasted on the doorstep, deciding who shall go in whose car. The result we all know only too well: a continual stream of incomers pushing through stalls and dress-circle for the first quarter of an hour of the play, and introductory scenes completely spoiled, often with disastrous effect for a proper understanding of the piece. One remedy suggested is that doors should be shut when the curtain rises, but this is a risky game for professionals, Another, which we personally believe would have good results, would be to put forward the hour of Starting to half-past eight. To put it back to 9:15, as is now done is obviously use-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.