The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-11-22
NATIVE INDIANS THEATERs.
The Production of Ballet in Euro.
 pean Calcutta.

"I was at a performance in the Star theater some time ago." says a corre- spondent of the India Daily News of Cal cutta, "in which a ballet was introduced without the slightest provocation. The effect was bizarre. even ludicrous The girls who, I was told. were the houri of Sonagachi, were dressed in trunk hose of dull yellow and red jumpers trimmed with silver lace Their feet were bare or sandaled and each was armed with short staff. The music was supplied by a performer on the Mohini flute, small harmonlum in which only the~treble clef is manipulated The rakish looking na~ tive drummers punctuated the monotone by periodic demonstrations of hideous tympany. There was very little dancing in the ballet, which was measured tread accompanied by a rhythmic clash of the slaves, very much after the style of some of the calisthenic exercises not in vogue in our kindergarten schools. From an artistic point of view the vol uptuous and suggestive naught of Tanjore tr Delhi would have been far more acceptable than this crude imitation of that diluted empire 'symphony'-I use the term in the Whistlerian sense which l Stanley, Bandmann, Dallas and Gum | have made familiar to Calcutta. Yet the audience applauded raptuously.
 "The internal economy of a Bengalese 1 theater Is very little different from that
 of the makeshifts in the European towns. l The same inconveniences are present and the general construction is such that I hardly like to contemplate the conse- quences of a panic Purdah boxes the occupants of which look through a close wire netting, are a necessity in native theaters, for Bengalese women are quite as alive to the charms of the play as Bengalese men The stalls are the fa- vorite locale of the regular habitues, the elite of Babudom, and they certainly look very cool and nice in their spotless white linen pirans, gold edged chudders, dia- phanous dhoties and patent leather pumps. The actor to galvanize them is the villain of the play, who is also the lion comique. He may be jogi, or he may be a menial, but he has more than an ordinary share of mother wit, and his style of expression is either that of Thersites or that of Falstaff. His female counterpart is generally a harridan who scolds salaciousy. Both these charac- ters convulse the house, and exclama- tions of 'wah, wah,' or shabash,' or very bravo are frequent. It must not be supposed, however, that the melo-dra- matic ethics of the hero and heroine go unappreciated. On. the contrary, no ser iouss play has chance of a run in na- tive Calcutta unless 1t is made up very largely of high lights and broad effects The Adelphi fare, with strong soupcon of Broadway humor. is what best suits Cornwallis street. Farce, lon a very French basis comes next in popularity.
 Native histrionics are shril and strident and volcanic. American reserve, of which Daniel Frawley was an expon- ent, finds no favor at the Star or the Classic. Emotion and decamation are always at concert pitch, sometimes even several notes higher, and 1t requires some heroism to sit out the five acts, which. according to Roscommon, are just the measure of the play. But native playgoer never dreams of losing the least value of his money. On Sunday, the fla. vorite, day for premieres, the theaters open their doors at candlelight and close long after midnight, the bill of the play including farce as a curtain raiser and melodrama of historic or social interest as the piece de resistance. Those who pay for admission come early and remain late. Wherefore I say the ordinary in- telligent native of India is an invalid playgoer."