... . It seems to be time for managers to consider some questions of theatre construction, so far, at least, as the further side of the footlights is concerned. Mr. E. O. Sachs, in his colossal work, has shown how much has been done by science in Continental playhouses in the way of enabling complex large scenes to be shifted rapidly, and it is a pity that some of the ideas are not adopted in ...

... . IT has been erroneously stated in the columns of a daily con temporary, whose weekly column on Music and Musicians is one of the most characteristic contributions of the day, that opera in English had not been tried in London on an important scale since the Pyne and Harrison days; but the writer has apparently forgotten the Carl Rosa season at Daly's three years ago, when the company ...

... .1 IN three quarto volumes Mr. Chignell, Mr. Vicat Cole's brother-in-law, has produced an appreciation rather than a criticism of the life and work of the famous Royal Academician, who died in April, 1893. Vicat Cole, who has left his indelible mark on the art of the Victorian era, was the son of George Cole, an artist of repute, who filled the position of Vice-President of the Royal Society ...

... OUR CAPTIOUS CRITIC. A LITTLE RAY OF SUNSHINE. ANOTHER Charley's Aunt? No, not another Charley's Aunt, because that marvellous old lady was one of those creations which an actor compasses not every day in a lifetime-- I do not think that half the people who were so highly amused by Mr. Penley's humour and quaintness in this part gave him a tithe of the credit which he deserved for its better ...

... . ONCE again has Mr. D'Oyley Carte essayed to find successors to Gilbert and Sullivan; but, apparently doubting the ability of any two men to equal their successful feats, he has availed himself of a hydra-headed combination to maintain the popu larity of the Savoy, and to secure him that pecuniary return for his lavish expenditure which will enable him to keep an open door. The Lucky Star, ...

... OUR CAPTIOUS CRITIC. MY SOLDIER BOY. WHEN will our managers have the pluck once again to precede the farce of the evening by a funny curtain-raiser? If the principal piece is not strong enough to stand superior to a laugh or two preliminary, it is not strong enough at all. The little sketch of Nicolette which Messrs. Maltby and Spyers have selected in the idea of playing the audience in-- ...

... . A CONSIDERABLE amount of uncertainty appears to envelop the future of the Carl Rosa Opera Company, and it is impos sible to say at present under what conditions it will continue to exist. The Dr. Osmond Carr régime has been short enough in all conscience, although he had at his back two or three gentlemen well endowed with this world's goods. Mr. Hamish McCunn has returned to his post of ...

... . It is interesting to trace any industry to its source, and undoubtedly the source or home of the musical-box is Geneva. It is to Genevese manufacturers that we owe the great strides and the many new developments and inventions which have been made in this branch of mechanical music. A very pleasant and profitable hour may he spent in the showroom of any one of the noted firms, where there is ...

... * This beautiful volume stands for a happy thought happily and most skilfully embodied. The end of the century was in sight, and not a play-lover of them all had had the notion of making a comprehensive book of the play, with pictures of everybody. Mr. Whyte in his preface-- a page and a-lialf only, but enough to reveal a companionable personality and a graceful style-- will tell us how the ...

... . THERE is a remarkably strong company at the Princess's just at present, and this is, of course, to the credit of Messrs. Arthur and Gilmer. But it is, nevertheless, little to our own credit as a playgoing people, that a state of things should exist which makes strong companies of home-bred artists so easy to get together into one bill. The fact is that the invasion of foreign performers ...

... A Greek Slave at Daly's Theatre has been redressed, and in its new guise it has all the freshness and brilliancy which mark a first production certainly it is a piece that pays for good mounting, and no work of its kind has been placed on the stage with a more due regard for taste and scenic magnificence. But not all the splendour in the world will carry a play to ultimate success, unless it ...

... . NOT very long ago, in quite respectable literary and scientific quarters, there was discussed the serious, and to the theatrical profession the all-important question, Do long runs result in madness? Practical psychologists were consulted, and the opinion of many of the leading lights of the stage were invited. Sir Henry Irving did not consider that he was capable of affording a ...