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February 22, 1904.]
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
145
$9,000 in aid of the vote Public Works, | THE A.D.C. IN “HIS EXCELLENCY” | not apply to the principals' dresses. which Annually Recurrent, to meet the balance of the cost of the work f constructing new roofs for the Government Civil Hospital.
This was all the business.
CHINATOWN FAIR.
AN IMPRESSION.
In the broad glare of daylight there is something of the sordid and drab, and the garish also, about Chinatown Fair. It is only when the Fair is seen under the glare of arti- ficial lights that one becomes enamoured of its picturesque quaintness and vitality. There is an unkindliness about the sun, for it brings out the blemishes of such a scene as this. To take the noonday aspect of a theat ical stage, for an instauce, what could be more hideous to the visual sense? Or a gambling-hell when the first streaks of morning pierce through the chinks of the closed shutters and shine upon empty bottles, and clouds of stale tobacco smoke, and dishevelled gamestors? A saunter through the Fair in the morning hours suggests such compariso 18. But return at night-time, and what a chance is seen! No longer drab or shod y, the Fair is a brilliant medley of moving. laughing life, rich in col ur, heterogeneous, full of sights to feast the eye upon and ponder afterwards. The fancy articles that stock the wayside stalls and bear upon their faces as plain as any print could make it Made in Germany" forget their tinsel look and take ou burnishings of silver and gold; the Chinese paper masks and joss" paraphernalia shine out with additional lustre borrowed from the lamps; while the contents of the old curio-stalls become more curious' and grotesque than over, and the sweetmeats appear to be more toothsome to the passing crowd.
Osmund Carr.
Ou the 13th inst, at the Theatre Royal the Hongkong Amateur Dramatic Club gave the first of four performances of His Excellency, the comic opera by Messrs. W. 8. Gilbert and This is the piece which, it will be remembered, was to have been played three years ago, but, owing to the death of the late Queen Victoria was never played in Hongkong. The A. D. C. suffered a heavy pecuniary loss theu, owing to the fact that all the costum-s had been purchased and the other necessary arrangements made. It is to be hoped, therefore, that the present short run will be more than usually remunerative, so as to make up to the the previous disappointmont. A most favourable inapression was made by the first performance. The Hongkong .D.C.is noted for its conscientious readerings of the plays which it attempts, and it is no mere flattery to say in the present case that all the actors and actresses worked loyally and well, and that the performance compared favourably with any comic opera which has been seen here of late years. His Excellency is not the best of Mr. Gilbert's librettos, but it is distinctly amusing, and Dr. Usmund Carr's music is tupeful
A. D. C. for
throughout. The play demands a large cast, and it is more than creditable to the Colony to be able to ilud so many capable exponents, both of acting and of singing. A great misfortune befell the A.D.C. just before the opening night. Mrs. E. W. Mitchell, a lady who was to have filled the most responsible female part, being compelled by illness in her family to abandon it. No suitable substitute could be found, until a naval gentleman was prevailed upon to under- take the character at the shortest notice. At the dress rehearsal Mr. Phillips read from the book; on Saturday night he played the rôle admirably. Certainly the name of "handy
" is well deserved by him.
mau
On Saturday it may be said that three mem- bers of the cast stood out amit the general| excellence. They were Surgeon H. L. Norris, Lient. Davidson, and Mrs. Hall Wright. Mr. Norris was delightfully humorous and, singing well into the bargain, made a great feature of the part of the Syndic, Mats Munck. Lieu'. Davidson added appreciably to the favour which be Las gained with Hongkong audiences.
Но is a clever young actor and has decidedly shown his versatility in the different parts he has played on the local stage. Mrs. Hall-Wright is a new actross to Hongkong. She is indeed a welcome addition to local amateur dramatic talent. As Nanna she was quite the life of the scenes in which she appeared, and had recalls been permitted she would have been obliged to come back time after time. But the A. D. C.
From the top of Jervois Street one gets a capital idea of the dimensions of the multitude. On each side of the street are placed the stalls, leaving in the middle of the thoroughfare au avenue through which flows a stream of people coming and going, so dense that from your vautage ground at the top of the incline one can easily conceive it a possible feat to walk on the heads of the pedestrians. And it is a strangely conglomerate scene. The Chinese element naturally predominates. Barefooted coolies rub shoulders with fellow countrymen resplendent in silk and glowing cigars. Here alone Corean stalks along with bovine dis- interestedness stamped upon his features. There a crowd of Macanese boys and girls, vivacious and voluble, barter with a stall-holder over some coveted "bargain." The lordly Sikh views the moving throng with Oriental indifference, and only unbends so far as to take without murmur-wisely decided not to permit recalls, owing to ing the buffets which one and all have to endure who brave the stress of the Fair. The Fair is the "great leveller." It reminds one of some of the Continental festivals. Everyone is liable to get a buffet, and the only reparation one has is to give one back to somebody else. There is no bad temper shown. Good feeling
ia abroad.
Nor is the European element wanting. Britishers, Germans, French in groups traverse the Fair, bearing the proceeds of their purchases and looking out for fresh "bargains." It is after dinner-time that the Europeans begin to put in an appearance mostly. Here comes a party now. They are young fellows; they visit every stall and laugh and joke with the salesmen with a post-prandial jollity that com- municates itself to the standers-by. They make more bids than they conclude bargains, nor do their bids commend themselves much to the vendors as being made in the spirit of sweet reasonableness. But the latter never miss a chance of barter, even with a roystering blade who has put most of his available dollars into the Derby sweeps. And so the game goes on. It is well on past midnight before the lights begin to disappear and the crowds to thin and the wearied stallholder to count his takings and get ready for departure. If one should stroll down Jervois Street this morning he will find nothing remaining of the animation and light and colour of last night, but an unsightly litter, like the shell which the butterfly leaves hind bewhen it flutters from grub-state into the sunshine.
1
The
were one and all very pleasing. The scenery, executed from the designs of Mr. H1 W. Bird, would not have disgraced a home theatre. Messre. Birdi's statue was a notable feature; it must have been exported from Florence unknown to the Italian Government, which does not allow art treasures to be lost to the country any longer. orchestra, under the able conductorship of Mr. A. G. Ward, p uyed in capital style; its reinforce- ment by some of the 8h rwood Foresters' bands- men was by kind permission of the Colonel and officers.
|
the length of the opera. The audience, how. ever, fully showed its appreciation of Mra Hall- Wright's charming impersonation of the Gover- nor's daughter. Capt. Bushe, who has made two or three previous appearances in the Theatre Royal, made a handsome and effective Prince Regent, and his duets with Lieut. Davidson were warmly applauded. Mr. George Lammert sang well in the part of Erling Syke. Perhaps he might have been a trifle more dramatic in action, but his presence was good. Dr. Hall- Wright gave an excellent interpretation of the rôle of the "pitiful pill-roller," Dr. Tortensen. Surgeon Horley was a splendid and resplendent representative of the corporal of the King's Hussars, who were a fine body of men. Hussars' chorus was one of the successes of the play. Of Mr. Phillips we have already spoken. He undoubtedly extricated the A. D. C. from a difficult position and deserves their best thanks. Mrs. Craddock had the leading vocal part among the ladies, and filled it very gracefully. Her songs would certainly have obtained encores. Mrs. Hagen played Thorn, one of the Governor's daughters, and both in acting and singing made a hit. Mrs. Maitland, in the dashing costume of a viundière, was a very effective foil to the strapping Hussars. Smaller parts were creditably undertaken and the chorus was both capable and powerful. We cannot of course single out any among so many. The costumes were for part all that could be desired-we say for the most part, for there were one or two rather harsh contrasts in colours. This remark does
the most
The
W must not omit to meution that the efforts of Mossrs. Caldwell and Chapman, the Stage and Acting Managers, were most successfal and Mr. E. W. Mitobell's experienced trai ing was visible throughout, though he was unhap- pily obliged to be absent on the opening night.
The following was the full cast:— The Prince Regent (disguised as Niila Egilson, a strolling Player) Capt. Bushe, R.A. Qeorge Griffenfeld (Governor of Elsinore)...
Lieut. Davidson, R.A. Erling Syke (a young sculptor) Mr. Geo. Lammert Dr. Tortensen (a young physician) Dr. Hall-Wright Mats Munck (syndic of Elsinore) Surg. H. Leizh Corporal Harold (of the King's Hussars) Surg.
Norris, R.N.
R. R. Horley, R.N. A Sentry.....
Lt. A. C. Butt, R.N. First fficer...
Mr. H. A. Seth Second Officer
Mr. R. Henderson Christiana (a ballad singer)......... Mrs. Craddock Nanna (Griffenfeld's
Mrs. Hall-Wright Thora daughters)
Mrs. Hagen Dame Hecla Cortlandt(a lady of property)... Mr. W. L. Phillips Blanca (a Vivandiere) ............................ Mrs. F. Maitland Elsa (a peasant girl)
CHOLUB.
Miss Hazeland
Mesdames Armstrong, M. d'Almada e Castro, Bateman, Drayson, Henderson, Holmes, Mowbray-Jones, Kew, Kirkwood, · Lumley, Mancell, Miller, Moore, Murray, Plummer, Quino, Seth, Shaw and Tarrant. (
Messrs. Auld, Armstrong, Butt, Baiu. Brent, Campbell, Drayson, Goldring, Goetz, Hance, Hollingsworth, Henderson, Holt, Judab, H. A. Lammert, L. E. Lammert, Meyer, Parker. W. J. Phillips. Philpot, Rubie, Rutherford, S. Seth, Vaughan, Webster and Whitamore.
The final performance of His Excellency by the Amateur Dramatic Club at the Theatre on the 20th inst, was witnessed by a full house so demonstrative in its appreciation that recalls were frequent, and the performance
however, can hardly have displeased anybody, in consequence considerably prolonged. This,
for from start to finish the performance was an anqualified success, and would have been no discredit to a London stage. All concerned in the production of the piece deserve the heartiest congratulations upon
their success, and we are certain we shall be expressing the sentiments of
the community in publicly thanking the members of the A.D.C., and in particular Mr. E. W. Mitchell its leading spirit, for adding so agreeably to the gaiety of our Colonial life.
THE NEW H.K.C.C, PAVILION,
An Extraordinary Meeting of Members was held in the Pavilion on the 12th inst, to discuss the recommendations of the sub- committee appointed for considering the question of a new Pavilion. There WAS considerable difficulty in forming a quorum, but eventually the required 30 were collected Messrs F. Maitland (chairman), J. T. Dizon, T. Sercombe Smith, A. Mackenzie, R. A. B Ponsonby, H. Hancock, Hon. A. M. Thomson, A. Denison, J. R. Michael, A. J. Raymond, O. J. Ellis, P. W. Goldring, A. O. Brown. E Humphreys, C. R. 8. Cooper, W. B. Dixon. G. Blood, Dr. F. H. Kew, C. Kew, T: C, Gray, Rev. C. H. Hiokling, T. E. Pearce, H.. Pinckney, A. Humphreys. H. Humphreys, C. Radamacher, H. Arthur, E. C. Emmett, J. E. Lee, C. H. Grace, A. G. Ward, W. J. Saunders.
THE CHAIRMAN said he regretted that Mr. Mitchell, owing to sickness in his family, was unable to preside at the meeting. They all know that they must have a new pavilion.
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