THEATRES AND PLAYS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXX, Issue 3562, 29 June 1912, Page 10

THEATRES AND PLAYS.

(By "Dead-head.”) •Since the success of the Russian ballet dancers abroad (says a London paper) their salaries and emoluments at home have considerably increased. The latest budget of the Imperial theatres shows that Mme. Ksliesinskaya receives £SO a performance, and Mile. Prcobrajenskaya £3O. Mile. Karsavina is engaged for the season at a salary of £6OO, increasing during

the next two years to £7OO and £BOO. M. Chaliapin is the highest paid of the Russian operatic artists. Between St. Petersburg and Moscow he has an income of £7500 from the Imperial theatres. M. Sobinoff, the tenor, receives £4OOO annually, and Mme Kuznezova, who is well known at Covent Garden Theatre, £2IOO or £7O for a single performance.

[> Alaeterlinck, the author of “The 0 Bluo Bird” (to be seen in Auckland n next month), works out of doors most , of the year, and delights in gardene ing. fishing, walking, motoring, and > skating. In the winter he lives - amongst the-roses at Grasse, in the Alps Mnritimes. It was here that 5 (he got his. inspiration for “The Blue > Bird,” which has carried its message i wherever there is civilisation in tho world. Tho rest of the year the poet- ■ dramatist makes Lis home at the old i Abbey of St. AVandrille, a. wonderi fill old place which has hardly been touched or altered for centuries. It is surrounded by a great garden full of mysterious paths and grand old trees. Alaeterlinck is a famous gar-

dener, and is never happier than when tending his flowers or watching his bees. * * * On the musical comedy stage in Australia, Florence Young is noted as tho “quickest study” of all the artists at present appearing in musical plays before Australian audiences. Miss Young’s record was achieved with “The Dollar Princess,” her part

in which she mastered in three days, and was ready to go on and play it. Her average, however, is about eight days, in which time she is perfect in words, music, and “business.” There are many actors and actresses who envy Aliss Young her remarkable faculty for quick study. There are some who find it a task to perfect themselves in their parts in threo or fouiweeks. Miss Young, however, says that long experience and the necessity for rapid changes have helped to develop her memory. She has been on the musical comedy stage for twentyone years, and in one year alone she played no less than thirty-five parts.