THE THEATRICAL 'WORLD'

OF
1

894.

THE

THEATRICAL 'WORLD'

OF

1894.
r.v

WILLIAM ARCHER.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW,

AND A SYNOPSIS OF PLAYBILLS OF
I
I

IK

VI-.AK

P.Y

HENRI GEORGE

llllil'.KRT.

LONDON:
\V.\
I.
I

K K

SCO
1895.

PATERMO

IT, M

LT
i

I*.

1058Q54

CONTENTS.
MAY 5TILL BE HAD.
PAGE

Jniform

with this

Vol.,

Price 35. 6d.

\i

PHE THEATRICAL OF 1893-

WORLD
-

xxxi

By William Archer.
"As
Oi .i) Ji:\v"
III.

"TWELFTH NIGHT"
IV.

22

"TiiK CHAKIATAN"

"A

AIM LET"

" UNCLE'S
32

GHOST"
V.
"Tin-.

TRANSGRESSOR"
VI.

41

" Dl< K SlIKKII'AN

"

47
\II.

"CASTE"

53

105^54

CONTENTS.
PAGE

PREFACR, KV M'< GEORGE BERNARD

SHAW

xi

AUTHOR'S NOTE

xxxi

Tun PANTOMIMES
II.

OLD Ji.w

9
ill.

"TWRI.FNI

Nli. HI"''

22
IV.

"THE CHARLATAN"
(.MOST"

"A

CAI-M-LRT"

" UNCLE'S
32

V.

In K TRANSGRESSOR"
VI. "
I

41

>I

K SlIKKI
VII.

47

"CASTE"

53

VI

CONTENTS.
VIII.
PAGE
-

"THE

LITTLE

WIDOW"

"A

GAIETY GIRL"

58

IX.

"THE NEW BOY" "THE

"As You LIKE IT"

HEIRS OF RABOURDIN"
X.

62

"MRS DEXTER"

69

"THE

BEST

MAN"

XL "THE COTTON KING"

-

"FASHIONABLE INTELLIGENCE"
XII.

73

"GO-BANG"
XIII.

80

"ONCE UPON
DESIRE"

A TIME"

"THE LAND
OF

OF HEART'S

"A COMEDY
XIV.

SIGHS"

ARISTOCRATIC ALLIANCE"

"AN ....

85

"MRS LESSINGHAM"

"THE
XV.

LITTLE SQUIRE "96

"JAUNTY JANE SHORE"

" FAUST "

" FROU-FROU

"

"

DON JUAN "

103

XVI.

"ARMS AND THE MAN"

XVII.

109

"A BUNCH

OF VIOLETS"

"THE MASQUERADERS"
XVIII.

118

"THE MASQUERADERS"

127
I

CONTENTS.
XIX.

vii

PACK

"THE WILD DUCK"

136

XX.

ELEANORA DUSE

"A

SOCIETY BUTTERFLY"

" KING
143

KODAK"
XXI.
" DlVORCONS!"
" " THE TWO "JEAN MAYEUX "THE MAN IN THE STREET"

ORPHANS" " MARRIAGE"

"MONEY"
XXII.

....

151

"CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA"

"LA LOCANDIERA"

161

XXIII.

"

THE CANDIDATE"
XXIV.

166

"JOURNEYS END

IN

LOVERS MEETING"

170

XXV.
Tin
Mil. 1. F.MAN"
1

175

XXVI.
VL"
" SHALL

WE

FORCIVK

IKK?"
**

" Tin.

TEXAN"

"THE

JERRY BUILDER''

MADAME
176

SANS-GENE"XXVII.

"THE PROFESSOR'S LOVE STORY" "A NIGHT TOWN" "VILLON" SARAH BERNHARDT
-

IN
-

186

XXVIII.

" LES

Rois"" A MODERN EVE"

196

Vlll

CONTENTS.
XXIX.
PA(JE

"MlRETTE"

203

XXX.

"BKCKET"
XXXI.

208

"LA FEMME

DE CLAUDE"

209

XXXII.
" LITTLE JACK SHEPPARD"

" LOYAL"

218

XXXIII.

"HOT WATER"

222

XXXIV.

"THE NEW WOMAN" "THE FOUNDLING"

XXXV.

223

"THE FATAL CARD"

233

XXXVI.

"THE CHINAMAN" "LITTLE

GAIETY GIRL"

Miss 'CUTE"

"THE
237

XXXVII.

"THE DERBY WINNER" THE GERMAN COMPANY

XXXVIII.
"

245

GRAF WALDEMAR"

253

XXXIX.

"DER PFAKRER VON KIRCHFELD"

XL.

....
"DER
MEINEID-

256

"ODETTE"
HAUER"

"CLAUDE DUVAL"

259

CONTENTS.
XLI.

'

ix
PAGE

"THE CASE

OF RKHKI

CHINATOWN"

"A TRIP TO SUSAN" " TRUTHFUL JAMES"

i

lous

266

XLII.

"A GAY WIDOW"

XLIII.
*'

276

ROBBERY UNDER ARMS"

"THE LADY SLAVEY"-

281

XLIV.

"Hi- EXCELLENCY"

289

XLV.

"An. MY EYK-VANHOE"

" DIE RAUBER"

298

XLVI.
"
"

J..HN A -DkKAM.-,

"A

DOLL'S

HOUSE"

ITERADERS"

....

"

THE
302

XLVII.

"THE WRONG GIRL" "THE SHOP-GIRL"

XIAIII.
"
Tin-.
\\
ii

312

<>i

DIVES"
XI. IX.

320

"

IUUGENIA

IN

TAURIS"

324

I'-lt

IHPAV"
I.I.

33 2

THE RED LAMP"

"HAL

IHR HI'.HWAYMAN"

333

'CONTENTS.
L1I.

PAGE

THE CHIEFTAIN"
LIII.

339

STORY OF WATERLOO"

"THE VICARAGE"

343

EPILOGUE
SYNOPSIS OF PLAYBILLS, BY

347

MR HKNRY

G. HIBBERT
-

371

INDEX

47

PREFACE.
MY
qualification
is,

for

introducing

this

annual
friend

record

as

have vainly urged upon

my

the author, the worst qualification possible.

For

World whose them an appetite for criticism, gave turned every Tuesday from a page on the drama by W. A. to a page on music by G. B. S. Last
years past those readers of The
interest in art

year the death of

Yates closed a chapter in the history of the paper and G. B. S., exhausted his message on the subject of having
;

Edmund

"

contemporary music, took the occasion to write Finis" the end of his musical articles. But the
,'it

old association was so characteristic, and

is still

so recent, that
the reader will
;

we have

resolved to try whether

not, just this

once more, turn

the page and pass from G. B. S. to

force of habit,

W.

A.,
tin

by mere

without noticing
,|

glarin;.; fact

that the musical duties,

(i.

U.S.,

Xll

PREFACE.
off

by cutting him
theatre,

almost

entirely from

the

him, as aforesaid, quite the most unsuitable person to meddle in a book

left

have

about the theatre and rtothing else. However, one can learn something about the
theatre

even at the opera

for

instance, that

there are certain permanent conditions

which

have nothing to do with pure

deeply affect every
don.
artistic

art,

but which

No

performance in Lonwithout intolerable injustice journalist,

to artists

and managers whose livelihood

is

at

stake, can pass judgment without taking these and yet he may not conditions into account mention them, because their restatement in every
;

notice

would be unbearable.
difficulties

The

journalist

is

therefore forced to give his

reader credit for

knowing the
produced
is

under which plays are

in this

leading article is forced to

country, just as the writer of the assume that his reader

acquainted with the British constitution and the practical exigencies of our system of party

government.

And

it

is

because

the

reader

hardly ever does

know

these things that news-

papers so often do more harm than good.

Obviously,
articles

Mr Archer, in

reprinting his weekly

exactly as they appeared, and thereby

all their

preserving

vividness and actuality, pre-

PREFACE.

xiii

serves also this dependence of the journalist on

the public for a considerate and well-informed I need hardly add that reading of his verdicts.

he

will

not get

it,

because his readers, though

interested in the art of the theatre, neither

know

nor care anything about the business of the

theatre

and yet the art of the theatre is as dependent on its business as a poet's genius is
;

on

his bread
in this

and

butter.
is.

Theatrical manage-

one of the most desperate country commercial forms of gambling. No one can
foresee the fate of a play
:

ment

the most experienced

managers

carefully select failure after failure for

;

and the most featherheaded beproduction ginners blunder on successes. At the London

West End

theatres,

where

all

modern English

dramas are born, the minimum expense of running a play is about 400 a week, the maximum anything you please to spend on it. And all
but the merest fraction of
lost.
it

frequently is, entirely success may mean a fortune of

may be, and very On the other hand,

fifty

thousand

pounds accumulated within a single

year.

Very

few forms of gambling are as hazardous as this. At n.ulrtu- \<>u can back red or black instead
of yellow.

On the turf you can take the low odds against the favourite instead of the high

XIV

PREFACE.

odds against the outsider. can stake as much or as

At both games you

little

But

in the theatre

as you choose. must play a desperate you

all.

game

for

high stakes, or not play at

falls

And

the risk

altogether on the management. from the author to the charwoman, Everybody, must be paid before the management appro-

priates a farthing.

The scientific student of gambling will see at once that these are not the conditions which
permanently attract the gambler.
;

reextreme, too inelastic besides, far too much knowledge. Consequently, quires the gambler pure and simple never meddles

They are the game

too

with the theatre

he has ready to his hand

suit

dozens of games that

is

him

better.
is

And

too risky for the gambler what question for the man of business.

out of the

Thus, from

the purely economic point of view, the theatre

Neither as investment nor speculation, enterprise nor game, earnest nor jest, can it attract a single sovereign of capital. You
is

impossible.

must disturb a man's reason before he

listen to
It

will

even

a proposal to run a playhouse. will now be asked why, under these circum-

stances,

theatres open in London.

have we a couple of dozen West End Are they being run

PREFACE.

XV

by people whose reason is disturbed? The answer is, emphatically, Yes. They are the
result of the sweeping away of all reasonable economic prudence by the immense force of an artistic instinct which drives the actor to make

opportunities at
his art,

all

hazards for the exercise of

irresistibly

and which makes the theatre

fascinating to

many

rich people

who can
The

afford

to keep theatres just as they can afford to keep

racehorses,

yachts, or newspapers.

actor

who

is

successful

enough

to

obtain

tolerably

continuous employment as " leading man" in London at a salary of from twenty to forty

pounds a week, can

in

a few years save enough

to try the experiment of taking a theatre for a

account.

few months and producing a play on his own The same qualities which have enabled

him

to interest the public as an actor will help

him, as
theatre
as his
"

actor-manager,
fanciers,

to

interest

the

rich

and

to persuade

them

to act

backers."

If the enterprise

thus started
profits of a

be watered

now and then by the huge

it

take a great deal to kill it. With the help of these profits and occasional subsidies, runs of ill-luck arc weathered with
successful play,
will

every appearance of brilliant prosperity, and an

suspected only by experienced acting-managers,

XVI

PREFACE.

and by shrewd observers who have noticed the extreme scepticism of these gentlemen as to the
reality of

any apparently large success. This system of actor-manager and backer

is

practically

supreme in London. The drama is in the hands of Mr Irving, Mr Alexander, Mr Beerbohm Tree, Mr Lewis Waller, Mrs John

Wood, Mr Hare, Mr
Penley, and

Mr

Terry, Mr Toole. Nearly

Wyndham, Mr
all

the theatres

other than

theirs are either

devoted, like the

Adelphi and Drury Lane,

to the routine of those

comparatively childish forms of melodrama which have no more part in the development of
the theatre as one of the higher forms of art than Madame Tussaud's or the Christy Minstrels, or
else they are opera-houses.

We

all

know by

this

time that the

effect of

the actor-manager system is to impose on every dramatic author who wishes to have his work

produced

in

first-rate style, the

condition that

there shall be a good part for the actor-manager in it. This is not in the least due to the vanity

and jealousy of the actor-manager

his popularity.

it is

due to

theatre

is

The strongest fascination at a the fascination of the actor or actress,

More people go
to

not of the author.

the

Lyceum Theatre to see

Mr

Irving and Miss

1'REFACfe.

xvii

Kllcn Terry than to see Shakespere's plays at all events, it is certain that if Mr Irving were to
;

present himself in as mutilated a condition as

he presented King Lear, a shriek of horror would go up from all London. If Mr Irving were to

produce a tragedy, or Mr Wyndham a comedy, in which they were cast for subordinate parts,
the public would stay

away

and the author

self-denial of the

would have reason to curse the

actor-manager.
to authors

Mr
is

managerial policy

Hare's personally modest anything but encouraging

who wish that all actormanagers were even as he. The absence of a
and
rritics

strong personal interest on his part in the plays submitted to him takes all the edge off his

judgment as
he
is

to their merits

falling

and except when back on old favourites like Caste

;

and Diplomacy, or holding on to A Pair of Spectacles, which is as much a one-part actormanager's play as Hamlet
is,

he

is

too often

cting all the failures of the modern drama, and leaving the successes to the actor-managers whose selective instincts arc sharpened by good
part> in them.

We

thus see that matters are

made worse
whilst the

instead of

mended by

the elimina-

tion of personal motives

from actor-management;
b

economic conditions are so extremely

XVlll

PREFACE.

unfavourable to anyone but an actor venturing upon the management of any but a purely routine theatre, that in order to bring up the list
of real exceptions to the

London

rule of actor-

management
with

to three,

we have

to count

Mr Daly

and Mr Grein of the Independent Theatre along

Mr Comyns

Carr.

Mr

Grein, though his

forlorn hopes

of

all

have done good to the drama out apparent proportion to the show they have

been able to make, tells us that he has lost more by his efforts than anybody but a fanatic would
sacrifice

Mr Daly, as the manager and of a London theatre (New York is proprietor his centre of operations), has had little success
;

whilst

except in the Shakesperean revivals which have enabled him to exploit Miss Ada Rehan's unrivalled

charm of poetic speech. Taking actor-management, then, as inevitable for the moment, and dismissing as untenable the
notion that the actor-manager can afford to be magnanimous any more than he can afford to be
lazy,

why

is

it

that,

on the whole, the

effect of

the system behind the

is

to keep the theatre lagging far

?

drama

The answer

is,

that

the

theatre depends on a very large public, and the drama on a very small one. great dramatic

poet

will

produce plays

for a bare livelihood, if

PREFACE.
he can get nothing more.
theatre would perform

xix

Even

if

a London

them on the same terms,

or
will

the
five

sum
for

that will keep the poet for a year

years at a pinch

open
years.

more than a week.

he could
sell

not keep the theatre Ibsen, the greatest

living dramatic
If

poet, produces a play in

two

twenty thousand copies

of

it

at five shillings apiece within the following

two years, he would no doubt consider himself, for a poet, a most fortunate man in his comBut unless a London manager some probability of from 50,000 to 75,000 people paying him an average five shillings
mercial relations.
I

apiece within three months, he will hardly be persuaded to venture. In this book the reader
will
first

find

an account of the production

in

for the

time

masterpiece

England of Ibsen's Wild Duck, a of modern tragi-comcdy, famous

It

throughout Europe.

was by no means

lack;

ing in personal appeal to the actor-manager for it contains two parts, one of which, old Ekdal,

Hare, whilst the other, Hjalmar Ekdal, would have suited Mr

for

might have been written

Mr

rbohm Tree
happened,

to perfection.

What
no
it
;

actually

however,

was

that

London
it

manager could

afford to touch

and

was

not until a few private p

^craped together

XX

PREFACE.
little

a handful of subscriptions that two modest

representations were given by Mr Grein under Mr Tree had already, by the great difficulties.

experiment of a few matinees of An Enemy of tJic People, ascertained that such first-rate work
as Ibsen's
is
still

far

above the very low

level

represented by the average taste of the huge crowd of playgoers requisite to make a reThe Wild Duck, munerative run for a play.
therefore,

This

is

how

had to give place to commoner work. the theatre lags behind its own
literature.
itself in

published
perpetuate

And

the evil
:

tends to

two ways

first,

by helping

to prevent the formation of a habit of playgoing

among

the cultivated section

;

of the

London

community
fiction

and second, by diverting the best

in

of our literary talent from the theatre to ordinary

and journalism,
is

which

it

becomes

technically useless for stage purposes.

The matter
visit

further

complicated

by the

conditions on which the public are invited to the theatre. These conditions, in my

opinion, are sufficient

by themselves
troublesome

to

make
to the

most reasonable people regard a

theatre

visit

rather as

and

costly

luxury to be indulged in three or four times a year under family pressure, than as the ordinary

PREFACE.

xxi

of passing an unoccupied evening. The theatrical managers will not recognise that they have to compete with the British fireside, the

way

slippers, the

and the
pecting a
the

illustrated press.

easy chair, the circulating library, They persist in exhis wife to leave their

man and
by

homes

after dinner, and, after

theatre

relays

worrying their way to of train and cab or

or
half-a-

omnibus, pay

seven -and -sixpence

In the guinca apiece for comfortable seats. United States, where prices are higher in other things, the same accommodation can be had for
five and six shillings. The cheaper parts of the London theatre are below the standard of comfort now expected by third-class travellers on our northern railway lines. The result is, not

go to the theatre at all, but that they go very seldom, and then only to some house of great repute, like Mr Irving's, or to sec

that people refuse to

some play which has created the

indicated by the term
"

sort of

mania
doubt,

catching on."

No

when
and

this

mania
the
at

sets in, the profits are, as

we

havr seen, mormons.

this
is
is

Hut when it does not more frequent case the acting-

mana;.;rr
will
sit

his wit's

end

to find people

who

in

his half-guinea stalls

bal< MI,

and seven andin

nny

tor

nothing,

order to

XX11

PREFACE.

persuade the provincial playgoer, when his turn comes to see the piece "on tour" from an
excellent seat costing only a few shillings, that he is witnessing a "great London success." In

action -of

the long run this system will succumb to the competition, and to the growing

discrepancy between the distribution of income in the country and the distribution of prices in
the theatre
;

but the reader

who

wishes to in-

telligently understand the failures and successes recorded in this book, must take account of the

the exception of the shilling gallery, every seat in a West End London theatre is at present charged for at a rate which makes
fact

that, with

impossible for theatrical enterprise to settle down from a feverish speculation into a steady
it

industry.

Among
an
actors,

other effects of this state of things is extreme precariousness of employment for

who

are compelled to

demand unreason-

ably high salaries in order that they

in

may

earn

incomes.

the course of the year discouragingly small As we have seen, the few who have

adaptable ability and popularity to be constantly employed, save rapidly enough to besufficient

come actor-managers and even to build theatres The result is that it becomes for themselves.

PREFACE.

XXlll

more and more

a play.

difficult to

obtain a fine cast for

The

"

star system,"
in

which
is

is

supposed to

have disappeared
for
is

London,
is

really

rampant

there as far as acting

concerned.

Compare,
Sir

example, the Opera, where the actor-manager

unknown, with the

Lyceum

Theatre.

Augustus Harris can present an opera with a whole constellation of stars in it. One of the
greatest operas

the world, sung by half-adozen of the greatest dramatic singers in the

in

world,

is
I

phenomenon which,

as

a musical

have seen, and found fault with, at critic, Covent Garden. Now try to imagine Mr Irving attempting to do for a masterpiece of Shakespere's

what

Sir

Augustus

Harris
are

does
like

for

Lohengrin.
Irving
:

All

the other stars

Mr

they have theatres of their own, and are

competing with him as men of business, instead

of co-operating with
receipt for

him

as artists.

The

old

few dolls,"

an opera company, "Catalani and a is, leaving scenery and mounting out

of the question, as applicable to a Shakesperean performance at the Lyceum to-day as it was to

the provincial starring exploits of the late Barry
Sullivan.

One

cxj

cry

month

to

hear

that

Waring, Mr Fred Terry, Mr Yorkc Stephens, Mr Forbes Robertson, Mr Brandon

Mr

XXIV

PREFACE.

Thomas, and Mr Hawtrey are about to follow Mr Alexander and Mr Waller into actormanagement.

We

should

then

have sixteen

actor-managers competing with one another in sixteen different theatres, in a metropolis hardly
containing good actors enough to cast three good plays simultaneously, even with the sixteen
actor- managers counted
in.

No

doubt such an
six

increased

demand

for actors set

and plays as

additional managers would up might produce an increased and improved supply if the demand of the public for theatrical amusements kept

actor-managers

pace with the ambition of actors to become but is there, under existing
;

conditions as to growth of population and distribution of income, the slightest likelihood of

such an upward bound of public marked reduction of prices ?

demand without
to

There

is

yet another

momentous prospect

be taken into consideration.

We
So
to

have

at pre-

sent nine actor-managers and only one actress-

manageress
position

Mrs John Wood.

" "

far,

our chief

actresses have been content to

depend on the

of

leading

lady

some

actor-

manager. This was sufficient for all ordinary ambitions ten years ago but since then the of a revolution in public opinion on progress
;

PREFACE.

XXV

what
to

is

called the

Woman

agitate

the stage.

Question has begun In the highest class of

drama the century has produced, the works of Richard Wagner, we find the Elsa of Lohengrin,
highly developed of the operatic " donnas whose main function it was prima to be honoured with the love of the hero, supthe
"

most

and
the

planted by a race of true heroines like Brynhild Isolde, women in no sense secondary to

bound up with their immeasurably superior in wisdom, courage, and every great quality of heart and mind, to the stage heroes of the middle
fate
is

men whose

own, and

indeed

The impulse Romance. felt in drama has now reached domestic prose comedy and Esther Eccles and Diplomacy Dora are succeeded by Nora Helmer, Rebecca West, Hcdda Gabler and Hilda Wangel.
Victorian

period of heroic music

The change
criticised
fill

is

so patent, that one of the plays

in

by Mr Archer
called
Tlic

the

pages which

low

is

New Woman.

Now

it

is

not

possible to put the

on the sta^c in her without stirring up, both on the stage and in the auditorium, the struggle to keep her in her
old
place.

new woman seriously relation to modern society,

The

play with which

//

Ibsen

OOfl

nurrcil the world,

/W/'.v //W.sr. allots to the

XXVI
"

PREFACE.

leading

man

"

the part of a most respectable

bank manager, exactly the sort of person on whose quiet but irresistible moral superiority
to

women Tom Taylor

insisted with the fullest

public applause

in his Still

Waters

Run

Deep.

Yet the play ends with the most humiliating exposure of the vanity, folly, and amorous

beglamourment of
his attitude

this

complacent person
wife, the

in

towards his

exposure being
is

made by

the wife herself.

His

not the sort

to
play.

of part that an

Mr Wyndham
:

actor-manager has revived Still

likes

Waters

Run

The Deep one part that no actor as yet plays willingly is the part of a hero whose heroism is neither
he
will

not touch

Doll's House.

admirable nor laughable.

A
;

villain if

you

like,

a hunchback, a murderer, a kicked, cuffed, duped but a hero manque', pantaloon by all means
never.

Man

clings
;

to

the old

pose,

the old

and the actor in particular, cheap heroism whose life aspiration it has been to embody
that pose, feels, with inexpressible misgiving, the

earth

crumbling beneath his feet as the enthusiasm his heroism once excited turns to pity

and

ridicule.

But

this

misgiving

is

the very

material on which the

modern dramatist of the

It
is

Ibsen school seizes for his tragi-comedy.

PREFACE.

XXVil

the material upon which I myself have seized in a play of my own criticised in this book, to

which

only allude here to gratify my friend the author, who has begged me to say someI comply by thing about Arms and the Man.
I

confessing that the result was a misunderstanding so complete, that but for the pleasure given by
the acting, and for the happy circumstance that there was sufficient fun in the purely comic

aspect of the piece to enable it to filch a certain vogue as a novel sort of extravaganza, its failure

would have been as evident to the public as it was to me when I bowed my acknowledgments
before the curtain to a salvo of entirely mistaken

congratulations on

my

imaginary success as a

conventionally cynical and paradoxical castigator of "the seamy side of human nature."

The whole
that

difficulty

was created by the

as

fact

my
in

Bulgarian hero, quite

much

as

was a hero shown woman's point of view. I complicated the psychology by making him
Doll's House,

Helmer

from the modern

catch

and conduct from

all

glimpse after glimpse of his own aspect this point of view himself, as
arc beginning to

men

do more or

less

now,

the

result,

of course, bring the most

horrible

dubiety on his part as to whether he was really

XXV111

PREFACE.

a brave and chivalrous gentleman, or a humbug and a moral coward. His actions, equally of
course, were hopelessly irreconcilable with either

theory.

Need

add that

if

the straightforward

Helmer, a very honest and ordinary middleclass

man

misled by false ideals of womanhood,

bewildered the public, and was finally set down as a selfish cad by all the Helmers in the audience,

a fortiori

my

introspective Bulgarian never had

a chance, and was dismissed, with but moderately

spontaneous laughter, as a swaggering impostor

of the species for which contemporary slang has " invented the term " bounder ?

But what bearing have the

peculiarities of

Helmer and

my

misunderstood

Bulgarian

on

the question of the actress-manageress ? Very clearly this, that it is just such peculiarities
that

make

characteristically

modern plays

as

repugnant to the actor as they are attractive to

the actress, and that, consequently, the actress who is content to remain attached to an actor-

leading lady," forfeits all chance of creating any of the fascinating women's parts which come at intervals of two years from the

manager

as

"

Ibsen mint.

Among the newest parts open

to the

leading lady, Paula Tanqueray counts as "advanced," although she would be perfectly in her

PREFACE.
place in a novel

xxix

by Thackeray or Trollope, to cither of whom Nora Helmer would have been an

will

A glance at our theatre inconceivable person. show that the higher artistic career is practhe leading lady.
at the

tically closed to

Miss Ellen

Lyceum Theatre may Terry's position appear an enviable one but when I recall the parts to which she has been condemned by
;

her task of "supporting"

to

Mr

Irving,

have
in-

admit

that

Miss Janet
in

Achurch,

for

stance,

who made
in

for herself the

opportunity of
of
actress-

"creating" Nora Helmer

herself

England by placing
Again,

the position
is

virtually

manageress,
if

far

more

to be envied.

we compare Miss Elizabeth Robins, the creator of Hedda Gabler and Hilda Wangel,
with Miss Kate Rorke at the Garrick Theatre,
or
the records

of Miss

Florence

Farr

and

at the Criterion,
is

Miss Marion Lea with that of Miss Mary Moore we cannot but see that the time
ripe for the

advent of the actress-manager

and that we are on the verge of something like ruggle between the sexes for the dominion
of the

London

theatres, a struggle which, failing

an honourable treaty, or the break-up of the

actor-manager system by the competition of new forms of theatrical enterprise, must in the

XXX

PREFACE.

long run end disastrously for the side which is furthest behind the times. And that side is at
present the men's side.
able to gratify his impatience, and pass on to Mr Archer's criticisms (if he has not done so long ago), with' some

The

reader will

now be

idea of the allowances that must be

made

for

circumstances

in

giving judgment on the curious

pageant which passes before the dramatic critic as he sits in his stall night after night. He has

had

to praise or blame, advocate or oppose, always

with a

reasonable regard to what is Most of his possible under existing conditions. readers, preoccupied with pure ideals of the art

human and

of the theatre,

know nothing

of these conditions,

their

and perhaps imagine that all that lies beyond ken is the working of the traps and the

shifting of the scenery.

of mine

may

Perhaps these few hints help them to understand that the

real secrets of the theatre are not those of the

stage mechanism, but of the box-office, the actingmanager's room, and the actor-manager's soul.
G. B. S.

AUTHOR'S NOTE.
HAVE

to

thank the Trustees under the

friend,

will

of

my
To

lamented Editor and

the Editors of the Pall

Mr Edmund
Sketch,

Yates, for

confirming his sanction of this reprint.

Mall Budget,
one or two

and the Athetuznm

my

thanks are also due for

articles

their permission to include

necessary to complete the record of the year. It i- a great pleasure to me to be able to associate
the

name
I

of

my

friend

Mr George

Bernard
this

Shaw
;

with

my own
am

on the title-page of

volume

and

sure that the synopsis of playbills,

kindly suggested and compiled by Mr Henry George Hibbcrt, will be found very materially to enhance the value of the book for purposes of
reference.

W. A.

C. A.

AND

J.

A.

Mid gaunt kill-bastions

1

ofHindostan,
ofyore

And neat the sacred cone of Fuji-san, May these faint echoes from our haunts
/i

Set boyish pulses stirring in the man.

LAST PERFORMANCES OF PLAYS

STILL

RUNNING AT PUBLICATION OF
1893."

"THEATRICAL WORLD OF

Last Performance.
1894.
P.I

AUTY'S TOILS (Strand)

January
January

3.

CAPTAIN SWIFT (Haymarkct)

17.

DON JUAN

(Gaiety)

June
of Wales's
;

16.

GAIETY GIRL (Prince

transferred to Daly's,
(Terry's)

September

10)

December
January'
6.

15.

GUDGEONS

THE HEADLESS MAN

MOROCCO BOUND

(Criterion)

...

March

10.

MRS. OTHELLO (Vaudeville)

(Shaftesbury
;

January
trans-

12.

ferred to Trafalgar Square, January 8)

February

10.

THE SECOND MRS. TANQUERAY

(St.

James's)

April 2t.

Six PERSONS (Haymarket

First Piece)

April 21.

TOM,

DICK, AND
;

HARRY
to

(Trafalgar
Strand,

Square

transferred
8)

January
Tkii-i
r.

February

21.

BILL (Court Theatre;

N-OE (Adelphi
...

January

16.

March

3.

THE
THEATRICAL
OF

"WORLD"

1894.

I.

THE PANTOMIMES.
^rd January.
"
at

\VITH Cinderella"*

read in

last

week's

"

Celebrities

Home,"
in
still

"Mr

Oscar

Barrett

hopes to

mark an

epoch

the

history of

modern pantomime.

He

means

further to widen the gulf

which already

divides the

pantomime of to-day from the pantomime

of a couple of generations ago." In the first of these aspirations, Mr Barrett has in all probability succeeded.

has certainly produced by far the prettiest and most entertaining pantomime we have seen for many
a year.
If
it

He

has anything like the success

it

desei

he

will

in his
in
if

be encouraged to follow it up, others will tread footsteps, and we shall indeed have a new epoch
an epoch of beauty, refinement, and,

pantomime
*

not precisely wit, at least of reason and coherence.

Lyceum, December
26, 1893

March

7-

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
But
all this is

1894.

surely not

"widening the gulf" between

the pantomime of to-day and that of half-a-century It is rather carrying the art of Christmas ago.
spectacle back to the days of
its

youth

the days of

Mathews and
far

Vestris at this very

Lyceum, the days of

Planch^ and of Beverley.

course,
is

Mr

Barrett's production, of

more

costly

and splendid than anything

it

Planch^ would have dreamt of;* but

runs entirely

on the

lines of the

old-fashioned

Christmas piece,

telling its story clearly

it

and

gracefully,

and

illustrating

with fantastic episodes which have a certain natural

It is difficult to express,

relevance to the main theme.

without seeming to exaggerate, the pleasure which one

feels in this return to rational

methods, this In writing of last year's pantomimes,

forecast a regeneration of this

and thoughtful artistic happy co-operation of mind with money.

I

was moved to

most useful and admir-

able art-form.

"When
all

the Aristophanes arrives for

whom we
mime

are

yearning," I said,
.

certainly write

pantomime.

"he The

will

almost

ideal panto-

should charm the senses, stimulate the imaginaIt should be an tion, and satisfy the intelligence. enchanting
graceful,
fairy-tale to the
satiric

young

to the old a witty,

genially

phantasmagoria."

Thus

* This statement was disputed by a courteous correspondent. But I believe he will find that, though Planche doubtless produced striking effects, he dealt in far less costly materials than are

nowadays used

in spectacular productions.

THE PANTOMIMES.
prophesied,
little

dreaming that a single year would

carry us so far towards the realisation of

my

vision.

How

far?

Well,

suppose we

say half-way.
writes

Mr
and

Horace

Lennard,

though
is

he

simply

pleasantly enough,

not precisely an Aristophanes,

wit

or even a Planche*.
tion are to

The

and
"

satire
"

of the produc-

be found

in the

gags

of the comedians

(inoffensive, but not over-brilliant) rather than in the

written

text.

If

Mr

Barrett

is

disposed to proceed

on which he has already made so daring an advance, might he not induce one of our
further along the path

acknowledged masters of satiric verse to collaborate with Mr Lennard, whose practical experience would always be invaluable ? How about Mr Austin Dobson?
or

Mr
?

Anstey

or

be persuaded hope to lend a hand in a fairy-play for children ? If I were a manager, I know the poet whom I should bribe
Carroll

Might not

Mr H. D. Mr " Lewis

Traill

or
"

Mr

Court-

with untold gold to work

my

Christmas puppets
Prince,

for

me

the author of The

Happy

The
to

Selfish

Giant,

and other exquisite

fairy-tales

wit,

Mr

Oscar Wilde.

poet and literary

artist,

then,

would have made

Cinderella

more

interesting to

grown-up people; no
it

one could possibly have made

children.
It is

more amusing
folks

to

a delight to the

little

from

first

to

last,

and a delight of the

healthiest

and most

innocent order.

One

pleasure succeeds another with-

4
out
"

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
intermission
:

1894.

the

iridescent

glooms

of

the

Factories of Fairyland," the dance of the

Autumn

Leaves, with the episode of the

Wood

Pigeon and the

Fox, quite the most beautifully-coloured ballet I can

remember

to have seen

the entrance of Cinderella,

her encounter with the Fairy

Godmother and with the

handsome Prince
the kitchen at

her gambols with the stray cat in

the departure of the Baron,
;

home;

Baroness, and the ugly Step-Sisters for the ball

the

reappearance of the Fairy Godmother, and conversion

of the cat into a black footman (one of the most

marvellous of

Mr

Lauri's quick changes), with all the

indispensable miracles of the pumpkin, the mice, the

rat,

and the

lizards

the attiring of Cinderella in the

fanciful

Fairy

Boudoir, a

deliciously

scene;

her

departure for the ball in a chariot

ponies,

drawn by

six black
;

and with wheels ablaze with

electric jewels

the arrival of the Sisters at the Palace in Sedan-chairtricycles

;

the opening of the Bal Champetre, with

its

Florentine, Indian, Tudor, and Japanese dances; the entrance of Cinderella, and her flight;
Classical,

the trying-on of the slipper,

of the unkind Sisters
;

and ultimate discomfiture

a
novel and

the imaginative and beautiful

Transformation Scene;
spirited

and, with

finally,

Lauri as Harlequinade, Clown, made up (if I mistake not) in exact imitation It must be indeed of a well-known print of Grimaldi.

Mr

Charles

a terrible infant whose cup of content

is

not

filled

to

THE PANTOMIMES.
overflowing by
all

these enjoyments.
in casting his

Mr

Barrett has

been singularly happy pantomime. Miss Ellaline Terriss is an ideal Cinderella simple, child-

and pathetically pretty. Miss Susie Vaughan makes a most amiable and authentic Fairy Godmother ; and Miss Minnie Terry is charming as the Sylph
like,

Coquette,

who

presides over the jewels

and

scents, the

handkerchiefs, gloves, fans, and powder-puffs of the

Fairy Boudoir.

Mr

Jecks are an amusing Baron and Baroness

Victor Stevens and
Sisters,

Harry Parker and Miss Clara and Mr

;

Fred Emney, who play the are as unobjectionable as male comedians in

possibly be.

Mr

petticoats can

Mr

Stevens, indeed,

is

often irresistibly funny.

Miss Kate Chard, makes a

;

dashing Prince, and sings capitally

and Miss Alice

Brookes acts with pleasant vivacity as his valet DanMiss Louie Loveday and Mile. Zanfretta are dini.
graceful, accomplished,

and non-gymnastic dancers;

and

as for the merits of

Mr
is

Charles Lauri's

cat, are

they not the most

natural history ?
that

indisputable fact in pantomimic

it

But

not only in his principals

Mr

Barrett has been fortunate.

His chorus and

ballet

are

most carefully selected, and present an

;

uncommonly high average of beauty

Wilhelm) are admirably
has surpassed herself.
tasteful

the dresses (by

;

and

fanciful

and

in

the arrangement of the dances

Madame

Katti Lanner

by Messrs

The only fault of the scenery, Emden and Hawes Craven, is an occasional

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

neglect of the principle of contrast.

for

In the ball-scene,
so bright that the

example, the background

is

figures

do not stand out

is

against

and the eye

manner,

fatigued in

it as they ought to, a wilderness of glitter. The

musical setting, to conclude,

is

in

Mr

Barrett's best

popular

airs

of the day being charmingly

diversified
pieces.

with classical

fragments and
I

concerted

For

my own

part,

could spare one or two

;

of the sentimental ballads, graceful though they be

and something ought certainly to be cut out in order to make room for the second scene of the harlequinade.

The

first

children, big

and

little,

was so amusing, that all the were full of regrets when the

prematurely descended. My whole feeling about Cinderella may be summed up in the statement that I should be delighted to see it again to-morrow ;
curtain

and
to

it

is

twenty years and more since

for

it

has seemed
sit

me
Sir

possible

any human being to

out a

pantomime twice

over.

Augustus Harris's fifteenth annual, Robinson Crusoe? is an excellent pantomime of what may be
called the monster-medley type.
It

has as

little

as

possible to do with the story of Robinson Crusoe, but that name is as good as another for a series
of gorgeous

pageants, with

interludes
is

by the most
resplendent
spirited as
10.

popular "artistes."

The

Fish Ballet

beyond description, and

*

will

no doubt be
March

Drury Lane, December 26, 1893

THE PANTOMIMES.
well

7
to

when the dancers have become accustomed

habiliments.

their scaly

The Indian
really

Ballet

is

not
the

only

magnificent,

but

beautiful;

and

tableaux from English history are elaborate, ingenious,

and

for

the most part effective.

No more

superb

spectacle has been seen on the Drury Lane stage than

the final Apotheosis of the call it The "

may

so.

artistes

House of Hanover, " were somewhat

if
ill

we
at

ease on the

first

night, but

shaken

off their

nervousness.

have no doubt long ago Miss Ada Blanche

made

a very popular Robinson Crusoe, and ministered

to that patriotism

which

is

one of the

holiest feelings

of our nature, by exterminating a huddled crowd of " Little Tich," who is savages with a machine-gun.
really a very agile

and amusing personage, was nomi-

nally

Man

Friday, but did not take himself seriously

enough
to

to blacken his face.

Mr

Herbert Campbell,

as Will Atkins, converted into a Pirate Chief,

seemed

unusually subdued, and therefore unusually amiable ; but nothing, apparently, can subdue Mr

me

Dan Leno, who appeared as Crusoe's mother. The most successful incident of the evening was the bedroom
scene, in which

disrobed and retired to

Miss Marie Lloyd modestly rest. At every string she

;

untied, the gallery gave a gasp of satisfaction

and

when Mr Dan Leno exhibited himself

petticoat

in a red flannel
literally

and a

pair of stays, the

whole house
it

yelled with delight.

You may

think

odd, and even

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
somehow
I

1894.
to yearn for the
toilet,

ungallant, but

don't

seem

privilege of assisting at

Miss Marie Lloyd's

in dishabille
;

or
all

admiring
one.

Mr Dan Leno

but,

amid

that vast audience, I

was evidently

in a

minority of

The two
to

Poluskis, as the Captain

and Mate,

proved themselves admirable pantomimists.

When

you go

Drury Lane take care

is

to be in time, for the

encounter of the Poluskis with the

the opening scene,

dummy

sailors, in

the funniest thing imaginable.

Miss Julia Kent did some very clever patter-dancing; and Madame Zucchi and Signer Albertieri, and Mr John and Miss Emma D'Auban, represented the
higher branches of the
art.

The Crystal Palace pantomime hijack and the Beanstalk* may be confidently recommended to parents and
guardians.
It is pleasantly written by Mr Horace Lennard, and produced with care and liberality by Mr Oscar Barrett. There are two ballets, "The

Revels of the Nereids," and a most picturesque dance

of diablerie in the Valley of Desolation
as either of them, to
in
;

and

as pretty

my

thinking,

is

the rustic dance

the village

of Cowslipdale.
spirited Jack,

Miss Edith Bruce

makes a very
terrific

Mr Reuben
is

Inch

is

giant,

and Miss Kitty Loftus

exceedingly

bright

and vivacious

as Scarlet Runner, the Spirit of

the

Beanstalk.

The

harlequinade, unfortunately,

is

decidedly poor.
* December 23, 1893

February

IO.

"AN OLD
II.

JEW/'

"AN OLD
LET me
Garrick.

JEW."
loth January.

make one thing clear before attempting to

discuss in detail

Mr Sydney

Grundy's new play

at the

The

executioner, in Thackeray's story, wept

;

over The Sorrows of Wtrthtr

whence we

learn that

even the most despicable of human beings, in the most odious of offices, has " his feelinx " as a man.

Of myself
literature,

narrate the fable.

Though by

profession

an executioner, not

to say an assassin, of dramatic

when

I lay

aside the axe, the rope,

and the
is.

furtive stiletto, I

can be a

man even
I

as

Mr Grundy

Simply as a
courage

man, then, shown by Mr Grundy and Mr Hare in writing and producing An OldJew.* Perhaps because my own disposition is cautious and timorous, courage,

admire and applaud the

even carried to the extreme of foolhardiness, has Well, Mr always had a peculiar fascination for me.

Grundy has had the courage of

said his say,
his

his opinions, of

what
has

he no doubt believes to be his observations.

He

and made a clean breast of it, and, like own Paul Venables, has let off the steam of a
It

long-pent indignation in the very face of the objects

of his scorn.

enhances the respect

was a plucky thing to do, and it in which, as a man, I hold Mr

February
3.

January 6

IO

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

Grundy as a man. Mr Hare, too, in producing the play, and loyally doing his best to give full effect to Mr Grundy's satire, has shown a courage which,
frankly,
especial, faced

one did not quite expect of him. He has, in one or two really awkward situations

with admirable and unflinching firmness.

all

We

can

remember the time when

the conclusion of the

fourth act

the driving of the money-changers from

the

Temple

would have been considered audacious

pitch

almost to the
perhaps,

of

blasphemy; some of
present

us,

may even have been

(at

when an

audience
"
line,

the old Haymarket, I fancy) hissed the

to scoff, but I
it

came

remain to pray," under

the impression that

That day

is

was a quotation from the Bible. We have not only ceased to long past.

pay a superstitious reverence to Biblical phraseology, we have ceased even to respect the literary beauties
of the Bible.

At our most popular burlesque theatre

is

a low comedian

night

after

night

singing, with

unbounded applause, a slangy and vulgar parody of

the story of the Prodigal Son,
the Censorship, which

vetoed the tragic and beautiful Salome, offering no

objection.
that

Such

is

had

An Old Jew

popular inconsistency, however, been " going badly," it is quite

likely

that

the malcontents

would

have professed

themselves shocked by Julius Sterne's parallel between himself and the Scourger and Purger of that other " den of thieves." Mr Hare, then, deserves all credit

'AN OLD JEW."

for

II

facing this

that his intrepidity

and other dangers one only wishes had been displayed in the cause
;

of a better play.

For here the man must give place to the critic, I must own that An Old Jew has by no means enhanced my esteem for Mr Grundy as an observer,

and

a thinker, a dramatic

artist.

No;

it

is

not a good
It is

piece of work, either as a

full

drama or

as a satire.
is

of clever and amusing things, and

very well

seeing; but as a work of art, an effort of Mr thought, it breaks down at almost every point. Grundy himself will scarcely doubt the sincerity of

worth

the

regret

with

which one makes

this

admission.

He

must know that even the meanest of

critics

enjoys

the cheap magnanimity of professing his withers un-

wrung by satire, and praising, from an impersonal and impartial standpoint, a work which might have
been expected to rub him the wrong way. If Grundy had given us the slightest opportunity
exercising this facile virtue, I

Mr
for
all

am

sure

we would
not.

have rushed

at

it

with avidity.
;

But he has
is

The

drama

is

commonplace
Since

the satire

thin, superficial,

and confused.
example, we too
convictions.

may

has set the good as well have the courage of our

Mr Grundy

The drama,
is

of course,

is

neither here nor there

satire.
It

it

a mere framework for the

has the merit

it

of being a quite simple framework, but

cannot be

12

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
its

1894.
I,

called neat in

simplicity.

Not

that

for

my

part,

object to
as

its

essence.

That

fairy-tale was,

perhaps,

good

as another for the author's purpose.

The
the

Monte

Cristo

motive

appeals

unfailingly

to

Who does not find a pleasure in picturimagination. " The Return of the Millionaire," transformed by ing
his wealth into a sort of incarnate

Providence, and

able to mete out rewards and punishments to the just

and the unjust with an accuracy which the other Providence does not always attain ? There is even a
certain novelty in the conception of a

Monte

Cristo

who

carries

coals of fire in his

like

magic pocket-book
fable,

(my metaphors,
pantomime

Mr

Grundy's

smack of the

season), and heaps ^them upon the heads of those who have wronged him. It would be unjust,

moreover, to object to the absence from the

tale

fairy-

of anything like observed or studied character.

is

Where

the ideal personage in his right place

if

not

in the fairy-tale ?

Here we have

perfect

magnanimity

and beneficence, combined with sententious wisdom, in the benign Enchanter the Good Boy and Girl are
;

of talent and virtue

all

compact

(of course there

is

not the least need for the Old Jew to open Paul's

manuscript in order to assure himself that it * and even the masterpiece) ; Erring Mother
*
this

is

has

Mr

remark, alleging that No ; but Slater, piece."

Grundy, in the American edition of the play, objects to " it is nowhere described as a masterwho is represented as an able though

"AN OLD JEW"

come
well
it

13

as gold through

fire,

and

is

an exquisite embodiall

ment of chastened penitence.

if

This would be
;

very

the fairy-tale were well told

but unfortunately
told several times

isn't.

In the
at

first

place,

it

is

or, any rate, long explanations of matters which we have all divined hours ago produce an effect of tedious repetition. This is the last error

over;

one would have expected from Mr Grundy, who knows no one better that if there is one thing the
skilful playwright
it

should dread more than obscurity,

is

over-insistence

on the obvious.

Again, the
Sterne

thing does not rightly dovetail. wants to preserve his incognito,

If Julius

why does he come

wife's house,

and go with the utmost freedom in his trusting to the very improbable chance
not meet her?

that

he may

We

are not given to understand that

Slater does not

he

is

altered

beyond recognition.
is

recognise him, but Slater

at last

blind with drink.

When
at

the husband and wife

do meet, she
until her

is

some
for

trouble not to look at

him
is

cue comes

the recognition.

This

a small matter, but in the

work of a champion of the well-made play we may

surely look for nicety of adjustment.
Is
it

not carrytoo far to

ing the Arabian Nights convention a represent a

little

young playwright, even

in

a crisis of

corrupt critic, very emphatically calls it "a splendid play." If the difference seems vital to Mr Grundy, I cheerfully with-

draw "masterpiece" and

substitute

"splendid play."

14

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

discouragement, selling a play for three-guineas-worth of Old Dramatists ? And how is it that the name of
this rising

young author seems

to

convey no idea to
?

the

mind

of Slater, not even piquing his curiosity

Drink-sodden though he be, he can scarcely have forgotten so remarkable a name as Paul Venables.
I think, too, that

Mr Grundy

has

made
it

a mistake in
its

not keeping his satire distinct, as

were, from
it

framework of
ingenious

story.

No

doubt he thought

an

stroke of

and the dishonest

Club
;

trustee
is

economy to make the seducer members of the Moonlight

only an added sense of
arti-

but the result

It

ficiality.

was not

in the least necessary that the

evil genii

at

all.

satire

of the fairy-tale should appear in person This attempted welding of the story and the goes far to spoil the simplicity which is the
It is

chief merit of the story.

improbable, without

being really ingenious.

All these objections, however,

moment

if

the satire were good.

would be of very little We do not look too

if

closely at the feathers of

straight to
its

an arrow,
it ?

the barb goes

I really

mark.

But does

do not

know,

for I

cannot in the least

tell

what mark
is

Mr
that

Grundy was aiming at ; and the worst of it I don't think he knows himself. There is a
lack of lucidity about
trait

terrible

Mr

Grundy's invective.

As

followed

trait,

and each seemed more

life

irrecon-

cilable than the last with journalistic

and manners

"AN OLD
as I

JEW."

15

know them,
tell ?

how can you

life

" But kept on saying to myself, This is not supposed to be the

the gutter journalist, the garbageI

you know.
is

It is

grubber, that

writhing under the lash."

did

my

very best to bear this in mind, though every here and

there
I

recognised

scraps

of satire

quite legitimate
at the so-called

raillery

that were evidently

amusing and aimed

new school

of criticism, to which I

may

claim the honour of belonging.

not aware that a tendency to

For instance,

am
in
it

situation,

and what
is

is

make commonly termed

a

light of plot,

construction
;

drama,
is

a characteristic of gutter journalism

foible, if

but

certainly a characteristic

you

will

of " the

However, it is quite possible that our catchwords may be taken up by the Vultures of the press; and in any case I should be the last

new

criticism."

to grudge

Mr Grundy
defect

his little fling,

even

if it

involve
then,

trifling

of verisimilitude.
satirist's

Granted,
attack
is

that the

main brunt of the

phase
of

directed
I

against a

journalism

with

which

am
we

personally unfamiliar, the fact remains that here

have three or four dramatic

critics writing for

papers

which cannot be entirely uninfluential, or it would not be worth Monte Cristo's while to buy them up ;

and

yet not

one of them

strikes

me

as bearing the

most distant resemblance to any journalist I ever saw Mr Grundy does not represent that in my life.
they all habitually write their notices without going

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
it

1894.

to the theatre, so

follows that I

must rub shoulders

with their prototypes two or three times a week, year

out, year in.
I literally

Well,

looked

for these prototypes

lest
I

stood up and looked around,

might
could

spy some obscure first-nighter shrivelling in a corner,

who had escaped my memory, and

recognise

in

whom

I
T

some

traits

of John Slater, or Willie

W andle,
me
of

or James Brewster

but no

he was not to be found.

accuse

My

worst enemy, I

am

sure, will not

suffering from exaggerated or supersensitive esprit de corps. I frankly admit that it would have given me lively satisfaction to have seen a little good-

natured banter levelled at some of

just as they,
hits at

my

colleagues

no doubt, enjoyed the aforementioned some of my little manias. So far from finding
satirist

us a clique of log-rollers, the

"

up

to date
set

"

would probably have to represent us as a

Ishmaels

of

not, I hope, devoid of personal kindliness

and good
there
is

fellowship, but with every man's pen, in a

literary sense,

turned against his neighbour.

Thus

ample material for the

it

satirist in theatrical

journalism as

is,

and
all

if

he distributed

his satire
it
;

with any impartiality,

parties

would enjoy

but

where
as as
it

is

the use of satirising theatrical journalism

I

isn't?

John

Slater,

have heard legends of such critics M.A., LL.D., but they were extinct

before

my

time,

and

don't

know why they should

be resurrected.

As

for

Brewster and Wandle, did

"AN OLD
Mr Grundy
ness
?

JEW."

i;

even find them in his

memory ?

Has he

not simply evolved

them out

of his

moral conscious-

think

could put

Other portraits are more recognisable. I my finger on Bertie Burnside and

;

Polak (am I right in bracketing them ?) the Hon. and Rev. Adolphus Finucane I used to know very well, and though my particular Honourable and

Mr

Reverend has disappeared from my ken (whether to the House of Lords or to Portland I cannot tell),
no doubt he
still

survives
is

in

other

incarnations

and the Old Actor

editions.

familiar to all of us, in several

" Well then,"

you admit the

is it

Mr Grundy may say, " since resemblance of some of my portraits,

I

not only reasonable to assume that

call

have what

you would

'documents'
it
;

for
I

the others also?"

Agreed
that

we will assume
picture

but
false

must

still

maintain

the whole

is

and

inartistic.

At

even admitting that somewhere, in some purlieu of Bohemia, there may exist such a den
the very best
as this Moonlight
grossly exaggerated

Club

it is obviously dragged into prominence, and grossly exagge-

rated

influence

instance,

is attributed to it. Managers, for be egregious noodles, but where is the may

manager
Vulture

in

London who would shape

his policy, as

Mr Wybrow Walsingham
for

does, by the auguries of the

? No, no ; this club is not really intended " of the rag-tag and bobtail a mere " boozing-ken of journalism, which Mr Grundy has happened to

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894. not instructing

region, but

discover in his peregrinations.

He

is

us in the natural history of an

unknown
life

appealing to our knowledge of the

around

us.

not exposing some obscure clique of mere ruffians of the press why should he be at the trouble ?
is

He

but satirising modern dramatic criticism as a whole.

He

intends that
don't.

we should recognise the

picture,

and we

He may

say that the people satirised

are always the last to recognise the justice of the

satire.

That may be so when the

are nothing of the sort.
itself,

satire is directed
;

against a united and

homogeneous body of men

but
is

we

The

first-night

house

a house divided against

of which each section

to chuckle

and sub-section would be only too ready

over well-directed hits at the other parties.

As

it

was, the only hits (at dramatic criticism) in which I

recognised any substantial justice, and which conse-

quently afforded
those which I
vanity to

me

the

least

entertainment, were

may perhaps assume without undue have been partly levelled against myself.
is

There

only one way in which I can explain the

total lack of verisimilitude in

Mr

Grundy's picture of
"

theatrical

journalism.

Is

not the play an old one

to date
?

rather hastily furbished

"up

Does

it

not

depict the

Bohemia of Mr Grundy's first years in London, the Bohemia of the 'sixties and early 'sevenwith a few catchwords of the 'nineties placed in

ties,

the mouths of the personages, and perhaps even an

"AN OLD
extra character or
in ?

JEW."
for

19

The

example) thrown erudite and alcoholic critic is certainly a

two (Mr Polak,

thing of the past (his erudition,

his alcoholism)
;

fear,

no

less

than

and there are a good many other touches which remind one of the Bohemia sketched
by

Mr Grundy

in his early novel, recently republished,

There may even entitled The Days of his Vanity. have been coteries in the days of Mr Grundy's vanity
in

acclamation

which such a scene as that of the election by of Stern and Paul Venables to the

membership of the Moonlight Club would not have been entirely inconceivable. That Bohemia, it is social geographers are certain, is long since dead
;

even

in

doubt as to whether
to

the very

name of

Bohemia ought not

It is true

be expunged from the map. have seen one critic writing his notices
but the club was in St

in

a club smoking-room;

James's Street, not Maiden Lane, and the notices

happen to be as unimpeachable
are

in
I

honesty as they

(Mr Grundy himself would,

ability.
it),

am

sure,

admit)

brilliant in
I

It is possible,

of course (though

don't believe

that

we

journalists of to-day

may

be as venal and spiteful as Messrs Slater, Brewster, and Wandle ; but at least we are not so gregarious in

our
*
his
(I

villainy

we have learned a decent hypocrisy.*

remarks
?

On
own

this

Mr Grundy
it

lapse from virtue

I

wish

could blot

" Has Mr Archer forgotten Does he not remember the oo from my memory) when he publicly
:

20

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
find

1894.

You may

among

us " the smyler with the knife

under the cloke;" but who has seen the band of

blustering bravos

the Moonlighters

of

Mr Grundy's

imagination

invited

'

us pressmen

'

to
I

combine

to

'

'

boycott
it

every author
'

who

resented criticism
. . .

am happy to believe
'

was a moment

of aberration

decent hypocrisy about that. When Mr Archer suggested that the pressmen of London should enter into a criminal conspiracy, was he not ' gregarious
in his'

but there was no

unwonted enthusiasm?"
(

If

Mr Grundy

will refer to

the incriminated article

its

World, April 24, 1889), he will find that

purport was precisely to deplore the lack of gregariousness which rendered this "criminal conspiracy" impossible. The whole article, in fact, is only an amplification of the very phrase to which Mr Grundy cites it as a contradiction. As to the "criminal conspiracy, "boycotting is one of the law-made or rather law-defined crimes which are no crimes until they come

author
this

" within the legal definition. I did not suggest that every who resented criticism " should be boycotted, but that

treatment should be adopted in the case of authors (and managers and actors) who took one particular method of resenting honest comment on their productions a recourse, namely, to the notoriously one-sided machinery of our law of libel. At
prepared, in substance, to accept Mr in the least departing from my opinion that the artist who submits questions of art to the arbitrament of a British jury thereby places himself without the
the

same

time,

am

Grundy's rebuke.

Without

even within the limits law of conspiracy, might be made the instrument of injustices still more crying than those
pale, I recognise that press boycotting,

imposed by our
it

sufficiently stringent

It is best to leave in its sheath, proposed to counteract. even under the strongest provocation, a weapon which, once drawn, would clearly lend itself to tyrannous misuse. Therefore, even if we were as gregarious in fact as in Mr Grundy's

fancy, I should

now say, " Let

us leave boycotting alone."

"AN OLD
But
I

JEW."

21

say again, go to the Garrick, and see whether

us.
full

you recognise
you, for
it

An
of
it

Old Jew

will certainly

amuse
is

is

wit,
is

much

of the sentiment

pleasant enough, and

admirably acted by everyquite

one, from

Mr

Hare,

who makes a
to
realistic

memorable
Maurier,

figure of the

Old Jew, down

delightfully
is

young Mr Du

who

is

Swiss waiter.

Mr
;
;

Gilbert

Hare

" in progress," as they say in France

Miss Kate Rorke and Mrs Wright are charming

and

Mr

Anson,

Mr

Abingdon,

Buist,

Mr

Gilbert Farquhar,

Mr W. H. Day, Mr Scott Mr De Lange, and Mr

are all as good as they can be. The mounting and stage management of the club scene are a delight to all that have an eye for such things.

Robb Harwood

And

whatever

its

faults,

the piece
I

is

by no means

unpleasant. my part, quite curiously amiable, for a play that sets forth to be, and is, so
find
it

For

vehemently

satiric.

few chapters of The

Days of

have just been re-reading a his Vanity a work of

-,

ingenuous, hot-headed,

charmingly boyish idealism.

The same

quality survives unimpaired in the fairy-tale

of The Old Jew. Even in the satire and invective it has only on a hin disguise. put

22

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
III.

1894.

"TWELFTH NIGHT."
17ith

January.

AT

last, at last

The

long series of disappointments

to thank

has ended at

last,

and we have
if

Mr

Daly

for

an evening of rich and keen,

enjoyment. The the one supreme merit which, in a Shakespearean it revival, covers a multitude of sins really "revives"
the play,

not absolutely unmixed, * performance of Twelfth Night has

makes

it

live

again.
it.

There

is

nothing
are in
that

mechanical or academic about

We

feel

we

a
I,

live playhouse,

not a historical museum.

Not

personally, object to seeing the theatre turned

into a historical

now
have

and again
our
scoffs (but

museum.

When we

Endowed Theatre, at which Mr Sydney Grundy " come it will, for a' that "), some twenty

to five-and-twenty nights in the year (not more,

will

Mr

Grundy !) probably be devoted to the merely historical drama, to plays which interest us, not for
their
living

merits,

with
last

whom Mr

but because, like those people Browning parleyed in one of his

their day.

books, they were of importance in

Girl, despite the freshness

The Country

and charm

of Miss Rehan's Peggy, belongs on the whole to this class. It is pleasant enough to parley with Garrick

once in a way (since Wycherley is out of the question) but his work gives us pleasure, not because
for
:

Daly's, January

8- April

28.

"TWELFTH NIGHT."
it is

23

absolutely and perdurably beautiful or witty, but because the mediocrity of long ago acquires a certain
in the very act of

charm
it,

growing

old.

Here,

take

lies

the explanation of the difference between

Mr

VV. S. Gilbert

and

Mr Clement

Scott.

Mr

Scott, per-

haps, does not quite thoroughly analyse the pleasure

which he receives from The Country Girl, and mistakes for inherent superiority what is really an

"unearned increment" of quaintness due

lapse of time
;

to

mere

while

Mr

Gilbert, not making sufficient

allowance for this unearned increment

as inevitable,

under certain conditions,

is

in literature as in

economics

inclined to

absolute merits,
tion

compare new plays and old on their weighing wit against wit, and invenas

against

invention,

though the pleasure we

received from wit and invention were, or ought to be,

strictly

commensurate with
it.

involved in
is

the sheer brain-power Twelfth Night, on the other hand,

a work of inherent

is

the one thing imperishable,

and permanent vitality. Poetry and Shakespeare has

never written more tenderly and exquisitely than in the romantia scenes of this comedy. The fable has
all

the

instinct

charm of a myth of the elder world, when spoke to instinct unashamed, and when love
its

found

sufficient

sanction

in

beauty,

with

"no

d
or

d nonsense about merit," about

spiritual affinity,

harmony of souls, or friendship, or even mutual MIL Someone in 1'aris has recently produced a

24

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
in

1894.

pantomime-play

which Juliet awakens before

Romeo

has drunk the poison, and they set up house together,

quarrel,

and lead a cat-and-dog

!

life.

What wanton
gentilhomme,"

vulgarity of imagination

In Twelfth Night, only

Malvolio,

the

would-be

"bourgeois

associates love with

domesticity.

Malvolio, a born

major-domo, dreams of ruling Olivia's house, bidding others know their place as he knows his, and, in short,
fulfilling

the social duties of marriage.

To

the noble

and beautiful children of

spell or

charm

to

be

fantasy, marriage is only a " for luck," as it were, as recited

they cross the threshold of love.

a pagan world, and

They are pagans in we no more care to imagine them "married and settled," than we want to follow the
on Keats's Grecian Urn
the
into their

figures
life in

workaday

"

Little town,

by

river or seashore,

We

Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel." leave the lovers in each other's arms, beyond the
It is in this
all

reach and time of destiny.

etherealising

of the material, this elimination of

after-thought

from

life,

all

doubt and

fear

perennial charm of the poem

fantastical" beings

consists.

and shame, that the These " highthe

are

so

frankly absorbed in

passion of the

moment

that they

make

the

moment

an

Since Shakespeare left the comedy witheternity. out an epilogue, Keats might have supplied it, in the " For ever shalt shape of a fantasia on the theme
:

thou

love,

and she be

fair."

"TWELFTH NIGHT."
Mr
Daly and
I will

25
fear, as to

never quite agree, I

the proper
differ in

way of

treating Shakespeare's text.

We
seems

our fundamental principles.

To me

it

that the

aim of the

artistic

present any given play with as

manager should be to little cutting and re-

arrangement as possible, having regard to the altered conditions of the theatre both before and behind the
curtain.

Mr

Daly seems rather to cut and rearrange

as

much

as he possibly can, without absolutely going

the length of Dryden, Tate, and Gibber, and re-writing

his

author.

My
;

rule
"

would
which

be,

"When

in

doubt,

play Shakespeare
reply that

to

he

is

never in

Daly would probably the least doubt as to the

Mr

superiority of his

own

ideas.

shall ever reconcile

me

to the barbarism (of

For instance, nothing which Mr

Irving was also guilty) of opening the play with a

instead of with that bewitching " If music be the food of love, speech of Orsino's,

seashore

tableau,

play on," in

which Shakespeare (who occasionally

strikes the
is

knew what he was about)

whole comedy.
Shakespeare's

keynote of the

Mr

Daly

not content with running

and fourth scenes together as the scene of his production he actually cuts the second
first
:

six loveliest lines in the

Duke's speech
it
:

Give

me

excess of

that, surfeiting,

The
That

appetite

may

sicken, and so die.

!

O, it That breathes

strain again came o'er

it

had a dying

fall

ear like the sweet south, ujx>n a lank of violets,

my

Stealing, and giving odour.

26
This
is

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894,

so incredible, that I almost hesitate to

;

make

the assertion
for the

my
;

wits

may have been

wool-gathering

moment but I certainly did not hear the lines. The running together of the two scenes, Mr Daly may
say,

for

the

was necessary because of the deep stage required Duke's court. Well, if the retention of

Shakespeare's arrangement had involved the sacrifice

of a few of the odalisques strewn about the floor of

the ducal seraglio,

we need not have been

that

inconsolable.

But

do not even see

any such

sacrifice

would

have been necessary.

If the resources of the

modern
can say
cases, of

theatre are unequal to the changes of scene required

in following Shakespeare's
is,

arrangement,

all I

the

more shame
in

to

it.

There are many

which judicious rearrangement is quite permissible ; but a rearrangement which displaces and mutilates what Shakespeare obviously intended for
course,

the opening chord of his romance

is

surely the reverse

of judicious.
cavalierly,

The

text

not only in the

throughout is treated very omission of important

for

and

characteristic

speeches (such,

instance,

as
in

Viola's reply to Antonio,

" I hate ingratitude

more
in

a man," &c.), but in the curtailment and alteration

of

some even of the best-known phrases

the

play.

Why
"
?

should

of the protestation that

mouth, too

Why

the Clown's part be docked " Ginger shall be hot i' the should Viola stop short at " By

my

troth,

I'll tell

thee, I

am

almost sick for one

"
(*.*.,

"TWELFTH NIGHT."

2?

" a beard), and omit though I would not have it grow " on my chin ? Is Mr Daly of opinion that Shake"

speare

rubbed

in

"

the jest inartistically

is

Perhaps
art,
is

but what

we want
else's art.

Shakespeare's lack of
possible authority

not

someone
for

What

there

"And

dallies with the

innocence of love
is

like ripe
it

old

age"?

The emendation
Finally,

as

stupid as

is

unnecessary.

to pass over

many more imthe

portant matters,

and descend

to a very trifling, but

not

modernise the

uncharacteristic, detail, "

line

why should
will

Clown

Youth's a stuff

not endure,"

" and sing " that won't endure instead ? This may seem the very pedantry of fault-finding, but the altera-

tion serves

no conceivable purpose, and

with
the

to the ear

which

is

familiar

phrase
is

in

its

quaintly

archaic form (and what ear

tion
is

not?), the modernisa-

a quite sensible annoyance.

;

There now

have had

it

out with

Mr

Daly, and

can now return with an easy conscience to my original statement that, whatever his lapses of taste, he has
truly revived the play,

thing beautiful,

making it, as it ought to be, a I shall not enjoyable, and lovable.

even quarrel with the omission of "Come away, come away, Death," and the interpolation of one or two
other

more or

less

appropriate

airs.

In an ideal

revival, the play would doubtless be less operatically treated; but the musical portion of the present per-

formance

is

too beautiful to be otherwise than grate-

28
fully

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

I don't know where Mr Windmer accepted. " found the setting of " Oh, Mistress Mine which Mr Lloyd Daubigny sings so charmingly. It seems
!

curiously unlike the words,

converting the Clown's

light-hearted ditty into a solemn

and

plaintive dirge

but
"

it is

beautiful, exquisitely beautiful

Who
it,

is

Sylvia ?
is

"

treated as

and touching.* a serenade at the end of

the third act,

but

too,

is

perhaps not strikingly appropriate, perfectly rendered, while the stage, by an

lights,

original

and ingenious arrangement of

loveliest
it

presents
per-

one of the

pictures imaginable.

The

formance, take
*
I

all

round,

is

capital.

In the very

am

G. B.

S. the following note

permitted to borrow from my friend and colleague on the music of the production
:

Daly's revival of Tivelfth Night is a curious example of the theatrical tradition that any song written by Shakespeare is appropriate to any play written by him,

The

musical side of

Mr

The first thing except, perhaps, the play in which it occurs. that happens in the Daly version is the entry of all the lodginghouse keepers (as I presume) on the sea-coast of Illyria, to sing
Ariel's

" Come unto these Yellow song from The Tempest After this absurdity, I was rather disappointed that Sands."
',

" Full Fathom Five the sea-captain did not strike up thy Brother " in the course of his conversation with Viola. Lies Since no
protest has been made, may I lift up my voice against the notion that the moment music is in question all common sense

may be suspended, and managers may

would not be allowed
part of the play?
to pass
if

take

liberties

which

"Come

they affected the purely literary unto these Yellow Sands" is no

doubt very pretty ; but so is the speech made by Ferdinand when he escapes, like Viola, from shipwreck. Yet if Mr Daly

had interpolated

that speech in the

first

act of Twelfth Night,

the leading dramatic critics would have denounced the pro-

"TWELFTH NIGHT.
first

1'

29
as

scene,

Mr Hobart

Bosworth,

Viola's

sea-

captain, led off

by speaking

his lines not only with

perfect verbal correctness (alas, that to

we should have
!),

remark on so simple and mechanical a virtue

excellent

but

with
praise

phrasing and accentuation.

to

Similar

must be accorded

Mr John

Craig,

who

did

both to the metre and the meaning of Miss Violet Vanbrugh made a pleasant Orsino's lines.
full justice

and
if

intelligent Olivia

and the other blank verse

parts,

not excellently treated, were at least not notoriously

maltreated.
fantasy, but

Mr

George Clarke's

Malvolio lacked
;

was otherwise quite respectable

Mr James

ceeding as a literary outrage ; whereas the exactly parallel case of the interpolation of the song is regarded as a happy thought,
Later on in the play Shakespeare has wholly unobjectionable. " Come away, Death," to sing given the Clown two songs one, " to the melancholy Orsino; and the other, O, Mistress Mine,"
quite different in character, to sing to his boon companions. Here is another chance of showing the innate superiority of the

jumps

and Mr Daly modern American manager to Shakespeare " Come at it accordingly. away, Death," is discarded " O, Mistress Mine"; altogether, and in its place we have
;

whilst, for a climax for perverse disorder, the wrong ballad is sung, not to its delightful old tune, unrivalled in humorous tenderness, but to one which is so far appropriate to "Come away, Death," that it has no humour at all. On the other hand,

the introduction of the serenade from Cymbeline at the end of the third act, with is Sylvia?" altered to "Who's

"Who

Olivia?" seems to me to be quite permissible, as it is neither an interpolation nor an alteration, but a pure interlude, and a very
seductive one, thanks to Schubert and to the conductor, Mr ry Widmer, who has handled the music in such a fashion as
to get the last

drop of honey out of

it.

30

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

best I have ever seen

Lewis was an admirable Sir Toby, incomparably the Mr Herbert Gresham, as Sir ;

Andrew, was quite worthy of his partner; and Miss Catherine Lewis, though she somewhat over-elaborated
the sprightliness of Maria, was not so very florid in her humour as she is sometimes apt to be. The comic scenes, on the whole, had the true " festivitas,"

without which they are a weariness of the flesh. By the way, why does Mr Daly take all the humour out

giant,

"Some mollification for your sweet lady," by making it apply to Malvolio instead of Maria? The contrast between Miss
of Viola's appeal for

Rehan's stature and Miss Lewis's

to give the thing point,

is

quite sufficient

though Shakespeare no doubt intended Maria to be played by a mere " wren " of
a boy.
Lastly, of
fascinating,

Miss Rehan's Viola.

It is

a beautiful, a

a truly poetic creation

on the whole
than her Rosa-

more
lind.

pleasing, to
Its

my own personal taste,

one prevailing defect is slowness. Strange that one should have to say this of a performance of
Miss Rehan's, but it gives all of Viola except her A large exception, you may sparkle, her vivacity.
say; but until you have seen Miss

know what
humour.

liberal

Rehan you don't compensations she presents in the

delicacy,

shape of tenderness,

and
is

quiet,

subdued

At the same

time, there

every reason

why

she should try to bring her achievement up to the

"TWELFTH NIGHT."
point of perfection by hastening the
several passages.

31

movement of

psalmody

in

She has adopted a curious sort of She exaggerates her treatment of verse.

her pauses,
caressingly,

and lengthens out her vowel sounds,

beautifully,

but, as

cannot but think,

I first noticed this tendency to what immoderately. I then called grandiloquence in her performance of

Maid Marian
right side,

in

The

Foresters.

It is

an error on the

and

charm

to

many
is

gives a peculiar, dreamy, languorous but an error it passages of her Viola

;

certainly

when

carried to excess.
I

Now

and then,
in

too, she misses

what

may

call syllabic perfection

the wording of her lines, baffling the ear, for example, " by saying, I'm the man, if it be so as 'tis," instead of
"
I

am

the

man."

Her worst

slip

of this nature

occurs in the very first lines of her part. Can anybe more beautiful than the echoing cadence of thing

" And what should

do

in Illyria ?

My

brother, he

is

in

Elysium,"

which Miss Rehan ruins by omitting the " he"? But, after all possible deductions, this Viola remains a
tion of indescribable beauty

and charm

a thing

to

be seen, and never

to

be forgotten.

32

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
IV.

1894.

"THE CHARLATAN."

"A GAUNTLET." "UNCLE'S GHOST."

2 4/7*

January.

^
/

MR

ROBERT BUCHANAN

has written for the Hay3

market Theatre an interesting, effective, and quite intelligent play, which will in all probability enjoy a
long run.

The Charlatan* as

its

name

portends,

is

concerned with the impostures of modern miraclemongering, and at the same time dallies pleasantly
with

some other
is

crazes

and

affectations of the day.

Mr Buchanan

a firm believer in the

"

maxim

"

What-

soever thy hand findeth to do

(and

his are certainly

not the idle hands for which Satan provides employ" ment), do it with all thy might." For the moment,

he
to

is

writing popular drama,

it

and he spares no pains

make

popular in every sense of the word.

of imposture

He
to
dis-

leaves the

how and why

the temptations

of the Charlatan

and the cravings of his dupes Bostonian novelists and other dabblers in nice and
fine shades.

tinctions
stage, as
lie

The business
any

of the popular

Mr Buchanan

very justly recognises, does not

sort of

in analysis, casuistry, or

moral

hair-

splitting.

suggest

The dramatist should not seek to impart or new knowledge or thought, but should simply

appeal, as regards character, to the

*

common

stock

January 18

March

17.

"THE CHARLATAN."
of observations,

33

as regards morals, to the currently

accepted standards.
are

Mr

Buchanan's impostors, then,

simple,

impostors pure and deception, and actuated

interest.

innocent

of

self-

by
it

sheer,

undiluted

self-

One

of

them,

appears,
exercises

has

hypnotic powers, which

he

genuine through the

medium
Old
a

of eloquent adjurations that smack of the

He has also rather than the New Demonology. knack of summoning up "astral bodies," under conditions which seem very unfavourable for any
Pepper's-Ghost
skilful

or

magic-lantern

trickery.

less

playwright would probably have taken some

;

trouble to explain the apparition of Colonel Arlington

but

Mr Buchanan knows
it

that

we

are quite prepared

it

to take

on

trust, if

only the situation, of which

forms the culminating point, interests and thrills us. He knows, too, that audiences are devout adherents
of what Professor Marrables would probably call the
catastrophic theory in psychology, especially where

the purifying power of love

fore

comes

into play.

There-

he has deftly contrived to introduce the necessary element of sympathy into his theme, by instantaneously
converting his Cagliostro into a Bayard as soon as the

woman he
There
this are,

power and at his mercy. no doubt, superfine persons who will call "rudimentary" and "childish." Perhaps, in
loves
is

in

his

another mood,

should have done so myself.

But

Mr Buchanan

had somehow managed to put

me

in

34

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
mood

1894.

just the right

for this pleasant piece of

romance

and what
it

is

the inmost secret of the playwright's

in his hearers the
?

art, if

be not to beget

mood he

requires

for the

purposes of his fable

Mr Buchanan
The

played

on the

right strings throughout.

entrance of the

mysterious Philip Woodville was a piece of truly scenic

imagination
;

the stance of the second act was admirskill

;

ably handled, with real originality and

act

the third

was charmingly picturesque and romantic ; and the fourth act, which might easily have been an anticlimax, kept its hold on my interest and my sympathies
to the end.

The comic

or satiric scenes, too, contain

a good deal of light and clever badinage, at which one cannot choose but smile ; and altogether we have to

thank

Mr Buchanan

for a

well-imagined,

and

skil-

genially executed, romance, which filled an fully evening very pleasantly, and will doubtless fill a long
series of evenings at the

and

There

At

last

for a play of

Mr

Haymarket. have had nothing but praise Robert Buchanan's, and have said,
!

withal, exactly

what
life.

think about
I

it.

It is the

proudest

moment

in

my

have not lived in vain, and can

die happy.

And

ambitions, I

now, having achieved one of my most cherished may whisper a thought which I have
it

hitherto studiously dissembled, lest

might introduce

a jarring note into the millennial harmonies of the

foregoing paragraph.
It

seems to

me

that in

the

"THE CHARLATAN/'
character of Philip Woodville,

35
has been

Mr Buchanan
subtlety,

on the verge of lapsing

almost to the Bostonian

into
level.

and sinking
I
;

What he intended

do not
but
I

quite know,

for

he has not lapsed into

lucidity

seem

to see in Philip the glimmerings of a novel

and delicately-observed character -type.

I permit Bostonian indiscretion of inquiring What myself the are the motives of his imposture ? and I see a possible
:

answer which
contradict.

Mr Buchanan at least says nothing to He does not seem to be a mere needy

so far as

adventurer;

we can make
he

out,

no object with him.

charlatan
?

What, then, has

answer, that
is

money made him

is

May we

one of those

people (and they are not so rare as you perhaps

think)

who
it

love imposture for

its

own

sake, or,

more
and
its

precisely, for the

power

it

confers,

and the

skill

daring

calls into play ?

The game
and

of deceit has
it is

fascination like

any other sport,

the crudest

misconception to suppose that even the criminal is always actuated by the gross, material considerations

can doubt that

which we describe as "mercenary motives." Who men and women have sometimes

yielded to the sheer intellectual fascination of

"murder

as a fine art," avid of the glorious excitement of baffling

justice?

When
;

they

fail,

we

call

them homicidal

maniacs

but

who
?

knows

how many may have

succeeded, and gone to their graves in the odour of

sanctity

and

sanity

The

literary impostors, again

36

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.
is it

the Chattertons, Irelands, and Colliers

for

mere

filthy lucre, or even for the sake of renown, that they

Suppose Ireland go about their nefarious work? could have reaped endless glory and profit from the
production of Vortigern under his
it

own name, would

have given him half the pleasure, think you, that he received from palming it off as Shakespeare's ? The
sense of power which belongs to adept rascality
the

sense of intellectual, ay,

and moral,
is

exaltation over

your fellows
of which
little

must be one of the

nature
this,

finest intoxications

human
upon

capable.

Then

refine a

further

and, without going beyond the

bounds of the possible and even probable, you can " conceive an impostor of such truly " sporting temperament that he cares only for the excitement of the chase, and not at all for bringing down the game. Once assured that it is at his mercy, he lets it slip
through his fingers without a second thought. for example, one can imagine a Don Juan
this

Thus,

and

is

Joseph-Juan quite imaginary?

all

making

victims

on

hands, enough to tax the arithmetic even of a

Leporello, yet always desisting from the chase just at the psychological moment. May we not take Philip

Woodville to be an impostor of this sort? Buchanan seems almost to indicate as much

Mr
in

the apologue of the white gazelle, which prepares us for the revolution of the third act. There is, in short,

a pleasant

field for speculation in

the character of this

"THE CHARLATAN."
" Eurasian Mystery."

37

One could

fill

columns with

conjectures as to what the author intended or might

have intended.

He

has had a very narrow escape.

consistency,

little

more clearness and

have drawn a character worthy of Mr passed the rest of his days in an agony of contrition.

and he might Howells and

Mr Beerbohm
Philip
full
is

Tree's performance of the enigmatic

polished, picturesque, and, in the later acts,

of genuine feeling.
it

His make-up

is

masterly
is

and, take

all

in all, his chivalrous

Charlatan

an
his

immense advance,

in point of artistic finish,

upon

fascinating Bushranger.

The minor key

is

in

which the

whole character of Isabel Arlington

pitched suits

Mrs

Tree's talent to a nicety, and

don't

mind owning

that I

was

really

moved

at several points in the scenes in the last act.

between Isabel and Woodville

Frederick Kerr and Miss Lily

Mr

comic lovers very

sketches.

brightly,

Hanbury played the and Mr Nutcombe Gould

and Mr Charles Allan contributed clever characterFred Terry, as Lord Dewsbury, makes an unnecessarily thunderous entrance, marching on like the Statue in Don Giovanni ; but he puts all due
earnestness into a

Mr

somewhat " sacrificed

"

part.

Miss

Gertrude Kingston's part, also, is none of the best, but she does all that can be done with the cigarettesmoking Russian adventuress. How often, I wonder,
has this useful actress played

under other

aliases ?

Madame Obnoskin Mr Holman Clark's Professor

38

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
is

1894.

Marrables

an excellent

bit of character.

The

tone

of placid detachment in
soul
?

Ah,

yes, the soul

"
!

which he remarks, "The is the most amusing thing

the soul has not yet
if it

in the

whole play.

We

feel that

come

within the ken of his microscope, but that,

ever should, he will

Bjornstjerne

know how

to deal with

it.

Bjornson

why

does

Mr Osman
is

Edwards

persistently misspell his

name?

an ex-

quisite lyric poet, a novelist

first

and romance-writer of the

order, a historical dramatist of almost Shakes-

pearean power (I vie with

Mr

Robert Buchanan

in

admiration for Sigurd Slembe\ and the great orator and demagogue (if you like to put it so) of his

my

country and time.

(but

If

you do not know Norwegian

to

who does

not,

nowadays ?), the best way

make
and

acquaintance with

him

is

to read his beautiful

most touching novel, Paa Guds Veje, somewhat unhappily entitled In God's Way by its English translator. As a writer of social dramas he is somewhat
overshadowed, both
at

home and

abroad, by Henrik

Ibsen, but even in that line he has done excellent

work.

I say all this

because no one, assuredly, would

divine from the performance of what purported to be

one of

his plays, at the Royalty

Theatre on Saturday

evening, that he was a writer of any note whatever.

Gauntlet* purported,
*

I repeat, to

be "translated by

Osman Edwards and adapted

" by George P. Hawtrey

January 20-24.

39
from
of
its

his three-act

drama,

En

Hanske ; but how much

and how
cannot
I really

feebleness was attributable to Bjornson,

to Messrs
It

much
say.

Edwards and Hawtrey,

in

was

utterly, unrecognisably different

from the
I

drama now before me, published

1883; but

am

aware that Bjornson himself made some alteration in it, for the German stage, if I am not mistaken ; and I

presume that in some points, at any rate, Messrs Edwards and Hawtrey have followed this second It seems almost incredible that a writer version.*
Bjornson should convert a strong, if somewhat disputatious, social drama into a clumsy farcical
like

comedy like that of Saturday night but we know when a playwright begins to boggle and botch
;

that
at a

play which has once taken definite form, he almost

always makes a mull of

it.

The

inherent defect of

all

dramas which seek to establish an equal moral law for both sexes, is that it is practically impossible, on the
open
stage, to in the

Even

go to the root of the existing difference. French drama this difficulty is felt. In

Dcnise, no less than in The Profligate and

Gauntlet,

the discussion resolves

itself into

a bandying of empty

phrases, no one daring to state in plain terms the very obvious reason why society has in all ages laid down one law for men and another for women. I do not
* I have since ascertained that they followed it pretty closely. This version has never been published in Norway, but there seems to be no doubt that Bjornson liim-elf is responsible for it.

40
mean

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
that

1894.

the

recognition

of this obvious reason

would end discussion, but rather that discussion cannot profitably be begun until it is recognised and admitted.
Its

inconclusiveness, then,

Gauntlet shares with

many

other plays

its

crudeness of construction and

all
its

feebleness of dialogue (as here presented) are

own. Miss Annie Rose was very much overweighted with the part of Svava; Miss Louise Moodie (a
valuable actress,
excellent as

of

whom we

see

too

little)

was

Mrs Ries; and Mr Elliot, a clever had certainly some excuse in the dialogue comedian, assigned him for treating the character of Ries from a
farcical point of view.
farce, Uncle's Ghost* produced last week Opera Comique, has at least the merit of being a home-grown and inoffensive piece of tomfoolery.

Mr Sapte's

at the

It

shows once more at what

trifling

expense of wit or
for this class

invention an audience can be

amused
its

of work does undoubtedly entertain

public.

own

particular

Mr

Fred Thorne

is

reasonably funny as a
;

ghost in a tourist suit and a straw hat

Mr

Tresahar

plays a light-comedy part with a good deal of spirit ; and Miss Carrie Coote is bright as an American
heiress.
*

January 17

February

12.

"THE TRANSGRESSOR."
V.

4!

"THE

TRANSGRESSOR."
$ist January.

MR

A.

W. GATTIE,
is

the author of the

new

play at the

Court Theatre,

evidently a

man

of marked ability.

Rumour
is

has

it

that, like

Charles Lamb, Mill, Grote,

Bagehot, and so

many
"

other distinguished writers, he

by profession

his actual calling,

something in the City." Whatever he would evidently have made an

or leader-writer, and probably a
in short, in

excellent

barrister

good doctor or scientific lecturer

have made his mark
in
is

he would

any profession

which a

good
tions.

solid intelligence
Clearly,
for

a sufficient basis of opera-

too,

novel
so.

It is

aught I even possible that he

gift,

he could write an interesting know, he may already have done

may have

latent in his

composition the special

the indefinable, incom-

municable something, that constitutes the dramatist; but his first play, The Transgressor* gives no very
convincing evidence of
it.

It is

the work of a

man

who

is

far

too intelligent to

make a

fool of himself,

even on the stage;

the four acts
is

but although he had hit on a

in the course of

strong theme, there was no moment

when we

said to ourselves,

"

Ha

there
"
1

the unmistakable touch of the born playwright

January 27
April
7.

42

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

Construction, dialogue, characterisation, ratiocination

everything was able, respectable, interesting

there was

only

no

single scene or speech to

make

us (as

the vulgar phrase

emotionally.

"
it)

sit

up," either intellectually or

Mr

Gattie

is

of opinion that the insanity of one of

the parties, to a marriage should be, not merely a

permissive, but a compulsory ground for divorce
it

that

should of

itself,

as

it

were, annul the contract.

He

does not explain what extent of mental aberration he " insanity," or what authority is to proposes to class as

pronounce upon the mental state of the patient ; but these are details upon which the dramatist, as such, is
certainly not

bound

to enter.

He
in

assumes a case of
other words,

indubitable,

incurable

mania,

he

takes the very plainest aspect of the matter,

and asks

us to reflect upon that, leaving definitions, distinctions,

and
is

difficulties for further consideration.

The

point

one of

vast importance,

dramatic methods

and eminently arguable byof that there can be no doubt.

The
form

author, too, has

in

shown strong

logical sense in the

Many

which he has chosen to present his case. playwrights would have shilly-shallied over a

Rochester and Jane Eyre who could not marry because of the Mrs Rochester in the garret and then, after
;

three acts of virtuous anguish, would have killed

Mrs

Rochester No.

i,

so that the funeral baked meats

feast of

might legally furnish forth the marriage

No.

2.

"THE TRANSGRESSOR."
Not so Mr
his
Gattie.

43

hero break

He indicts the law by making his and showing, or at least arguing, that it, crime is a law-made crime, not an offence against
or

humanity,
action,
it

even social

policy.
is

Eric

Langley's

must be admitted,

more

logical than

probable.

He either

has, or has not, reason to believe

that his wife's death will presently set

him

free.

In

the former case, he would surely be content to wait a

little
it

rather than risk penal servitude

in the latter, as

is

not

in

the

nature of things that the second

marriage can long be kept secret, he faces, not the risk, but the certainty, of imprisonment for himself and misery for Sylvia, for the sake of a few weeks or

months of precarious and clandestine happiness. A man who would do this ought to be, by the author's

own argument,
stated,

incapable of marriage, for he certainly

cannot be called sane.

Under

the circumstances
Sylvia,

one could conceive Langley marrying

and immediately after the ceremony, saying "This marriage is a felony in the eyes of the

to her:
law.

If

you agree with the law, there is no harm done ; give mo a week's start for South America, and I will leave
in

your hands evidence which will at once nullify the If, on marriage and make you a free woman again.

the other hand, you set love

iniquitous
[ue
is

and conscience above an

on the shore and our

law,

our boat

is

dition

on the sea; and, now that there is an extra and treaty with Argentina, we will live happy

44

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

die happy in Bolivia or Chili."

This course would

have been much more

rational,

and no whit more

dishonourable, than that which Eric actually adopts. The fact is, he is not animated by ordinary human
motives, but, out of pure public spirit
for

and friendship
test

Mr

Gattie, is bent

upon

getting

" up a good

In this he succeeds, and in giving himself up to the law he brings the thing to its logical conclusion.
case."

But

if

more than he seems

Sylvia
to

he proves anything at all, he proves rather to have intended. He commits

her uncle's charge

during

her enforced

"

widowhood," assuming that when he emerges from

retirement they will resume conjugal relations, whether

Mrs Langley be alive or dead. The inference seems to be, not merely that marriage should be nullified by insanity, but that marriage, as a whole,
the legal

a decorative detail which persons of the highest principle (for these two are nothing if not heroic)
is

may,

if

they please, dispense with altogether.

On
it

this

point I express

no opinion;

merely deduce what

or not,

appears to be, whether Mr Gattie intends the ultimate moral of his fable.

Able as the play

Gattie has, at
his

is,

it

cannot be said that

Mr

first

attempt, attained to perfect

technical competence.

He
Sir

introduces one flagrantly

superfluous

character

Thomas

Horncliffe

his
;

comic

relief is

cumbrous, and not very comic

he

brings about his central revelation conventionally and

"THE TRANSGRESSOR."
rather clumsily
;

45

and he misses what

take to be, not

only from the dramatic, but from the dialectic point of view, the seine a faire. Surely the one person whom
it

is

important to convince of the iniquity of the

is

present law

the heroine

who

suffers

by

it.

I fully

expected

that

her discovery of the

illegality

of her

marriage would be followed by a scene in which her

lover should plead his cause,

and convert her from

sympathy which
should

horror and

amazement

at his treachery to

for his temptation,

and pride

in the great love

its

made him

risk

everything for

sake.

We

thus have had the theme thrashed out by the two

protagonists of the
essential

drama

surely,

repeat, the

one

end

to

be attained, both from the dramatic

view.

and the dialectic point of

quite beside this scene.

But

Mr Gattie
is
it is

passes

The

heroine

duly con-

verted from horror to sympathy, but

instant intuition, not
case,

by an almost
his

by the hero's statement of

ordered appeal either to her intellect or her emotions. Miss Nethersole's powerful and
or any

performance concealed for the moment the emptiness of the scene ; but, none the less, the author
striking
let slip

a fine opportunity.

It

was

in the character of

the Rev.

ness chiefly betrayed

Henry Meredith, however, that his inexpertitself. Here he sinned both in

omission and commission.

When

the

secret
in

came
a very
feel
it

into Meredith's possession, he

was evidently

nice moral dilemma.

He

might instinctively

46
his

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.
re-

duty to denounce the bigamist, and yet be

strained by fear lest the vindictiveness of the defeated

and jealous lover should reinforce the purer motive This interimpelling him to such a determination.
esting

and

truly dramatic

point of conscience
is

Mr

Gattie entirely overlooks

that

his sin of omission.

making

His more positive and demonstrable error lies in Mr Meredith such an egregious ass as to

suppose that his own cause could possibly gain by his denunciation of Langley. True, it is conceivable that
Sylvia might be coerced into a loveless marriage with

him, simply for the sake of hushing up the scandal

but

prepared to accept that solution of the matter, his case is a morbid one, which requires far
if is

he

more
far as

careful analysis than

Mr

Gattie vouchsafes.

So

we can
idea

see, his

conduct at the end of the third

is

act

and beginning of the fourth

that

idiotic

he

is

going to divert
his rival,

based upon an to himself

Sylvia's passionate love for

by the simple

process of ruining their happiness, and inflicting on

her as well as him the greatest possible injury and " " Clergymen," says one of the characters, are pain.

not a
really

bit better

than other
that

men
are

"
;

but does
very,

Mr

Gattie

believe

they

so

very

much

foolisher ?
I

have already spoken of the extraordinary intensity This performance

and power of self-abandonment displayed by Miss

Nethersole in the part of Sylvia.

47
ought to mark a step
in

her career.

Mr

El wood

played the part of the virtuous bigamist with

discretion,

more
is

perhaps, than force

but the character

an exceedingly difficult one, and discretion in case was doubtless the better part of valour.
Fernandez, as the old Colonel

this

Mr

who

is

the spokesman

of the conventional morality, would

vincing
up,
fifty

be more conart

if

he did not disdain the modern

of make-

and

stick to the

undeceptive wig and whiskers of

fairly filled

Mr

by Bucklaw, Miss Fanny Coleman, and Miss Bessie Hatton.

Brookfield,

years ago.

Other parts are very

Hicks,

Mr Seymour

Mr

VI.

"DiCK SHERIDAN.*
1th February.

WHEN

a fond mother, adopting

her son to

Mr
for

Pinero's excellent

idea, articles

me

instruction in

the

noble craft of dramatic criticism (premium, &c., on application), one of the first great truths I shall instil
into

him

is

that the critic, as such, has nothing to

do
to

with a play's chances of success.

His business

is

appreciate

it

as a

work of

art,

not to take upon him-

self the function of

Old

Probabilities,

and predict how

the

likely to blow.

"popular wind," as Dick Sheridan calls it, is Only the other night, I was discussing

48

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
"
said,

1894.
"I

The Charlatan with an able and

did not like
public
is

influential critic.

it,"

he

because I don't think the

it

interested in the two subjects

deals with
for

theosophy and

hypnotism.
I

The

public cares
sure

nothing but a love story."

will

am

my

colleague

forgive

me

if I

protest

against this "because,"

and the undue humility of the attitude it implies. " " Why should he pause to consider what the public
likes ?
It is his

business to lead, not to follow, the

public.

If the author has succeeded in interesting

him

(if

only for the

let

moment)

in

theosophy and hyp-

notism,

him

tell

the public so,

and bid them go

inevit-

and be

interested likewise.

The drama must

ably sink lower

and lower

if

the critics and the public

keep on thus underbidding each other, as it were each claiming less and less at the (real or supposed) dictation of the other. But I should say to my in-

genuous apprentice
exceptions.

even the best of rules has

its

Plays there be with regard to which no

mortal man " Will this

please the public

need ask himself any question except " ? Mr Buchanan's Dick

Sheridan* produced amid much applause at the Comedy Theatre on Saturday night, is one of these
plays.
critical

There

is

absolutely nothing in

it

that calls for

thought or discussion.
literature,
it

From
exist.
30.

the point

of

view of

of literary

history, of theatrical

technique,

simply does not

*

few ready-

February 3

March

"DICK SHERIDAN."
made puppets from
eighteenth-century
little

49
comedy (one
their obtru-

or two ot them' bewildering us a

by

unlikeness to the very well-known historical per.I'^es

whose names they have assumed) go through

a childishly simple action, every step of which

foresee

we

all

from the
is

first,

and

talk

certain
ill

lengths of

dialogue which
brilliant

neither well nor

written, neither
air

nor flagrantly inane, but has the

fluent
all

of a sort

of expert,

improvisation,

founded on remiEnglish

niscences of
repertory.

the plays

of the standard

If

you

find this sort of thing amusing,

you

spend a pleasant evening, and there is no more to be The ^eat majority of the audience seemed to said.

spend a very pleasant evening on Saturday, and Mr Comyns Carr congratulated them on their good taste
I,
I.

too, congratulate
It will interest

them,

for

they were happier than

Dick Sheridan.

me The

greatly to watch the fortunes of

runs which

Mr

Buchanan's

eighteenth-century plays used to achieve at the Vaudeville were always marvellous to me ; but the Vaudeville (in

those days) was worked under peculiar and

If

inexpensive conditions.
really

Dick Shfridan becomes

popular

at

the theatre where that powerfullythe

written

little

and moving play Sowing over a hundred nights, I

(what,
as

Wind

ran only
in this

shall

admit

instance
total

rule,

strenuously
taste

deny)
that

a of
is

discrepancy between
great
public.

my

and
to

the

We

often

differ

as

what

50
beautiful
is

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
and
interesting,

1894.

very

seldom as to what

tedious.

It has always seemed to me that Mr H. B. Irving has a career before him as a romantic actor, an actor

of cape-and-sword parts.
qualities later
;

develop higher meantime, he has picturesqueHis humour, on the ness and a certain distinction.
in the

He may

other hand,
his father,

is

almost a negative quantity, though, like

he can sometimes make us laugh by the mere unbending of his normal gravity and stateliness.
It

would be unfair

to hold

him responsible
of history

for his

total unlikeness to
lives for

Richard Brinsley Sheridan, as he

traits

us in a thousand

and legend.

have come very near the sanguine, mercurial Irishman ; there is more of
Perhaps he could
-not, at best,

the Spanish hidalgo in his composition

but certainly
for

Mr Buchanan

gave him

no opportunity
It

any

Mr attempt at genuine character-acting. Irving but Mr Buchanan that made Sheridan the
was not
unconscionably
dull dog who on Saturday night and prosed through four interminable acts. moped There are doubtless debatable points in Sheridan's character, but three things are abundantly clear
:

that

he had

he was of a happy-go-lucky devilmay-care temperament, and that he had kissed the Blarney Stone, or, as the Irish guide-books put it, was
wit, that

" the possessed of

these

gift

of persuasive eloquence."

All

characteristics

Mr Buchanan

has sedulously

"DICK SHERIDAN."
suppressed.
like other

51

True,

it

has been said that Sheridan,

his

noted

wits,

hand

but in this

impromptus beforecase he has come abroad quite

made up

unprovided, not only with well-coined epigram, but even with the small change of humour and whim.

He

"jocks

wi' deeficulty," if ever

man
"
I
'

tioned as to The Rivals^ he remarks,

as the lady said of her complexion,

did. Quescan say of it,

It is

my own

'

"
;

and David Garrick actually has the complaisance to His repartee never rises above the unprelaugh
!

tending level

of

"You're another."
;

"You're an
"

impudent beggar," says Lord Dazzleton

sir,

And

you,

are

an impudent lord,"
shall sulk [or skulk
it,"

is

the crushing retort.

" You
"

shall rot in the Fleet," says

I

Captain Matthews

And you

the word] outside

did not quite catch " the best rejoins the author of

comedy, the best farce, the best prologue, and the

best oration
is

in

the

English

language."

Sheridan,

indeed,

the one leading character in the play

wit.

who

never has a scintillation of

Miss Linley makes

one or two neat rejoinders to Lady Miller ; there is a certain humour in some of O'Leary's lines ; and one
or two of the others
inaptly.

now and then

turn a phrase not

The
in

only approach

to wit that I can re-

member

the part of "the illustrious author of

is

The

School for Scandal"

a saying to the effect that

is

"What everybody
lieve,"

says
I

and even

that

what nobody should befancy he spoils with some

$2

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
And
if

1894.

superfluous words.
shall

his wit is ignored,

?

what

we

say of his powers of blarney

This magni-

ficent representative of the great race of Borrowers,

than any other of his time, could be trusted not only to soothe an irate creditor, but to squeeze a further loan out of him, is represented as
this

man who, more

clumsily infuriating a

wantonness of insolence
owns,
is
it

Hebrew money-lender in sheer The scene, as Mr Buchanan

!

" lifted " from Love for Love

but Congreve

keeps

within the limits of comedy, by making Valen-

tine civil throughout to Trapland,

and only Scandal

Congreve, in his turn, borrowed openly impertinent. from the passage between Don Juan and Monsieur

Dimanche
is

in

Le Fes tin de
Congreve's
is

Pierre.

Moliere's scene
effective,

exquisite,

coarsely

Mr
is

Buchanan's, as even the

senseless

first-night

audience

felt,

and grotesque. And here, precisely in the wrong place, is the one point where we have any
glimpse of the recklessness of Sheridan's character. For the rest he is stolid, sedate, saturnine, diffident,
dolorous,

with

Sheridan in
a part
?

It

much more of Chatterton than of him. What could Mr Irving do with such seemed to me that, barring a little natural

nervousness, he played very well the character

Mr

Buchanan had

set

down

for

him. Perhaps the chronic

corrugation between his eyebrows added a touch of

unnecessary gloom

but that was a

result,

no doubt,

of the nervousness aforesaid.

"CASTE."

53

Miss Winifred Emery made a charming Elizabeth Linley, but there was really nothing for her to take

hold of

in the

Maude, as
long
list

namby-pamby personage. Mr Lord Dazzleton, added another to

Cyril
that

" of " Stap-my-vitals characters of which he

Thomas
made
was

Mr Brandon must surely be getting very tired. as O'Leary was amusing, but rather too
and Miss
Pattie Browne, as

deliberate;

Mrs Lappet,
Lewis Waller
;

excellent use of her fine eyes.

Mr

good

as

the

lurid

Captain

Matthews

and

other parts were well played by

Mr Edmund

Maurice,

Mr

Brough, Will Dennis, Miss Vane,

Mr Sydney

and Miss Lena Ashwell.

VII.

"CASTE."
itfh February

WE

are

all

agreed to regard T.

W. Robertson
Germans

as

an

innovator, a "way-breaker," as the

say, in

our theatrical

life

but what he really did, and whither

he

led,

it is

not quite easy to determine.

We

are apt

to talk very

much

in

the dark about the theatrical

history of the past half-century or so, for the necessary

documents,

if

procurable at

all,

arc almost unreadable

and quite unrememberable. What was the state of the drama, and especially of comedy, when Robertson

54

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
to the front ?

1894.

came

It is useless to talk as
first,

though

"he found

not, but created

the stage."

The

stage was there, and men of ability were writing for it. Westland Marston, Tom Taylor, Charles Reade, Dion Boucicault, were at the height of their activity ;

Douglas Jerrold's
day.

last

comedies were things of

a

yester-

To

Jerrold

in especial

writer of original
in

English comedies

Robertson must have stood

some
ness
;

sort of relation,

whether of likeness or unlikeJerrold's comedies, so as to

but

who remembers

compare them with Robertson's ? though I have read several of them

Not
in

I,

for one,

my

time.

Did

Robertson head a revolt against the tyranny of Scribe and the mechanically "well-made play"? Nothing,
could exceed the simplicity of such a play " slice of " as Caste. It is as plotless as any life ever
certainly,

served up at the Theatre Libre, and makes us feel

that in declaiming against plot, in these later days, we have been battering at an open door. But can we say that Robertson substituted character for plot? Scarcely, I think.
real character

Eccles,
;

in

this

play,

is

the one

he created

the rest of his figures are

for a

ready-made puppets, which

time passed muster

as characters by reason of a certain modernity of dress

and

dialect.

It

that he substituted for plot.

least so I

was "business," rather than character, His true originality (at

am

disposed to think) lay in his knack of

placing everyday objects and incidents upon the staget

"CASTE."

55

He

" touches of dealt in things

the property-list of serious

milk-cans,
tea-kettles,

common," and enlarged comedy by such objects as and rolling-pins, which had

hitherto (unless I

am
In

mistaken) been held available

dialogue,

only

too, he pursued an " wit " of analogous method, replacing the formal would-be classic comedy with the easy-going flippancy in
farce.

of

common

talk.

All this

is

implied in the famous

nickname (who invented

and-saucer

it,

by the way?) of "cup-

comedy"; but

the name, though happy

enough, does not help us to place the thing it represents in its true relations either to what went before or

what has come

after.

Did Robertson
Is

initiate

the

modern

English

drama?

he the

intellectual

ancestor of

Mr Pinero and Mr Oscar Wilde? Is Mrs Tanqueray implicit in Caste? Or did the Robertson impetus die away in Mr Byron and Mr Godfrey, while Mr Pinero, Mr Wilde, and Mr
The Second
Jones are the products of a
Is
still

newer movement?

Mr

Carton, perhaps, the one survivor of "the tribe

of
in

Tom " ?

Twenty

years hence,

when we

see things

a truer perspective,

we may be

better

able to

In the meantime, I am answer these questions. inclined to regard Robertson as a man with a curious
instinct of superficial modernity, of

which his intimate

knowledge of

stage-effect

enabled him to make the

most, but without the psychological penetration, the

philosophical culture, or the artistic seriousness neces-

56

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

sary for the great dramatist.

He

has been called the

call
is

Thackeray of the stage

Leech, inasmuch
as
his

should rather
criticism

him the
that ot

of

life

the family caricaturist rather than of the philosophic His comparatively early death was perhaps a satirist.
greater loss to his friends than to the drama, for
it

seems that he has done

his real work,

which may be

described (inadequately, but not inaccurately) as the modernisation and refinement of the mechanism of
the stage. the

This

is

the view
there
is

am

inclined to take for

difficult, I

moment; but

nothing more

repeat, than to write recent history,

in particular.

and stage

history

His masterpiece, Caste* remains surprisingly fresh

and "up

to date."

It is

only in definite allusions

to the Indian Mutiny, to dramatic ballets at

Covent
its

Garden, and so forth

Its

that

it

reminds us of

age.
is

general tone

is

quite that of to-day.

What

unnatural

has not become so by lapse of time, but was no less unnatural twenty-seven years ago. It

now

is

curious to

remember

that Caste (produced in 1867)

now were when

is

just as old as

Money and London Assurance

Yet the distance that
in tone

Caste was new.

and diction appears than the distance between Caste and infinitely greater
separates

them from Caste

Liberty Hall, which

is

very slight indeed.

It is quite

true that at the Garrick Caste

*

seemed
April
4.

to

have "gone

February 5

CASTE."
off" a

57

good

deal,

but that was mainly on account of

the distinct inferiority of the acting.

The

three parts

which were

really well played are those which are

least essential to the success of the

d'Alroy, Esther,

by Mr Miss Rorke, as Esther, greatly Miss Rose Leclercq. overdid the end of the second act, making it ugly and
was charming ; and Miss Rose Leclercq, looking quite regal in her sables, made the Marquise as little of a bore as possible. " " Master line about had
stagey, but at every other point she

comedy George and the Marquise, to wit, performed Forbes Robertson, Miss Kate Rorke, and

Esther's terrible

d'Alroy

been judiciously
Froissart follow
forcible

cut.
it

into

Might not a few lengths of oblivion? Mr Anson was a

and grotesque rather than an unctuous or

comic Eccles.

He
Mr

exaggerated the sheer physical

ugliness of the character.

entirely to elude

Captain Hawtrey seemed

The character simply faded out of the play, to the total destruction of its
Abingdon.
balance and meaning.

Mr

Gilbert Hare, as

Sam
some-

Gerridge, was neither

good nor bad, but colourless.

in intention, but

His sobriety was praiseworthy

what insipid in effect. To Miss Hay Harvey's Polly hard measure had been meted out in more than one
quarter.

Miss Harvey

is

distinctly a clever
I

who

will

prove her value,

comedian, have no doubt, when she

part. Following Mrs she was altogether too

comes across a good

Bancroft
as
Polly

original

Eccles,

58
heavily

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
handicapped.

1894.
hard,

Her humour seemed

and
her

aggressive,

self-conscious,

mere

physical
in

unlikeness to the ideal Polly

whom we had

our

But it is mind's eye was greatly to her disadvantage. an abuse of words to say that she showed no humour
or talent.
before,

To

those

who had
all

never seen the play

that could be desired
;

she no doubt seemed

several things

and there were

notably her recognition

of George in the third act which she did not only comparatively, but positively well.

VIII.

"THE

LITTLE WIDOW."

"A

GAIETY GIRL."
zist February.

THE

first

ten minutes or so of The Little

last

Widow*

to belie produced " This the announcement in the programme play has no motive." A motive was very clearly announced
at the Royalty,
:

week

seemed

a motive something like

Anstey's Fallen Idol

that

of Niobe,

or of

Mr

what may perhaps be briefly An amateur indicated as the Frankenstein Motive.

mesmerist has hypnotised a lady, and does not know how to break his own spell, so that she follows him
about, worshipping

him

as her

"

lord

and master,"

to

the total disorganisation of his domestic

*

economy.

February 15

March

IO.

"A GAIETY
Not only
is

GIRL."
is

59
fairly

this

a motive
wit,

it

the

motive of a

well-known play, to

The Master Builder, by one

(the motive-

Henrik Ibsen.
less author)

Had Mr William Jarman

been

alive to his opportunities,

he might

have enlisted the sympathies of the majority of the

critics

duction.

by professing to ridicule that exasperating proBut after the first ten minutes all appearance
"

of reason vanished. the scene,

The

Little

Widow " came upon

and incoherence

instantly set in, with im-

The Little Widow, becility following hard upon it. be it known, is not the Monster of the hypnotic
Frankenstein, but a totally different person, having

no connection whatever with the subject

announced.
senseless

originally

In a word, the piece

vulgar,

is

indescribably

and

and

it is

pitiful to see actors like

Mr

Charles Sugden and

Mr Welton

Dale engaged in

such work.
part,

and seemed

Miss Minnie Palmer played the titleto have numerous and vociferous
the

admirers

among
said,

audience.
to

Indeed, the piece

may be

on the whole,
night* of

have been favourably

received.

The hundredth
brilliant

Gaiety Girl was quite a

and

festive occasion.

The

piece went very

off the stage,

briskly,

and everybody, both on and

to be in the best of spirits.
is

seemed

This type of
art-

musical farce
*

not an elevating or intellectual

9.
15.

Prince of Wales's, February Theatre, September 10 December

Transferred

to

Daly's

60

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

form, but it is at least an improvement on the solemn and stodgy Gaiety burlesque of the old school which it seems to be supplanting. In selecting Mr Dudley

Hardy

to design the

handsome memento which was

distributed in the theatre, the

management showed a

Along with French methods of draughtmanship, the tone of the French comic papers is gradually permeating a large section
nice sense of appropriateness.

of English journalism
stage,

and

Gaiety Girl

is,

on the

an unmistakable symptom of the same tendency.

"
is

"
Spiciness

the distinguishing

trait
;

of this class of

work both
of Messrs

in the

drama and
Hall
"

"

Owen

and the dialogue and Harry Greenbank is

in art

an unsparing hand. For my have queer old-fashioned notions as to the own If I cannot limits of becoming mirth on the stage.
certainly spiced with
part, I

see

why

the serious drama should deal with nothing

but dinner-table topics, still less do I see why the wit of the lighter stage should persistently approximate
as nearly as possible to that of the tap-room.
It gives

me

very

little

pleasure, even

in the presence of ladies,

to hear

dialogue which elaborately leads up to an

it

objectionable point, and then, as

were, sheers

oft

with a wink before the point

is

quite attained.

There

is an old legend of 'some ingenious gentleman who had invented an anecdote with two endings, one gross,

the other innocent.

He would tell

it

with the " spicy"

ending

at the dinner-table after the ladies

had

left,

and

"A GAIETY

GIRL."

61
men, would

then, to the consternation of all the other

drawing-room, fathering it upon the most grave and reverend senior who happened to be present. In this playful gambolling on the verge
it

recommence

in the

of indecency
librettist,

lies

half the art of the-

"

up
to

to date

"

whose

great

aim seems

to be

get

the

aroma of the smoking-room over the

the ladies

footlights.

Well,
I
I

seem

to enjoy
?

it,

and who

am

I that
;

should complain

Indeed,

am

not complaining

am

only

recording a sociological observation.

first

been pruned of some of its spiciest flowers of fancy, and the laicising " " of the erstwhile Honorary Chaplain is an immense improvement. Mr Monkhouse is a comedian of such
Gaiety Girl has, since the
night,

over-brimming energy and irrepressible

"go"

that

he

can afford to dispense with tasteless and meaningless " the cloth " should I see no reason why travesties.

be sacred from
this

fair

satire

and even caricature; but

insult.

was a case of gratuitous

"is

"

But," you
to

may
the

ask,

not the

insult

simply

transferred

medical profession?" In a sense, yes; but it loses The doctor has no " cloth," no " livery," all its sting.
to be insulted
;

and

besides, as sanctity

is

no

part ot

the medical ideal, the contrast between profession and

practice
is

not so flagrant and painful.

62

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
IX.

1894.

"THE NEW

BOY."

THE HEIRS OF RABOURDIN."

2%th February.

IT is not easy, in the case of a production like The

New

Boy*

to apportion the requisite "praise, praise, praise,"

between the author and the leading actor. Mr Arthur Law, to be sure, would have been nowhere without

Mr Weedon
is

Grossmith

but where would

Grossmith have been without

Mr

Arthur

Mr Weedon Law ? This

not one of the cases in which the author, so to

speak, merely provides the horse-collar, while the actor

does

all

the grinning.

What we laugh

at is

not simply
of that

the personal quaintness of

Mr

Grossmith

we

should

Law
The

in

soon enough but the ingenuity of Mr complicating the embarrassments and miseries
tire
relief.

which throw the comedian's quaintness into

very funniest moment in the play occurs, not in " one of the " pathos scenes (to adopt the phraseology
of Greek tragedy) while the protagonist is protagonising " " before our eyes, but in the messenger scene of the
last act,

when we
the hero.

are informed of the gruesome expia-

tion to

which the police-court Rhadamanthus has con-

demned

the actor,

Here it is who moves us to

clearly the author, not

laughter; though even

it is

here a very subtle disputant might argue that

*
Still

not

Terry's, February 21.

Transferred to Vaudeville, April 16.

running.

"THE NEW
so

BOY."

63

much
at,

the author's invention in the abstract that

as the concrete image conjured

we
our

laugh

up

in

minds of
forte et

Mr Weedon

Grossmith undergoing the peine

dure of castigation.

The upshot

is,

of course,

that the pleasurejwe receive is due to a very equal and intimate co-operation between author and comedian.

Mr Law
when he
Just as

stands

to

Mr

Grossmith precisely

in

the

relation in

which Sardou stands to Sarah Bernhardt

her with a part like Fedora or Theodora. Tosca exploits the beauty and genius of

fits

La

the divine Sarah, so does The

New Boy

exploit the

genius and beauty of

very easy to say that

Mr Weedon Grossmith. It is Mr Law might have treated his

theme with greater ingenuity. Possibly he might; but the critic who makes such a complaint is bound
in

honour

to

indicate the opportunities which the

author has missed. has shown

ported."
all

For my part, I think Mr Law " the ingenuity which his theme com-

It

would have been mere waste of labour

to raise a very delicate

a foundation
the
initial
is

and complex structure on such no ingenuity in the world can give idea that air of plausible common-sense
;

for

which
farce.

indispensable to what

may be

called literary

Take Mr
lie in

Pinero's three farces, The Magistrate^

The Sclwolmistress, and Dandy Dick

very charm the fact that there
as
is

does not their

nothing which
in

we can

utterly

reject
in

impossible either

their

stalling point or

their

development

No

single

64
incident

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
is

1894.

quite incredible; the author's art lies in

concentrating a fantastic
ludicrous
stage.

number and
two hours'

continuity of
traffic

moments

into the
farce,

of the

But

Mr

Law's

though he does

not, like

Mr

Anstey in Vice Versa,

is

call in

the aid of the super-

natural,

frankly impossible from the outset.

it

Even

if

we could conceive

physically possible that a

man

of thirty (whatever his stature) should pass for a boy of

fourteen, the motive for keeping

no

sort of plausibility.

We
is

up the deception has cannot possibly believe

into operation,

that Archibald

Rennick

going to pass as his wife's

son until

Dr Candy's

will

comes

which

may Law

not be for a quarter of a century or

simply asks us to hold our reason and

Mr so. common
;

sense in total abeyance for a couple of hours, in order

to enjoy the

humour

of
it

Mr Weedon

Grossmith

and

under these conditions

to

would be mere wastefulness

is

expend upon the theme any more ingenuity than

order
to

necessary in

keep

the

attention
is

of

the

audience on the

alert.

The

dialogue

not without
literary

a certain humorous vivacity, and that is all the quality required in work of this description.
other hand, the piece
is

On

the

quite funny enough pense with one or two witless and vulgar lines, at Mr a particular point which I need not specify.

to dis-

by Mr Beauchamp, and Miss Gladys Homfrey, while some Beveridge, younger artists make quite marked successes. Mr
Grossmith
is

excellently supported

Mr

"THE HEIRS OF RABOURDIN."

65

Sydney Warden's sketch of the French tutor is really clever; Mr Kenneth Douglas as "Bullock major" is the hulking schoolboy to the life and Miss May
;

Palfrey as a wide

awake young lady of

sixteen,

shows

a good deal of address in a not over-pleasant part. The farce is preceded by The Gentleman Whip by
y

Mr H. M.
in

Paull, a pleasant old-fashioned comedietta,

which Miss
vivacity.
it

Esme

Beringer plays with freshness

and

Yes,

spent at

was a dismal, deplorable evening that we the Opera Comique on Friday last. For

once the Independent Theatre entirely failed of its purpose, and gave us a bad performance of an inNot that Les Heritiers Rabourdin* is tolerable play.
devoid of
interest.

On

the contrary,

it

might make

the text of a very curious and suggestive article on

"The Old Humour and

inquiry,

the

New."

But the

starting-

point of any such article would necessarily be the

"Why

is

the play intolerable?"

That

it

is

a lugubrious blunder on Zola's part is the postulate on which all profitable discussion must be based and
;

as this fact was easily verifiable in the study, there

was no occasion

for

experiment on the stage.

Let

me

simply record that

Mr Welch

struggled gallantly

and not unsuccessfully with the part of Rabourdin and, that justice done, say no more of a performance
which ought never to have taken place.
*

February

^3.

66
That

THEATRICAL WORLD OF 1894

delightful
artistic-critic,

Mr

Quiller-Couch,

once did

me
is

the honour to reprove

me
any
to

for holding
rate,

that fiction

a progressive

art, or, at

an

art

that has progressed.

The

thing

is

me

so

self-

evident that

think I must have failed to convey

my

meaning

to

Mr
If

disagreed.
(including,

Couch, else he could scarcely have he would read Les Heritiers Rabourdin

of course, Zola's preface), and then ask " himself the question suggested above Why is the
:

play intolerable?" I think he might see

in a

my

position

new

light.

Zola has gone back to two of the

:

great comic writers of the seventeenth century

he

has taken a theme from Ben Jonson, and treated it, or tried to treat it, after the manner of the farces of

Moliere
It
is

and the

result

is

a hideous

fiasco.
is

Why ?
neither

not sufficient

to
for

answer that Zola

it is

Jonson nor Moliere, that he has failed.

that as
it

not from no lack of ability

It is

not the execution of the play

is

at fault, but

the whole conception, the form

is,

were.

The

execution
feel
it

of course, open to
to

criticism,
details, for

but we

useless

trouble

about

no possible merit of execution could have

It
is

saved

such a theme.

the

very idea

of the

Molieresque treatment of the Jonsonian subject that

we cannot away
the play would be.

with.

The more
word), the

successful

the

pastiche (to use Zola's

own

more

intolerable

Again,

why

Surely because

we

have outgrown the necessity

for Jonson's gross, crude,

"THE HEIRS OF RABOURDIN."

ogreish exemplars of the primary passions,
taste for that reckless

67
and the

and triumphant

effrontery, that

rough and
Moliere's

cruel horseplay, that perpetual exhibition

of the cudgel and the bolus, in which the public of

day delighted.

We,

too,

take a certain

delight in these things, in relation to their time, as

the

belonging to an interesting chapter in the history of human spirit ; but we have turned over a new
or rather

and such elementary psychology and semi-barbarous humour do not fit into the context of that Chapter XIX. (to adopt an
leaf,

many new

leaves,

arbitrary numeration)

which is now drawing to a close. have nothing to learn from such monstrous embodiments of cynical rascality, cupidity, and cunning

We

as Rabourdin,

Chapuzot and Charlotte, the Volpone, Corbaccio and Mosca, of the French play. These

crude passions have become commonplaces to us what interests us is their disguises, their modifications,
their attenuations, their conflict with

other motives

and passions in the individual. Jonson's personages, and Zola's, have no moral consciousness and, on the
;

stage at any rate,

interests us.

it

is

moral consciousness which

Zola has shown that great effects can

be produced by an epic treatment of the "human " but in drama he, or rather it, must be used beast
;

jigly, incidentally,

the beast,

by way of contrast. Give us the whole beast, and nothing but the beast,
in

and tedium culminating

nausea

is

the result.

This

68

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

large-type psychology in

use in

its

day, for a public just

words of one syllable had its awakening to moral

consciousness; but nowadays the man in the street has got beyond it. "What about Shakespeare?" I " shall be asked. Do you tell us that the psychology of modern fiction has got beyond Shakespeare?"
Certainly, with Shakespeare's help.
that Shakespeare
It
is

quite true

had moments, many moments, of

but his discoveries have
stock,

miraculous

clairvoyance;

entered into the

common

and men and women

without a tithe of his genius are

now

able to look

more deeply and minutely than he did

into the inmost

fibres of human nature. Psychology, in a word, is a science which progresses by cumulative experience

and observation

and as the

art of fiction is correlative

it

to the science of psychology,

follows that the one

tends to advance at an equal pace with the other.

What Zola

has done in Les Heritiers Rabourdin

is

to

throw overboard the accumulated knowledge and skill of nearly three centuries to what purpose I cannot
conceive,
nor,
clearly,

could the

Opera

Comique

audience.

The World* revived

evening,
is

at the Princess's

on Saturday

the

first

and, to

my

thinking, the liveliest

and best of the

series of

The

invention

of the

authors

Drury Lane melodramas. Messrs Meritt and

Pettitt

and

Sir

Augustus Harris
*

was fresh and

fertile

February 24

April 14.

"AS YOU LIKE

in

IT."

69

those days, and

the mechanical sensation scene

be-all

had not yet become the

melodramatist's
craft.

and

end-all of the
is effective,

The
It
is

raft-scene

and

the two murder-scenes have really a touch of Wilkie

Collinsish
Princess's

ingenuity.

capitally

played at the

by

Mr

Charles Dalton as the hero,

Mr

Charles Glenny

as the villain,

Mr

Elton as the comic

Hebrew, and Miss Olga Tyndall as the heroines.

Brandon and Miss Kate

X.

"As You LIKE

IT."

"MRS DEXTER/
7 th

March.

FOR a man

to lay

down

laws as to what

is

and

is

not

"womanly" and "seemly," appears to me, theoretiThose who cally, a piece of impertinent Helmerism.
do so may urge Pauline precedent, but Paul himself
could not plead the precedent of his Master.
adays,
at

Now-

looking

any rate, women are perfectly capable of after their own dignity, and are even beginning

to turn the tables

and

lay

down

laws for men.

I will

not be so audacious, then, as to assert that the per-

formance of As You Like It* by a company consisting entirely of women, sinned against any eternal canon of conduct or ideal of Womanhood. All I will venture,
*

I'riucc of

WulcVs, Fcbiiuury 27 (afternoon).

70

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
is

1894.

very diffidently, to remark,

that neither the use nor

is

the beauty of such an exploit

quite apparent to the

I

male observer.

This

is

a case in which

think

we

may
by

fairly ask,

exemplify ?

"What does it prove?" What does it What does it illustrate ? A performance

;

men

alone might help to illustrate the conditions

of the Shakespearean stage

but this performance has

no bearing on

either the past or the future, for I

do

not understand that even the most vindictive champion

of her sex proposes to take revenge for the sixteenth

century by entirely excluding men from the stage of the twentieth or twenty-first. There was no sociological principle at stake,

no

artistic lesson to

be

learnt.

The performance had

attraction

not even the comprehensible

sensual

man which
The

of burlesque, that appeal to the average " " lies in the display of shapely

limbs

for jack-boots

of Arden.
curiosity,

were the only wear in the Forest whole thing, then, was a purposeless

and rather ugly than beautiful. It is true that the ladies, as a rule, wore their male habiliments
inoffensively,

but there

is

and with considerable grace and ease ; something uncomely to the eye and un"

pleasing to the ear in a

bearded woman."
ill

It

matters

not whether the beard be well or

or transparently
false.

applied, deceptive,

In the

latter

case the effect

is

simply grotesque and ugly ; in the former, the illusion gives place to a disturbing and almost painful disillusion as

soon as the performer opens her mouth.

71
far as I am aware, this (or, at any rate, the New York performance which this one imitated) was very nearly the first occasion on which bearded ladies have

So

been seen outside the showman's booth.

remember
lay

to

have read of a female

the reference.

Falstaff,

I vaguely but cannot

my hand on

For the

rest, actresses

who have played male

beardless ones.

parts have almost always chosen

Peg Woffington's very popular perHarry Wildair was the occasion of a jest of Quin's, which, as the demure and reverend Genest phrases it, "must not be repeated." Mrs
formance of
Sir

Siddons played Hamlet in the provinces, and I myself have seen a female Hamlet in my day. Charlotte

Cushman

acted

Romeo

to her sister's Juliet

;

there

have been several female Macheaths

and innumerable

boys or boyish characters have been performed by w< >men ever since women first appeared on the stage.

But

Sir

Harry Wildair, Hamlet, and

Romeo

are

all,

or at any rate

may

be, as beardless as the

Ganymede
that, until
I

of Arden,

and

I certainly

cannot remember

the other day at the Prince of Wales's,

ever saw

anything beyond the least indication of a moustache on a female face on the stage. The next time I want
to see a bearded lady, I shall seek her in her proper

habitat
It
is

the caravan.

only

fair to say,

however, that

many

of the

ladies, hirsute or otherwise,

spoke their

lines well,

and

acquitted

tin

with

much

credit.

Miss

Ada

72
Ferrar

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
made

1894.

a most spirited Orlando, Miss Charlotte

Morland and Miss Naomi Hope were good as Adam and Jacques respectively, and Miss Sophie Larkin was
by no means the worst Touchstone on record. Miss Beatrice Selwyn was a charming Celia, Miss Lillie Belmore a very passable Audrey, and Miss Frances
Ivor

competent

if

not very
I

poetical

Rosalind.

When
to say
:

next she plays the part,

would beg her not

" Like many other mannish cowards have."

Dr

Furnivall, indeed, maintains that Shakespeare did

"

use " like

way but the only lines in which it is unmistakably and intentionally so used, are unmistakably the work of someone else than Shakespeare.
in this
;

This, I need scarcely say,

playbill confessed that

is

not one of them.

The

sponsible for the

Mr Leonard Outram was reacting version of the play "now

performed for the first time in London." I wish I could think that confession in this case implied
penitence.

Mr J. H.
There
what
fun
is

Darnley's farce,

Mrs Dexter* at the

Strand

Theatre, suffers from a total lack of connected interest.

nothing in

it

to excite our curiosity as to

is

going

to

happen,

much

less

to

arouse a

sympathetic interest in the course

is

of events.

The

extracted

arbitrary series

from a quite of situations, due to the mania which

February 28

or purports to be

March

10.

"THE BEST MAN."

possesses
all

73

the characters for calling on each other

with no rational motive,

and consequently encounter-

ing the people they least wish to meet.

Irish accent
is

Mr

Hawtrey's

does not

sit

very lightly
;

amusing when he gets a chance

to put a

on him, but he and Miss Fanny

into a

Brough manages
part in

good deal of humour

supplied to her.

which but
is

little is

The

best

scene in the play Mrs Dexter, with

the reconciliation between

Mr and
;

even here a

little

up the interplay

its pianoforte accompaniment but more fancy and ingenuity in working of dialogue and music would not have

been out of place.

XI.

"THE BEST MAN."

"

"THE COTTON

KING."

FASHIONABLE INTELLIGENCE."
i4///

March.
Stoker
all

THE

courteous and indefatigable

"

Mr Bram
"

just as all majesties are

gracious

so are

acting-

managers "courteous and indefatigable" has, it been taking his turn at the popular sport of appears,
chastening the dramatic
critics.

No

doubt he thinks
in their places

that long experience in putting

qualifies

them

place.

him, a fortiori, for putting them in their have not yet had an opportunity of sitting
if

at his feet, so that

in this article I sin against

any of

74

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
it is

1894.
I see

his canons,
it

in ignorance,

not in obduracy.

stated, however, that

he makes some allusion

to

critic

and

translator of plays

who had

the audacity

and

imbecility, or
is

words to that

effect, to

remark that

a parasite upon the play. We are all at each other with a wild surmise, and staring asking who can have been the audacious imbecile in question?
the actor the sort in one of his most famous essays

Charles Lamb, as everyone knows, said something of ; but as he

was not a translator of plays, he cannot be

imbecile.

Mr

Stoker's

Coleridge
;

translated

plays,

and so did

George Henry Lewes

but

it

may be doubted whether

have carried him so
far

Mr Stoker's
I

literary researches

back into the abysm of time.

fancy

Among contemporaries,
Can
it

Mr
;

Walkley has made some passing remark of

is

the kind

but he

innocent of translations.
Scott
?

have been

Mr Clement

Mr Malcolm Watson ?
!

Mr

J.

H. McCarthy ?

translators all

can quite

understand that the guilty creature should shrink from confession, for really, even if Lamb had not anticipated
it,

the statement was too obvious to be quite worth

making.
all

In moments of intellectual lassitude we are

fall

of us apt to

back upon truisms

but

we do

not

be reminded, however courteously and indefatiIt is patent, I will not even say gably, of our lapses. to the meanest intelligence, but to the mere physical
like to

sense, that the play can

actor,

and does

exist apart

from the

the

actor cannot

and does not

exist apart

"THE BEST MAN."

75

from the play. The odd thing is that Mr Stoker, unless he has been misquoted, seems to doubt this.

His doubt proceeds,

gather, from a generous but

If the

illogical jealousy for the dignity of criticism.

actor, he says, be a parasite on the play, the critic must be a parasite on the actor ; and from that con-

clusion he shrinks with abhorrence.

event,

In the worst
the

Mr

Stoker's abhorrence could not alter

stubborn

fact

above stated

but fortunately

we need

not take so gloomy a view of the

is

critic's position.

He

not a parasite upon the actor, but a co-parasite

with the actor

upon the

play.

The

critic

could exist
critic,

without the actor, the actor without the

neither without the play.
exist without the actor
is

but
not

The person who could

the courteous and inde-

fatigable acting-manager.

But to every rule there are exceptions

will

(if

Mr

Stoker

pardon the truism), and the standing exception to this one is Mr J. L. Toole. He is not a parasite

upon anything; he is self-existent, fundamental. Hays are all one to him he is the substance, they
;

th<:

mode, the accident.

He

sets at

defiance the

logic of

Mr

Stoker's imbecile.
is

That

dialectician

must

either

admit that there

a gap in his syllogistic net,

or must set about proving that actor

Mr

Toole

is

not an

which
in his

is

absurd.
farce,

It

is

true that

Mr

Ralph

Lumley

new
*

The Best
Jui

Man*

provides an

Match 6

76

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

agreeable setting for

Mr
its

Toole's

humour; but who

upon its frame, the There is a good
in

would

call

the picture a parasite

jewel a parasite upon

socket?

deal of ingenuity in the piecing together of the play,

and some merriment,

dialogue.

if

not

precisely

wit,

the

One cannot

but chuckle over the idea of

the railway director, travelling on his

own

line,

who
its

pulls the communicator in implicit confidence in

inefficiency,

and

finds

to his horror that

it

actually

works

Miss Beatrice

Lamb

plays the lady of the

railway carriage with spirit

and humour; Miss Cora Poole shows indications of talent in a somewhat

monotonous

and those " permanent officials," Mr John Billington, Mr C. M. Lowne, Mr George Shelton, and Miss Eliza Johnstone, are all at their
part
;

posts.

Sutton Vane, the author of The Cotton King* at the Adelphi, may at least claim one distinction he
has created the champion
age.
villain

Mr

of

this,

or any other,

There are defects

in his drama, even as tested

For example, it by the poetics peculiar to its class. is not to tell even the stalest story twice necessary
over in
order to
;

make
and

it

comprehensible

to

the

Adelphi audience
the
fall

this practice

tends to bring

of the curtain perilously near "closing time "

art.

a grave error in Adelphi

lines are in print the
*

But before these

redundancies and superfluities of

March 10

May

5.

"THE COTTON
The Cotton King
For
will

KING."

77

doubtless have vanished, and

the villain will remain to delight the sympathetic soul.

my

part, I cherish for

him a

respectful admiration,

like that

which

Mr

Kipling's

Tommy

Atkins bestows

upon

the

Soudanese Fuzzy Wuzzy

benighted

"he's a pore a fust-class fighting man." haythen, but

Against overwhelming

odds

for

his

machinations
success

have
carries

never

the

remotest chance of

he

on a heroic

battle with inexhaustible resource-

and indomitable daring. Not that there is in his crimes on the contrary, they are any ingenuity but he always has a fresh one ready to quite childish
fulness
;

meet any emergency, and each more foolhardy than the last. And then he is so obliging as to tell himself
all

about his

villainies,

every

now and
to
is

then, in the
sure, of his

minutest detail
great exemplar,

after the

manner,

be

lago.

But there

this

difference
:

between the methods of these distinguished men lago thinks aloud in the act of concocting or, as he
puts
it,

engendering

his wiles

whereas
:

Mr

Richard

Stockley's revelations are retrospective

lates his turpitudes,

he recapitu-

As thus

"
:

Ha
if

he chews the cud of his depravities. uneasy is he ? I fancy he'd be more

I

than uneasy

he knew that

had altered

his code-

by which he instructed his American to sell, into 124, which means 'Buy all you agent an.' The telegraph -clerk is in my power, and dare
24,
<

number

not oppose me, so that

even when

the

American

78

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

agent cabled for confirmation of the orders, we were able to cook the despatches," and so on through
several monologues almost as long as that of Charles V. before the tomb of Charlemagne. The complexity of his crimes is positively bewildering, and it is part

of his method always to accuse other people of them, without any reasonable likelihood of being believed. He seduces the " Pet of the Works," and declares that
the hero
to
is

the culprit, though

it is

obviously impossible

keep up

the deception for half an hour, and he

very nearly gets lynched for his pains.

He

ruins the

hero by means of the aforesaid forged cablegram, and then lays the blame on the benevolent Jew financier,

though no one believes him

places stolen

for half a

moment.

He

money

in the hero's safe;

he has the

hero kidnapped and chained in a lunatic asylum ; he suborns a drunken workman to expose the heroine to
the contagion of a deadly fever, thereby putting himself irrevocably in

the drunkard's power;

he cages

the heroine in the shaft of an elevator and then rings down the lift upon her; he wades and wallows in
iniquity,
is

exposed and denounced over and over

again, but goes on irrepressibly, imperturbably, for the sheer pleasure of the thing. I feel quite sure, though
this is

not explicitly stated, that

it

was he who
is

set fire to

the lunatic asylum in which the hero

chained, hoping

on the roast-pig

principle, to secure a dish of roast

it

hero; but unfortunately

is

only the other lunatics

"

FASHIONABLE INTELLIGENCE."

79

who

are roasted.
acts
;

three

And all these crimes he crowds into how many he adds to the calendar in
I

the fourth act

at

cannot

11-20,

leaving

tell, for I tore myself away him with another half-hour or so

of sin

still

before him.
malefactor,

He

is,

indeed, a colossal,

a magnificent
scoundrels

beside

whom

the

petty

of

Messrs
into

Merritt,

Pettitt,

Sims,

and

Buchanan

shrink

utter

insignificance.

Mr
is

Edward

O'Neill embodies

him admirably.

There

villainy in every twirl of his cane.

Mr Charles Warner

makes the impressive hero we all know; and Miss Marion Terry is such a charming heroine, that no one feels the slightest surprise when she receives three
offers

of marriage within less than fifteen minutes.

Mr

with quiet

Herbert Flemming plays the philanthropic financier skill. Have we to thank Mr Zangwill for
quite at a discount

the fact that the sinister and the comic Israelite are

now

on the stage ?

Certain

it

is

that our playwrights

in

no longer go to Barabbas and

types, but rather to Spinoza

for their

Hebrew

Miss Hall Caine makes a and pathetic " Pet of the Works," and Mr Charles Cartwright's portrayal of the drunken engineer

and Nathan der Weise.

pleasant

is

a powerful piece of

melodramatic acting.

Of Mr Percy Kendall's duologue, Fashionable Intelligence* which now precedes Tfu- Transgressor at the
Court Theatre, one may
at
Ir.ist

say that
7,

it

improves

March 5

April

80
as
it

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
goes on.

1894.

The opening

scene, with
rival,
is

Mrs

Fitz.

Adam's

criticisms of her

supposed
it

emphatiof the

cally farcical,

and

this is a pity, for

might have been

latter half

much more
little

subtly handled.

The

piece,

however,
is

rises into

the

region of light

comedy, and
plays the

worth seeing.

Miss Lottie Venne

vivacity,

widow with unflagging humour and

all

and Mr Brookfield does

that

is

needed with a

somewhat

sacrificed part.

XII.

"GO-BANG."
21 st March.

MR

"

ADRIAN Ross,"

the librettist of
is

Go-Bang*
is

at the

Trafalgar

Square Theatre,

one of the interesting

figures of the stageland of to-day.

He

interesting,

not so

much for what he is, as for what he might be if he chose. Of course that is an unphilosophical expression.

If

he does not choose to

it

rise

above Morocco

Bound and Go-Bang,

is

because he cannot choose

brain.

he lacks some subtle convolution of the What we mean when we say that a man could
chose
within
in
"

"

if

he

do

this

or

that,

is

that

he

at

least

comes
Will
is

measurable distance of the

faculty
:

ability.

one sense a part of

*

if

you have not the

March 10

August 24.

"GO-BANG."
will,

81
is

the character, to do a thing, that

disability of
all.

the most

fatal

But there

is

also a very im-

portant sense in which will

and

faculty are distinguish-

able

and though will without faculty is the complaint from which most of us suffer, there is always, in any
;

art,
will.

a respectable minority possessed of faculty without Go-Bang has confirmed an old impression of
that

mine

Mr

Adrian Ross has

will,

all

the faculty,

if

only
the

he has the

to

rescue

extravaganza from
it

slough of inanity, and give

lectual substance
irresistible
:

something
"

like

intelis

and

literary form.

The

theatre

let

us organise the theatre," said Matthew

late essays, with

Arnold in one of his

a certain

air,

perhaps, of making the best of a

with no such feeling, I

bad

business.

It is

vow and
:

protest, that I say,

let us rationalise exExtravaganza is inevitable Don't tell me that the public prefers travaganza."

"

witless tomfoolery.
it

The

public puts

up with

it

when

can get nothing better; but, other things being

" " other things
I

equal (and by

mean

pretty faces,
it

bright dresses, taking music,

and so

forth),

prefers

clever nonsense to stupid nonsense, to bad.

and good rhymes See how the return of Mr Gilbert at once

brings the public back to the Savoy; see

how Mr

Adrian Ross, by
Gilbert,

far the cleverest

rhymer, after

Mr

on the contemporary

stage, has with surpris-

ing rapidity
librettist

made

himself by far the most popular

If

of the day.

an Aristophanes were to

82

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

appear to-morrow, the public would rise at him ; and even a semi- or a demi-semi-Aristophanes would not fail of a welcome. Why should not Mr Adrian Ross
be he?
It

may seem

a Hibernianism, or even a complicated

Hiberno-Scotticism, to

recommend a burlesque
;

writer

to take himself seriously

but that

is

nevertheless

my

earnest advice to
frivolity is

Mr
is

Adrian Ross.

an

affectation,

At present his a deliberate and unpleasing

I

exaggeration.

He

so

gather from the news-

papers

"inland bred," a man of culture and even of academic distinction. His training has been in
the direction of refinement, of aestheticism, perhaps

even of puritanism.

He

is

not a Bohemian, native

trying
in

and

to the

manner born, but an immigrant

dialect,

to prove his right to naturalisation

by becoming,

manners and
themselves.
sets

more Bohemian than the

natives

Having once kicked over the

traces,

he

no

limit to his escapades, forgetting the

wisdom
only one

of that gnomic couplet of his

own

(I alter

word

in

it)

The proper

Is not too high

kick for a don, you know, and it's not too low.

"Go
let

to

!"

he seems to

"
say,

since

we must be
;

vulgar,
is

us be vulgar with a vengeance

let

since frivolity

our cue,

us out-frivole the most frivolous."

He

dredges the music-hall for its English, the drinkingbar for its manners, the smoke-room for its wit.

"GO-BANG."
"

83

When

I'm boss of the blooming show," says one ol

the personages in Go-Bang,

Then all my subjects I'll amuse With lovely songs as fairly ooze With booze and booze and booze and

booze.
is

Of course
without work "

this is

"

rote sarkastic," but the shot

not

its

recoil.

A
if

great deal of

Mr

Ross's

own

fairly

oozes,"

not with mere alcohol, at least

It is re-

with a highly alcoholised style of humour.

dolent of the tap-room.

How

far

he

is

directly reI

sponsible for the prose dialogue of

Go-Bang
it,

do

not know, but he

all

is

at least indirectly responsible for

but the mere "gags," and the wit of

flashes, is

barring
well, the

one or two

decidedly cheap and

is

opposite of nice.

There

a certain

notion of the Eastern potentate

humour in who supposes

nobility

the
the

Divorce Court to be one of the legislative institutions " because it is there that the of to
Britain,

go

get their decrees

made

absolute

"
;

but there
to the

are,

on

the whole,

far

too

many
topics.

allusions

Divorce
of cyni-

Court and kindred

cism
in
is

This

facile vein

already overworked by

TJu Gaiety Girl.

of plot.

Mind

of

Mr Ross's imitators And then he is fatally careless man cannot conceive anything

more

inept and incoherent than the fable of Go-Bang unless it be that of Morocco Bound. If Mr Ross

has no invention, he ought to find a collaborator

who can

supply the deficiency; but

suspect

it

is

84

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.
is

rather carelessness than incapacity that

the matter
for

with him.

He

thinks anything

is

good enough
will find

the public, which cares only for jingle, frivolity,

and
out

mild topical illusions

his mistake.
it

but one day he

fall

If

Go-Bang should
its

short of success,
its

will

be on account of the poverty of

incidents.
I

idea and the

inconsequence of

But

hope and believe

in virtue

that

it

will live

defects,

of

Mr

Ross's rhymes,

down these Dr Carr's

music, and Miss Letty Lind's dancing.

Mr Ross

is

His certainly an inexhaustibly ingenious rhymer. work is easier and more fluent even than Mr Gilbert's;

language

is

more

plastic in

his hands.

Mr

Gilbert's verses always

in

seem

to

be exquisitely carved

wood

Mr

Ross's are modelled in

some

ductile

material,

which yet takes and retains very sharp and

definite forms.

Some
is

of his refrains are irresistible

bits of verbal tintinnabulation.

of the words

The average "book a terror to the eye and ear ; but I positively invested in a libretto letting sixpence go bang for Go-Bang in order to enjoy at leisure the
"

delicious jingles of "You're not supposed to know, " " The Chinese Dolly." Di, Di, Di," and you know,"

These are not things that will bear quotation in cold blood; you must go and hear them if you want to
appreciate

Mr

Ross's really remarkable talent.

if it

Dr

Carr's music, too,

does not tax the

intellect or

strain the attention, is at least fluent

and

vivacious.

"ONCE UPON A
Its
its

TIME."
little

85
too familiar,

melodic forms are perhaps a

orchestration too unpretending.

I suspect,

though

am

not musician enough to say this with confidence,

that

Dr Carr

shares his colleague's tendency to write

down

rather than

up

to his hearers.
is

But he

is

neither

heavy nor pedantic, and that

the main thing.

Miss

Letty Lind gambols very gaily through the part of Di, and her dancing is quite delightful. Her imitations

of Miss Katie

tonished as

much

Seymour and Miss Sylvia Grey asI had no idea as they amused me.
for

that dancing could

cate mimicry.

As

be made the subject of such deliMiss Lind's imitation of Miss

Cissie Loftus's imitation of Miss

Lind

our English

pronouns are quite inadequate to so complex a phenomenon it is a marvel of ingenuity and humour. Mr
J.

L. Shine

is

excellent a> the

Boojam of Go-Bang;
and

Mr Henry

Grattan, though greatly overweighted by

is full

the part of Jenkins,

of good intentions

Miss Jessie Bond seizes every possible opportunity in

a part entirely unworthy of her.

XIII.

"ONCE UPON A TIME." "THE LAND OF HEART'S "A COMEDY OF SIGHS." "AN DESIRE."
ARISTOCRATIC ALLIANCE."
4th April.

ONCE upon
the ancient

a time there was a king,

who

ruled over

and famous realm of Haymarckia.

His

86

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
I.,

1894.

name was Rhododendron

wise, witty, valiant,

and he was handsome,

always to be found

and withal an ardent champion of

the divine right of kings.

He was

in the forefront of every battle, and, as a token of his

divinity, a shaft of light

followed
his

descended from heaven and him wherever he went, forming a halo around Now King Rhododendron had many head.

children.

They succeeded one another

faster

than

he could quite have desired; but there are some circumstances beyond the control even of the best-

And there was this melancholy about his offspring, that one always died peculiarity before another was born, so that in the royal nursery
regulated autocrat.

the funeral was apt to tread upon the heels of the

christening with frightful rapidity.

Rhododendron

invite all the sages

In vain did King and magicians of

the world to the christening feasts.

At times they

would actually mutter curses over the cradle, and even their blessings seemed somehow of small avail. For
the

few weeks, indeed, each child would appear preternaturally healthy, and the Court Circular would
first

announce
But

in leaded type that so vigorous a bantling

in the annals of

had never been known

presently, just as
it

Haymarckia.
going strong

seemed

to be

"

and

well," it would turn rickety, dwindle, peak, and pine; and, after an unostentatious funeral, the cards would be sent out for another christening. In the

space of a

little

more than a

year,

King Rhododendron

"ONCE UPON A TIME."

had
lost

87

no fewer than four

girl

children.

The

first,

handsome
been

of classic features, was thought to have

killed

by a Jewish physician

whom

the king

unwisely called in to attend her.

sprightly youth of great promise
to a surfeit of epigrams, of
ately fond that
;

The second was

but he succumbed

which he was so immoder-

the new-baked from the

he would not even stop to distinguish stale. Next came a misshapen

and

tinsel-eyed changeling, babbling blusterous

and

unseemly words.
loved,

Him King Rhododendron

fondly

and of the sages who thronged to his christening, one only, and he a sage of no importance, was rudely
candid as to the
little

stranger's ugliness

and deformity.

But the blessings which the other Wise Men of the West showered down upon the cradle could not proHe was long the poor monster's unhealthy existence.
succeeded by a somewhat commonplace but sturdylooking bairn, who might perhaps have come to
maturity,

had not a potent enchanter, the Archimagian

terrific

of his day, hurled a

curse at his head, beneath

which he melted away

Finally

like

snow-wreaths in a thaw.

breaks off

and here the history of Haymarckia suddenly a pretty, and merry, and fairy-like babe

came

to gladden the royal nursery. The sages, duly convoked, did not quite know what to make of him.

They
far

praised his robes

and

trappings, but they \yere

too sage to care about the vivacity, and grace, and

himself.

charm of the child

The

ancient manuscript

88
comes

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
to an

1894.

end

just as they

were drawing the most

Alas

depressing horoscopes around the smiling innocent.

What may have been

the worst.

its

fate?

Yet

it

is

well to

remember

one apprehends that the weak

things of this world sometimes confound the strong,

and we can
of
all

at least hope that the love of children, and whose imagination still answers to the spell of

"Once upon
sages.

time,"

may have

counteracted the
austerest

predictions and imprecations even of the

beg you to go and see Once upon a Time,* and to take your children if you have There is only any, and other people's if you haven't.
In
all

seriousness, I

one thing

in it they won't understand why Magdalena should refuse to be in love with the King in the first

act,

and should consent with

effusion in the last

and
For

that they will never trouble their heads about.

the

rest,

they

will

be enraptured to see one of the

most amusing of their beloved Hans Andersen's stories blended with another pretty fantasy the exchange of station between Diomede and Habakuk, Magdalena

and

Rita,

and decked out with

all

the gorgeousness
if

of a veritable Arabian Night.

delight in
it

And

you,

you do not
it is

too, don't flatter yourself because

It

of your

superior wisdom.

only shows that you have vitiated

your palate with alcohol, and nicotine, and curry and cayenne, till you have lost your honest natural relish
*

Hay market, March

28

April 21.

"ONCE UPON A
for

TIME."

89

" lucent syrups tinct with cinnamon."

Of

course,

in a fairy-tale, the

simple

it

psychology is primitive, the ethics would not be a fairy-tale else. But if you
find grist for the mill of that vast unresting

must needs

intelligence of yours, there are a score of symbolic

Emperor's New Clothes which you can follow up at your sweet will. For one Which of us thing, it is a genuine Fable for Critics.
issues to the legend of the

has not in his time gone into ecstasies over (say) the

gorgeous singing-robes of some heaven-born poet, and shouted down the still small voice of the unsophisticated
child (within us or without us) whispering, "

But

see

nothing

at all

"?

As

for the poet himself,

may he

not

read the lesson that the unanimous acclaim of a host

of log-rollers will not shield

him from the

biting blast

of oblivion unless he have indeed woven for himself a

robe of honest, tangible, durable texture people besides poets have been

And

other

known

to array them-

selves in these air-drawn filaments.

Have we

not seen

more than one actor-manager marching forth solemnly in his pyjamas amid the all-hails of his faithful firstnighters,

and recalled to his senses only by the " " churlish chiding of a wintry wind from his boxFor

office?

my

part,

too,

own

that

am

not

indifferent to the political satire of the play.

Whether

Heir Kulda intended

application to what

it

or not, his fable has an obvious

history,

may be called contemporary

which

take leave to find entertaining.

But these

90

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
all inessential.

1894.

things are

Meaning or no meaning,

the piece
It is

charming simply as a dramatised fairy-tale. a poem, not certainly of any very lofty order, but
is

graceful

welcome

and unpretending so far as it goes and I it as an oasis amid the arid prose of our
;

workaday modern drama. Messrs Parker and Tree's "free adaptation" of Der Talisman is not unwarrantably free, and does no
substantial injury to the original.
is

The

English text

smooth and

pleasant, except

where

Mr
The

Tree and

others

make a

deliberate hash of lines which were

as

evidently

written
in

blank

verse.

tripping

which the part of Rita is written irregular rhymes are of charming effect, and Mrs Tree speaks them
very prettily.
play
is

Dramatically, the
act,

weak point

in the

the second

where the succession of courtiers

rubbing their eyes before the empty clothes-horse The first act is necessarily becomes monotonous.
bright,

interesting,
is

amusing,

and went

excellently.

The
so
if

third act

really dramatic,

and would be more

could

Miss Neilson and

Mr Nutcombe Gould

manage

to put a touch of sincerity into the scene

The audience between Magdalena and Diomede. has been credited with a gigantic effort of courtesy
in not laughing at the king's entrance in his under-

garments.

had laughed?

Where would have been the harm if they The play is not a tragedy, but a
the
situation
is

romantic legend, and

inherently,

"THE LAND OF HEART'S

intentionally ludicrous,

DESIRE."

91

though

its

dramatic interest
a curb upon our

may make
mirth.

us for the

moment put
point,

There was one

however, where
It

Mr
end

Tree raised an undesirable laugh. "I of the third act, where he says,
a cloak."
this

was

at the
;

am

cold

give

me

made some
fourth

it

loudly and hardly he By speaking comic had he moderated his voice, and put
;

feeling into

it,

we should have

felt

the pathos

rather than the ludicrousness of the situation.

act

The
its

was

so

imperfectly rehearsed
it

that

dramatic movement was lost; but

pretty

contains

some

and

effective

capital as the weaver of the

in the last act,

Fred Terry was magic robes; Miss Neilson, made a most imposing Amazon ; Mr
scenes.
;

Mr

Luigi Lablache was a duly sinister villain

and

Mr

Lionel Brough was really amusing as Habakuk.

The untoward
Comedy

circumstances which converted

of Sighs into a

Comedy

of Groans affected

even the opening play of the evening, The Land oj Hearfs Desire* by Mr W. B. Yeats. The players had
taken no account of the defective acoustic of the

Avenue Theatre, so that I, for one, heard only about half the dialogue, and that imperfectly and with a
painful strain.

There can be no doubt that the

its

little

piece

is

prettily written, but

spiritual motive, so to

speak, eluded

me.

The

fairy's

power over Mary

in

Bruin must surely symbolise something

*

her nature,
12.

March 29

April 14; April 21

May

92
or, at

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
any
rate, there

1894.
in her nature

must be something

or circumstances to give the

her.

Now

what

this

Good People a hold over something was entirely, escaped

me, whether by the author's fault or the actors' I cannot tell. There is no more beautiful idea in the

whole realm of folklore than that of a

creature,

wild, elemental
love, yet

tamed

for a

time by

human

drawn

by an

irresistible
it

home-sickness back to her native

air,

element, be

water,

or

fire.

Such legends are

for instance,

innumerable

in all mythologies,

and have been treated

orders

a hundred times by poets of

all

by Ibsen in The Lady from the Sea, and (in an inverted form) by Matthew Arnold in The Forsaken Merman.

Mr

Yeats has every

right

to

deal

with

it

for the

hundred-and-first time,

and

that I conjecture to have

fairy- play

been his intention

but even in a

the author's

intention should not be left to conjecture.*

Dr Todhunter's intention in A Comedy of Sighs t seems to have been to get the scent of Keynotes over
the footlights, and

some

pretty strong whiffs

of

it

certainly reached the nostrils.

like another,

Well,

it is
it.

an ambition

and

don't quarrel with

Nor

is

it

criticism of essence to

one-act comedietta

remark that he has expanded a we have all seen it under half a

into a four-act

dozen
is

different

names

comedy.

There
should

no

reason in the nature of things

*

why

this

See concluding paragraph of Article XVI. f March 29 April 14.

93
not be done, and done successfully.

Dr Todhunter

has not succeeded, because he has not developed his

characters clearly, because his wit
is

apt to be pedantic

rather than scenic (the dialogue bristles with quotations,

which should always be used very sparingly on the stage), and because his audacities of thought and
expression
are
frigid,

deliberate, self-conscious,

and

therefore inartistic.
last

It is possible,

of course, that the

itself felt

objection might not have

made

had the
would

Frou-frou- Hedda-Gabler heroine been played by an

actress of genius, a Desclde or a Duse, for
it

have required no

Miss Florence Farr was (not inexcusably) panic-stricken from the outset; but at best one does not see that she possesses either the
less.

physique or the art for such a character.

It is over-

whelmingly

difficult,

and one

is

ten )ted to add, with

Dr Johnson, "Would to heaven, madam, it were Miss Vane Featherstone and Mr James impossible." Welch were both excellent, and quite held the play together when they were on the stage and Mr Bernard
;

Gould and Mr Yorke Stephens were at least passable. I am puzzling my head to remember in what other
play the incident occurs of the wife flinging her jewels
at the

husband's

feet.

Is

it

in

La Princcssc de Bagdad ?
his

As

for the easy-going

husband who so astounds

wife by swearing at her that she rushes into his arms,

crying,

" Vous

etes

mon

lion,

superbe et glnlreux

Jet'aime!"

94

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
is

1894.
in

the difficulty

rather to

remember

what play he

does not occur.

shrew

is

This modern and George-Egertonian remarkably easily tamed; but one could

almost wish that Dr Todhunter had reserved for her

some of the poison which seemed so out of in The Black Cat. As Mr Stevenson puts
Underwoods : " Dear
Were
heaven, with such a rancid it not better far to die ?"

place
it

in

life,

Why

do

Mr Wyndham and Lady

the former by omitting
all

Violet Greville

lend colour to the accusations of

MM.

Sardou and

Company,

mention of Le

Gendre de M. Poirier on the

Alliance* the
latter

playbill of

An Aristocratic

to the call for the

by bowing from a box in response author? Of course one acquits

them from the

outset of any wish to deceive.

The

origin of the play has been paragraphed on every hand, and, in any case, the original is so widely known

that they might as well produce a

new rendering of

Faust and hope to escape detection.

less lack

By

this object-

of courtesy they do a serious wrong to the stage, and especially to our original dramatists. English It is the prevalence of such practices in the past, and
(as

we

see) their occasional survival in the present,

it

that

makes

so difficult to disabuse even rational

that the English stage lives

Frenchmen of the idea

entirely

upon
*

pilferings
Criterion,

from

Paris.

Mr
29.

Pinero, of

March 31

May

"AN ARISTOCRATIC ALLIANCE."

course,
is

95

not responsible for the proceedings of

;

Lady

Violet Greville

but from the Parisian point of view

the distinction between

them
(at

is

immaterial

what one

English playwright does

a respectable theatre)

capable of doing ; therefore the boulevard journalist has no difficulty in believing, without the

another

is

smallest evidence, that The Profligate

Denise^ and

is adapted from The Second Mrs Tanqueray from Le Mariage d*Olympe. The whole production marks a return to the bad methods of the bad days. There is

something sublime

in the

audacity of foisting a set of

unspeakably feeble love-scenes upon a classic like Le Gendre de M. Poirier. Poor Miss Annie Hughes
!

What

a part to assign to an

artist

of such talent
little

And Miss Emily Fowler comes

but

better

off.

Where Lady Violet Greville condescends to fall back upon Augier, some of the interest of the original survives, though English names, costumes, and allusions sit
very uneasily upon the essentially French characters,

and the necessary elimination of the duel leaves the

last

act utterly savourless.

It

was not

Mr

Charles

Groves's fault that

Mr

Firkin Potter was to Monsieur

Poirier as a crab-apple to a jargonelle.

The

ineffable

bourgeois so inimitably incarnated by Got, and so cleverly acted by Coquelin, would of course have been
quite

out of place in a quasi-English

play.

Mr

Wyndham was good in the lighter passages of the Miss Mary Moore Anglicised Gaston de Prcslcs
;

Q6

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
;

1894.

made an ingenuous Antoinette

Vatel.

and

Mr De Lange

contributed a most amusing sketch of the outraged

XIV.
"

MRS LESSINGHAM."
"

"

THE LITTLE

SQUIRE."

JAUNTY JANE SHORE."

nth
IN
all

April.
question,

discussions of the

actor-manager

those of us

who

are

opposed to the system have been

careful to introduce a saving clause in favour of

Mr
self-

John
never

Hare.

An

artist

to

the

finger-tips,

he has

made

his theatre a

mere instrument of
But

glorification,

and has thus earned our esteem no

than as an actor.
until

less

as a

night

Saturday manager we had not reckoned adventurousness among

his virtues.

We

conservatism the note of his policy.

not the manager
likely to

should rather have called intelligent He was certainly

whom we

should have held most

produce a first play, by an untried author, and that author of the sex which has commonly,
of late years at any
rate,

been considered destitute

of

of dramatic faculty.

The production
sees
it,

Mrs

Lessing-

ham*
upon

proves that

Mr Hare

has the insight to recognise

good work when he

inspiriting to those
*

that recognition.

The

and the courage to act event should be highly

hitherto believed our

who have

Garrick, April 7

May

16.

"MRS LESSINGHAM."
leading
talent.

97
to
"

managers
"

totally

inaccessible

One

swallow," I shall

be

told,

unproven does not

make a summer, and

of
' '

the exceptional good fortune

George Fleming may not find a parallel for I do not deny that this lady has years to come." had the luck on her side, but her first and greatest
piece

of luck lay in

her ability to write a strong,

moving, and eminently actable play. can do that need despair of finding a

No

one who
For

hearing.

my

part, I

wish

could believe in the unacted masterpigeon-holes are

pieces with which the managerial

said to

be bursting.
faults

The

of

Mrs Lessingham
a

are not faults of

femineity
authority

to

use

word which

may

plead

the

of

Coleridge

and

Mr

George

Moore.

Except, perhaps, in an occasional touch of tenderness

beyond the reach of your average male, I fancy it would be a very keen critic who should detect a
feminine hand in the workmanship. It is true that is bent rather towards emotion the author's effort
than
analysis
;

but then we are told (and several

striking instances

can certainly be alleged

is

in

favour

of the theory) that the faculty for analysis

that

precisely

which has been brought to greatest perfection in Woman by the immemorial necessity imposed upon
her

of studying

the
is

motives

and caprices of the

I

tyrant

Man.

(This

the doctrine,

beg to

state,

of Herbert Spencer, not, as you might suppose, of

98

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
Sarah Grand.)

1894.

Madame
the play

It is also true that there are

several errors
;

and weaknesses

in the construction of

but members of the superior sex have been known to commit similar, and perhaps even greater,
maladresses,
in
at

their

first

attempts at playwriting.
points.

Let us glance
retically,

some of these weak

Theo-

nothing could be clumsier than the means

by which the meeting between Gladys and Lady

Anne
is,

is

brought about in the

all,

first

act
it,

but as there

after

nothing impossible in
it

and
it

as

the

audience

accepts

without a murmur,

should

perhaps be called a happy audacity rather than an In the second act, the scene between error.

Hardy and Lady Anne

but that
of the
is

is

perhaps a

trifle

too long

the only technical defect.

act

The opening

third

though,

being essential to the

development
called

of the

situation,
is

"comic

relief"-

ought not to be deplorably crude and

it

amateurish.

The author should have

It

invented some

quite different method of indicating the painfulness

of Gladys's position.

seemed
I

to

me, too

(this is

not the author's business, but

may

as well

get

through with

my

fault-finding at once), that the stageto

management of the whole scene down

exit

Gladys's

might have been improved. It cost us quite an effort to determine what portions of the dialogue
were or were not supposed to be audible to all on the In the fourth act, the old nurse's warnings stage.

"MRS LESSINGHAM."
against an overdose of the

99

overdone.

We

are

so

medicine are distinctly for what is fully prepared

merely conventional

coming
tedious.
think,

that

they seem

and

A much
easily

greater fault,
corrigible,

and
lies

yet,

one would
author's

quite

in

the

omission to

make

it

clear, before the

scene between
relented

Gladys and Forbes, that Lady towards Major Hardy, and that
self-effacement
is

Anne has
therefore
far,

Gladys's
of
its

destined,
at

in

so

to

fail

purpose.

once heighten the tragic irony of the closing scenes, and relieve the audience from an uneasy dread lest Lady Anne and Forbes
fall

This would

should be going to

into each other's

arms over

As it is, the huddling up of matters Gladys's body. between Lady Anne and Hardy, in the very horror of
the catastrophe, would be
felt

to

be heartless

if it

were not so hurried as almost to escape notice. A very short scene, interpolated at an earlier point in
the act, would enormously help the position for the leading characters.
all

Chief

among

the merits of the play

its

is

the sobriety

and firmness of

style in all the

more

serious scenes.

mean between
or
artificial

"George Fleming" knows how to strike the just flatness and either pathetic inflation
brilliancy.

nervous, natural.

Her dialogue is thoughtful, In a word, she writes well. And

she invents well too.

We

see the true dramatist in

first act,

the contrast, so skilfully brought out in the

100

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

between Forbes's recollection of the Algerian time

and the same

of Gladys.

five years as
is

they dwell in the

memory
pathos
;

This

a true touch of

human

and equally strong and original is the scene between Forbes and Lady Anne at the end of the act, in which
she wrings from him the truth about Mrs Lessingham. The great scene of the second act is on the surface a
little

more conventional, but only on the

surface.
dis-

Scenes of magnanimity, self-accusation,

simulation, are

heroic
stage

common enough on
in
its

the

and

generally very undeceptive;

but here the pathos of

the

thing

lies

undeceptiveness.

The two
in

women
who

are playing a heart-broken

is

comedy, and

the duel of quixotisms the battle

necessarily to her

has the less pretence to keep up.

The

author

has set forth to show that there are complications in life from which the utmost effort of selflessness
provides no tolerable exit
sary
as
;

and

it

was morally necesGladys

wiser

well

as
it

dramatically effective, that

were, coerced against her

should be, as

own

instinct into the error for

Lady Anne,
trifle

in fact
is

which she pays so dear. (though the analogy may seem a

very

grotesque),
in

much

in

the position

of

Gregers Werle
to

The Wild Duck, and her attempts " the claim of the ideal " meet with no enforce
success

better

than

his.

It

is

inevitable

that the

solution

of such a knot should be less novel and

interesting than the complication;

but the scene at

"MRS LESSINGHAM."
the close of the third act
is,

IOI

in

a commonplace sense,

perhaps the most effective in the play, and Gladys's

death, though doubtless foreseen
felt

to

be such a natural
lose the

and discounted, is outcome of her character,

that

we

sense of conventionality in that of

inevitableness.

The

scene, too,

is

beautifully written,
if

with a delicacy of touch in which you may,

so minded, discern the sex of the writer.

you are

And
Robins,
ing,

it

is

beautifully

acted

by Miss

Elizabeth

and penetratunconventional pathos, more than redeemed her

in her sincerity, simplicity,
first act.

who

shortcomings in the
these

wish
to

could attribute

No shortcomings entirely doubt that had a good deal to do with the matter ;
nervousness.

but
grip

it

could not altogether account for the lack of

realisation

and

which appeared

in

some

passages,

or for the abruptness of

carriage

which again

movement and singularity of and again detracted from the

act,

desired effect.

In the second

on the other hand,

originality

Miss Robins handled her very difficult scene with and power, and she contributed her full

share to the excellent effect of the situation at the end

of the third

act.

Miss

Anne

very

charmingly.

Kate Rorke played Lady There is perhaps more

in

character,

more

wilful ness

the

part

than

Miss

tastefully

Rorke quite brought out, but all that she did she did and well. There is probably no actor on the
stage

who could have made

so

much

of the exceed-

102

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

ingly ungrateful

part of Forbes as did

tact

Mr

Forbes

Robertson.

His firmness and

were invaluable.

Major Hardy gave

ful

Mr Hare
art.

the versatility of his

one,

The

another chance of proving character is a delightit

and

Mr Hare
;

played

delightfully.

It

does

not

come

within what

we

are accustomed to consider

lies in

Mr

" Hare's " line

but the mistake

is

supposing
to

that so accomplished an actor " "

line

tied

down

any
little

whatever.

Miss Helen Luck, though a

overweighted, was very bright and pleasant as Hope Glen.

Mrs

As several critics have assumed that Mrs Lessingham must have been in some -way inspired by The Second Mrs Tanqueray^ I may mention that I read
"George
then, I
year.

Fleming's"

play

three

or

four

months
it

before the production of

Mr

Pinero's,

and

that

had

understand, been

in existence for at least a

Though
The

there are three children instead of one in

Little Squire * at the Lyric, they did not together

Little

make up a
themselves

Lord Fauntleroy.
are as pretty

The
and

children

Miss Dorothy Hanbury and Misses Isa

clever as

and Emspie Bowman

need be.

Miss Hanbury, indeed, in the title-part, makes a very charming boy. But the play, adapted

by Mrs William Greet and

a novel by Mrs

Mr Horace
is

Sedger from

De La
*

Pasture,

a poor and tedious

April 5

May

4.

"

FAUST."

103

which even the excellent company engaged Rose Leclercq, Miss Mary Rorke, Miss Fanny Brough (in an ultra-lachrymose character), and Mr It was Charles Sugden cannot infuse any real life.
affair,

into

favourably received, however, and

the taste of afternoon audiences. " "

may

possibly suit

Messrs

Richard
at the

Henry's
is

burlesque of Jaunty

* Jane Shore

Strand

old-fashioned in style, and

somewhat meagrely mounted and presented, but not

unentertaining if you happen to be in the humour for such divertissement. To those who like Mr Harry
Paulton's

humour

and

for

my

part I have
relish

somewhat
for
it

laboriously acquired a quite

real

his

Richard of Gloucester
It is capital fooling

will afford plenty

its

of amusement.

of

kind.

in the title-part, certainly justifies the epithet

Miss Alice Atherton, accorded

her,

and makes herself very popular with the audience.

rest

The

of the

company

are

rather

provincial in
talent.

tone, but

show unbounded energy and some

XV.
11

FAUST."

"

FROU-FROU."" DON

JUAN."
April.

i8M

AN
the

Anglo-Swiss newspaper, some years ago, recording first ascent of the Mattcrlmm by l.ulu -s,
April

a-May

19.

104
that

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
on
I

1894.

their return to

should

say adventuresses

Zermatt the adventurers (or " with ?) were received

much enthusiasm and some fireworks." That phrase sums up Saturday night * at the Lyceum. It was an occasion of much enthusiasm (in the audience) and
some
in

fireworks (on the stage).

Mr

Irving's

welcome

bore vociferous testimony to the respect and affection

which he

is

held,

and

justly held,
all

playgoers.

The

plaudits of

by all classes of America seemed to be

re-echoed in the Strand, until one's pulse could not

help bounding in sympathy.
analyse
it,

Without attempting to

am

quite conscious in

my own

breast of

the feeling which evidently animated the whole house the feeling, to wit, that Mr Irving had conferred a

personal favour on me, and

somehow

ministered to

my

self-esteem, in bringing

back from America whole

shiploads of laurels and doubloons.

thing inspiriting, exhilarating,

There

is

some:

in great

success

the
;

mere spectacle of

it

warms the cockles of the

heart
is

and he who denies or dissembles the sensation

hypocrite or a curmudgeon.

a
it

As

for the play

well,

really doesn't matter two pins what I think of it. " four hundred public which has flocked to see it

The
and

thirty-one times at this theatre

"

thinks
is

differently,
right.
all

and

in theatrical matters the majority

always

Meanwhile,
appearance,

" Goethe in Weimar sleeps," and, to " well." We do not at

sleeps
*

hear,

any

Faust, April 14

July 7.

rate,

that

his

protesting

ghost
I

has

been seen
that

in

Wellington

Street.

But

do think

Mr

Irving

might imitate the delicacy of Mr Charles VVyndham, and omit Goethe's name from the programme. De mortuis nil nisi bonum; the dead (in the present rudi-

themselves.
ing

mentary stage of psychical research) cannot defend One can imagine, however, an interest-

and animated " Dialogue of the Dead " between the Herr Geheimrath and the late Mr W. G. Willslet

us hope that the shade of

it.

Eckermann

is

there to

report

In the meantime everything has

its

uses in

the moral

economy
filled

of the universe, and the

Lyceum
visit-

Faust has
ings
in

my

heart with compunctious

regard to the late

and

hitherto unlamented

Mr Jones had approached much nearer imagined to Mr W. G. Wills. As for the acting, not even the raptures of the eight hundred and odd thousand playgoers who (at a modest comTempter.
I

than

putation) must have applauded

topheles at the
it

is

Mr Irving's Mephiscan convince me that Lyceum alone, for a moment to be mentioned along with his
I.,

Charles

his lago, his

of his really great performances

there cannot

Louis XL, his Becket, or any but of its popularity ;

of

be the
never

shadow
looked

doubt.

Miss
or

Ellen

Terry

more
she
did

fascinating

played more tenderly than

as

Mar-

on Saturday night. Mr Terriss made an ideal Faust a la WilU, and Miss M. A. Victor lavished all her

106
ripe

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
and
fruity

1894.
part

humour on

the

congenial

of

Martha.

Many

critics

* frou at the

you know." what else could

have objected to the revival of Frou" Comedy Theatre that it is so English, Well, English it is, beyond a doubt ; but
it

possibly be ?

This criticism would

apply to all performances of translated plays, and, if it always involved condemnation, would banish translations from the stage.

If Miss

Emery and Miss Marie

B. Irving,

Linden,
tried to

Mr Brandon Thomas and Mr H.

ape the manners of French society, or even of

the Conservatoire, the result would be sheer farce

all

the funnier the more perfect was the

character in which a
is

mimicry.
Gallicism

The one
is

little artificial
is

permissible
It

that of Brigard, which

is

in

its

essence

important we should bear this in grotesque. mind, and not make a reproach of a quite inevitable drawback, lest we discourage the good habit of translating plays,

and encourage the bad habit of adapting

them and

transferring the scene to England.

How

much

better to see

French characters with an external

touch of English manner, than (as in An Aristocratic Alliance) to see characters with English names whose
every action and sentiment proclaims them in reality

French

in acting at
ality
;

There may conceivably be altitudes of style which we lose all consciousness of nationrate, I

but in modern drama, at any

*

have never

March

31

June

15.

"

FROU-FROU."

107

And, as a rule, we are not in the least disturbed by the absence of local colour in mere It is only because we happen to details of manner.
seen them attained.

be very familiar with Frou-frou in French because carry in our mind's eye a composite photograph of some half-dozen French actors in each of the

we

leading parts

that

we

are vividly conscious of the

substitutes
at

Englishness

of

their

the

Comedy.

Nothing could be more ludicrously unlike Norwegian life than the presentations of it to which we are

accustomed on the English stage in the plays of Ibsen ; but even those of us who realise the inevitable
discrepancy soon learn to overlook it, just as we overlook the inevitable removal of the fourth wall of a
stage room.

Again,

the

France of

La Dame aux
is

Cornelias, as represented
cally Italianate.

by Signora Duse,

comi-

To

those

who know

the two nations,

though they both be, French and Italian manners are no less clearly distinguishable than French and English. If we chose to let our attention
Latin
dwell upon these details,
pleasure,

we could

easily spoil
in

our

and perhaps

other, people's,
;

almost any
I

>rmance of a translated play

is

but that,

submit,

not the mission of criticism.

One

further observa-

tion will

make my meaning

still

clearer.

Objection

may Comedy

fairly

be taken to one piece of acting at the Theatre, though it is in itself by no means

\\ithout ability.

Mr Brandon Thomas's De

Sartorys

108
is

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
is

1894.

not simply English, but

Lancashire or Yorkshire,

An English place. can easily accept, for he is inevitable ; De Sartorys we but not so a Lancashire De Sartorys. The distinction
and therefore disturbingly out of
is

clear, the principle

evident

need not
is

illustrate

it

further.

Miss Winifred Emery

;

not quite at her

best in Frou-frou

she

is,

in fact, a Frou-frou without

is

frou-frou
lent.

but in the more serious scenes she

B. Irving's Valreas
;

excel-

Mr H.

is

probably the best

thing he has done

it is

full

of distinction and charm.

Miss Marie Linden makes an admirable Louise, and

Mr

Cyril

Maude

plays cleverly the sadly Bowdlerized

part of Brigard.

And why
"

cut out the prompter,

Mr

Carr?
In the new "edition
of

Don Juan *
falls

at the Gaiety,

the burden of the entertainment

more than ever

;

on the shoulders of

Mr

Arthur Roberts

but they are

well

broad, strenuous, and indefatigable shoulders,

to the weight.

up

the last

burlesque "living pictures" in went without much " snap " on the night act
introduction
;

The

of their

but

there are

elements of

humour in them which will doubtless come out more clearly when the tableaux themselves are better dis" " are played, and when the accompanying gags
properly worked up.
*

April 12

June

16.

See Theatrical World, 1893,

p. 257.

"ARMS AND THE MAN."

XVI.
"

IO9

ARMS AND THE MAN."

2$th April.

No
by

one with even a rudimentary knowledge of human

nature will expect

me

to deal impartially with a play

Mr

George Bernard Shaw.

"Jones write a book "Jones

!"

cried Smith, in the familiar anecdote

write
his

a book

Impossible

Absurd

Why, / knew

father!"
I

By

the

same cogent process of reasoning,

myself that

have long ago

I

satisfied

Mr Shaw

cannot

write a play.

had not the advantage of knowing

through the filial reminiscences with which he now and then favours us), but what is
his father (except

more

fatal still

know

himself.

He

is

not only

my

esteemed and religiously-studied colleague, but my We have tried old and intimate and valued friend.
our best to quarrel many a time. We have said and done such things that would have sufficed to set up a

dozen

lifelong vendettas

between normal and

rightly-

constituted people, but

without the slightest success, without engendering so much as a temporary coolness.

all

to

Even now, when he has had the deplorable ill-taste falsify my frequently and freely-expressed pre-

diction by writing a successful play, which kept an audience hugely entertained from the rise to the fall of the curtain, I vow I cannot work up a healthy hatred for him. Of course I shall criticise it with

IIO

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
and acerbity; but

1894.
1

prejudice, malice,
faintest

have not the

his

hope of

ruffling his

temper or disturbing
is

self-complacency.

The

situation

really exasperating.

If only I could induce

like

him

to cut

me and

scowl at

an ordinary human dramatist, there would be me, some chance of his writing better plays or none at
all.

But one might as well attempt "

is

to bully the

Monument."
There
not the least doubt that

Arms and

the
at

Man *

is

one of the most amusing entertainments

It
is

present before the public.

quite as funny as

Charleys

Aunt

or
;

The

New Boy, we
I

laughed at

it

wildly, hysterically

do

likewise.

exhort the reader to go and But he must not expect a humdrum,

farce,

and

rational,

steady-going

like

Charley's

Aunt

bearing a well-understood conventional relation to

real
life.

Let him rather look for a

extravaganza,
in

fantastic,

psycho-

logical

which

drama,

farce,

and

Gilbertian irony keep flashing past the bewildered eye, as in a sort of merry-go-round, so quickly that one
gives

up the attempt to discriminate between them, and resigns oneself to indiscriminating laughter. The author (if he will pardon my dabbling in musical
metaphor) is always jumping from key to key, without an attempt at modulation, and nine times out of ten

he does not himself know what key he is writing in. If one could Here, indeed, lies the whole truth.
*

Avenue, April 21

July

7.

"ARMS AND THE MAN."

think that

Ill

Mr Shaw had
new

consciously and deliberately

invented a

species of prose extravaganza,

one
while

could

unreservedly applaud begging him in future to apply

the
it

invention,

with a

little

more
he

depth and delicacy.

a reproduction of

But

more

than suspect that

conceives himself to have written a serious comedy,

life

as

it

really

is,

with

men and

women
really

thinking, feeling, speaking, and acting as they do think, feel, speak, and act. Instead of pre-

episode in the great war between the realms of Griinewald and Gerolstein, or in the historic
senting an
conflict

between Paphlagonia and Crim Tartary, he

places his scene in the

(more or

less) real principality

of Bulgaria, dates his action to the

(6th

year and day

to
to

March

1886), and has been

at

work-in Bulgarian local colour in

immense pains the dialogue, and

I

procure correct Bulgarian costumes and genuine Balkan

scenery.
It
is

an open

secret,

believe,

that

Mr

Shaw held counsel on these matters with a Bulgarian Admiral, a Bohemian Admiral would scarcely be
more unexpected, and gave him the hints as
that this gallant horse-marine
to the anti-saponaceous pre-

judices of the Bulgarians, their domestic architecture,

their unfamiliarity with electric bells,

and the mush-

room growth
religiously,

of their aristocracy,
in

which he has so
utilised.

and

some

cases

amusingly,

pedantry proves, oddly enough, that "'e dunno where 'e are." By attempting

But

all

this topographical

112
to
fix

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
his action
its

1894.

down

to the solid earth he simply

emphasises
in Pickwick,

unreality.

He

is

like the

young man
"

who, having to write an essay on "Chinese

Metaphysics," read

up the

articles

"

China

and

"Metaphysics"
the two.

in the Encyclopaedia,

and combined
for "Bulgaria,"

Mr Shaw went to his Admiral

his

and

to

inner consciousness
in

for

"

Psychology,"

and combined the two

Psychology."

Why
S. ?

an essay on "Bulgarian confound the issues in this way,

critics

my

dear G. B.

Some

have assumed, quite

as a satire

excusably, that the play was

Bulgaria, and
I

meant

upon

should not be in the

least surprised if

it were to lead to a "diplomatic incident" like that which arose from the introduction of the Sultan in

Don Juan.

Of course you really know and care no more about Bulgaria than I do. Your satire is directed against humanity in general, and English humanity in particular. Your Saranoff and Bluntschli and
Raima and Louka have
their

prototypes,

or rather

their antitypes, not in the Balkan Principalities, but in

that romantic valley,

which nestles between the

cloud-capped summits of Hampstead and Sydenham. Why not confess as much by making your scene fantastic, and have done with it ?

Having now disentangled "Bulgaria" and "Psychology," I put the former article aside as irrelevant,

and turn

to the latter.

Mr Shaw
who

is

by nature and

habit one of those philosophers

concentrate their

attention

upon the seamy

in

side of the
itself,

human mind.
realise,

Against that practice,

to say.

have not a word

examine,

By

all

means

let

us

see,

remember, the seamy side. You will never find me using the word "cynic" as a term of moral reproach.
But to say of a
sistently cynical

man
is

that

he

is

habitually
to imply

and

per-

undoubtedly
but

an

artistic

limitation.

To

look at nothing but the seamy side

steadily,
is

may be As an
and

to see
artist,

life

not to see

it

whole.
;

Mr Shaw

suffers
if I

from
call

this limitation
it

so, he supermay adds a positive vice of style. He not only dwells on the seamy side to the exclusion of all else, but he makes his characters turn their moral garments inside

to this negative fault,

out and go about with the linings displayed, flaunting

the seams and raw edges and stiffenings and paddings.

Now this simply does not occur in real life, or only to a very limited extent ; and the artist who makes it his main method of character-presentation, at once converts his

comedy

into extravaganza.
is

It

is

not

Mr

Shaw's sole method, but he

to
it.

far

too

much

addicted

first act is genuine fantastic comedy, and delightful. Here he has set himself to sparkling knock the stuffing, so to speak, out of war to con;

His

trast

a romantic

girl's

ideal of battle
reality

and
it

its

heroic

raptures,

with the sordid

as

appears to a
"

professional soldier.
to

He

has evidently

documents

"

go upon, and he has seized with inimitable humour

114

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

upon the commonplace and ludicrous aspects of warfare.

truth

Of course Bluntschli's picture is not the whole any more than Rama's, but it presents a real
matter, the side

and important side of the

chiefly appeals to

which

Mr

The

great

and serious

artists

Shaw's sceptical imagination. Tolstoi, Zola (for I am

my admiration for La Debacle\ Whitman in his Specimen Days, Stendhal (I am told) in La Chartreuse de Parme give us both sides of the Even Mr Kipling, who case, its prose and its poetry.
impenitent in
also has his

"

or two beyond

documents," has found in them a thing Mr Shaw's ken. But for the nonce,

and

in its way,

Mr

Shaw's persiflage

is

not only vastly

So far good. At amusing, but acceptable, apposite. the end of the first act we do not quite know where the play is coming in, for it is obvious that even Mr

Shaw cannot go on through two more acts mowing down military ideals with volleys of chocolate-creams.
But there are evident
romantic
art of
girl
;

possibilities in this

generous

and her

genially cynical instructor in the

for the best.

war

and we hope
got

Observe that

as yet

we have not

upon the ground of general

psychology, so to speak ; we have had nothing but a humorous analysis of one special phase of mental

experience
in flight.
in

the sensations of a soldier in battle and

all is

In the second act

changed.

Bluntschli,

whom

the author practically

speaks in his

own

person, without any

effort at dramatization, has

almost

"ARMS AND THE MAN."

115

effort

disappeared from the scene, and the really dramatic commences in the characterization of the

out of his relation to Rama.

Byronic swaggerer, Sergius Saranoff, and the working At once Mr Shaw's ease
lightness of touch desert him,

and

and we

find our-

selves in
girl
is

Mr

Gilbert's Palace of Truth.

The romantic

romantic no longer, but a deliberate humbug, \vithout a single genuine or even self-deluding emotion
in her bloodless frame.

Sergius the Sublime has no

sublimity, but sets to

sort of belief in his

own

work

before he has been ten minutes on the stage to analyse

himself for the entertainment of the maid-servant, and

enlarge on the difficulty of distinguishing between the
six or

seven Sergiuses

whom

he discovers in his com-

position.

Petkoff and his wife are mere cheap gro-

tesques, both

more

or less under the influence of the

Palace of Truth.

The major-domo, under

a vehicle for

the

same

magic

spell, affords

some of the
on both

author's
sides

theories as to the evils engendered

by

the relation of master and servant.

And

the most

wonderful character of

all,

perhaps,

is

who seems
obscurer of
ception,

to

have wandered

in

the maid Louka, from one of the

is

Mr

Meredith's novels, so keen

her per-

and so subtle her appreciation, of character and motive. All this crude and contorted psychology,
too,
is

further

dehumanised by
all

Mr

Shaw's peculiar

habit

of straining

the red corpuscles out of the

blood of

his personages.

They have nothing

of

human

Il6

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
its

1894.

nature except
its

pettinesses
its

they are devoid alike of

It is all

spiritual

and

sensual instincts.

very

be sceptical as to the reality of much of the emotion which passes by the name of love, and over which so much fuss is made both in
well for
to
fiction

Mr Shaw

and

in

life.

For

my

part, I quite agree with

him

and useless unhappicaused by our habit of idealising and eternalising this emotion, under all circumstances and at all But it is one thing to argue that the exultahazards.
that a great deal of foolish
is

ness

tions

tious, deliberately

and agonies of love are apt to be morbid, factiexaggerated and overwrought, and
life

quite another to represent

as if these exultations

and agonies had no existence whatever. Here we have a girl who, in the course of some six hours,
transfers her affections (save the

mark

!)

from a

man

whom whom

she thought she had adored for years, to one

young man who,

she has only once before set eyes on, and a in the same space of time, quarrels
all,

with the mistress about nothing at

and, for no
to

conceivable reason, makes up his

mind

maid.

Such instantaneous

chassis croises

marry the used to be

common enough

in Elizabethan

the order of the day in Gilbertian extravaganza.

drama, and are quite In

any more serious form of modern drama they would be not only preposterous but nauseous.
It is impossible, in short, to

accept the second and

as either "romantic

third acts of

Arms and

the

Man

comedy

"

or coherent farce.

They

are bright, clever,

superficially cynical extravaganza.

In the second act,

;

there are some, not many, intervals of dullness

but

with the reappearance of Captain Bernard Bluntschli-

Shaw
are

the fun fully revives, and in the third act there

even some patches of comedy, in the author's finer vein. Pray do not suppose, moreover, from my
dwelling on the pettiness and sordidness of motive

which reign throughout, that the whole Mr Shaw's cynicism play is unpleasant.
least

effect of the
is

not in the

on the contrary, it is imperturbably and almost amiable. And amid all good-humoured
splenetic
;

his irresponsible nonsense,

in defiance of all

he has contrived, generally

dramatic consistency, to drag in a

great deal of incidental

to believe that

even an

artistic

good sense. I begin positively he may one day write a serious and play, if only he will repress his irrele-

vant whimsicality, try to clothe his character-conceptions in flesh

and blood, and realise the difference between knowingness and knowledge.

The

acting was

good from

first

to last.

Mr

Yorke

Stephens seemed to have cultivated that ironic twist

of his lip for the special purpose of creating " chocolate-cream soldier " Mr Bernard
;

the

Gould played
;

the

"bounder" with humour and picturesqueness Miss Alma Murray lent her seriousness and charm
(invaluable qualities both, as
it happened) to ihe part Miss Florence Farr made a memoni h

of Raina

Il8

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
Louka
;

1894.

figure of the enigmatic

Charles Calvert, and

Mr

and Mr Welch, Mrs Orlando Barnett were all as

I

good as need

be.

By-the-bye,

wish to withdraw un-

conditionally the depreciatory remarks, or rather conjectures,

Yeats's

the other day anent Mr W. B. The Land of Heart's Desire. I play have since read it, and find it a gem of its kind. It

which

made

little

is

now

audible on the stage, but can scarcely be said

to gain in representation.

XVII.

"A BUNCH

OF VIOLETS."

"THE MASQUERADERS."

2nd May. SYDNEY GRUNDY'S new or renovated play, A Bunch of Violets* at the Haymarket, affords an

MR

excellent example of a not infrequent

It is

phenomenon. one of those plays which contradict the proverb about the chain and its weakest link. It is not only
stronger than
strongest.
its

weakest
it

link,

but stronger than

its

Indeed,
all

is

a strong chain whose links

Its

are one
acts

and

of the craziest.

second and third

are
written

are

absorbingly interesting.
terseness which

They
is

with that nervous

Mr

Grundy's

* April 25 July 19. Season closed July 20 with a performance of Ibsen's Enemy of the People (see Theatrical World 1893,
p. 162).

Theatre re-opened with Bunch of

3.

Violets,

October 8

November

119
peculiar
gift.

There are passages

in

which speech

rings against speech with the sharp, metallic clash of

And they are so admirably acted by Mr and Mrs Tree and Miss Lily Hanbury, that for the moment they seem plausible, and even convincing.
blade on blade.
the characters

But when we begin to examine into the motives of we find them crumble away to nothing.
pick a
little
!

We

at

one knot

(to

quote Mrs Alving),

the cleverer of

and, behold

the whole seam, or rather the whole

fabric ravels out.

In a sense,
its

it

is

all
;

Mr Grundy
The
been
shaky
legal

to disguise

flimsiness

but his clever-

ness might surely be better employed.

and
I

ably,
;

and

mechanism of the play has think conclusively, shown to be very

financial

but to such purely technical criticism

we must
the

not attach too

correct

much

importance.
;

It is
is

better to be
if

on these points

but

it

sufficient

author's tamperings with reality

do not jump
is it

to the

eye of the average layman.

to allege, as

Nor

vital

objection

Mr

Walkley does,
of iron
is

justly

and

wittily, that

the would-be
true that this

man

but a painted

lath.

It is

Napoleon of finance turns out to be a Louis Napoleon, blundering blindly on to his Sedan,
lint

that

is

precisely
;

the

characteristic
all

of

these

adventurer-emperors

they are

of the

tribe

of

Louis; and for that matter, even the Little Corporal had his Moscow, his Lcipxig, his Waterloo. The charr

of Sir Philip Marchant

is

drawn throughout with

120

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
;

1894.
is

a rather heavy hand

but the mere fact that he

weak

instead of a strong
discredit.

man must
radical

not count to
lies

Mr
the

Grundy's

The
is

error

in

character of

Mrs Murgatroyd.

Her

figure,

as pre-

sented by Mrs Tree,

of the play
;

the chief strength and attraction

is its

her character, her motivation,

chief

weakness.

Here,

I think,

we

see the join between the

altogether

old play and the new.

Had Mr Grundy

banished

Mammon

from his mind, and

set to

work

on the theme
handled
motives

afresh,

he would have introduced and

Mrs Murgatroyd very differently. Her and remember they are the mainspring of the action are a jumble of contradictions. She is
married to

Mark Murgatroyd,

man
for

draw a cheque without winking as we can see, she can turn him round her

enough ^96,000. So

rich

to
far

little

finger ; and as there is no apparent danger of her former marriage being discovered, unless through her own folly, we do not quite understand why she should

be so desperately eager to convey a large sum of money from her husband's pocket clandestinely into
her own.

But admitting that she may have some

though unexplained, reason for this can we possibly admit that she adopts a desire, conceivable method of accomplishing it ? She knows,
conceivable,

or

more than

suspects,

that
is

Murgatroyd

is

being

egregiously
shall lose

duped;

yet she

quite willing that he

^96,000

in order that she

may

gain half

121
that sum.

In other words, she

is

willing to pay Sir

Philip Marchant ,48,000

in

conveying certain
left
!

her

her accomplice from her right hand to moneys think this adventuress has mistaken her
for acting as

calling; she does not

come from

Sheffield; she

is

one

of the

Wise

Women

of Gotham.

And

in order to

effect this

imbecile transaction, to throw

(for that
is

,48,000 out
to),

of the

window

what

it

amounts

she

is

content to run the risk of killing the goose that lays

the golden eggs, exploding her bigamous marriage,

and incurring
weakness of

utter

ruin

and imprisonment.

The

this

seems to have struck

Mr Grundy

as he went along, for in the fourth act she trumps up " One's husband is a totally new set of motives. one's husband," she says. "You may have always

forgotten

him

for a quarter of

a century, and both you

in the

and he may have committed bigamy

but 'a
to her

meantime

woman
first

as

is

woman'

will

always come back

his

love,

and play the deuce with

the
horrid
'

second

though says and sends her to penal serviNaughty, naughty tude for it." This exposition of motive is a melodramatic thunderbolt out of a clear sky, and the
establishment,
*
!

even

law

battle

for

the violets, to which

piece

it

leads up,
clap-trap.

is

an

outrageous

of

sentimental

But,

supposing jealousy is indeed the lady's motive, why has Mr Grundy kept us so long in the dark about it,

and led us

ofl

on the

false scent of

mere cupidity ?

122
It is

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
one of the
first

1894.

principles of the well-made play,

is,

of which

Mr Grundy

perhaps, the sole surviving

trifled

champion, that the audience must never be

with in this way.
aspect of the case,
that he has to
for the

Again, to return to the financial

when

Sir Philip

Marchant

learns

pay ^50,000, instead of an old song,

to carry through the transaction at a

bogus diamond mine, why does he attempt dead loss ? It

very well to bribe

was
spoil

all

Mrs Murgatroyd not

to

his
;

market, even
that left

at

the extravagant rate of

^48,000 But when

that profit

him another ^48,000 clear profit. is swallowed up, and more, by

the vendor's increased demand,

why on

earth does
?

he not drop the whole transaction on the spot

fears that

He
?

Mrs Murgatroyd
is

will

accuse him of bigamy

But the bigamy

himself, there
is

double-barrelled, and, as he says

every reason to suppose that for her

own

sake

to say

Mrs Murgatroyd will take very good care nothing about it. As he has not as yet been

enlightened on the great psychological principle that " woman's husband is a always her husband,'"' he has

not

even any adequate

reason

to

fear

that

Mrs

Murgatroyd Lady Marchant for Mrs Murgatroyd cannot possibly know that Lady Marchant will regard the communication
;

will reveal the truth,

privately, to

as confidential,

and

will

not set the law in motion.

The main

structure of the play, in short, collapses at

It

a touch, like a house of cards.

reminds one of

"A BUNCH OF VIOLETS."

123

the Irishman's boat, which will carry you safely across

the ferry
sneeze.

if you sit quite still and don't cough or For once in a way, we consent to the condition ; but though the result has been fortunate,
it

was a

trifle

foolhardy on
craft.

Mr

Grundy's part to

trust

to so rickety a

The

fact

is,

Mr Grundy is

morbidly afraid of writing

To judge by Murgaaccount of his experience, Mr Grundy's controyd's ception of a masterpiece seems to be a play in which
what he
calls

a masterpiece.

unpleasant people
test,

by the

come to an unhappy end (by that way, A Bunch of Violets would fall within
;

the detrimental category)

to imagine that

but

it

is

quite a mistake

pessimism
his

is

essential to a masterpiece,
it

or that anyone wants to

make

so.

Let

Mr Grundy
his
it

produce genial, even

his heirs

his

gay,

fantastic,

his

sentimental,

his farcical masterpiece,

it

and

if

only

be

a masterpiece, he will never repent

neither he nor

and

assigns.

It

is

neither pessimism nor

optimism, neither cynicism nor sentimentalism, that

makes the masterpiece, but sheer pressure of

power
to the square inch.
I

brain-

believe

Mr Grundy
if

has

the brain-power for half a dozen masterpieces,

only

he would get rid of one or two technical prejudices which still cumber his mind, and so make room for

one or two
is

aesthetic

and philosophical

ideas.

There

no harm, even from the

practical, the box-office

point of view, in being abreast of your age.

To

124
dramatist

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
who
is

1894.

really

"up

to date," philanthropic

finance, with

its

political side-issues, evidently offers

fruitful

theme.

But he

will

not pour his matter

will try to

into

an old French mould, and he

obtain

something of a philosophic, a
of the situation,
his
artistic

scientific

understanding
it

before proceeding to fashion

to

ends.

Of course

do not

insult

Mr

Grundy's intelligence by assuming that he himself takes his " deputation of the Sons of Toil " for anything more than a set of conventional grotesques.

They are of a piece with the political "satire" of Haddon Hall, begotten of Mr Grundy's ingrained
faith in the

sophism that

it

is

the stupidest person in

the fate of a play.

the audience
I

who determines
is

But

am

not so sure that he

Sir Philip Marchant's prehistoric ineptitudes

not himself taken in by about " a

spirited

defiance of sordid political economy,"

for abolishing the

"a

bill

"bringing peace,

and Laws of Nature," and for comfort, and luxury into the homes
If so
it

of the Undeserving."

if

he takes

this for apt

and relevant sarcasm

would seem that

Mr Grundy's

economic education must have stopped short several On the very evening when years before he was born.

Bunch of

Violets

was produced,

Lord Roberts

assured his fellow-revellers at the Royal Literary

Fund

banquet that "the Manchester School" was extinct. So it is, no doubt, except in the theatre. There its
ghost
still

walks.

The

theatre, indeed,

may be

called

"A BUNCH OF VIOLETS."

the paradise of dead ideas
;

125
fail

there they seldom

to

come
on

to life again just about the time when they breathe their last in the outer world; and they go
living, if

reason
is

Mr
it

The not for ever, at least indefinitely. " satire " muster passes Grundy's political

has passed muster any time since the first Reform Bill ; and audiences always show a touching
that

loyalty to old friends.

But because they

tolerate the

and conventional, it does not follow that they would reject the new, the thoughtful, the competent,
old

the masterly.

Mr Grundy may

rest

assured that

it is

only in the absence of masterpieces that mediocrities

find acceptance.
If other playwrights begin to

put

masterpieces on the market, he will have to gird up his loins and do likewise, or he may come to pay
dearly for his "spirited defiance of sordid political

economy." The most notable piece of acting

Violets is

in

Bunch of

unquestionably Mrs Tree's Mrs Murgatroyd.

It is intelligent, daring, original.

The mere make-up

looks, at times, like

shows the true

a creation of

artist.

Mrs Tree

Mr Aubrey
The
is

Beardsley, in one of his

more human moods.

character goes to pieces in

the fourth act, but that

not Mrs Tree's

fault.

In
;

the earlier acts I can think of only one

weak point

the terribly conventional

French-song

exit,

without

which no adventuress

is

complete.

Mrs Tree eschews

the regulation cigarette

why

not the chansonette as

126
well?

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

Mr
his

Tree,

too,

excels

himself in

With

comparatively

little

mechanical

aid,

make-up. he re-

fashions

whole countenance.

His playing has

strong moments; but I think he ought to guard against a declamatory tendency which has recently

been growing upon him, along with a partiality for broad and cheap comic effects. Miss Lily Hanbury was excellent as Lady Marchant, playing with touching
dignity

and

sincerity.

Mr

Lionel Brough's Murga;

troyd was a piece of true comedy

and

Mr Holman

Clark played the obsequiously vindictive Marker to

perfection.
I

must reserve

till

next week

my

remarks upon The

the St James's

Masqueraders* by with great and deserved success

Theatre on Saturday evening.
original

Mr Henry

Arthur Jones, produced

at

It is

a curious and

romance, very admirably mounted and acted.

her Paula Tanqueray, and that
a great
limi-

Mrs
has

Patrick Campbell fairly maintained the place she

won by

is

deal to say.
tations.

Her

talent

seems to have decided

narrow range of parts that the the impulsive perversity, which childlike helplessness, made the charm of her Paula, and which reappear in
It is only in a

her Dulcie, will be found effective

of course, that she
this off

but

it is

possible,

and

rise

may be able on occasion to shake to higher strength and refinement.

is

In any case, there

*

no more piquant and

fascinating
22.

April 28

July 28.

Reproduced November 10

December

"THE MASQUERADEKS."
figure,

27

both to the eye and to the mind, at present on Mr Alexander is excellent as a the English stage.
poetic astronomer,

and

Mr

Herbert Waring made a

remarkable success in an odious character which, but for his combined firmness and tact, might have proved
too

much

for the tolerance

of the audience.

His

Sir

Brice Skene forms a companion-piece to his masterly

Ffolliott-Treherne in Gudgeons, and the two together
assure
his

position

in

the very

first

rank.

Miss

Granville was charming as the staid, self-sacrificing

sister

of the

fairy-tale,

and

clever character-sketches

were contributed by

Mr H.

V. Esmond,

Mr

Elliot,

and Mr

VV.

H. Day.

XVIII.
"

THE MASQUERADERS."
9/A

May.

CRITICISM of The Masqueraders must begin with deLet us first realise what Mr Jones has and finition. has not attempted to do ; it will then be time enough
to inquire

how

lie

has done

it.

In inuiv than a literary sense,

The Afasqueraders

rhymes

with

The

Crusaders.

Both are dramatic

romances; and by "romance" I mean, for the moa play which sets forth to amuse the imagiit,
nation rather than to satisfy the senses of reality.
It

128

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

has pleased the author to imagine the fable, and he

Just by and not with any idea of measuring against each other two utterly incommensurable works, let us compare Mr Pinero's frame of mind in conceiv-

asks his audience to share in his pleasure.

illustration,

way of

ing

Mr

and building up The Second Mrs Tanqueray with In and Jones's in projecting The Masqueraders.

for itself, the fable of

Mr

Pinero's play gave

him no
story.

pleasure

it

was a miserable, almost a squalid,

What
its

pleased

him

was,

first, its

lifelikeness, secondly,

aptness for developing every aspect of the character

he had determined to depict.

direct
arising

His pleasure was not

artistic,

and simple, but secondary, complex,

from a sense of nice adaptation, congruity, coincidence between the presentment and the thing
presented.

He
in

felt

"that

stern joy

which

crafts-

men

feel

subjects worthy of their steel."

Very

different

was

Mr

Jones's case.

It

primary, substantive
variegated
sure, there

gratification

gave him direct, to conceive this

and

surprising series of events.

in
it,

To be

but they served to heighten generosity, throw heroism merely into relief, and lend pathos a new poignancy. Every The charm of discord led up to a higher harmony.
the thing lay, not in
its

were unpleasant elements

reality,

but precisely in

its

unreality, not in its faithfulness to prosaic probability,

but in

its

interests of the picturesque

daring correction of the humdrum in the and the ideal. A certain

"THE MASQUERADERS."
:

129

measure had to be observed, of course the improbable must not diverge into the inconceivable but
:

within that pretty liberal limit, nothing was inadmissible that

the sensibilities.
tinction

was pleasing to the fancy and grateful to Is not this the fundamental disrealistic art

between romantic and

at presenting

that the
in-

one aims

something directly and

herently piquant to the imagination, the other gives

pleasure mainly through the intellectual recognition of consonance, of veracity, and of the
selecting
artist's skill in

and presenting the

of his subject
as
it
is,

essential

and characbrief, tries

it

teristic traits

Realism, in

to mirror

life

Romance

to refashion

as,

for

the purposes of fiction, the artist

like
it

and

his public

would

to be.
Corelli's

Compare a novel of Ouida's

with
is

or Miss

Marie

Esther

Ouida's world
perfection than

certainly

Waters, example: no nearer moral or social

less,

for

Mr

Moore's, but none the

or

all

the more, does

her imagination, and

her readers',

luxuriate in it; whereas

Mr Moore, approaching his world with shrinking rather than complaisance, finds
gives pleasure in subjugating
art.
it,

and

so to speak, to

the conditions of his

to imply that the

Let

me

not be understood

one form of

art is

lower or higher

than the other.

tion,

Each has

its

philosophical justificaI

and each can boast

its

masterpieces.

merely

wish to

make

clear the sense in

"

which

apply the

term " romance

to

The Masqueradcrs
l

130

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
satirical, this is

1894.
a sentimental,

The Crusaders was a

romance.

kindly satire upon social idealisms was the main theme of the earlier play ; in the later one,
the main theme
certain
is

an ecstatic love-story, upon which

social

patches incidentally embroidered.

of satire on

corruption are

Mr
mood

sought utterance for a direct opposite of

Jones seems to have of Weltschmerz^ the

that blessed

mood

In which the burthen of the mystery, In which the heavy and the weary weight

Of all

this unintelligible world Is lightened.

Hence
brother ;
allusions
is

his

astronomer-hero
his sidereal,

with

the

moonstruck

hence

and nebular, and cosmic

refrain

and images.

The

of his romance

the old antithesis between the microcosm and the From the point of view of " that little macrocosm.
star in

virtues

Andromeda," all our pleasures and pains, our and vices, our loves and hatreds, and heroisms
infinitesimally small as to

and basenesses, seem so

unreal, illusory, spectral.

be

"

What

is it all

but a trouble

of ants in the gleam of a million million of suns?"

And
in

yet each of the ants carries the vault of heaven

its

pin-head sensorium.
I

It

not

"

think, therefore I

am,"

has the right to say, but "

I feel, therefore

the universe exists."

is infinitely

The ache

of a jarred antenna
real,

more important, more

than the shock

"THE MASQUERADERS."
of insentient spheres.
reckoning, "
it is

131

Therefore, at the end of the

passion, emotion, conduct that counts.

terrible

Astronomy and Geology,

no wise

Muses," proclaim-

ing as they do, the incalculable vastness of space

time, in
sity,

and

relieve us of that faculty, that necesis

of feeling and causing pleasure and pain which

It is material

the basis of morals.

an

illusion,

and the

infinitesimal that
is

immensity that is is truly immense.

it

So

far

as practical conduct

concerned,

would
of

make no
But

difference though the sky were a

dome

blue glass, and the stars mere spangles glued on to

it.

it

is

open to

us,

if

we

are so minded,

to

take refuge from the mysteries of the moral

order,

or disorder, of things, in contemplating the mysteries

of the
after

material universe,

all,

some

solution

and wondering whether, of the enigmas, some

of
existence

compensation for the

not await

cruelties,
little

may

us in " that
if

star in

Andromeda."
the

We

may,

we

list,

seek relief from

the
materially

morally

Incomprehensible
hended,
ledge
and,

in

Uncompreknow-

comparing our

infinitesimal

ignorance, hope that what we do not know may somewhere and somehow That, I take it, is explain and excuse what we do.

wilh

our illimitable

the drift of

Mr
is

Jones's cosmic symbolism.

far

At the

same
I

time, he

from denying that a peep through

just as reason-

)uvid

Remon's great telescope -may

ably intensify as relieve the oppression of the world-

132

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
"

1894.

enigma upon the sensitive soul. money and you takes your choice."

You

pays your

We
quite
clearly

define the play, then, as a love-romance steeped

its

in Weltschmerz ; but this leaves

individual quality

undetermined.

The depends on how far

success

of

romance

the author induces his

readers or hearers to share his pleasure in the pro-

duct of his invention.

jective, not objective
;

Our standards must be subwe must not ask whether the

it

picture

is

like

life,

but whether

pleases us to
life
is

"

let

on," for three hours of an evening, that

like

the picture.

Well, there

is

no manner of doubt
pleasant to

that

to the majority
great,

of us

it

is

imagine a

deep, chivalrous,

silent,

hopeless, selfless, ut-

We ourselves terly magnanimous and majestic love. If we cannot have Chloe we put up love differently.
with Phyllis, or
follow
it

may be

with Phryne.
for

We
on

do not
keeping
fleeting

the

faithless

one about

years,

sedulously out of her sight, and

living

glimpses of the

hem

of her garments.

We

do not

risk chilblains and misunderstandings with the police

by standing for two nights outside her window in a snowstorm, while she is engaged in presenting our brute of a rival with a pledge of their affections.

When

the

said rival proposes, in

sell

our hearing, that

she should
to her a

herself to us,

we do not make over

cheque-book and ^200,000, or whatever portion of it her husband may require, and then

THE MASQUERADERS."
deny ourselves even the
Schiller's

133

gratification of waiting, like

Ritter

Toggenburg, outside her window.

These things we do not ourselves do, and we don't know anyone who. does them; but it is nice oh yes,
it is

nice

to imagine

them

possible

for the idealisa-

tion

of love has

been,

for

centuries,

one of our

favourite

methods of taking revenge upon tyrannous

nature.

and lamentably unromantic

something
boldly confessing to

Again, there

is

infinitely pleasing in the notion of a lady

her tyrant lord

her love for

another gentleman, while remaining immovably faithful in act to her conventional duties. The popular

mind

is

always delighted with any contradiction of

that hard saying

which would make

in act.
is

sin lie in thought

and desire rather than

The main
me,

matter of

Mr
the

Jones's romance, then,

its

grateful

and comforting ;
In

one or two of
first

details are, to

less pleasing.

place, I could

wish that
life,

Miss Dulcie had

not slaked her thirst for

call
it,

as

Hedda Gabler would

I

in the bar of

a public-house.

am

conscious

of a quite embarrassing lack of the licensed victualler

in

in

my composition there have doubtless been sinners my ancestry, but not, it would appear, a single
;

Therefore I am hopelessly out of sympathy publican. with they0/V <U vivre of the tap-room, and could wish
that Dulcie

had kicked over the

if

Of

course,

Mr

any other Jones had intended to indiit

traces in

cate a strain

of inherent vulgarity in her nature,

134

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
all

1894.

would have been

such intention.
flighty creature,

very well
is

but I can discover no

She

simply a weak, characterless,

calling

and her choice of a

seems to

have been determined by mere scenic convenience, with a view to securing a picturesque first act. Then
the auction scene was, to me, far more painful than
impressive.
I sat

on needles through

it all.

If

David

Remon,

instead of bidding

^2000

for the

kiss,

had

taken Monty Lushington by the windpipe and pitched him neck and crop out of his rostrum among the he assembled " bounders" of the Crandover

Hunt,

would have commanded

my

warmest sympathy.

On

the other hand, the incident of the kiss at the end of

the act
restored
to
is

really pretty, poetic, touching,

and quite

my

my

principle,

standard.)

acting up (You and applying a purely subjective The second act develops the romance

equanimity.

see I

am

quite pleasantly.
Brice's

remember the time when

Sir

speech to his wife at

the close of the act

would have been considered impossibly brutal, and would have been ruthlessly blue-pencilled by the
Censor; but, for my In the third past.
part,
act,

am

glad that time

is

don't

think
in

Dulcie's

diatribe against marriage

place.

comes quite
is

the right

When

woman
Mrs
be

threatened with the loss

is

of her child, her impulse, one fancies,

to philosophise.
this too.

to act, not
to feel

Patrick Campbell
ill

seemed

and

to

at

ease in

the scene.

The

"THE MASQUER ADERS."

gaming scene
and
is

135

at the

end of the

act

is

one of the most

telling pieces of romance I ever saw on the stage,

admirably acted by Mr Alexander and Mr It quite justly determined the success of Waring.

the play.

The
in

fourth act
all

well,

it

is

of melancholy

and moonshine
right

compact, and
right

is,

no doubt, the

thing

the

place.

In

my own

unre-

generate heart I hope,

and even

believe, that Dulcie

and David ultimately foregather somewhere on this side of Andromeda. David, of course, must go to

West Africa; a hero of romance cannot desert his post but if he will only take care and quinine he may very likely come back safe and sound, to find
;

that

Sir Brice

has drunk himself to death.

And,

failing

that

possibly, in

consummation, Dulcie may the meantime, have carried her reflections

desirable
to their logical conclusion.

on marriage

A
I

certain flavour of irony

seems somehow to have

crept into

my account of The Masquer-aders, as though This is not so. disliked and despised romance.
Jones's effort to

Mr

do something out of the common,

is

something large One could wish, perhaps, torious.

and imaginative,

entirely

meri-

for a little delicacy

of imagination and distinction of style ; but these, As it is, he has too, Mr Jones may in time achieve.
quite suppressed his tendency to

mere robustiousness

and violence of expression, while he has written here and there with commendable and justified boldness.

136

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.
for there is

Of

his social satire I

have said nothing,

it is

really nothing to say, except that

of the familiar

latter-day

pattern.

"When one
is

is

governess in a

Christian family, one

compelled to behave badly

"

for the sake of higher morality."

last insult

Marriage

is

the

one

offers to

woman whom one

It

respects."

"

cannot

afford

to

be economical."

" I'm

not

blaming the

man

for poisoning his wife.

;

may have

been a necessity of his position and if she had a cockney accent, it was a noble thing to do." Paradoxes and epigrams of this quality can nowadays be turned out by the gross. They are like faint impressions of well-known etchings; but they
still

amuse.

One can even

in

trace a certain originality of intention

little

the feeble

would-be

intelligent

quidnunc,

Percy Blanchflower.

XIX.
"

THE WILD DUCK

"
:

STUDY

IN ILLUSIONS.*

Sketch, i3/// June.

IF not absolutely the best of

is

all

possible worlds, this

most amusing. No one with the certainly sense of humour would dream of exchanging slightest
the

The publication of this article was delayed. I insert it here in order to keep to the chronological order of events. The Wild Duck was produced at the Royalty (Independent)
Theatre, on Friday, May 4, and repeated in the afternoon and evening of the following day.

137
it

for

" that

little

star in

Andromeda," where, accordF.R.S., &c., the writs of the

ing to

Mr David Remon,

Court of Morality do not run. So, at least, we are bound to conclude from the fact that, though

And

Dulcie was a married lady, a moral man was David,

" he could look forward to " keeping house with her In a in Andromeda without scandalising anybody.

" realism " there can be no sphere of such advanced

drama, no Ibsen, no Ibsenites or Anti-Ibsenites

in brief,

The

no fun of any sort. You could neither see Wild Duck played overnight nor read the
illusions

criticisms next morning.

your own

You could neither enjoy nor contrast them with those of

without such "little ironies"

other people; and

life

would be simply unlivable. I have not hitherto been reckoned lukewarm

in

my

appreciation

of Ibsen,

but

was never more

deeply thrilled by a sense of his genius than at the

The performance been undertaken under very serious disadvantages had and against my earnest advice. Of the rehearsals I
recent performance at the Royalty.

had seen nothing, and

came

to the theatre,

if

not

precisely prejudiced against the undertaking, at least

The opening scenes

the bcbt oUi-e

with the gravest misgivings as to the probable result. fears. The "
justified
at

my
in

Adclphi

guest" was rampant

Mr

\Verlc\ dinner party, and

management

the world could not

138

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

have made the thing lifelike or plausible on that bandbox stage. But when the Chamberlains were
disposed
of,

and old Werle and

his son stood face to

six

face, they had not exchanged the drama had its grip on me.

And

speeches before the grip never

The beginning of the second act introduced Hedvig, surely one of the loveliest characters in fiction, who found in Miss Winifred Fraser an ideal
relaxed.

representative,

simple,

natural,

childlike,

yet

with

mature and ample powers of expression.

rest,

For the

the interpretation of the play, though creditable,

was not such as to cast any adventitious glamour over

it.

Mr Abingdon showed

intelligence

and a

fair

general conception of the part of Hialmar, but did

make him very plausible, and was rather monoMr Fulton played tonous in his grandiloquence. with spirit and earnestness, but scarcely attempted to bring out the dreamy unpractical ity of Gregers Werle.
not

Mr Lawrence

Irving

had the sardonic humour, but

Mrs Waring not the burly aggressiveness, of Relling. showed an excellent comprehension of Gina, but had
not

she must allow

me

to say so

the

necessary

commonness of physique and placidity of temperament. The other parts, old Ekdal, Werle senior, Mrs
Sorby, and Molvik, were but passably filled ; so that was certainly not the brilliancy of the interpretation " the that dazzled me. Yet, as tragedy of the House
it

of Ekdal

"

unfolded

itself,

with that smooth, unhasting,

"THE WILD DUCK."

unresting
tion
in

139

movement which
technical

is

Ibsen's greatest inven-

the

sphere

every word at once

displaying a soul-facet
situation
I felt

and developing the dramatic

my

despite my long familiarity with the play, almost as though a new planet had swum into I had been told, but scarcely believed, that ken.
effective

The Wild Duck was one of Ibsen's most

In Copenhagen, where it was played at stage-plays. the Royal Theatre, with Fru Hennings as Hedvig, Emil Poulsen as Hialmar, and his brother Olaf as old
Ekdal,
it

is

remembered by connoisseurs

as

one of

the triumphs of that

admirable company. This I but had always been inclined to give more knew,
excellence of the
I

credit to the

acting than to the

utterly mistaken.

scenic qualities of the play.

was

The

play

now proved

itself

scenic in the

highest

degree.

theatrical interest.

of
I

my

along could detach but a small portion mind for critical observation of the performance;
I

It carried

me

in a passion of purely

was practically absorbed

feeling.
I

in following the process of

it

thought and
to me,

Hardly ever before, as

seemed

had

seen so

much
its

of the very quintessence

traffic
its

of
Its

life

concentrated in the brief

its

of the stage.
irony,

poetry and

prose,

humour,

and

its

pathos,
into

its commonplace surface suddenly yawning unplumbed abysses of all this I felt so keen a

realisation

as

had but

rarely visited

me

within

the

walls of a theatre.

In the curridor, after the curtain

I4O
had

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
fallen, I

1894.

we almost
"

fell

met the author of Esther Waters, and on each other's neck with the simulit

taneous exclamation of " Nothing like

speare
foolish
!

since Shake-

It
it

was a

trivial

remark enough, and even

But

it

had implied any definite comparison. What we meant was that not since did not.
if

Shakespeare had an intellect of equal capacity and potency found its sole and sufficient utterance in the

drama.
carried

That was the impression Mr Moore and I that was our away from the performance
illusion.
:

my case it was not a passing illusion it is strong in me at this moment. Next morning I looked with interest for Mr Clement Scott's illusion, and found it thus expressed: "To
particular
in
call

And

such an eccentricity as this a masterpiece, to classify it at all as dramatic literature, or to make a

fuss

about so feeble a production,

is

to insult dramatic
.

literature

and outrage common-sense.

It is certainly

Ibsen

may be

a mighty genius, but he has no sense of

humour."

no common achievement

to

come away from a

has

theatre where the whole audience

been

in

fits

of laughter

over

the

exquisitely

humorous character of Hialmar Ekdal, and, with the

echoes
creator
still

in

your

ears,

to record gravely that his

has

no

sense

of

humour.

But

Ibsen's

humour, his dramatic and philosophic power, and his rank in literature, are matters on which one
foresees

and

is

prepared for

Mr

Scott's

illusions.

"THE WILD DUCK.

What one
of
fact.

11

141

cannot, despite long experience, so easily

is

understand,

his capacity for illusion

on plain matters
" roared
to be serious,

The

audience, he says

in this case,

with laughter at the scenes intended

they yawned ominously at the

and

Master's

ponderous

and heavy-handed
columns,

wit."

The

other week, in these

Mr Scott did me the honour to controvert " what he called an " honest opinion of mine respecting the relative merits of Sarah Bernhardt and
Eleonora Duse
;

and

have noticed that he

epithet

is

very

fond of applying
people's opinions. "
this dwelling

the

" honest

"

to

other
"

For

my

part, I

do not understand
talk of
:

on

honesty."

We
is

do not
"

the
it

liquid ocean
for granted

"

or

"a

four-footed horse
liquid

we

take

that
I

the ocean

and the horse

quadruped.

should as soon think of calling

an opinion

"grammatical" or "orthographic," as There might be some doubt as to its syntax; there ought to be none as to its honesty.

"honest"

But, since
his

Mr

Scott likes the phrase,

that

let

us

call

it

honest opinion

the audience

roared with

laughter at the serious scenes of The

Wild Duck.

The
the

question then

comes

to

be how he can have

arrived at this honest opinion in the very teeth of

facts.

This

is

a psychological problem

of no

small interest.

For

my

part, I

am

painfully sensitive

to laughter in the

wrong

place.

At The Second Mrs

pit at

Tanqutray, the guffaws of the

some of

Paula's

142

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
make me
writhe in

1894.

outbursts used to

my

seat.

At

The Master Builder, the inevitable titter over the " " nine lovely dolls was often an agony to me. But
at

The

Wild Duck
to

did not hear a single laugh

that

seemed
Is
it

me

at all notably

and

painfully out of

place.

really

Mr

Scott's

honest opinion that

"

when Ibsen made Hialmar

foresee

exclaim,

What
"

Am

to drag all those rabbits with

me

too ?

he did not
"

and intend the laughter of the audience?

chocolate-

We shall next have Rama's allusions to her

cream soldier" quoted as a proof that

Mr

Bernard

Shaw has no humour.

us
his

Mr

Scott has long ago given

honest opinion that

Ibsen

is

a " suburban
things,

egoist

and bungler," and a good many other

for

publication; but is it his honest And if not, how can that he is a madman ? opinion his honest opinion that Hialmar is not intenit be

mostly unfit

tionally ludicrous ?

And

if

Hialmar

is

intentionally

ludicrous,

how can Mr
That, as

Scott $ay that the audience

"roared with laughter

serious
"
?

at the scenes

intended to be
;

but

its

we know, is honesty only makes the

his honest opinion

illusion all the

more

remarkable.

No

doubt, as

is

so often the case with

gentlemen and ladies of Mr Scott's impressionable temperament, the wish was father to the honest
opinion.

This question of the " roars of laughter "

matter of
fact,

is

a pure
taste,

of evidence.

On

all

matters of

ELEANORA DUSE.
on the other hand,
illusory as
I

143
probably just as

my

illusions are

Mr

Scott's.

Illusion for illusion, however,

think that which sees a masterpiece in The

Wild

Duck is more desirable than that which sees in it "an insult to dramatic literature and outrage upon
common-sense."

And

believe

it

is

the

illusion

which

is

destined to endure.

XX.
ELEANORA

DUSE." A

SOCIETY BUTTERFLY."
i6/A

"KING KODAK."
May.

"WELL, what about Duse?" was

last

the question which

week greeted one on every hand, from those who

had not yet been to Daly's Theatre.* The answer from " As those who had was unequivocal great as ever."
:

Of course there was not

*

the slightest reason to suppose

7,

Eleanora Duse performed La Dame aux Camtlias on May II, 26 (matinee), 30, June 2 (matinee), 4, 6, n, 14; Divorfons on May 16, 17, 19, 21 ; Cavalleria Rusticana and La Locandiera on May 23, 24, 25, 31 ; June 7, 8, 9, 12, 13
9,

(matinee).
in

Thus,

in a six

three performances in London.

weeks' season, this actress gave twentyShe also played Mirandolina

La Locandiera at Windsor Castle on May 18. Sarah Bernhardt gave the same number of performances in exactly a significant contrast. Duse is reported to have half the time

surpassed herself in her final performance of Marguerite Gautier (June 14), and to have swept her audience away in a whirlwind

of emotion and enthusiasm.

the presence of Sarah Bernhardt,

She may have been stimulated by who then saw her for the first

144

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
changed
real

1894.

that she should have

for the

twelvemonth.

The

question was

worse in a single whether we

should find that our delight and enthusiasm of '93 were in part due to the mere novelty of her methods, and
whether, that novelty having worn
off,

our emotions of
It

'94 would prove less vivid and profound. be hard to say that she moved us more than
for that

would

last year,

was scarcely possible ; but to say that she moved us by one hair's breadth less would be simply

untrue.

The

mixture of intellectual admiration and

emotional sympathy which she excites in her great scenes (for example, the second and fifth acts of La

Dame aux

Cameltas)

is,

in

my

experience, unique.

We
art,

feel

an intimate, a

restful

assurance of her perfect

to

even while we are

thrilling

her
is

inimitable,

irresistible

touches of nature.

There

never for a

moment the smallest

sense of effort, of strain, or of mere

call
it.

ungovernable hysterica passio^ as Lear would

at~its

She gives us, so to speak, emp^iwL^jable^istillejd utmost purity as well as its highest potency.

Was there ever on the stage anything more absolutely noble and beautiful than her second act, from the
reading of Armand's letter onward
at the close
?

The

long speech
is

which leads up to the reconciliation

simply a masterpiece of truly natural diction immeasurably superior, in my judgment, to the stereo-

typed diction of the Conservatoire, as we find

it,

for

instance, in Coquelin's long confession in Chamillac, or

ELEANORA DUSE.
Madame

145

Bartet's account of her misfortunes in Denisc.

is

In both these cases the situation

intentionally

and

elaborately pathetic, whereas there is nothing specially moving in the mere idea of a lover's quarrel and
reconciliation
;

but Eleanora Duse moves

me

in this

comparatively untearful passage more than Coquelin

and
to

Madame
who

Bartet put together.

Her

third act

was

some

extent marred by the Duval of Signor Cesare

Rossi,

has doubtless been a fine actor in his day,

but has no longer the force and decision for such a scene. It is a pity that he should have thought fit to appear before a public which knew nothing of his
past services,
insufficiency.

and could not but recognise

his present

The
but

public, to
its

its

credit, received

him

; courtesy was severely strained his struggles with his hat, to which he clung by desperately throughout the scene, and which he

with respect

wagged behind
found emotion.

his

back

at his exit, in

The tremulous Duval

little

token of pronot only

distracted our attention from Marguerite, but rendered

her too,

fancied, a

for the last act,

nervous and uneasy. As what can one say but that it is proits is

bably the very summit of contemporary acting of Since the comparison is inevitable, one class?

tempted

to adapt the old

epigram

" The town

To To Barry it gives loud huzzays, To Garrick only tea.

has found out different ways praise its different Lcars

146

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
to read

1894.

and

" " Bernhardt " for " GarBarry," and for

" Duse." rick,"

Duse

is

the statement

But neither as regards Garrick nor His Lear was literally true.

amply applauded, and so is her Marguerite, when, at the end of the act, we have come to ourselves again,

and

realised that, after

all,

we

are only

"

sitting at

One of the most plausible objections to the play." performance, as a whole, is that, however finely the
actress

may present the sequence of emotions, she does not embody the character in its quiddity, as Lamb
would say
there
is

she gives us

woman

in the abstract, not

a courtesan in the concrete.

nothing
in

It is

quite

true that

her of the

"dashing Cyprian,"
is

the highly-coloured hetaira.

in

She

refinement

itself

comparison with the Mrs Tanquerays, the Mrs Murgatroyds, and even the Dulcie Larondies of to-

day.

But

this is clearly

Dumas's
is

fault,

not Eleanora

Duse's.
alabaster.

Marguerite Gautier

a courtesan carved in
as

Her

creator

confesses

much, while
he

maintaining that such ornaments of their profession

did exist in 1852. " Cette piece says:

Writing

fifteen

years

later,

rentre ddj& dans

I'archdologie.

Les jeunes gens de vingt ans qui

la lisent

par hasard
'
:

ou

la

voient

representer doivent se dire

filles

Est-ce
at

qu'il

y a eu des

comme

'

celle-la ?

'

Even

the time, the correctness of his observation was contested, and it was to present the other side of the
case that Barriere wrote Les Filles des

Marbre and

"A SOCIETY BUTTERFLY."

Augier Le
louange"es,

147
a chanties,

Manage

cTOlympe.
says

"On
ma

les

poe"tise"es,"

Desgenais

in the former

"

play
It

c'est

a mourir de

rire,

parole d'honneur."

Eleanora Duse
she finds
it.

was Dumas, then, that poetised the character, and is not to be blamed for taking it as
Marguerite Gautier
is

an

ideal,

one

may almost say a legendary, figure, no other Margaret (surname unknown)

heaven
nightly at
age,

loss

than the
to

who goes

the

Lyceum.

She belongs

to a

sentimental

phthisis were as

when the lilies and languors of much in vogue as are now the roses

and raptures of " neurasthenia." So the actress is quite right to shun rouge and bistre, and spare us the
tawny mane of Titianesque tradition. There is a charming eclecticism about
" Butterfly* the
Life,"

A
of

Society

New and

Original

Comedy

Modern

by Messrs Robert Buchanan and Henry Murray, produced last week at the Opera Comique. It some-

how
in

suggested a revue in which

all

the plays, not only

of the season, but of the age, were stirred up together

a monster medley.

The

authors avowed, in

certain sense,

their obligations

to Francillon, while

broadly hinting that they meant to write the play

Dumas ought
*

to

have written.

They did not mention

May io June 22. On the second night, Mr Robert Buchanan, seconded l.y lu. oilUliuiator, ><-'ad from the stage Mr Clement Scott's Daily TtUgrapk notice of the play, and made a vehement rcioii.

148

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

their annexation of the rehearsal scene

from Frou-frou,

holding, no doubt, that the thing was too obvious to call for remark. So it was, of course. When one

quotes

"The
curfew

quality of

mercy

is

not strained," or

"The
not
pain

tolls

the knell of parting day," one does

feel

bound

to

add (Shakespeare) or (Gray) on

of
plagiarism.

of an

accusation

The

only

wonder was

that the characters

concerned

Captain

Belton and Mrs Dudley

that

did not seem to

this

remember

they had

seen

all

before,

at

the theatre.

on marriage occurs in substance but in form it rather suggested Cyprienne's great outburst in Dvuor$ons. The sporting
tirade
in Francillon,

Mrs Dudley's

Duchess

is

evidently introduced out of compliment to

;

Mr

Pinero

but the authors do not seem quite to

" in have realised that the humour of " George Tidd Dick lies in the contrast between her stable Dandy

slang and the severely ecclesiastical atmosphere of the

Deanery.

Here
for its

there

is

no such

contrast,

and

to

make up

absence the authors have mixed their

thicker

slang into a

much

and coarser "mash," as

"

" her Grace would say. Yes and Except, perhaps, " No," she utters not a word that does not reek of the loose-box. She is more akin to the " Shiverreally

my-timbers" Jack Tars of forgotten nautical melodramas than to any character of rational farce. Her " Home for Decayed Jockeys," by the way, was
anticipated

by

Mr

Spencer-Jermyn in

The Hobby

"A SOCIETY BUTTERFLY."

Horse.

149

The

play, then, is practically Francillon writ

tedious, eked out with reminiscences from a host of other plays, and spiced with an abundance of satirical allusions in

Mr

Buchanan's well-known

style.

As

it is

one of
artist

my

most cherished principles that the true

should, or rather must, write primarily to please

I am bound to approve Mr Buchanan's satire, which evidently delights him and him alone. When an author crams his works with satirical " hits " which

himself,

very few understand and no one cares about,

it

is

impossible not to admire his devotion to his ideal.

For example, how many persons understood what Mr Buchanan was driving at in the chatter about Mrs

Harkaway's Last Divorce ?

who

recognised the sneer

And how many of those at The Second Mrs Tan-

queray were in the smallest degree entertained or There was a good deal of weird talk, gratified by it ?
too,

which

about an alcoholic German masterpiece, from I conjecture that Mr Buchanan has been
I

reading Gerhart Hauptmann's Vor Sonncnau/gang.

too happened
to

have read the play; but it is a hundred to one that not another soul in the audience

had the
about.

slightest idea

what " Herr

I,

Max " was

it

talking
all

Mr Buchanan and

then,

had the joke

to

ourselves,

and of course we relished

hugely; but

ihc rest of the audience

must have wondered what

felt

we were chuckling

at,
all,

and
it

rather

"out of

it."

And

perhaps, after

was not Vor Sonncnauj

I5O
that

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
Mr Buchanan
in

1894.

was aiming

at

in

which case he

succeeded
himself,

keeping the drift of his satire entirely to

and

realised to the full the great principle of

" Art for the Artist."

waits,

The

audience, irritated by long

allusions,

was inclined to resent these cryptic

its

and

the gallery audibly expressed

play in which everything
is

disappointment in a
except Lady

"taken off"

Godiva's mantle.

Simply as an emotional comedy,

its

and apart from

satiric

pretensions,

the

play

is

neither better nor worse than a

sees,

good many that one and might have passed muster fairly enough. Mrs Langtry wore several gorgeous and one or two
to

really beautiful dresses,

expression seemed
retirement.

Miss

but her powers of dramatic have grown a little rusty in Rose Leclercq was exceedingly
Tattersall's
;

good as the Duchess of

played a
difficult part

Mr
;

F.

Ken-

with discreet

humour

W.

Herbert,
all

Mr

Allan Beaumont, and

Mr Mr Edward
and

Rose

made

the most of their opportunities.

Loyalty to old favourites

middle-aged public to
in

may possibly attract the Kodak* at Terry's Theatre, King

recall
part,

which

Mr

Terry and Miss Kate Vaughan

the bygone glories of Gaiety burlesque.

I

For

my

cannot work up a sentimental melancholy over these reminiscences ; but I feel an entirely practical melancholy at the thought that two artists, of whom one at least has been very much better employed for the
*

April 30

June

30.

DIVORgONS!"

151

past ten years, should be driven by the pressure of

the times to

fall

back upon burlesque.

in

Both have
is

been outstripped

the interval (there

no good
;

mincing the matter) by younger and fresher talents while, on the other hand, Mr Terry is, in his way, an incomparable and irreplaceable eccentric characteractor.
really

Thus the

loss to the

comedy

stage

is

not

compensated by a corresponding gain to the

burlesque stage. This is so clear, indeed, that I am sure the aforesaid pressure of circumstances will
presently restore

Mr
in

King Kodak
the Morocco
written

is,

Terry and his theatre to comedy. itself, a reduction to absurdity of

type
of
extravaganza.
It
is

Bound

by

with

Mr

Mr Arthur Branscombe, who collaborated " Adrian Ross " in that successful production.
Mr Branscombe may
it

Whatever

have contributed to

the partnership,

was certainly not the power of comic invention or polished and witty versification.

XXI.

"DlVOR^ONSl"

" THE TWO "JEAN MAYEUX." "THE MAN IN THE STREET." ORPHANS." " MARRIAGE."" MONEY."

2$rd May.

THERE

are

critics

who have

the

art

of executing

inexhaustible variations

upon the theme of enthusiasm

I

of composing doxologies without end.

am

not

152

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

one of them.
I

can get no

farther,

Having once said a thing is perfect, and have to fall back upon

damnable

iteration.

The

first

two acts of Eleanora

itself.

Duse's Cyprienne in Divorfons* are perfection

It is impossible to

conceive more

scintillant,

and

at

the same time more natural and unforced, comedy.

The

last act is less

admirable from the purely

artistic

point of view, though, for

to forgive the refinement

my

part, I

am
it)

very willing

which

is its fault.

Sardou's

Cyprienne ment canaille, and that

to be.

is

(as the lady in

is

Punch puts
what
is

fr-r-ranche-

just

this actress declines

No,

am
is

wrong, Cyprienne

not necessarily

canaille; that

a misconception founded on Chau-

and

mont's rendering of the part; but she is frankly sensual, I have there, too, Signora Duse draws the line.
seen the leading actress of the Royal Danish Theatre,

Fru Hennings, play

vulgarity, yet with a
this instance)

this act

without any of Chaumont's

(in

self-abandonment from which

shrinks.

Duse

The

fatal defect

of her

is fatal also to the last act of her Cyprienne ; one thing to leave out the " spice " in one act of a French farce, and quite another thing to omit the

Cleopatra
but
it is

passion from a great world-tragedy.

The

play as a

whole had been considerably Bowdlerised, especially

as regards the confidences between

Cyprienne and
English trans-

Des Prunelles
lation, too,

in the
at
*

second

act.

The

was

many

points exquisitely discreet.

p. 143.

See note,

"JEAN MAYEUX."
The famous
rendered
It is

153
"
is

"

Ne
not

tuez pas le diner par le lunch

let

"

Do

the present spoil the future."

impossible to be more delicate.

After seeing The

the Adelphi,
at

Two Orphans with the words at and The Two Orphans without the words
under
the

the

Princess's,
I

pseudonym of Jean
I prefer

Mayeux*
it

have come to the conclusion that

thing
is

with.

The

fossil,
;

anyway, and ought

but such reasoning

therefore, perhaps, to
is

be mute

The Denneryalways dangerous. by metaphor Cormon-Oxenford dialogue is not a joy for ever as
pure
merit
literature,
it

but

it

has one great and undeniable

breaks the silence.

In

L Enfant
}

Prodigue

and La Statue du Commandeur we were

ness seemed no

in a purely

conventional world, in which the convention of

dumbIn

more

surprising than the rest.

Jean Mayeux we had a threadbare, but not

fantastic, story,

at all a

us

moving in the everyday world around and here the convention of dumbness soon became
irritating,

positively

and the

silence oppressive

and

uncanny.

The language

of gesture (though the actors

were clever enough

"

in their

way) seemed intolerably

felt

slow and roundabout.

One
"
or,
!

Come

to the point
faces,

inclined to shout out, with Hamlet, " Leave your

"

damnable
mistake to

and begin

Moreover,

it is

quite a

suppose that French pantomime is as readily comprehensible to English as to French audiences.

*

May

12-19.

154

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

Many
side

touches which appeal to the Parisian public as

vivid reproductions of

of

the

Channel,

manners go for nothing on this and even the conventional

Al-

gestures are less conventional there than here.

is

a mistake, so far as England together, Jean Mayeux is concerned. It is ugly to the eye, and depressing to
the mind.

At the Adelphi, The

Two Orphans*
still

excellently

mounted and
thrilling

found absorbing and the unsophisticated public. Never have by

acted,
is

I seen villainy

more heartily hissed than was that of La Frochard and her swaggering son by the Whit-

monday

audience.

They could not

reserve

their

indignation for the ends of the acts.

Every fresh instance of hypocrisy and brutality was stigmatised on the spot; and when the tender-hearted cripple took
off his

own
insist

coat to shield the blind

!

girl
!

from the

snowstorm, heavens

how

they cheered

And

now,

do you
for

on

my

finding the appropriate adjective

each of the leading actors ?

Well, here goes

Miss Marion Terry was pathetic as Louise, Miss Ellis Jeffries was earnest as Henriette, Miss Lingard was dignified as the Countess, Miss Dolores Drummond

was duly repulsive as La Frochard (though not quite such a Megaera as her predecessor, Mrs Huntley), Mr
Cartwright was intense as Pierre,

was overbearing as Jacques, and

*

Mr William Rignold Mr Herbert Flemming

18.

May

12

June

155

was polished as the Count.

fond farewell to The
trust,

And therewithal I bid Two Orphans not au revoir^

the

a
I

but adieu.

At the Avenue, Arms and

by an amusing act by

Man
is

is

now preceded
and
it

Mr
The

Louis Parker, entitled The

fable
trivial,

Man

in

the Street*

can

scarcely

be said that the drunken

its title, is

clarionet-player,

who

gives the piece

psychological study.

a profound or very consistent His renunciation of all attempt

to blackmail his daughter

legally

when he

finds that she

is

married to the

artist, is

rather less than con-

vincing.

But as a study in dialect Mr Welch's was admirable as good as the best of Mr vagrant and kept us in fits of laughter. Chevalier's costers

Mr Welch
comedian.

is

really

versatile

and most valuable

He

was well supported by

Mr

Foss and

Miss Winifred Fraser.

Why is the first act of Marriage^ by

Messrs Brandon

Thomas and Henry Keeling (at the Court Theatre), so much better than the second and third? The
reason
is

surely not far to seek

the

first

act

announces

a curious and interesting theme, the second and third

acts
fail

to

work

it

out.

Our marriage

laws, as inter-

preted in the

celebrated
is

anomaly which
though
in

fair
it

Jackson case, present an sport for the comic dramatist,

serious enough.

real life

may be
in
?

The

sage legislator, as they say

*

France, has decreed

May 14-July

May

17

July 14.

156
that a

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
woman may

1894.
fulfil

absolutely decline to

any part

of her share in the marriage contract, without thereby

invalidating the contract in the slightest degree, or

affording the

man a loophole of escape from

it.

In

brief,

as the law stands, the cession of the title-deeds renders

the bargain irrevocable, but no

human power can

nor does the refusal

compel the delivery of the

point of Marriage
is

estate,

of delivery rescind the transaction.

quite possible,

Thus the

starting-

and even probable.

Miss A. detests Miss X., who has always outshone her She is in everything, from their school days onwards.
rival shall not marry Sir John B., and the handiest way of excluding such a possibility But she does not love him ; is to marry him herself.

determined that her

she hates him, or thinks she does, which comes to the

Therefore she leaves him at the church " I do desire we may be door, saying with Orlando, better strangers," but adding, "So long as I live, I

same

thing.

defy you to marry that minx, Miss X."

The husband
it

has no sort of legal remedy; and

when

appears that
C., so

Miss X. has meanwhile married the Honble.

that Lady B. has no longer any motive for asserting her property in Sir John, the husband and wife which is a together are powerless to slip the noose,

gross injustice to

one of them and a torment

"

to both.

No," says the sage legislator, yourselves with propriety there

of you.
If you,

"

so long as you behave

is

no escape

for either

Lady

B.,

will

kindly misconduct

"MARRIAGE."
yourself a
little,

157

or

if

you, Sir John, will have the

goodness to prove yourself a profligate and a brute, we will see what can be done for you. But until you
break the law, the law can give you no
is

relief."

Here

evidently a pretty complication for farce, or even for serious comedy, and the first act enunciates it, so
to speak, wittily
it

and

vivaciously.
all.

But what comes of

Practically nothing at

The

marriage whose

was to be the crux of the problem is, in the second act, to all intents and purposes, dissolved,
indissolubility

by means

(as

we

are given to understand) of a

little

judicious perjury.

Henceforth we are asked to interest

ourselves in the sentimental relations of Sir

Lady

B.,

for

John and whose sentiments we care very little;

is

while the duty of amusing us

shifted to the shoulders

of the Hon.
to

Mr and Mrs

C.,

whose case has nothing

announced.

do with the theme

originally

The

later acts are

not precisely tedious, but they seem

vague and scrappy. The best piece of acting in the play is Miss Gertrude Kingston's Hon. Mrs Dudley

Chumbleigh, whose saccharine maliciousness is studied from the life. She might be described as "lucent
syrup tinct with
vitriol."

Mr
my

C. P.

Little,

too, as

the imperturbable Dudley, shows a real gift of artistic

caricature.
fault in

There was,

to

thinking,

one serious

Mackintosh's finished performance of Sir It was everything it ought to have Charles Jenks.
been, except

Mr

amusing.

That, of course,

is

an over-

158

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
:

1894.
far

statement of the case

dull
;

Mr

Mackintosh was

from

only he was not as amusing as he might have

been.

Belton,

Mr Sydney Brough was good as Sir John and Miss Lena Ashwell will make a pleasant Lady Belton when she has overcome her nervousness.
"Where
are the clothes of yesteryear?" was the

question everyone was asking at the Garrick on Satur-

day night.

It is really

high time that

Money* should

take rank, from the costumier's point of view at any rate, as a classic. Fancy such speeches as these in
the mouths of

men

of to-day
*

calls,

John Vcsey ; James, if Mr Serious, the clergyman, say I'm gone to the great meeting at Exeter Hall ; if Lord Spruce calls, say you believe I've gone to the rehearsal of
Cinderella.

" Sir

Oh

and

if

MacFinch should come

week)

(Mac Finch,

who duns me

say I've hurried off to Garraway's to bid for the great Bulstrode estate. Just put the Duke of Lofty 's card carelessly on the hall- table. . . .'"

three times a

"Evelyn; 'Wealth! what

recognise
its

is

it

without you?

With you,

power

every path, to

make

to forestall your every wish, to smooth your all that life borrows from Grace and Beauty

your ministrant and handmaid ; and then, looking to those eyes, to read there the treasures of a heart that excelled all that kings could lavish why, that were to make gold indeed a god But
;
!

Bound by every tie of faith, gratitude, loyalty, vain, vain, vain ' " and honour, to another !
!

Such speeches, and the author's whole technique, belong to a bygone convention, whose unreality cries
out

when we mount and

dress the play as a

comedy

of to-day.
*

And

then the dresses of the period were

Reproduced October 27

May

19

July 20.

December

21.

"MONEY."
so
delightful
!

159
at
?

Did not D'Orsay,

the costumes
in

Macready's

instance,

pass

review

Did not

Macready himself wear a waistcoat which dwelt in

Dickens's

memory

as the

most resplendent garment

that ever embellished the

manly chest ?

And

did not

Walter Lacy (still happily among us) play Sir Frederick Blount in yellow pantaloons so exquisitely fitting that

he seemed

to

however, are useless.

have been "dipped in cream"? Regrets, Mr Hare has left it to some

as
it

other manager to give us

the mint.
beautifully,

Money He has mounted the

and has
cast
it
it

came

fresh

from

play lavishly

and very

thoroughly well.

Where

the performance errs,

playing.
It

is

not on the side of underboisterous here and

might be a

little less
is

there

but the piece

certainly not

one of those

great works of art which are desecrated

by the intrusion

of farce.

Mr Hare

himself

is

excellent as Sir

John

Vesey; and Mrs Bancroft, as Lady Franklin, is at least amusing, though she perhaps takes the character a
little too

light-heartedly.

Mr

Forbes Robertson puts

an astonishing amount of vigour and sincerity into "d d walking gentleman " (as Macready called that
him), Alfred

Evelyn.

Miss
;

charming Clara Douglas

Kate Rorke makes a and Miss Maud Millett, as

Georgina Vesey, is delightfully irresponsible. Nothing could be better than Mr Arthur Cecil's Graves, or Mr

KcinMc's Stout; but Mr Brookfield's Deadly Smooth nut by a long way so good as Mr Elwuod's in the

160

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

recent Vaudeville revival, or

Mr

Frank Archer's.

Allan Aynesworth and

Mr

Bourchier, as

Mr Mr Frederick
the picture.

Blount and Lord Glossmore, ably

filled in

XXII.
"

CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA."

"

LA LOCANDIERA.
May.

JUST

as I left Daly's Theatre last

Wednesday,

in a

glow of enthusiasm over Eleanora Duse's Santuzza

and Mirandolina,*
musical
critic

met a cold-blooded wretch of a

initials

his

were not G. B.
"
say,

S.

who

must needs wag

his

head wisely and

Ah, you

should see Calve* as Santuzza!

I've seen the other

woman, too
Calve."

very nice, you know, but nothing to

little

He
but

knows the

risk

he ran

at

that

moment ;

mastered the impulse towards personal

violence, reflecting that perhaps the

more

dignified

course would be to go and see Calvd, so as to be

able to

wag my head
"

in turn

and

talk of her with

I

condescension^

the other woman."

was the more

incited to this course

by the unwonted enthusiasm

that
this

expressed, or rather implied, by G. B. S. in his last

article.

It

is

not

often

accomplished

rhetorician

makes use
*

(in a eulogistic sense, at any

p. 143.

See note,

"CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA."
rate) of the figure
silence.

l6l

known

as aposiopesis, or eloquent
artist,"

"A woman
S.
c

and an

I thought,

"of

whom
be an

G. B.
artist

cannot trust himself to speak,' must and a woman indeed." So I betook

not, I

myself to
a partisan
for

Covent Garden,
spirit,

hope and

believe, in

but in a

mood

whatever

artistic sensation

of genuine receptivity might await me.

The comparison,
obliging, as the
artists

of course, has really nothing dissay, for either of the great

French

concerned.
if

Each seems

to

me

perfect in her
all,

kind, and
it is

preference enters into the matter at

artist

not for one

over another, but for one form

the

of art.

We

have

in

two forms of Cavalleria

Rusticana an almost unique opportunity for comparThe ing drama pure and simple with music-drama.

two plays are not only scene

speech for
librettists
little

for

scene, but almost

speech and word

for word, the

same.

The

have simply versified Verga's

text with as

change as possible; so that, choral passages apart, we have practically the same words spoken in Well now, music the play and sung in the opera.
being the language of emotion, the emotional effect of the opera ought to be infinitely greater than that of
the play.

But

is

it?

personal

feeling

and

to

On the contrary, both my observation, it

the sensuous

to

my
the

seems

incomparably

less.

excitement, the whole

Of course sum of
L

thrill,

sensation one receives

from the opera,

is

very great

The

appeal

to

the

62
is

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
overwhelming.

1894.

nerves

But

in the very process of

translation into this tumultuous, tempestuous, multi-

tudinous tone-speech, dramatic emotion seems to me to lose its appeal to our intimate, human sympathies. in like a and it hear " music

We

wailing

god

pain,"

sets all

our nerves tingling with a sense of unspeakable potency and sublimity ; but it is the wail of mortals
our eyes. I am exceedingly sensitive to the pathos of melody, whether attached to particular words, or merely suggesting a
like ourselves that brings the tears to

sort of

unembodied ghost-poem,
Worte do,
is

as I

am

convinced

that Lieder ohne

for the majority of people.

But

this lyric
;

pathos

quite different from dramatic

pathos

it

belongs to

moments of contemplation, not

Therefore

of action, or of instant and acute suffering.

a piece of concentrated drama, like this Sicilian lovecatastrophe, seems to

me

to lose

its

directness

of

appeal when

translated into music.

The

emotions,

you say, find ideal expression ; I should rather use Matthew Arnold's phrase and say that the expression is
"magnified and non-natural." Remember, I am not denying the beauty, the splendour, the artistic validity
of the thing.
art is higher
It is quite arguable that this musical than that of pure mimetics, because it

raises

emotion to the plane of the infinite, and speaks, not to the mere brute sympathies, as it were, but to a larger and more complex set of faculties. At the

same time

cannot help asserting the

fact (explain

"CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA."
it

163

how you may),

that with

all

her magnificent physical

gifts

and technical acquirements, and with all the vast machinery of music-drama to help her, the Santuzza
of Covent Garden did not produce upon me,
far as I
or,

so

could observe, on those around me, anything

like the intensity of purely

emotional

effect

produced

by the haggard,
Daly's Theatre.

inarticulate, ungainly little

Santuzza of

Last year

did

not

fully

appreciate this

great
I
;

performance. The not even know the

the
excessive

play was quite new to

plot

me
the

did

when

the curtain rose

{of

and

brevity

and bareness

action

somewhat took me aback.

characters

and the

situation beforehand, I

This time, knowing the was pre-

pared to give

my

whole mind to the acting.

And
is
is

what acting
Italian

Duse's Santuzza, to

my

thinking,

the
the

very triumph

and miracle of reaksm.

She

peasant in every gesture and attitude.

in

We

can see

her whole carriage that she has shuffled

along the mountain paths beneath burdens which a

Northern

woman

could scarcely

lift,

while

Compare

Turiddu, very

likely,

jogged comfortably on his mule

by her

side.

Millet's

clearly daughters of the soil.

peasant-women are not more She is young, but toil

all

and sorrow have rubbed

"
Lola," she says,
is

the

bloom

off her beauty

"

e assai

piii bella di

me."

And

her

expression

as perfect as her appearance

is

and

bearing.

Only

in

the height of suffering

she stung into

64

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

southern volubility.
is

For the most part her utterance

slow and painful. We feel that she has to wring every word out of her weary, hopeless heart, and her
silence
all
is

often

more

pathetic than her speech.

it

And

this,

mark you, while

has the appearance of

absolute nature
is

while for the

moment

it is

nature

at the

liberate

same time the outcome of conscious, deHalf an hour later, we shall study and art.
same woman transformed
witty,

see this

into the graceful,

piquant,

voluble,

sparkling

Mirandolina,

the
If

very antithesis in every respect of poor Santuzza.

the pathos of the Sicilian peasant were, like so

second-rate tragic acting, the

much

mere

helpless, instinctive

expression of temperament, this transformation, this

reincarnation,
believe that

would be impossible.

venture to
to

when Garrick passed from Lear

Abel

Drugger, he did not show a wider range, or carry to a higher point the artXof creative impersonation.

We

see

or

it

is

an

illusion

of mine?

that the

instinct of the world assigns a higher rank to

pure
lyric

mimetics than to even the highest, so-called,

acting.

Malibran, Pasta, Grisi, Jenny Lind, are no doubt great names, but they are not, on the whole,
writ so large

on the

roll

of renown as the

names of

Mrs Siddons and Rachel. On the masculine side, I really do not know who ought to be opposed to Garrick and Kean, Talma, and Fre'de'ric Lemaitre;
and though
this

ignorance

is

disgraceful,

it

is

also

I6 5
significant of the comparative failure of operatic artists

to impress their personalities

tion.

Yet there cannot be the

on the popular imaginaleast doubt that the

great operatic artist possesses rarer natural gifts

and

a far

more elaborate

technical accomplishment than

the great actor.

to the actor are

The
still

advantages of formal training

a moot point; those

who

dis-

believe in

it

can

cite the

undoubted

fact that

Garrick

walked upon the stage a master of his craft ; but no one contests the necessity of a long and arduous training for the vocalist.

Why

then does the vocalist, on

the whole, take lower artistic rank than the actor?

Compare Calve with Duse

you
will see
;

in Santuzza,

and
far

think

the reason.

The

actress

is

more of

a creator

she brings far more of her

thought, and

own

observation,

invention,
singer's

feeling to her work.

The

whole expression is prescribed for her, so that her achievement is more technical than intellectual.
It is

her glory to be simply a perfect instrument in

the composer's hands, or rather the chief of what our

fathers used to call a vast

"concert" of instruments.

The

actress has to invent, not only

;

pantomime, but
restricted within

vocalisation
for her,

the singer finds her vocalisation invented

is

and even her pantomime

comparatively narrow conventional limits.

the proportion of will to
in the actress's
it

In

short,

mechanism

is

much
in

greater
;

achievement than

in the singer's

and

is will,

after all, that

make* us mark

the woild.

66

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

Charles Lamb protested against the fashion of speech which seemed to place the actor and the poet on the

same plane
Let

but Garrick certainly stood

much

nearer

to Shakespeare than (say)

Vandyck

to

Wagner.

me

Rossi's

not forget to do justice to Signer Cesare excellent performances of Alfio and the

Marchese
Duval.
Is

much
it

happier efforts than

his

colossal

too late to entreat Signora

Duse

to let

us see her in at least one

new

character during her

present

visit?
?

What about

her

Denise?

Or her

Francillon

Or even her Fernande ?

XXIII.

"THE

CANDIDATE."
6tkjune.

MR
(so

for this world.

CHARLES WYNDHAM is quite too conscientious Some critic has pointed out to him
tells

he

us) that

it is

unjust to a French author to

is

connect his

name
his
;

with a piece which

therefore

not wholly
entirely

and

solely

Mr Wyndham
and
piles the

ignores the French author,

or discredit

whole credit

on the shoulders of the English adapter.

as

This

is

much
Sir

work of
himself
picture
:

John
is

Millais's to dispose of,

though a picture-dealer, having a should say to

not frame and varnish this

"
:

Millais did

it

manifestly unjust that any

man

should

"THE CANDIDATE."
be held responsible
I will paint

167
;

for

what he did not do

therefore

out the 'J. M.'

monogram

in the corner,

and

substitute the

name

of the frame-maker."

Such

a course would clearly not be to the pecuniary advantage of the dealer, nor would it redound to his personal honour and glory.
then, that
lofty
fully

There could be no doubt, he was animated by disinterested and even

motives; but whether Sir John Millais would appreciate them is quite another question.

Similarly,

one cannot

but wonder whether French

authors will be properly grateful for

Mr
has

VVyndham's
paid

extreme delicacy.

No

doubt he

them

honestly for their wares, just as

we assume the
;

picture-

dealer to have honestly acquired his Millais

but does

the purchase of a work of art include the right to " Not only the right, paint out the artist's signature ?

but the duty,"

of the

Mr Wyndham
think

replies,

unnamed
I

critic aforesaid.

on the authority Whoever he may

must have misI

have been,

Mr Wyndham

understood him.
anything to

Heaven
of

forbid that

should say

shake

Mr Wyndham's
critics,

childlike faith in
this

the infallibility

but

in

case

feel

certain that either he has misread his authority or his

authority has misled him.

The

English language

is

not so poor as to be unable to express with tolerable

accuracy the various degrees of relationship between

foreign originals

and

their English versions.

When
and

the original

is

closely followed, the foreign scene

68

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
preserved,

1894.

names

and

no

change

made beyond,
call the result

perhaps, some
"translation."

slight curtailment,

we

That word has never been included

but

in the Criterion vocabulary,

Mr Wyndham may
and
there
is

find

it,

if

he

is

curious, in Johnson's Dictionary

other excellent authorities.

Then

another

term which

Mr Wyndham must

have heard in his

the word time, but which he seems to have forgotten This we employ when the English "adaptation." play follows the same general lines as its original, but

the scene and characters are Anglicised, the dialogue

is

to

some

extent remodelled,

and

certain passages,

it

may
like

be, are either omitted or interpolated.

is

Such a

proceeding

quite legitimate in the case of a farce

illegitimate

Le Deputk de Bombignac^
the case of
a

and de-

plorable in
like

Le Gendre de M. Poirier ; but

masterpiece of comedy in either case

word "adaptation" sufficiently indicates, for all practical purposes, what has been done or attempted,
the

and

it

becomes the business of

criticism to apportion

merit and demerit between the foreign author and the

English adapter. Again, when an English writer has taken a theme or idea from abroad, but has invented
his

own
"

characters,
is

say that his play

on

" adapted from," but founded such-and-such a foreign work ; or if it be merely

not

dialogue, "

and construction, we

a small portion of his play that is not original, we say " " that this act or that scene is suggested by this or

169
that

act or scene in another play.

it

individual cases in which

line

is

difficult to

There may be draw the

between these categories, to determine whether " " translated or a play ought to be described as

and " founded on

"adapted," or to choose between "adapted from" " but in the great majority of ; instances there cannot be the least doubt which term
ought to be employed, and it is the easiest thing in the world to do substantial justice to all parties. The

great object of language (except in certain forms of

poetry)

is

to

be understood; why should

Mr Wyndham,
on

in his too scrupulous solicitude for the reputation of

foreign authors, absolutely court misunderstanding

the part of our susceptible neighbours

M. Bisson and Mr

Justin

H. McCarthy, between

them, have certainly produced a highly diverting farce in The Candidate* It amused us quite as much last

Wednesday

as

it

inherent whimsicality of

did ten years ago, by reason of the the units situations and

diminished brilliancy of Mr Wyndham's performance. In irresponsible, irrepressible light-comedy he remains

easily
first.

do not think the

attractions of the play

are greatly heightened by the rather poor gags about

Ladas and other

political topics of the hour,

dragged

in to bring the thing

up
is

to date.

By

the way, since

Mr

J.

H. McCarthy
*

certainly innocent of these

coruscations, ought not

Mr Wyndham,
14.

in

common

May 30 August

170

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

consistency, to omit his name from the bill, and call the play " Comedy by Charles Wyndham," or who" ever may have contributed the topical wheezes " ? *

Blakeley's Barnabas Goodeve is both literally and Miss Fanny Coleman is in her figuratively immense.

Mr Mr

Giddens

is

excellent as the Radical Secretary,

and

element as the President of the Peers Preservation

Miss Mary Moore is very pleasant as Lady Miss Pattie Browne is perhaps a trifle too soubrettish for a Primrose Dame ; and Miss Miriam
Society
;

Dorothy

tableau scene of

Clements ought certainly to be playing Juno in the A Society Butterfly there is no more
stage.

Junonian figure on the

XXIV.
"JOURNEYS END IN LOVERS MEETING.

IT has sometimes occurred to

to
all

me

that the

which the interview

others to which
criticism.
it

is is

never applied
in reality

is

one purpose the one of

most applicable
skilfully,

mean

By
its

aid of the interview,

intelligently,

and

impartially handled, criticism might

b] relieved of
*

all

one-sidedness,
assures

all

its

injustice.

Mr

Charles

" gags," and assuming these interpolations to be were actually written in by Mr McCarthy.

Wyndham

me

that I

was mistaken in
states that they

"JOURNEYS END IN LOVERS MEETING."

The
two.

I/I

trouble

is

that there are so

many

critics to

one

author

or even, in the case of a collaboration, to

If

the

system

were
after a

generally

adopted,

dramatist, on the day

like

production, would be a fashionable doctor, with his whole time por-

tioned out into consultations of five minutes each;

and before the ordeal was half

over, his brain

would

be reduced to such a pulp that he would not know his hero from his villain, his exposition from his None the less is it true that, with a little catastrophe.
goodwill and tact on the part of author and
critic,

criti-

cism by interview might often do a great deal to dispel that sense of hostility one may almost say of mutual

contempt between playwrights and journalists, which arises from the fact that the auti jr has no natural and
recognised

means of

stating his

side

of the case.

Some

of us chafe against the one-sidedness of the

arrangement which compels a whole congregation to sit tongue-tied while the preacher plays what havoc

he pleases with morals and theology, the law and the

prophets.
author,

How much
to
sit

harder

is

the

case

of the

who has

mum

on

his stool of repentance,

a congregation of one, as Pat would put it, while he is There is probably not preached at from fifty pulpits
!

one of the

fifty

homilists

who does

not more or less

yet

misunderstand and misrepresent him

he has no
the papers
it,

means of putting himself right

is

letter to

of very

little

use

even

if

the editor prints

the

172

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

critics will

merely sneer at the author's fretfulness and love of gratuitous advertisement, and perhaps " take
it

out of him next time

"
;

while the more novel

method of haranguing the second-night audience from

the stage
is

also found to have serious drawbacks.

Don't

tell

me

that the author's business

is

to

make

his

meaning so transparent on the stage that there shall be no possibility of misunderstanding it, and no need
for

commentary or explanation.

What

play that was

worth understanding has ever escaped misunderstanding ?

Certainly not Hamlet or Macbeth, or Othello ;

',

certainly not

not
fils,

Le Misanthrope or Le Tartufe ; Doll's House or Hedda Gabler.

if

certainly

Dumas

a master,
of
the

ever there was one, of the mere

craft

playwright,

has
in a

one of
preface.

his

serious

plays

expounded every long and elaborate

the

For one

thing, whatever their genius,

actors will

always to

some

extent obscure or disguise

the author's meaning

they will "get between the

poet and his audience." Of course there are authors Ibsen is a notable case in point who would simply

make game of the critic-interviewer, if they did not make mincemeat of him. But it is not everyone that
I am quite sure that if enjoys being misunderstood. Shakespeare had foreseen the commentaries on Hamlet, 1 he would have " taken arms against a sea of twaddle,'

and submitted with

critic-interviewer.

alacrity to the ministrations of the

"JOURNEYS END IN LOVERS MEETING.

This
is

173
little
is

a very long
is

preamble to a very
that, since

not Shakespeare My point " I should like to interbe " drawn upon Hamlet^ " view " John Oliver Hobbes and Mr George Moore
criticism.

to

upon

their comedietta *
I

produced

last

week

at Daly's

should begin by complimenting them warmly and sincerely upon a clever piece of work, a valuable addition to our stock of agreeable curtainTheatre.
raisers.

should ask them (of course in polite periphrasis) why they did not make it just a little better while they were about it ? Why they did not
I

Then

treat
11

it

either quite seriously or quite fantastically?

I

Do

you not think,"

it

should inquire, " that

if

we

are

intended to take

seriously, the few words which

Lady Soupise speaks between Maramour's retreat to the boudoir and Sir Philip's entrance are very much
out of keeping?
is

intended for a mere airy

And, on the other hand, if the thing trifle, do you think it is

quite as witty

quite airy enough,

effervescent

and sparkling and

Presuming
for

as

it

might

be?"

moment

to advise, I should suggest that the serious

method of treatment was perhaps the better fitted for the theme that the wife's unconscious leaning
;

towards reunion with her husband ought to be more clearly indicated at the outset ; and that, in the scene
with Sir Philip,
*

more prominence ought

It is

to be given to

June 5 (afternoon). by a French play.

understood to have been suggested

174

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

her feverish dread

should be

fatally

lest the dawn of a new happiness overclouded by the discovery of the

intruding Maramour.

"

And why

these preposterous

names?"

should
If

inquire.

"Why

Soupise and

Maramour?
straight

back to

you must be fantastic, why not go Congreve and call your characters Sir

and Captain Millamant ? As it is, nomenclature distantly suggests Congreve, and your your dialogue still more distantly." In a word, I
Philip Fainlove

should advise them to make a definite choice, and concentrate their effort either upon wit or upon serious
interest

the latter for preference.

Then, taking

for

granted their appreciation of the service rendered them by Miss Ellen Terry's brilliant beauty and winning
vivacity, I

should inquire, with

all

possible delicacy,

whether her treatment of the part entirely answered to Whether there was not, perhaps, their intentions?
too
little

much youth and

polish

freshness in her manner, too

Whether modern woman is quite so exuberantly youthful, any quite so eager and emphatic, as Miss Terry's Lady
Soupise?
with
I should ask

and

subtlety in her diction?

me

in

admiring the ease and finish of

of
I

whether they did not agree Mr Forbes

the

Robertson's
finally I

performance should ask but

husband?

And

should not expect them

Terriss as the

to

answer

what they thought of Mr

gay Lothario?

"THE MIDDLEMAN."
XXV.

175

"THE MIDDLEMAN."
soth June.
IF one were asked to give an example of an essentially

typically

"popular"
better

play,

or

Volksstuck,

one

could

not

do

than cite
Jones,

The Middleman*
"revived
It

by
that

Mr

Henry

Arthur

at

the

Comedy

Theatre on Saturday.
for popularity.
'

has

everything

makes

The

action consists of a

tremendous

peripety," or reverse of fortune, in which

the mighty are abased

and the humble exalted

and

this turning of the tables is effected in strict

accord

with

poetical justice,

warded with

virtue and genius being rewickedness with the workhouse, millions,

in prospect if not in fact, while

flesh are

amiable foibles of the

chastened with temporary unhappiness, but

end

in rehabilitation

and

holy

matrimony.

What

more popular than the inventor who cannot remember whether he dreamy has dined, or distinguish between Irish stew and veal
character could possibly be

pie?

And when

his dreaminess gives place to vinpoetic,

dictiveness,

what can be more

and

at

the

same time

edifying, than the Biblical phraseology in which he unloads his soul? Could any scene be

more
vase,

spirit-stirring

than that of the furnace and the

feel

in

which

we

that

Providence,

for

once

June 16-23.

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
economical,
tice in
artfully
is

1894.
jus-

advancing science and executing

one operation?

What wonder,
and

then, that so

compounded a
personal

piece of work, aided by

genial,

Mr

Willard's

popularity

forcible

acting, should excite the audience almost to delirium,

as

it

did on Saturday evening.

11

includes

man,

Mr Willard's company Mr Royce Carleton, who plays " the MiddleMr H. Cane, excellent as Batty Todd, and
Verity,

Miss Agnes

comic

relief is

a sympathetic heroine. The in the hands of Mr F. H. Tyler and

Miss Nannie Craddock, two promising newcomers, On the whole, it was distinctly pleasant to renew
acquaintance with The Middleman, which wears well, and forms a sort of halfway-house between Adelphi drama and rational art

XXVI.
"IZEYL.
M

"SHALL
"

WE

FORGIVE

TEXAN."

THE JERRY

BUILDER."

HER?" "THE " MADAME

SANS-GENE."

KRONOS
gods.

is

usually reckoned the most impartial of the

serves out his minutes, hours,

He

and days

and beggar. Golconda or Mount Morcannot bribe him to protract a moment of bliss gan
alike to king

or curtail an hour of agony.

We

have private

<.L

of our

own

for getting

more or

less sensation into

each

177
swing of the pendulum
official
;

but of these the god has no

off the life-thread to

it

is

Unhasting, unresting, he ticks each of us in equal particles, and not even his fault when the Fates snip it short
cognizance.

But

at Daly's Theatre,

of Izcyl* I could not help feeling that

using

on the night of the production Time had been

else

me

ill.

Everyone

old and stricken in years.

It

was young ; I alone was was not merely that for

still
:

Sarah Bernhardt time had stood

on the

stage,

such miracles are a matter of course.

to

What seemed
young.

me unfair and
be
so

annoying was that the whole audience

aggressively,

should

obstreperously

They found keen enjoyment, their pulses leaped, their palms grew electrical and thunder-charged, where I could find no keener emotion than a calm and
critical interest,

a quite unelectrified admiration, per-

" the days that quickening of regret for I felt just like an old fogey watching are no more."

haps a

little

the young folk enjoying themselves,

himself,

"

Now,

in

my

and thinking to time we weren't quite so easily

pleased.

There was a refinement, an elegance, a

spontaneity in our delights, that these young people,

on the stage and

*

off,

somehow cannot approach.

five

Sarah Bernhardt's season lasted

weeks, in the course

of which she gave thirty-nine performances. Iiiyl (produced June 18) was performed sixteen times ; La Tosta (June 25), five
tiroes

La Dame aux Catntliat (June 27), six times ; Phidr* ; Rois (July 2), twice ; F4dora (July 4), (June 29), three times ; lour times ; La Femmt <U Claude (July 17), three times.

La

178

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

This Sarah the Younger is a fascinating, seductive, supple and sinuous creature, with the smile of a

Sphinx and the voice of a Siren. But ah you should have seen her mother, twenty years ago, consule Mac!

Mahon
coarse.

The daughter
is

imitates her marvellously

but the copy

No

mechanical, and sometimes a little doubt she has more power the mother
:

could not have played that third act in such a fierce

whirlwind of frenzy.

But that

is

only because the

kill-

younger
ing

woman
go
a feat

has learnt that she can, without

to the very

herself,

sources

end of her physical rewhich her more fragile mother was

!)

(thank goodness
fogey

mumbled

chary of attempting." So the old on, while the theatre rocked with the

plaudits of the young,

and the curtain

slid

up and

down, up and down,

in response to their thunders,

like the guillotine-blade

years ago.
last

Never mind

on a busy morning a hundred I was young enough, only

!

week, in this very theatre

but that

is

another

story

and Phedre

(it

ought rather to be Medea, by

the way) will doubtless rejuvenate

me
its

in

a day or

two

but the fact remains, whatever

that the blandishments of Izdyl did not

explanation, "

throng

my

pulses with the fulness of the spring."

Is not the Alexandrine, I wonder, almost as
in France, for

dead

here

dramatic purposes, as the pentameter Almost ; not quite ; for it probably takes
ability to write

rather

more

passable

Alexandrines

"IZYL."
than to reel off screeds of flaccid blank verse.

179
But

both mediums are too easy and pliant to give the

work

real firmness of contour, while they

effect
I

produce a

harassing

of insincerity, conventionality, and

for

moment pretend to know a good Alexandrine from a bad. They say that those of MM. Silvestre and Morand in Izbyl are only sobombast.

do not

so

but they were quite good enough for me.

Their
I

effect

was simply
it all

to

heard
the

before.

had though Over and over again, on hearing

feel as

make me

first

line

of a couplet, I distinctly foresaw the

rhyme-word
little

at the

end of the next

line,

and, with a
pretty fair
in.

time, could probably have

made a
it

guess as to

how

the authors would work

is

This

sense of familiarity and foreknowledge

to the dramatic interest of the
classic solemnity of the

destructive
It

moment.

makes a

performance, while the play I am not a Buddhist, remains anything but a classic. esoteric or exoteric, and indeed have forgotten most

that I ever

knew about Sakya-Mouni, name may have been but I own

;

or whatever his
it

gave

me

an

uneasy sense of incongruity, almost of irreverence, to

see the Founder of a great religion, a sublime metaphysic, treated as a vehicle for

impersonated

by a strapping

windy French

rhetoric,

and
I

dragoon.

mean no

disrespect to
;

M.

most competent actor

Guitry, who seems to be a but his personality somehow

emphasised the operatic emptiness and tawdrincss of

80

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
This
is

1894.

the whole entertainment.

surely the strangest

of

all

the Buddha's avatars.

As

for

M. de Max

as the

Yoghi, he succeeded in crowding into one performance

all

the vices of the French school of declamation.

Garnett, in one of his delightful fantasies, speaks

Dr

of a Yoghi

who could "expostulate

this

convincingly with

tigers"; but

one could have argued a bull of Bashan into a cocked hat. He was a shouting satire

on the Conservatoire.

me

On the whole, then, Izeyl gave but acute pleasure ; but it made me look anything forward all the more keenly to Phedre, On ne badine
La fcmme
de Claude.

pas avec Vamour* Les Rois> and

Mr
We

Walkley has said precisely the

just as well as

the witty thing about the

Forgive
"
writes,

new Adelphi
is

piece, Shall

Hert^

"There

a slight error," he
It

in the title of this play.

ought to be,

Shall
tion
is

We

Forgive

Him ? When

the necessary correc"

made, we

shall all

be able to answer the ques*

tion with a cheerful

and emphatic No.'

The

un-

pardonable he to
the

husband of

whom the critic refers is, of course, Mr Frank Harvey's heroine, " the
who, when he learns that as the saying goes, " throws past,"
"

impeccable, egoistic ass " had a his wife has

her about the stage, preaches his platitudinous, pom-

pous morality

at

her,

and turns her out of doors."

Now

I entirely
*

agree with

Mr

Walkley's estimate of

t June 20

Which, unfortunately, was not performed, August 18.

"SHALL WE FORGIVE HER?"

this

l8l

gentleman's character
;

he

is

an offensive Pharisee

and prig

but

cannot quite follow

Mr

Walkley

in

thinking him an improbable noodle, or

that the conjecture

does not present a

It
is

in holding " "

problem

worthy of dramatic solution. Denist, not a despicable play

the problem of

Hardy's conduct of Angel Clare neither improbable Mr. Walkley, if he will forgive nor unpardonable.
find the

Mr

Tess, in

it is the problem of ; which a good many worthy folk

my

saying so,

is

little

too apt to think that because

is

the solution of a problem

ally,

very clear to

him person-

there

is is

no problem to be solved.
undeniably
in the

The

lady in

this case

wrong

for not

having

made a clean breast of matters before the marriage. If you come to think of it, she must have been guilty,
not only of suppressio
vcri,

but of a good deal of de-

liberate suggcstio /a/si, during the eighteen

months of

her married

life.

And
is

case, I fancy there

left in

even waiving that aspect of the enough of the male monopolist

a good

many

of us to be considerably taken

aback by such a revelation as that which befalls Mr Oliver West. Remember, I am not defending him
;

he

is

pompous
;

ass, I

and something of a brute

into

the bargain

but

cannot help saying, " Let him

who has no
throw the

spice of the

Helmer

in his

composition

first

stone at Oliver West."

The

play

is

written entirely in the Adelphi key,

are, or were, tediously

and the
but,

situations

dragged out

on the whole,

82
is

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
a
far

1894.

it

more

solid

than

we

are accustomed to at this theatre,

it

and thoughtful piece of work and the

immensely.
Miss Julia

audience seemed to take to

Neilson, as the heroine, proved to be quite in her

element, dominating the large Adelphi stage, and expressing large Adelphi emotions in a large Adelphi style.

Fred Terry, too, was excellent as the sublime prig; and Mr Herbert Flemming, Mr Macklin, Mr
Charles
Dalton,

Mr

and

Miss

Ada

Neilson,

all

con-

tributed to the success of the play.

to say, includes not a single male

The

cast, strange

low comedian;

but Mrs H. Leigh let the Pioneer Club take note proved that even in this branch of art woman can
hold her own, and

man may

safely

be dispensed with.

Mr Tyrone
last

Power's drama, The Texan, produced

week

at the Princess's, belongs to a class of plays

is

for

which there

a larger

demand

in the provinces

than in London.

It is not quite commonplace in and it contains several scenes that eviconception, dently gripped and moved the more unsophisticated

portions

of the house, though the

stalls

remained
title-part,

unconvinced.

Mr Power
gifts

himself, in

the

showed considerable

as a character-actor,

and

made

himself very popular with the audience ; while Miss Edith Crane played the bigamous, not to say

polyandrous, heroine with distinct charm, and a great deal of somewhat undisciplined emotion.
It is

a pity that

Mr Mark

Melford, author of The

"MADAME

SANS-GENE."

183

Jerry Builder* at the Strand, cherishes such an inveterate contempt for coherence or sanity of plot. In
this farce

he has

hit

upon an

excellent subject, which

might have formed the basis of an almost classic Even as it is, one cannot choose but buffoonery.
" settling laugh at the

down

"

of the jerry-built

villa

but the

plot, or rather what does duty for a plot,

is

simply imbecile.
Willie Edouin,

The

leading parts are played by

Mr

Mr

Ernest Hendrie,

Mr

Herbert Ross,
the last

Miss Susie Vaughan, and Miss Mary Edouin

a diminutive but mercurially vivacious young lady, more interesting, in her present phase of development, to the
student of heredity than to the student of acting. It is a curious coincidence that by altering one
letter

and deleting another or simply by pronouncing " the word in the Spanish fashion you convert Re*"

jane

into

"

Rehan."

No
;

a comparison upon you

saying that

I am not going to inflict but there can be no harm in

!

Madame Re jane

is

the

French

stage.

Roll Yvette Guilbert and

Ada Rehan of the Ada Rehan

into one, hint

add a dash of Mrs Bancroft, and the merest of Miss Lottie Venne, and you will have some

faint idea of

Madame
I

Rejane, as she impressed

me
and

on Saturday
I

night. t

had never seen her

before,

came

to the theatre with expectations screwed

a very high pitch by the eulogies of

best judges of acting.
It is

up to some of the very

I

a great deal to say that

July 28.

June 18-30.

t Gaiety, June 23

184
was
I

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
in

1894.

was not

no way disappointed. Let me own, too, that in a position to do her the fullest justice,

for

any

a good deal of her dialogue escaped me not from fault in her diction, which is admirable, but beI

cause

am
so

imperfectly acquainted with her faubourien

for years

French.

Not

have

I sat at a

French play,

and
I

felt

many

points slip past

me

unappreciated.

was green with envy of a gentleman beside me who shouted with laughter whenever any one else did, and
enjoyed
tiously
;

himself,

as
I

thought,

somewhat

ostenta-

heard him explaining to his fair that "merlans frits" meant "fried thrushes," neighbour I wondered whether it was always Sardou's wit that
but when
tickled him.
ever,
it

Even through the

in

veil of dialect,

how-

was easy to recognise

comedian both born and made

gifts

Madame Rejane a woman of opulent

art.

perfected by the most sedulous

in every line of her face

There

is

comedy

in the arched eyetip-tilted

brows, the well-opened

dancing eyes, the

nose, and the wonderful, mobile, expressive mouth. This mouth is unquestionably the actress's chief
feature
;

it

conditions her

art.

With a

different

mouth

she might have been a tragedian or a heroine of

melodrama, which would have been an immense pity. It is not a beautiful feature from the sculptor's point
of view

even from the painter's it is not so much a rosebud as a full-blown rose. It has almost the wide;

lipped

expansiveness of a Greek mask

but

it

is

"MADAME
Madame Sans-Gtne

SANS-GENE."
In the
first

185
act

sensitive, ironic, amiable, fascinating.

of

the

actress

was

altogether

delightful.

to us,

She brought the character straight home making us feel with all around her that this
of a thousand.

was a

woman

In the second act, she

condescended to some cheap extravagance which we A woman so adroit and could very well have spared.
generally capable as

Madame Sans-Gene

could not,

under any circumstances, be such a grotesque fish out of water as Madame Re"jane chose to make herself for
twenty minutes or so. There are scores of actresses and music-halls who can go in our own theatres

through comic antics with a train just as well as Madame Re*jane. The scene with Napoleon in the
third act

by

far

the best in the play

was a gem of
its

comedy

acting,

one of the

finest things in

kind

ever saw.

In the fourth

act, the interest centres in

intrigue rather than

character, but the actress does

I

admirably

all

she can find to do.

have no space to

say anything of the play, and indeed there is nothing to be said, except that it is a clever, mechanical, trivial

performance in the manner of Scribe. M. Duquesne, an old friend of ours at the Royalty, made an effective

Lefebvre.

Napoleon, and M. Cande* a bluff and soldierly The mounting is magnificent we could
; ;

and the scarcely have done it better in England minor female characters present a remarkable array
of beauty, not unaccompanied by talent.

86

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
XXVII.

1894.

"THE

PROFESSOR'S
"

LOVE-STORY."

TOWN."

VILLON."

"A NIGHT SARAH BERNHARDT.

4/tf

IN

July.

ADMIRATION
I
it.

is

not the word for the feeling with which

regard

Mr

J.

M.

Barrie's genius.

Affection
Idylls,

is

nearer

The

best pages in

Auld Licht

Window
the

in

Thrums, and The

Little Minister, are

among

best things, the most genuinely inspired, in present-

day

fiction.

Their humour

is

of the kind which

goes straight to our inmost sympathies, and begets a It sense of personal gratitude towards the author.
is

entirely to the credit of

let this

my

critical

colleagues that

they should have

leniency in

feeling predispose

them

to

the case of The Professors Love- Story*

itself,

which

is

in

tiating piece of

moreover, an amiable and ingraI feel like an impossible work.

But, on

curmudgeon
to

for not joining in the chorus.

it

the other hand,

would be a very poor compliment

for the stage
it

Mr
is

Barrie to accept this genial improvisation as the

;

best

work he can do
best

and what possible

in

use

there in criticism, unless

be to extract from an

artist

the very

work he has

him?

If

we

declare ourselves satisfied with The Professor's LoveStory,

*

how

is

Mr
25.

Barrie to

know

that he has not

13

Comedy, June

Transferred to Garrick, August

October 26.

"THE PROFESSOR'S LOVE-STORY."

touched the
limit of

187

our capacity for appreciation, and that we would not be ///^satisfied with finer, stronger,

more conscientious work?

What can be more

his

dis-

couraging to the true artist than to find

hasty

studies, not to say his pot-boilers, accepted as all that

we can

require or desire from

him ?
I

If only to spare
is

Mr

Barrie this discouragement,

think one

bound
is

to say quite frankly that

The

Professor's Love-Story

a pleasant.enough evening's entertainment, but entirely

trivial,

ephemeral, and at some points childish.

strange
it

How

is

that even

fine

literary

artists,

when they approach the stage, should at once abandon all care for verisimilitude, or even for ordinary
possibility
!

The
the

fact

is,

no doubt,

that the stage has

from

all

ages been the

home
is

of the miraculous, the

marvellous,

ultra-romantic,

and

that

both

in

audiences and authors there

an obscure survival of

the habit of mind, the sense of detachment from the

world of everyday experience, which must have been dominant at both the first and the second birth of the

drama,

in the

Hellenic and Christian miracle-plays.

Thus the
Goodwillie

psychological inconsequences of Professor

of Aryan folk-lore, and

may have had their origin in the puerilities Bob Sandeman's letter, pop-

ping out in the nick of time from the disused letterbox, is doubtless lineally descended from the deux ex

machind of Attic drama.

any case, there
is

Explain

it

how we may,
fact that,

in

no getting away from the

of

88

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
moments
or motives in

1894.
Barrie's play,

the four chief

Mr

logically improbable,

two are psychologically inconceivable, one psychoand the remaining one materially
Absurdity No. i improbable, not to say miraculous. is the Professor's way of receiving the suggestion that

he

is

in love.

It is

not in the least incredible that he

should consider himself quite safe in the very quarter in which the danger really lies ; that is an excellent touch
of comedy.

What

is flatly

incredible

is

that he should
it

accept the

suggestion in principle, as

were,

and

should believe himself to be in love, without making

any serious

effort to discover

who

is,

or
is

is

supposed to

be, the object of his passion.

He
;

absent-minded,

but not to the point of insanity

and no sane man

ever believed himself in love without forming

conjecture, at least, as to the lady in the case.

some

Many
random
But

men have formed wrong

upon the
that
is
first

conjectures

they have been

fixed at

in love with being in love,

and have

Dulcinea that came in their way.

Professor's
case.

not the

At Dr Cosens's

suggestion, he believes himself in love with

in

some lady

away from (else, why should he run London to escape her ?) ; but he has not the ghost of an idea who the lady is, and makes no real effort even
to discover

London

who

is

in the Doctor's
;

mind.

This

is

the

conduct of a lunatic
is

or, in

other words, the incident absurdity

is is

a piece of crude farce.

first.

The second
If

of

a piece with the

Lady Gilding

a sane

"THE PROFESSOR'S LOVE-STORY."

189

woman, how can she possibly believe that the Professor is on the point of making her an offer of marriage, when he displays his fixed aversion from her in every
possible

way ?
is

That she should determine

to over-

come
can

that aversion, or even to trick

it,

him
;

into marriage
far as

in spite of

conceivable enough
seriously to

but so

we
evi-

see,

she appears
is

believe that the

Professor

devoted to her, in spite of the clear

dence of her senses to the contrary. This, again, is crude farce; and yet a very little adjustment would
have removed both these absurdities.

had not been the mere

it

heartless

has pleased

Mr

Barrie to

If Lady Gilding and mercenary puppet make her, if she had been

woman whom

the

Professor respected, and with

whom he could for a moment imagine Mr Barrie would have had his comic
fire),

himself in love,
situation intact

(the Professor jumping out of the frying-pan into the

and we would have been able

to

admire his
our

delicacy

of workmanship, instead of shrugging

shoulders at the fortunate audacity of his improvisation.

If

Mr

Barrie should

do me the honour of
him
to

reading these lines, I would beg

imagine himself putting such a character as Lady Gilding into a He could not possibly be guilty of so shallow novel.

and revolting a piece of cynicism. Why, then, docs not Lady Gilding on the stage revolt either himself or his audience? Simply because they do not take
stage

character-drawing

seriously,

and are content

190

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

with the good old crudities of farce.

cisely this habit of

But

it

is

pre-

mind which renders the English

drama the by-word of Europe.

Barrie

Why

should

Mr

make any

distinction in point of

workmanship
should he
it

between

his novels

and

his plays ?

Why

insult the playgoing

public by offering

scamped

work, which he would not dare to place before the

literary

public?

It is true that the

;

playgoing public

does not resent the insult

but what are we to say of

is

the artistic conscience which of perfunctoriness that

is

content with any sort

?

not certain to be found out

We
or, in

come now

to the psychological improbability,

other words, the piece of conventional heroinism

last act.

which mars the

Lucy White, up
girl,

to that

point a competent and sensible

thoughtlessness adopts a very

moment of innocent device to make

in a

the Professor aware of his sentiments

towards her.
herself
is

That she should be a

natural
freak

little

ashamed of

and proper enough, and her confession of her might have made a pretty scene. But what does
?

our heroine do

In an agony of remorse, she declares

she can never marry the Professor, pretends that she does not love him, and is quite prepared to spoil his
life

and her own rather than confess the trumpery peccadillo, and at least give him the chance of forgiving her
!

wonder
veil,

Mr

Barrie did not

make her

resolve to take the

in

and pass the rest of her days a nunnery meditating on the enormity of pretending

"THE PROFESSOR'S LOVE-STORY."

to faint.

igi her

Of course

it is

possible that a

silly girl,

mind

vitiated with the false idealisms of inferior fiction,

in this idiotic way.
it

might behave

If the author treated

the thing ironically,

though improbable
of ironic intention.

at

might be acceptable enough, But Mr Barrie is innocent best.

simply adds another to the

He

aforesaid false idealisms of inferior fiction.

One

can-

not suspect him of really admiring his heroine's morbid

folly
;

but
is

it

serves to

fill

up the

last act

and, after

all,

a play

only a play, and they like

this sort
is

of thing
:

on the

stage.

But there

Mr

Barrie

wrong

people
it

don't like this sort of thing; they tolerate

their toleration
I

and

may break down

at

any moment.

the miracle of the lost

have already spoken of the material improbability letter. It exemplifies what

seems to be the radical defect of

Mr

Barrie's

method
tries to

of setting about dramatic composition.

He

make

tricky ingenuity

do the work of

solid thought

and invention.
is

Like Walker^ London, TJie Professor's

a mere patchwork of little mechanical Love-Story " irrelevant anecdotes, devices, wheezes," and comic
business.
in

For instance,

Mr

Barrie must needs drag

from

My

of unsmokable cigars, and from

Lady Nicotine the joke about the present some Christy Minstrel
In a word, his one endeavour
is

patter (I should imagine) the lugubrious cherchez la

ftmme wheeze.
raise

to

a laugh at any price.

As

regards the stage, he

artistic

no more

artistic

conscience or genuine

192

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

He happens to impulse than the late H. J. Byron. be a much cleverer man, but that only makes his abuse of his talent the more regrettable. If he were
not the author of

Window

in

Thrums,
analysis

it

would

be absurd

to

apply any

serious

to
it

The
in a

Professor's Love-Story.

One would dismiss

sentimental
farce,

paragraph as a clever

amusing

enough, but utterly insignificant.

that

It is the certainty

Mr

Barrie could,

makes

it

if he would, do better work that worth while to look into the seams of so

disappointing a production.

"But you have

"that
it is

admitted," the reader

'amiable and ingratiating';

"

may how does

say,

this

square with the unmixed condemnation you have just

been heaping upon it ? Well, of the amiable central character

it is

amiable because
is

there

a perennial
;

charm
is

in the dreamy, unselfish

man

of genius
is

and

it

ingratiating because this character

delightfully

played by Mr Willard, with a simplicity and sincerity which even the curmudgeon critic cannot resist. Miss Bessie Hatton is pleasant as the heroine ; Miss

Nannie Craddock does

concile

all

that can

be done to

re-

us to the preposterous
;

character of
is

Lady
one

Gilding

and

Mr Royce

of the Scotch ploughmen, whose canny the most amusing episode in the play.

Carleton "

excellent as
"

erotics are

Mr

F.

H.

his Tyler plays the rival swain cleverly enough, but

Doric

is

sadly to seek.

"LA DAME AUX CAMELIAS."

Mr H.
produced
a nd

IQ3

A. Sherburn's
last

farce,

Night
is

in

Town*

week

at the Royalty,

a mechanical

quite uninventive imitation of the

Pink Domino

type of French vaudeville.

Thanks
it

to the
to

humour o(
a not

Mr

Harry Paulton, however,

It

seemed

amuse

was preceded by a stilted and long-drawn dialogue entitled Villon, Poet and Cut-throat, by Mr "S. X. Courte," in which Miss
very exacting audience.

Florence Friend acted with a good deal of grace and

charm.
Sarah Bernhardt was at her best in

La Dame aux
it

Cornelias last week, not quite at her best,

seemed

to

me,

in Phcdre. t

Her Marguerite Gautier did not move

but that was very likely because

me
I

the least
it

little bit,

went to

my my

an experimental mood, and was watching sensations the whole time, keeping my finger on
in

emotional

pulse,

instead

of submitting

myself

passively to the influence of the situation.

It struck

me, however, that the people

almost as phlegmatic as
I.

saw around

me

were

They admired

vividly

and

applauded without stint, as well they might; but of the wonder and pity which all of a sudden catch the
breath and

dim the

eye, I

saw

little

or no trace.

The

consummate
In the third

art of the thing

act,

was beyond all doubt. the scene with Duval senior, the

incessant gasping for breath

It certainly .got

seemed

to

me

overdone.
fifth

on one's nerves a
July ii.
If

little.

But the
p. 177.

June 28

t See note,

194

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
first

1894.

act was from

to last magnificent.

How excellently

imagined was the little scene with Prudence, where Marguerite lies on the sofa, her face half buried in the
pillow, stifling her impatience of this intrusion

upon

her agony

What
broken

a fine invention, too, was that of

the fallen hand-glass, at which she dares not look lest

she find

it

It

seemed

to

me, on the whole,

that the actress emphasised the physical realism, the

pathological detail, of her performance

more than she

used

to,

degree.

yet never to an un beautiful or inartistic She makes more of the final flicker of life in
is

the exhausted frame than

indicated in Dumas's text,

but such a masterly development of the author's idea is not only allowable, but admirable.
Phedre,
again,
is

undoubtedly one of

Madame

parts, perhaps the very finest she has ever done or can do. In saying that thing she was not quite at her best in it, I was thinking

Bernhardt's greatest

temporary defect of the particular performance which I happened to witness. She pitched it rather too high from the outset, and
the result

only of an accidental and

was that

in

the

more

violent

passages,

such, for instance, as her declaration to Hippolyte,

the

sense

of
I

strain

became

painful

and

almost

wish some expert in voice production would explain what Madame Bernhardt does with She seems her vocal cords in such passages as this.
intolerable.

to grind out her

words through her clenched

teeth,

"

PHfcDRE."

195

and, moreover, to froth up her voice as they froth

up eggs or chocolate. There was rather too much of this effect on Friday evening, and at one or
two points the
she
actress's breath

seemed almost

to

fail

her in the effort after intensity of expression.

instance,

For

spoke as

follows

one of the most

celebrated lines of her part: "C'est Ve"nus-a toute " " entiere a sa proie attache*e-a." By the letter a I

means of which actors of " the old school used to convert the word " blood into
represent that tragic gasp by

a trisyllable, thus: "ba-lud-a."

have never heard

before,

Madame
at

Bernhardt make
it

this

sound

and can

only suppose

one

effect of the general overpressure

which she was playing.

But

in

the languishing

passages, so frequent in Phedre, she

was nothing

less

than divine.

beauty in exhale these four lines

Noble
Toi, dont

You do not realise the human speech if you have

:

possibilities of

not heard her

et brillant auteur

d'une

triste famille,
fille,

ma mere

osait se vanter d'etre

Qui peut-etre rougis du trouble ou

Solcil, je te viens voir
I

tu

me

vois,
!

pour

la derniere fois

am

not

ashamed

to confess that the sheer exquisite-

ness of her delivery of these lines brought the tears to

my

eyes,

which had remained as dry as *be desert

throughout her Marguerite Gamier.

196

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
XXVIII.

1894.

"LES

Rois."

"A MODERN

EVE. M
\\thjuly.

Les Rois* by M. Jules We owe hearty thanks to Madame BernLemaitre. hardt for having included it in her London repertory,
beautiful play
is

NOBLE and

seeing that
parts.

it

does not contain one of her great show

in artistic esteem,
if

But she had her reward

not

in

popular applause.
full

Her performance

of the Princess

Wilhelmine was

of the chastened dignity imposed

by the whole atmosphere of the play, and afforded a

grateful relief after the violence of her Sardou-Silvestre

achievements.

It

seemed almost

as

if

we had

the

Sarah of other days, the Sarah of the seventies, with The play, however, suffers in some us once more.
degree from the necessity under which the author has evidently lain of making Wilhelmine the predominant
character.
I

do not
but
it

know what

have not read Lemaitre's romance, and part Frida de Talberg plays in it ;

must surely be much more prominent than that

The theme is symbolic, assigned her in the drama. one might almost say allegorical. It is, to state it in
the most general terms, Sovereign

contending influences of Conservatism

Power between the and Liberalism.

in the

Though

there

is

no departure from probability

*

See note,

p. 177.

"LES

ROIS."

197

relations of the personages, they are at the

same time
Prince
to
in-

perfectly

typical
is

on

the

symbolic

plane.

Hermann

legally

and

indissolubly

wedded

Monarchism

in the person of Wilhelmine.

The
and

fluences of ancestry, the claims of posterity, bind

to her in spite of himself.

him
his

But

his

heart

yearn towards Democracy in the person of Frida. She is the guiding force, the active principle,
brain

of his conduct, while Wilhelmine makes for tradition

and

routine.

Is

it

not natural to expect, then, that

at least as
?

the spirit of

Change should be
spirit

prominently

represented as the

of Stability

Given a King,
the

we

take as a matter of course that part of his action

is

which

inspired

by the Monarchical Idea ;

it

is

motives impelling him towards democracy that stand in need of analysis and explanation. And yet, even
as I write, a doubt

comes over me
Is
it

as to the soundness
fact, that

of this argument.

true, as

a matter of

we

are in the least surprised to see a

King coquetting
not
rather
his

with Democracy, or that nation of the

we

require any special explaIs

it

phenomenon?

remains of

fidelity to

the Monarchical Idea that

we
of

find difficult to conceive?

Even making every

allow-

ance

for hereditary bias,

can we understand a

man

to-day, with any sense of history or sense of humour,

taking his stand divine right

sity,

on so patent an anachronism as the of kings ? No there is really no neces;

so far as the political fable

is

concerned, that Frida

198

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

de Talberg's influence over Prince Hermann should be elaborately explained to us. A king oppressed by
his royalty,

and fascinated by democratic and humaniis

tarian ideals,

entirely comprehensible.
It is for

We

take

him

for granted at a word.

the sake of the

love-story, not of the political apologue, that

we want
clearly

to have Frida's character

and charm more

brought

home
is

to us.

There
than
the

no tragedy profounder or more pathetic

Prince Tragedy of Good Intentions. is one of those hapless beings, born

Hermann

into a false position,

who can

neither submit to

cir-

cumstances nor dominate them.

finds the time fatally out of joint,
will in

Like Hamlet, he

and with the best

skill to set it right.

the world he has not the

He

cannot believe in the religion of royalism, embodied in his wife; he loathes the corruptions and
abuses of royalism, embodied in his brother ; and his purely idealistic conception of the People breaks down
the

moment

it is

put to the

test.

The

scene in which

the royal Girondin, the would-be Marcus Aurelius of

Alfania,
finds

himself the murderer instead of the

is

benefactor of his people,

intensely dramatic

and

With adequate stage-management, I am moving. convinced it would make the play a popular success.

The

third act

is

comparatively commonplace

but the

fourth, again, has not only a strong dramatic interest,

but a tragic nobility of

its

own.

Altogether,

we have

199
to

thank M. Lemaitre

for

to the intellect

and the emotions

a play which appeals alike an entirely dignified

and serious piece of work. It is interesting from the philosophic and attractive from the romantic point ot
view.
I

wonder whether M. Lemaitre has ever read

?

Mr

Stevenson's Prince Otto

unessential

There are some curious

between the two
in the

though

resemblances

works, and they are somewhat akin charm of their setting.

Utopian

Mr Malcolm Salaman's drama, A Modern Eve* which Mr Tree produced last week at the Haymarket,
is

the ablest play of

its

kind which we have seen since

It writing S.
it,

The Second Mrs Tanqueray. man has not been (as G. B.

Mr

Sala-

put

it

the other day)

"making up a
artistic

prescription," but obeying a genuine

impulse.

He
and
life

has not simply

compounded

the

statutory ingredients of popular success, but has set

himself, soberly
sincerely, to study a character.

He

has depicted

as

he sees

it,

not merely as he
it.

thinks the public would like to see

His Vivien

Hereford

is

consistently

and even convincingly

drawn woman.
rather puzzles

The

only

me

is

trait in her character which " a her desire to pass as good

woman

"

in the eyes of

Wargrave.

It

seems to

indi-

cate two as yet unsuspected forces in her nature

insincerity

and

sentimentality.

Would Mr Salaman

have us understand that she values Wargrave's illusion

*

July 2 (afternoon).

200

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
last

1894.

about her as the

break
?

safeguard against a second out-

Does she

deliberately play

upon

his sentimen?

tality in

order to hold his passion in check

it is

This

is

conceivable, but
as

not

made

clear.

It rather

seems

tion of
it

though she attached a personal value to the reputa"a good woman," even while finally forfeiting
it.

by. her wrongful assumption of

It

is

not as

though she had she was " a good

woman

casuistically persuaded herself that " in spite of everything.

Up

to that point, she takes a cynical, or as a certain

New

Moralist prefers to phrase

it,

a "

realistic
is

"

view of

an exceedingly character to herself and every one else, unsatisfactory but she says, "I can't help it; I'm built that way,"
her
nature.

own

She knows she

and
the
to

is

rather inclined to glory in her incapacity for

humdrum virtues. One would expect her at least make formal protest against Wargrave's idolatry of
if

her " goodness," even

not believe her.

And Wargrave

she took good care he should himself is a little

puzzling in this connection.

act,

When,

in

the second

he prostrated himself before Vivien's shining purity, I thought it was merely a trick of the game,
feint,

a method of masking his batteries.

But he
change

appears to

be absolutely sincere

at least his

of feeling in the third act loses

all its

point

if

we

are

not to understand that the feeling of the second act

was genuine.

Perhaps

Mr Salaman

conceives him as

the genuinely sentimental and self-deceptive sensualist

201

who

habitually enters on a campaign of conquest under the white banner of the loftiest and most
ethereal adoration.

In any case, the author has not

been so

explicit as might have been desired as to the

soul-state of either of the

I

two

parties.

Some

people,

" immoral," because understand, have found the play " " short no sharp shock of retribution, overtakes the It is true that, so far as we can see, erring Vivien.

her prospects are rather brighter at the end of the

play than at the beginning
;

for

we gather

that this

time she really loves her lover, whereas all her previous troubles have arisen from her inability to love her

husband or any one but

chance of happiness
in her very

herself.

But the moral of

the play does not centre in her (highly problematical)

after the fall of the curtain, but

unmistakable misery during the progress If any young lady in the audience is of the action.

encouraged by the fortunes of Vivien Hereford to give the rein to her egoism and vanity, her case must be
still

more abnormal than

that of Vivien herself,

it.

and

-.daman cannot be held to account for

The
good
the

first

performance of

Modern Eve was only

passable.
deal,

The opening
and the
sat

act was suffered to drag a

restlessness of all the characters

way they

down and

got up

and crossed and

recrossed, as though dancing a sort of complicated

quadrille

became

in the long run irritating.

As the

play went

on Mrs Tree took firmer grasp of her

202
character,

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
and played with
last

1894.

real

scenes of the

act.

Mr

power the crucial Tree, in one of his

masterly make-ups, was excellent as Wargrave;

Mr

Fred Terry seemed to Eardley Hereford ; and

admirable as

me

unnecessarily
Lottie

stolid as

Miss

Venne was
the
-

Mrs

Mowbray Meryon, perhaps

and
successfully
It

most

closely

observed

projected

character in the play.

remains to be seen whether

Modern Eve has

quite

enough stamina

to

make

an enduring popular success ; but, be that as it may, it places beyond doubt Mr Salaman's talent for serious
dramatic writing, and encourages us to hope for even The production, as a stronger work from him.
whole, deserves to be recorded on the credit side of

managers would follow his example, and take the trouble to secure a trial hearing, under the best auspices, for plays of real
Tree's management.
If other
ability,

Mr

they would certainly find

it

to their ultimate

advantage, even though the immediate pecuniary return should be scanty. The discovery and en-

couragement of
manager.

talent

is

the

first

interest of every

"

MIRETTE."

203

XXIX.
" MIRETTE."
Pall Mall Budget,
1

2th July.

THERE

no manager in London to whom we owe more than we do to Mr D'Oyly Carte. When the time comes to sum up his career (distant be the
is

" He found day !) it may be done very briefly, thus comic opera leggy and inane, he left it clothed and its No doubt, like Toussaint in right mind."
:

" he had great L'Ouverture in Wordsworth's sonnet, allies." He could not have done much without
Gilbert

and Sullivan

but

what they have done without

would they have done Mr Carte ? I doubt it.

When
written

the inner-history of Savoy opera

comes

to be

(Mr Percy Fitzgerald, we may take it, professes no more than to have skimmed the surface), it will
probably be found to have sprung from a collaboraMr Carte may claim a tion, not of two, but of three.

good
witty,

third of our thanks for the series of ingenious,

and

beautiful entertainments which

have not

only

made

the

name

of the Savoy a household word,

but have carried the example of taste and refinement

into

every

corner

of

the

English-speaking

world.

Then, again, we have

a splendid
mity
(I
if

in the so-called

Palace Theatre
.the

melancholy monument to
its literal

magnaniCarte's

use the word in

artistic

sense) of

Mr

imagination and

ambition.

No

pusillanimous

204
spirit

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

'Tis

not in mortals to
all

could ever have conceived such an enterprise. command success, but Mr

that lay in his

Carte did

Gratitude, then, both for " favours to come," prepossesses us warmly in favour

power to deserve it. the past and for possible

of any entertainment to which

prestige of his name.

Mr

Carte lends the

Mirette? the new Savoy opera, by

Messager,
It
is
is

MM.

Carre*

and

by no means unworthy of
first

that

name.

from

to last a pretty,

innocent, tasteful,

sympathetic entertainment.
(I

To
it

the eye and the ear

it

speak as one of the unmusical)

is

is

charming
say
in-

throughout; to the mind

offensive?
inoffensive.

shall

we

Oh

yes, utterly, almost painfully, The scenery and costumes are of the
it

is

very best Savoy quality.

is

The

salon of the second act

no

less

graceful than gorgeous

the model of a

comic opera scene and the kermesse of the third act is put on the stage with marvellous spirit and Miss Maud Ellicott, in the title-part, completeness.
sings pleasantly

and unpretentiously, and goes through

the motions appropriate to her part with charming

amateurishness.

The same

description,

with

the

possible omission of the last epithet, applies to Mr Mr Courtice Scott Fishe as the handsome hero.

Pounds and Miss Florence Perry both sing and

act

* Reproduced (new version by "Adrian J ul X 3 August ii. Ross ") October 6 December 6.

205
well
;

Miss Rosina Brandram

is

as delightful as ever,

and

Mr

Walter Passmore
part.

is

genuinely funny in the

scenery,
pretty
dresses,

low -comedy

Bright

prettier faces, fluent

is

guiltless

and tuneful music (M. Messager of the vulgar and clangorous rhythms of

comic opera), good singing, and gentlemanly and ladylike acting all these are offered us at the Savoy; and what can we wish for more? I am
third-rate

sure "

thousands of playgoers
"
!

will

cheerfully answer

Nothing

Do I myself want anything more ? Well, I own I should not have objected to a little, ever so little,
interest of plot

and ingenuity of

situation.

M.

Carre,

the librettist,
simplicity

has perhaps over-estimated the childlike English

taste.

of our

The handsome

Count loves the Gipsy Maiden (she is not even a princess in disguise) and for her sake rejects his
high-born
betrothed.
is

For
by
his

moment
elegant

the

Gipsy
;

Maiden

attracted

person

but

presently her heart veers round to her faithful gipsy lover. She declines the Count with thanks, returns

him

to his betrothed

and

that

is all.

This seems to

me

a somewhat

acts.

Indeed

it

meagre story to spread over three is not, and does not pretend to be,

anything but an excuse for costumes, groupings, and There is a series of simple, familiar musical effects.

an immense amount

ol verse ot this quality

206

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
Though

1894.

Dance along with merry, merry song, the way be dark and long,
is

Ne'er a resting-place have we,

The world
set to

the

home

of the Zingari

what

(in

my

ignorance) I

am tempted

to call

Hungarian rhythms, with a free use of Castanet and It is all very agreetambourine in the orchestration.
able, as aforesaid, to eye

and

ear,

but one feels that

the intelligence
piece
is

is

placed on short commons.

The

to

be regarded,

Mr

Carte

tells

us, as opera

comique^ rather than opera bouffe, or what

we

usually

understand by comic opera.

But

is

vacuity of plot

and
I

situation essential to op'era comique ?

should be inclined to suggest to Mr Carte that, for the moment at any rate, romantic light opera is
played out.

La

Basoche^

for

example, was vastly

more ingenious and entertaining than Mirette ; yet It seems to me, as it never became really popular.
an outside observer, that the grand -opera theatres
are

absorbing

all

the

operas

comiques,

the

light

have any real stuff in them, and that musical theatres which are not prepared to
dramatic operas, that

compete with grand opera

selves to extravaganza (by

will

have to confine themI

which

mean work

of the

Gilbert
farce.

and Sullivan order) and to fantastic musical The dividing line between grand opera and
comedy.

light

opera no longer coincides with the dividing

line

between tragedy and

taken
to
itself

Grand

has

everything

dramatic,

opera whether

207
tragic or comic,

and has

left

to such theatres as the

Savoy the domain of fantasy and eccentricity. Why should not Mr Carte refine musical farce of the

Go-Bang and Morocco Bound type, as he formerly Heaven knows there is plenty refined comic opera ?
of

room

for refinement.

These were the

did gyrate
" as
I
I

reflections that
left

" within

my

brain
;

the Savoy the other night

little

but even as
before which

passed out, a

incident occurred

my contempt
;

for the

dramatic qualities
not over,

of Minttc stood abashed.

I

The opera was

act

blush to confess

indeed, the third

ladies
for

had not
the

long
pit

begun.
stairs,

Two

went before
train
;

me up
I

hurrying

and

heard one

remark to the other, " It's such a pity we have to I should have liked to know who she go, isn't it?
marries
"
!

Thus

the play, which to

me

was naught,
these
fair

was evidently of absorbing

playgoers.

interest

to

They could
I

scarcely tear themselves

away
free

from a theatre which

will

was leaving of

my own

and despite the remonstrances of conscience. There you have an example of the difference between
the
professional

play tabtcr

and the

theatre-loving

public.

208

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

XXX.
" BECKET."

\WiJuly.
Becket* revived
last

week

at the

Lyceum,

is

a mild
its

and
rules

dignified rebuke to apriorist

criticism, with

and formulas.

There

is
it

no
fails

rule that

it

does

not break, no formula that

It is

to set at naught.
its

rambling, disjointed, structureless;

processes

psychoit

logical

take place between the acts;

overrides history for the sake of an infantile love" interest ; its blank verse is undramatic," and its

humour

is

well,
it

unsophisticated.

In short,

it

is

nothing that
oughtn't.
all
it

Literally everything

ought to be, and everything that it for it is what most of

:

oughtn't to

be

a success.

It

delighted the

audience on the evening when I saw it the third of the revival. There was a genuine warmth in their
applause which did
expressed my charm cannot
teresting to

my
the

heart good,
All

for

it

entirely

own make
;

sentiments.

Miss

Terry's

Rosamond

scenes very in-

me but the nobility and pathos of Mr Becket are as irresistible as ever. This is Irving's undoubtedly one of his great achievements, an entirely beautiful

and memorable

creation.

The
it

verse
is

may be
*
Venice.

as

"undramauc"

as you please, but

a
oj

J u ^y 9-2O.

Last night of season, July 21, The Merchant

"LA FEMME DE CLAUDE."

delight to hear
I

2CQ

Mr

much

prefer Tennyson's

Irving speak "

it

and, for
"

my

part,

undramatic

verse to the

self-consciously

and spasmodically dramatic iambics

poets.

of

some other
organic
scenes,

Becket^ in

sum,

is

not a co-

herent,
historic

drama,

but a

series

of

animated
spoken,

beautifully

written, staged,

and acted.

XXXI.

"LA FEMME DE CLAUDE."*

THE announcement
is

of a play of Alexandre Dumas's

always a delight to me, not only, perhaps not mainly, because of the pleasure I promise myself in seeing it, but because it affords me an excuse for rereading the author's preface.
these
prefaces.

They

are incomparable,

There

is

vitality

and

character,

blood and nerve, in every line of them.

not a master-dramatist,
rhetorician.
is

If he

is

Dumas
may
the

is

at least a masterI

His

style

lack grace
really

take

it

he
of

not counted

among
but
it

great

writers

French prose

certainly lacks neither colour,

nor energy, nor copiousness, nor ease, nor eloquence.

can gossip like Thackeray and fulminate like Ruskin. Wit, irony and sophistry, urbanity and inSee note,
p. 177.

He

2IO
science,

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
fantasy

1894.
has
all

and

fanaticism

he

the

qualities of the

polemist and

some of the prophet.

Claude
a fifty-page

The
letter

preface to

La Femme

de

addressed to M. Cuvillier-Fleury might have been the product of a collaboration between Isaiah,
Tolstoi,

and Mr Bernard Shaw.

both the play and the

It is clear that in writing

preface

Dumas
own

verily

imagined himself to be of the

company of

the prophets.

He

had long ago created

God

in his

image, and naturally conceived him-

self as

standing in a peculiarly intimate relation to a

so created, and
peculiarly conversant with

divinity
its

intentions.

In the preface to

UAmi

des Femmes,

published in December 1869, he had unmasked the witcheries and villainies of Woman, formulated the
behests of
the
ladies

God

concerning her, and then, addressing

who

most

flagrantly
:

disregarded

these

" behests, he had perorated thus Every society which you dominate, be it under the name of La'is,
" or Marguerite Poppaea, or Dubarry [he did not add Gautier "], is a society on the point of falling to pieces
to

make room
affairs into

for another.

Whenever you
it

get

men
vile.

and

your clutches,

is

a sign that
are

affairs

are out
.
.

of joint,
.

and

that

men

growing

After you, there remains nothing but the

invasion of the barbarian, of the foreigner^ or of the

rabble"
in

Think of

it

December 1869,

to

These words were published be followed in September 1870

"LA FEMME DE CLAUDE."

by Sedan,
in

211
!

May

1871 by the

Commune
!

It

was

the straight tip for the double event

Even of the

prophet's most esteemed predecessors in vaticination,

how
resist

few had seen their orders executed with such

!

punctuality and despatch

"

Human

the opportunity for a triumphant I told you and La Femme de Claude was Dumas's way of In the meantime, the Terrible Year had saying it.
so
!

nature could not "

blood and

exalted his imagination, and had familiarised " " fire and the wild justice of war.

him with
France

seemed
within,

to

have

fallen a victim to reckless corruption

nefarious

conspiracy without.

The war

of

chassepot and petroleum had ceased, but the battles

of Sex and

Race were

still

raging their

fiercest.

The

prophet-patriot could neither be silent nor speak in the old ironic tone of the mere man-of-the-world.

Now,

if

ever,

was

the time

to

pontificate.

The

warring

forces
:

individuals

were too vast to be represented by they must be adumbrated in symbols.

The man

of the theatre, too, ever ready for a feat of

mastery, was fascinated

by the idea of applying

an experiment worth

to

larger purposes the simple machinery of the realistic

stage.
It

was

at

least

trying.

Of

all

these instincts

and motives, seething

together,

La Femme de Claude was the strange precipitate. It is the monument of a complex, overstrained mood a mood of exaltation, humiliation, exasperation, and
what seemed
like inspiration

scarcely,

one would

212
say,

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

a mood of perfect sanity. For the moment, Dumas " saw red." The result was undoubtedly a failure an honour-

able failure, worth a score of vulgar successes, but a

failure

none the
its

less.

The drama,
is

the story, apart

interest, and symbolism, with no great skill. to the end of developed Up the second act, indeed, if we take for granted the

from

of

mediocre

miraculous element in the personage of Cantagnac, there is nothing to object to in the structure of the
play
;

it is

simple and workmanlike enough.

In the

third act,

on the other hand, the confession of the

spying servant is perhaps the very weakest thing, from a technical point of view, that Dumas ever did. It is unmotived, ineffective, and useless; for Claude
declines to act
"

on information received

"

from such

a source, and his appearance on the scene in time for

the final shot
is

due

to

mere chance, or

rather, as

we

are given to understand, to a direct intervention of

Providence.

It is possible that

Edmee's confession

may have some symbolic value ; one might, at a pinch, interpret it in various ways ; but it is obscure as symbolism and execrable as drama.
scene of
all

Whether the

last

could be

made

management and

acting I

by better stagecannot tell; but it seems

effective

exceedingly doubtful.

murder, indeed, can never,

The properly speaking, conclude a modern play. of the story remains untold we want to very gist

"LA FEMME DE CLAUDE."

know
the verdict of the jury.
as

213

" Viens travailler!" says

curtain
falls

Claude to Antonin
symbolic
lesson
is

the

and the
But
if we human

doubtless complete.

take the slightest interest in the characters as

beings,

we cannot

help
to

" travail " assigned

wondering whether the Claude by an inappreciative

nature of

country

may

not

be

something in the
:

Of two things one either it is oakum-picking. certain that a jury would acquit him, or it is not If it is certain, what becomes of the daring certain.
and
is

originality of the

famous " Tue-la

converted,
established
it

"
!

The

author

preaching

to

the

buttressing, instead

of undermining, an

prejudice.
is

We

are

bound

to conclude, then, that

;

uncertain, even

improbable

and

in that case the

lie in

whole point, lesson,

the author's criticism

purport of the play, would

of the jury's verdict, his appeal, so to speak, from

social

law to transcendental justice.

not bring
11

down
"

his curtain

upon

^Eschylus did the " suppression "

of Clytemnestra by Orestes, though in that case the

Tue-la

the contrary, he actually put the

jury, advocates,

had proceeded from Apollo himself. On trial on the stage,

author of Alan's Wife * a long stride from ^schylus did not

and

all.

The

to
finish

make

his play with the killing of the

deformed

child.

He (somewhat mildly) criticised the But Augier's judgment of society upon that act.
indicated and
*

See Theatrical World, 1893,

P-

"4-

214

THEATRICAL WORLD OP

1894.

Manage

or rather breaks

(TOlympe, like La Femme de Claude, ends, " " le fameux off, with coup de pistolet
failure.

and has always been a

On

the realistic plane,

;

then, the
it

play leaves us

cold and dissatisfied

bolic plane ?

impress us on the symIf the personages are at all. Scarcely

does

too abstract to interest us as

are
at

the same time too

men and women, they much involved in the

trivialities

of real

life

to appeal to us as abstractions.

We

require something

more than the mere improand doings

at

bability of their sayings

to

remind us that

these are not

human

beings

all,

but apocalyptic

types and figures.

We

look for the mask and the

cothurnus, or, at the very least, for verse

It is

and music.

disconcerting to hear the type of the Eternal

say, "

Masculine

"You'll

take pot-luck with us

we

(though the ladies, indeed, may think the remark eminently characteristic of the Eternal

dine at one

Masculine); and when the symbol of the Infernal Feminine says, "Please send to the station for

my

luggage,"

congruity.

we are somehow conscious of an in"But how about The Master Builder?"

it

you ask. "Is not Pardon me! There

distinction

full

of similiar trivialities?"

is

a clear and very instructive

cases.

between the two

No

doubt Ibsen's

play contains
characters are

many symbolic

sub-intentions, but the

not themselves

symbols, nor

is

the

action an allegoric demonstration of a moral thesis.

"LA FEMME DE CLAUDE."

21$

dozen ingenious and detailed interpretations of the play have been put forward, in jest and in
earnest
;

but

if

you ask Ibsen which he intended, he

does not write a fifty-page preface to expound his allegory, but shrugs his shoulders, and begs you to
take your choice.

The

truth
at

is,

of course, that he

meant no
first,

definite allegory

all.

He
them

is

a creator

a symbolist only in the second place.

He

pro-

jected certain characters

story which, for
its

and

set

to act out a

own

sake, pleased his imagination.

The

story, no doubt, had a certain ethical bearing, and in many of its details one could not but recognise

a fragmentary and elusive symbolism, on which

it

is

artistic

even possible that the poet may have insisted, to the detriment of the work as a whole. But the

moves primarily on the purely-human plane, where nothing human need seem alien. Ibsen would be the last man to say, as Dumas does " In place
play
:

of setting

in

motion

purely

human

personages,

presented
entities in
like

absolute

incarnations,

essential

beings,

a word."

Ibsen, for one thing, has not,

direct
less

Dumas, the advantage of a

is

mandate from
temptation to
is

heaven, so that he

under the

dramatise a dogma.

And

the

result

that
it

The
will

Master Builder
scarcely

even those who most dislike

has none of the
fatal to

deny

this

frigidity, formality,

pedantry which arc

Finally

La

famine de Claude.

though with this dramatic criticism proper

2l6

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
it

1894.

has nothing to do

dogma

is

in

itself

worthless.

may be remarked that Dumas's From a grotesque

theology he deduces an inhuman and impracticable " If morality. you are an angel, and if you happen
to marry a

demon, and

if

the law refuses to release

" that you from her, you are at liberty to shoot her is the upshot of his teaching in this Observe, play.

he expressly stipulates for the angelic virtue of the he is to be the man " without marital executioner
sin"

who

(in the

gospel
first

according to

Dumas) was
in natural

authorised to cast the

stone at the erring woman.

Now,

as angels
this

and demons do not occur

literally

history,

doctrine,

accepted,

would be
to

simply inoperative.

But as he must be assumed

have meant his advice to apply

practical
result,
if

in the real world, its

any, could only be to encourage

less

men who were

the law
into

a great deal
their

than angels to take

against

own hands

women who

were a good deal less than demons. He is said to have avowed that with the passing of the divorce
" law the necessity for this wild justice upon
la

Bete"

passed away. But Claude, in the play, does not merely rid himself of a vicious wife he rids the
nation and the world of a noxious animal.

He

is

not so

much
If,

the outraged husband as the Saviour of

instead of shooting Csarine, he quietly

Society.

divorced her, he would merely set her free to spread Unless the corruption and ruin in wider circles.

"LA FEMME DE CLAUDE."

author has
divorce-law
grossly

misstated
the

his

case,

no

mere

can

abrogate

right

of

a godlike

personage such as Claude to wipe out a lady of whom he disapproves. The fact is, of course, that
the author has grossly misstated his case, and that his
morality
license
is

as fantastic as his fable.

Because reckless

the result,

mainly, of economic conditions

which he

totally ignores

has weakened the physical

and moral

our prophet must needs an impossible, inconceivable puritanism, against preach which all the forces of Nature and Society are in
fibre of society,

league.
fection
:

His doctrine
"

is

literally

Be

perfect,"

he

says,
is

a counsel of per" according to my

ideal of perfection, else there

either for the individual or for society."

no hope of salvation His ideal,

only a pseudo-

meanwhile,

has no

scientific,

but

theological sanction.
mits,

He

that

it

never has

been,

knows, and implicitly adand never will be,

realised

as

it

on any large scale in this world. Hence, seems to me, the essential immorality of his
for

work;
noted

the

preacher

of

inherently unrealisable
It
is

ideals is the worst

enemy

of progress.

to be
his

that

in

his

preface

Dumas draws
not

all

arguments

and

illustrations,

from

biology

or

anthropology,

but

from

theology
is

and
apt to

mythology.

n what he calls physiology

(see the preface to

degem
life,

LAmi des

ftrnmes) into something

in

very like palmistry.

His vaunted science of

218
a word,

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
is
little

1894.

more than a

superstition.

To

the

truly scientific thinker

he stands in the relation of the

astrologist to the astronomer.

Wearied

and

very

hoarse

on

the
all

first

night,

Madame
upon

Bernhardt

concentrated

her energies
act,

Ce*sarine's great scene in the

style.

second

which

she played in her best

M.

Guitry, as Claude,

was duly " austere and chilling," and M. Deval made an admirable Cantagnac.

XXXII.
"LITTLE JACK SHEPPARD."
"LOYAL."
i$th August.

IF you want to realise

late in the

how we have gone ahead

of

matter of burlesque, go and see Little Jack Sheppard* at the Gaiety. It will amuse you, mildly,

on

its

own account (you may

;

safely leave at the

end

of the second act

and

I don't

know

that

miss
first)

much
;

if,

as I did,

you
a

arrive at the
is

you will end of the

but
It

its

main

interest

historical rather than

yes,

actual.

belongs

to

defunct order of

suppose we must
does
not
is

say literature,
special
at
all.

since the language

provide any

term

for

literature

which

not

literature

We

have

almost

forgotten the time

when

the dialogue of a burlesque

in metre),

was necessarily in rhyme (not necessarily

*

August

II

September 29.

"LITTLE JACK SHEPPARD."

and when the poetics of the
every couplet,
if

art

demanded a pun

to

not to every hemistich.

This conit

vention lingers on in pantomime; but even there

is

moribund.

In the rhymed burlesques, too, what

silly

was absolutely too

to be

and sung.
ways

Inanity in the dialogue

spoken was set to music sank to imbecility

all that,

in the lyrics.

We

have changed

and

in

some

for the better.

We

no longer make any pretence

would put
a story; in we do not

of parodying
that respect, as

scarcely even of telling

George

Eliot

it,

" debase the moral currency."

We

ask for a certain

amount of point and cleverness in the lyrics, and from Mr "Adrian Ross" we get it. And for rhymed
inanity in the

dialogue
is

we have

substituted

prose

indecency, which " ment.

of course an

immense improveus,"

Such ribaldry would be impossible with

an American friend said to me, after witnessing one of our up-to-date and go-(bang)-ahead extravaganzas.

"Of

course!"
got

replied;

"you unfortunate people

and
are

haven't

Censorship,

crushed
public."

under the

tyranny of the

consequently decent-minded

In Little Jack Shcppard, to return to our immediate subject, the gallery puts in every here and " there an Oh " of good-humoured protest against a particularly monstrous pun, instead of chuckling over
!

the persistent attempts of a Divorce Court judge or

an Oriental potentate to
presence of ladies.

tell

an improper story

in the

The second

act of the burlesque

220
is

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

really diverting,

mainly by reason of the humours

in the part of Blueskin, formerly

of

Mr

Charles

Danby

played by the late

the concentrated

Mr

David James.

Mr Danby

is

essence of vulgarity, but that is what he sets out to be, and he attains his precisely

end

like

a comedian and an

artist.

Mr Seymour

Hicks, as Jonathan Wild, introduced an amazingly

and most
tramp

effectively grotesque impersonation of a a sort of demon-scarecrow which gave me

a very high opinion of his powers as a burlesque

artist.
it

My

opinion

fell

little

when

I learned that

was a close imitation of an episode in an American burlesque, entitled 1492 ; but even as an imitation it was For the very clever and well worth seeing.
rest,
fully,

Mr

Hicks worked hard, and not quite unsuccessto replace Mr Fred Leslie. Miss Jennie Preston,

Little Jack Sheppard, has to my thinking an unfortunate figure for " principal boy " characters, and I could not greatly admire her singing. But she

who played

has plenty of energy, pluck, and

certain

vitality,

and put a

amount of

serious dramatic force into

some

of her scenes

that

was not

ineffective.

She may

perhaps develop into a female Robson.

Terriss looked charming as Winifred

Miss Ellaline

nothing else to do; and

Mr

Willie

Wood, and had Ward and Miss

Florence Levey contributed some clever dancing. The last act wants a great deal of working-up and
pulling together.

"LOYAL."

221

The two-hundredth
comedietta by
It

night of The

New Boy

at the

Vaudeville was marked by the production of a

new

Mr H.
in

T. Johnson, entitled Loyal*

artless

sets

forth

very

fashion

one of the
II. after

thousand-and-one adventures of Charles

Battle of Worcester.

the

He

hides

in

an old manorwife of

house,

makes love
and
up
is

to the (strictly virtuous)

his host,

overheard by the indignant husband,

who

by refraining from running him through the body or giving him up to the
acts

to the title

Parliamentary dragoons.

could

tell

Mr

Johnson

the scene with the troopers not by any invention of my own, but really thrilling,

how he might have made

I

because
in

happen
it

to

know a most ingenious scene

fit

situation.

German As

play that would precisely

is,

into the

Mr Johnson
upon

is

content to treat

the passage in the key of comic opera,

for his

and

to rely

dramatic
I

effects

people saying to Charles,

"I wish
as I

were as near to the

at this

man

Charles Stuart

moment," and so forth. These you are rudimentary devices, but they amuse the unto

am

sophisticated.

Miss

Esme

Beringer played the wile

simply and pleasantly, and Mr Volpe was dignified " " husband. Mr T. Kingston as Charles as the loyal

was

sufficiently "blackavised,"

but not quite sufficiently

gallant

and

gay.
*

August 9

December

14.

222

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
XXXIII.
"

1894.

HOT WATER."
22nd August.

THE

revival

of

Hot Water*
the

at

the Criterion was audience, and

is

keenly relished by

first-night

indeed an excellent off-season entertainment.

It is

announced
This

presume in the absence of Mr Wyndham " from the French of MM. Meilhac and Hale"vy." as
I
is

precisely the form of

all

announcement

for

which

we have

been contending, but which

Mr Wyndham

scouted on former occasions as a gross injustice to the

French authors.

There would have been no harm,

however, in giving the adapter's name, for the piece is a good way "from the French of Meilhac and Halevy."

rumoured that the adapter was the a dramatic artificer of a class which
It is

late H. B. Farnie,
is

now, happily,

almost extinct.

What Mr
good

Farnie did, in this instance,

four,

was to suppress entirely one act out of the

to leave out a

and

third of the wit of the remainder.

show

simple operation in vulgar fractions, then, will that we have in Hot Water just one-half of La

Boule.

At the same

time, since

it

was judged neces-

sary to transfer the scene to England, I

that
least

do not know
;

Mr

Farnie could have done any better

and

at

he refrained,
*

for the best of all possible reasons,

15.

August isSeptember

"THE NEW WOMAN."

from
interpolating

223

any wit of

his

own.

The

trial

scene becomes three times more extravagant in English than it is in the original ; but its buffoonery is

screamingly funny, and

his

Mr
the

Blakeley finds one of

philoprogenitive judge.

very

best

parts

in
all

Mr Hawtrey
husband,
but

does
it

that can

be done with the

a

is

not

really

good

part;

it

loses greatly in

becoming a modern young man instead of the middle-aged bourgeois of the original. Mr Righton is amusing as Sir Philander Rose, and

good as the mischief-making valet. Clements makes a most imposing * Marietta, and Miss Edith Chester gets what she can out of a part which offers but scanty opportunities.
is

Mr

Valentine

Miss Miriam

XXXIV.

"THE NEW WOMAN."

"

THE FOUNDLING."
$th September.

THE

season of 1894-95 could scarcely have opened

better.

We

have in The

New Woman t

a live play, a

play which

movement, and which indicates real progress on the part of one of our ablest writers. There will, of course, be a reaction against
is

distinctly in the

Miss Edith Chester died November

iy

10.

performance

was Lady Orreyd

I

in

Her most note The Second Mrs

'l\in

jucray.
still

f Comedy, September

running.

224

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
first

1894.
shall all

the enthusiasm of the

night,

and we

have

a good

deal to

say about the

superficiality of the

character-drawing, the triviality of the satire, the defective construction of the last

two

acts.

But the

first-

night enthusiasm

is

explained away.
right alloy.
itself

It

an accomplished fact, not to be was genuine, spontaneous, of the

that the audience was enjoying
its

It

meant

to

the top of

bent;

it

meant, in a word,

success in despite of criticism.

What, then, did the

is

audience enjoy
acts of the

The answer
brilliant
skill

very simple

Two

most

dialogue,
;

and of

delicate,

unostentatious constructive

one act of vigorous

was

emotional drama ; and an

tory, illusory conclusion.

idyllic,

sympathetic, conciliageneral public

The

grateful for its two hours and a half of laughter and tears ; and we critics were perhaps not altogether dis-

pleased to find in The

New Woman
and good

"A

creature not too bright

For
It is

criticism's daily food."

" cannot be tema pity that the word " new senporarily banished from the English language It has tenced, say, to seven years' transportation.

become an unmitigated
counsel.
futile

nuisance, a mere darkener of

We

lose all sense of the reality of things in

discussions as to whether they are

"new"

or

old

the truth being, in

are neither or both, just as

almost every case, that they you choose to look at it.

But in

spite of Ecclesiastes

and

Mr Andrew

Lang,

''THE

NEW WOMAN."
is

225

aver and maintain that there

the sun
to wit, the

one new thing under

New

Grundy.

The

rejuvenes-

cence, one might almost say the renascence, of

Mr

Sydney Grundy
theatrical times.

is

one of the most hopeful signs of the Only a few years ago he seemed to

have

ambition to be incapable of rising higher than Scribe in theory, and capable of sinking When he was not simply infinitely lower in practice.
lost
all

purveying for the Adelphi public, he was wasting his talent on the trumpery ingenuities and sleights of

hand which passed for the acme of technical achievement in their time, but which we have long since
recognised
to

be

mere

theatrical

thimble-rigging.

Even

Fool's Paradise

and

both, were vitiated by their

it

White Lie, able plays ingenuity, which was not

never

is

quite ingenious enough.

Then,

all

of

a sudden, in Sowing the

ingenuity overboard, and

Wind,

Mr Grundy

threw

retold a simple old story

with such straightforward literary power, such genuine

human
The

feeling,

as to
is

make

it

new and

delightful.

New Woman
of plot

a further

move

in

the

same

direction.
plicity

Here we have an absolutely

depend upon

classic simlike

an action which does not,

Foot's Paradise,

criminal scheming and

counter-scheming, nor, like

White

Lie,

upon elabo-

mendacity, nor even, like Solving the Wind, upon the anagnorisis (to use the Aristotelian word) of a
long-lost child

by means of a strawberry-mark on the

r

226
left

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
arm.
In the

1894.

new

play the process of the action

depends entirely We have simply a man between two women who love him and to whom he is drawn by different sides of his
nature.

on the emotions of the characters.

In the

first

act the senses carry the

to
in plain

day
;

(yes,

that

is

what

it

comes

English)

in the

second act

intellect regains the

upper hand

in the
is

third act he realises that intellect without sense

just

as unsatisfying as sense without intellect

and
it

in the

fourth act the senses,

somewhat chastened
as, in

may

be,

finally reassert their sway,

the theatre, they are

bound

to do.

This

is

of course too definite and dia-

grammatic a
than Agnes
the fact to
is

scheme

Margery
;

is
it

no more
is

all

sense

all intellect

but

sufficiently near

show how

entirely the action proceeds from

is

within the characters, and

intrigue,

independent of external
True,

coincidence,

or

misunderstanding.

there are misunderstandings enough in the play, but

they are those misunderstandings of our

own

heart

and other people's which underlie and tragedies of existence.

Well,
then,

half the comedies

Mr Grundy
room
for

has thrown off his old

artificiality

of structure, and has adopted a technique

observation,

which leaves
analysis.

thought,

and

His next step

will

no doubt be

in the direc-

tion of a

hitherto
still

more searching character-study than he has attempted. In this respect The New Woman
a good
deal
to

leaves

be desired.

Gerald,

"TUP:
Margery,
masks.
I

NEW WOMAN."

227

and Mrs Sylvester are somewhat empty

have said that Agnes appeals to the intellectual side of Gerald's nature, because I take this to
he the author's intention; but, as a matter of fact, there is no proof that either she or Gerald has any

worry about, and we are at a loss whether to regard her as a really able and remarkable person,
intellect to

or simply as one of the phrase-making charlatans of

the
in
is

New-Womanhood,
little

differing

from the others only

being a

less grotesque.

As
in

for

Margery, she

by hypothesis a character of no great depth.

is

Her
accus-

function

simply to

embody

sympathetic form

those instincts and affections which

we

are
I

tomed

to regard as specifically

"

womanly."

think

Mr Grundy
plicated
his

has unduly simplified his task and com-

extraction.
typical

argument by making her of humble The case would have been much more
in life as her

had she been of the same rank

rival
;

husband and her

but then the author would

for her

have had to invent subtler touches to account

As it is, she really -citing on her husband's nerves. belongs to no social class her mental antecedents, as
;

it

were, are

left

utterly

undetermined.

Apart from
is

this,

her relation to (ierald in the second act

the
best

to

my

thinking "

thing

in

the play.

She has no

intelligence of love."

Nothing short of cruelty on

ruffle

her husband's part could

light-hearted egoism.

the serenity of her

tell

"

Why

did you not

me what

228
you were

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
suffering,

1894.

instead

of that

woman ?

"

she

her eyes are opened ; cries, very naturally, and there is, indeed, some lack of dignity and delicacy
at last

when

in

Gerald's outpouring to
it

Mrs

Sylvester.

But

it

does

not follow that

the

would have done any good to make

to

same complaint

Margery

herself,

in

any terms

that he could possibly have addressed to her.

He
his

had remonstrated with

her,

and she had treated

remonstrance as a joke. says the Button-Moulder

default of divining," " in Peer Gynl, the cloven"

;

"In

hoofed gentleman finds his best hook and poor of divination were very limited. Margery's powers
Richard Steele,

who knew

thing

or

two about
a speech

women, has sketched

word as
"

this very situation in

of Campley's in The Funeral.

Substitute
"

some such
following
:

" dense " for

"
gross

in

the

sentence, and you have Margery's case

to a nicety

There's something

so gross in the carriage of

some

wives (though they're honest too) that they lose their

husbands' hearts for faults which,

if

they have either

good nature or good breeding, they

tell

know

not
to

how

to

'em
is

of."

It

needed a shock

like that

which

she

in fact subjected to

make any impression on

Margery's stolid self-complacency.

And
is

the

moral

seems
she
a
I

to be

that even the

womanly woman, though

none the worse

may need no
little

other intelligence,

of the

intelletto

d amore.
j

wish

Mr Grundy

could have seen his way to

"THE NEW WOMAN."

enforce this moral
in

22Q
of four.

three

acts

instead

From

the beginning of the third act, both his grip

skill

of his subject and his technical

seem

to decline.

The
in

idea of placing the

crucial scenes of his pjay

Wargrave's drawing-room on a receptionwas curiously unhappy. In the first place, we night are astounded to find the said drawing-room almost
I^ady
exclusively peopled

with

the

"

new womanly
"all

"

set

whom
i

her ladyship loathes.

In

the second place,

the passionate

he publicity of the scene makes

discussions between the four leading characters sound

painfully unreal.

In the third place, there

is

a daring

and dangerous technical nonchalance in the way in which the performers in this quadrille come wandering on precisely when the figure happens
to

require

their

presence.

Fourthly,

and

lastly,

Margery's idea of making a scene in the presence of

I^idy

Wargrave's guests

is

both

unworthy of her
Seriously,

character
there
is

and

dramatically

ineffective.

no need

for a fourth act.

at

her awakening

the end
it

Margery has had of the second act the

;

patching-up of matters (for

infill
i

is at

best a pat< hing-up)

quite well have

1))'

<

ome

off in

the third.

It is

red

means of
I

a
I

part,

which,

confess,
lie

romantic scruple on Gerald's do not understand. Though

does not love Agnes, and tells her SO though their relations have all along Uvn entirely and though he let -Is his ln.ul VCCflQg la k platonii
that
.

he knows

230
to

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

Margery he chooses honour to Agnes, and is

life

to consider himself
willing,
if

bound
it,

in

she

demands
If

to
is

devote his

to being miserable with her.

This
felt

a ix)int of heroism quite

self

beyond me.
as
it

he

him-

bound

to feign love for her, his

conduct would be
is, it

conceivable, though
incoherent.

foolish

I think, too,

that

Mr

seems simply Grundy has missed

one of

his best

chances

in the

scene between the two

women

in the third act.

;

This might have been the

it is,

great scene of the -play

insignificant.

in fact, perfunctory

and

On

the

other

hand,

there

is

some
in
I

excellent writing in the scene between

Margery and
example,
last

Gerald.

What

truth

and pathos,

for

" Don't let the Margery's despairing cry, " hear from you be words defending her !

words

What, now, of the play as a satire? In the first place, it need scarcely be pointed out that Mr Grundy
has not succeeded in welding his satire and his drama
into one.

So

far as the
is

Agnes Sylvester
is

dramatic action is concerned, " She at all. not a " new woman

any

woman
;

of brains pitted against any

woman

of

beauty

and even her brains we have

largely to take

on

trust.

Her conduct

is

in

no wise conditioned by
"

" new morality. anything which even purports to be a So far as her relation to Gerald goes, she might be a

woman
is

of

fifty

or a hundred years ago.

The

fact of

their collaborating in a

book on the
is

ethics of marriage
;

the only thing that

new

in the situation

fifty

231
years ago she

would have found another excuse

for

meeting, just as she would have worn another style of

bonnet and done her hair

differently.

Mr Grundy
that there

may
is

say that

it

is

precisely his point to

show

proves

new woman ; but I think he nothing/lew in the more than he intends. If the substance is
its

"

"

always the same,

in

modes

are different

and we

find

Agnes Sylvester scarcely any of the differentiae by which we recognise the specifically " new woman."
There
remain,
then,

the

three

grotesques,

Enid

Bethune,

Victoria

Vivash,

and Dr Mary Bevan

I

amusing sketches, but scarcely elaborate enough to

raise the

play to the dignity of a satire.

it

should

prefer to call

an emotional comedy, eked out with

an abundantly
skit

witty,

good-humoured, and entertaining

Mr

phases of contemporary manners. Grundy's badinage is quite free from the implac-

upon

certain

able ferocity which mars that otherwise powerful

pathetic story,

and

George MunJtrillcs Husband

a satire
sure

with a vengeance.

But on one point

am

Mr
she

(irundy does the

"new woman"

cruel injustice

can smoke half a cigarette without being sick, and she would divine by the mere light of nature, even without
the aid of observation, that the
for the
gilt

tip

was designed

mouth and

not lor the mat< h.

.

Miss Winifred Kinery is charming as M.n. iv, and "lie it ally memorable- outburst of emotion in the
third
act.

Miss Alma Murray plays Mrs Sylvester

232
with

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

admirable delicacy and tact, and Miss Rose Leclercq shows just the right quality of dignified humour in the part of Lady Wargrave. Nothing could
possibly be better than

Mr

Cyril

Maude's Colonel

Cazenove, and
little

Mr

Stuart

Champion gave an amusing

It

sketch of a latter-day aesthete.

seemed

to

me

Fred Terry, as Gerald, and Mr J. G. as Captain Sylvester, were unduly declaGrahame, matory but the fault was perhaps partly Mr Grundy's
that both
;

Mr

placing his most emotional scenes in a drawingroom an " At Home."

in

during

Mr W.
with

J.

Hollo way has opened Terry's Theatre

a three-act farce by Messrs

W. Lestocq and
by Messrs Miss Ellis

E. M. Robson, entitled The Foundling* It was played

with
quite

unusual

spirit

and

vivacity

Charles
Jeffreys
first

Sydney Brough, and Miss Susie Vaughan, and met on the At night with a vociferously friendly reception.
I I

Groves

and

the refreshment bar, whither

resorted for that cup of

strong coffee which

often find necessary between

the acts of such an entertainment, I heard several " Another Charlie's Aunt or enthusiasts prophesying

New
but
I

Boy." Their enthusiasm was evidently genuine, have less faith in their prophetic powers. The piece
to

seemed
tives

me

and
*

situations of farce.

an extravagant jumble of all the old moIf it succeeds, it will be

in virtue

of the acting, not of the invention or dialogue.

August 30
October
26.

See note,

p. 240.

THE FATAL CARD."

XXXV.
"THE FATAL CARD."
1

233

2th September.

IT is a melancholy, yet consolatory, fact that in this world no one is indispensable. Nature repairs her
ravages with what one
punctuality,
hail a
part,

may almost

describe as callous

and

in the place

of a Pettitt departed
spot."
is

we

Chambers
I

arrived

and "on the

effusion.
It

For

my
I

hail

him with

years since

have spent so un-tedious an evening at the Adelphi as " Un-tedious" is that of Thursday last. perhaps not
a classical word
child improvises
it

is

the sort of

compound
f

that a

but no more positive term would

quite befit the occasion.

As a

rule, at

the Adelphi,
o'

one

is

very
at

much
:

in the

condition of Bird

Freedom

Sawin

church

"

Your dicky
I

sawrin' off your ears,

confess, long ceased

an* bilin' to be thru."

had,

to find in the

works of

Mr

Pettitt

and

his school even

that flicker of curiosity, that physical thrill of

sympathy

or horror, which really clever

melodrama

is

capable of

producing.
all

These playwrights had

I

entirely
;

renounced
that

attempts at

will

not say invention

were

too

much

to

demand

but even at novel combinations

of their stock

material.

They

told

tin-

same

story

and over again, imperturbably, implacably. Haddon 'hamhers, on the other hand, with
(

Mr
the

234

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

generous ardour of youth, has actually gone to some expense of imagination in constructing The Fatal

Card*
all
its

It is

not precisely a

new

story that he tells

;

but they are and effectively recombined, with a spirit ingeniously

elements are familiar enough

and conviction which have long been strangers

Adelphi stage.

to the

The Adelphi

public

is

probably the

most capricious and incalculable of all classes of playgoers, but if they do not rally in their thousands to

The Fatal Card one

content them.
of bustle
in

really

does not know what

will

The

first,

third,

and
is

fifth

acts are full

and excitement.
act,

There

a lynching scene

the

first

with "the dim Sierras far beyond

uplifting their minarets of snow,"

which touches the

The very summit of melodramatic picturesqueness. murder scene of the third act produces a highlysustained effect of nervous tension, which
is

precisely
last

what the drama of crime should aim

act every species of

at.

In the

"

profusion

the

thrill

up with lavish of an escape from pursuit, of a

thrill
is

"

piled

robbers' cavern, of a footprint in the sand (for the

wax vesta discovered on the

table

is

precisely analogous

to that footprint of Defoe's

which has so indelibly

impressed
thrill

itself

on the imagination of the world); the

gambling scene possible outbidden in excite6.

of a hand-to-hand struggle, of a heroic confronta-

tion of death, of a casting of lots (the

in

The Masqueraders
*

if

September

Still

running.

"THE FATAL CARD."

ment)
;

235

the

thrill

of waiting for an explosion, of a

finally,

recognition, a revulsion of feeling, and,

of the

explosion

itself,

on which no expense has been spared.

He must

indeed be a glutton of sensation who can

The intermediate acts the possibly "ask for more." second and fourth are idyllic in their tone, and given
over to the tender passion in
its

romantic and in

its

comic aspects. The audience was inclined

the
distinction, and" to

to disregard

look at the romantic love-

making from the comic point of view; but they probably enjoyed it all the more on that account.

These two

acts,

indeed, are

but

breathing-spaces
I

between the rounds.

Personally,

would

rather

breathe somewhere else than in the Adelphi during

their progress.

"roof-garden," on the

Why do not the Messrs Gatti start a New York system, to which one

could adjourn during the love scenes (especially the

comic love scenes) of melodrama, and whence one might be recalled by an electric bell in time for the
real fun, the

serious criticisms to offer

blood and dynamite ? I have only two on Messrs Chambers and

in

Steph< nvm's workmanship

this

play.

Firstly,

cannot
1

sec'

the smallest necessity tor the character of

is it

)olores

or

r<

des

after tin- first art.

M iss

Vane's presence

charming would leave no appreciable -up in the fabric ol the drama. Secondly, tin- authors are a trille pedantic in
\.
,

is

to the

but her abs-n e

their

adherence to that canon of melodrama which

236

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

declares that the baffling of the villain must always be

entrusted to the comic man.

This

is

a counsel of

expediency, excellent in

its

way, but not an immutable

decree, a categorical imperative.

Even

in the

Temple

of Coincidence,

where that long-armed deity may

little

naturally claim the amplest elbow-room, our sense of

probability puts in a

protest

when

the villain

throws the key of the mystery into the very backwater where the comic man for purposes of double
entendre
all,

happens to be bathing.

And

then, after
for
is
it,

the key unlocks nothing.

We

have no use

the lock being blown off with dynamite.

This
If

breach of the great law of economy.

Messrs

Chambers and Stephenson

Arte Poetica, modernise a
v.
little

will refer to
will

Horace,
written

De
I

352,
in

they

find

it

usum Adelphi
it."

"Let not the

a

long arm of coincidence intervene, unless there be

some

plausible occasion for

This

is

maxim

of

mere common-sense, which need not be disregarded even in melodrama.

Mr
how
why
usual.

Terriss,

as the hero,

is

as buoyant,

dashing,

handsome, and youthful as

ever.

He
I

seemed someto

to shy at the erotics of the part,

and

encourage

the gods in their irreverence.

really don't

know
than

the love-making was only a very

little sillier

Miss Millward made the most immaculate

amiable heroine ever presented to an Mr Murray Carson played one of

and

utterly

adoring public.

237
his

favourite

self-torturing

and

conscious-stricken

villains.

His physiognomy and his methods are alike

for this class of parts.

adapted

Mr W.

L. Abingdon's

impersonation of the
wise melodramatist
rriminal-in-chief,

lily-livered

ruffian,

whom
foil

the

will

always use as a

to his

was a powerful piece of grotesque

has the art of getting infinite
it

acting.

Mr Abingdon

expression out of his neckties, but

would heighten the verisimilitude of the murder scene if he would try

to

compose the paroxysms of

as
is

his cravat before sallying

forth with the stolen bonds.

Mr

Charles Fulton

is

excellent

the

miserly coupon -cutter

whose

sole

function
all its

to be

murdered; and the comic

is

relief, in

by

Mr

unspeakable vulgarity, conscientiously handled Harry Nicholls, Miss Laura Linden, and Miss

Sophie Larkin.

XXXVI.

"Tm: CHINAMAN." " LITTLE Miss "THE GAIETY GIRL."

igt/i

'CUTE."

September.
little

Tin; time has come,

"straight talk
"

venture to think, for a

farce.
will

on the subject of imbecile

The
pre
:

thing

is

getting

beyond a

joke.

Managers

sently frighten the sane public

away from their theatre

It

and the imbecile

not,
I

public, though doubtless large,

is

am

ronvinred, really a paying public.

an

238

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

ungracious task to quarrel with the innocent laughter of simple souls, and it is a task I am always chary of How much easier to record that " the undertaking. play was received by a crowded audience with every

token of approbation," and pass on with a shrug of the shoulders But, after all, one owes a certain duty
!

to the public, the managers,

and not

least,

perhaps, to

the farce-writers themselves.

for

One

has no right (and

my

part I have
farce,

no

inclination) altogether to look

down upon
and what
farce
is

and decline
is

criminate between what

execrable.

attempt to diswhat is tolerable, excellent, There are masterpieces of

all

no

less

than of tragedy

let

senting three very different styles,

me name, as repreLa Cagnotte, The

Pink Dominos, and Dandy Dick. Then there are farces of a somewhat lower order of workmanship, but embodying a really comic idea, whose popularity is
quite
natural,

legitimate,

and genuine.

Such are

Charley's Aunf, Niobe,

and The

New

Boy.

We

in

England have

lately developed a special knack of

turning out effective work of this second order, and

are beginning to pay back to

Germany, and even to But if the France, our borrowings of bygone days. and if not preexport trade in farces is to continue
a
national
glory,
it

cisely

is

at

least

no national

disgrace, as the import trade sometimes threatened to

we must prove that we know how to distinbetween comic invention and sheer brainless guish
become

"THE CHINAMAN.
extravagance, or, in a word, between
imbecility.
If

239

humour and

really paid its

one could even believe that imbecility way, one might be content, as aforesaid,
its

to leave

the imbecile public to

innocent enjoy-

ments.

But

am

convinced that

this is

seldom or

never the case, and that the authors are wasting their
time,

and the managers

is

their

money, who think

that

crass unreason

a marketable article.

How

often

do

ee a play produced, without a scintilla of talent in

conception, construction, or dialogue, laughed at by a " " first night audience, treated with indulgent friendly
geniality by the press, paragraphed, puffed, played at

Wednesday and Saturday matinees to meet the enormous demand for places and then softly and suddenly
vanishing after
a
!

month

or

so
if

into

the limbo of

forgotten inanities
to be a

Sometimes,
are

the author happens

his

man whose means

is

commensurate with
for the

vanity, the run

nights.
I

prolonged could even name one case in which a no

if I

round hundred

offensive than inept buffoonery ran,

rightly, for over a year.

recollect

But

if

the ingenious author

nett profits

had been obliged

uf that year's run,
th-

to live for a
I

week on the

ordeal in

he would have emerged from a sad state of emanation. Indeed, I fail

fear

to

remember a

single instance in

which a farce of

this

utterly abject order lias attained authentic popularity.

Seeing, then, that they

profit to

bring

neither

pleasure

nor

any one, why

.should they continue to

cumber

240

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

the ground, absorbing capital and energy that might

be a hundred times better employed? When I see the columns of advertisement which assert the gigantic
success of this or that unspeakable ineptitude,
I

am

reminded of a conversation which

heard a short

time ago. The interlocutors are A and B, a journalist and an acting-manager. A " I'm afraid you made a
terrible failure with So-and-so's piece ?
"

(sadly)
it."

"

Yes, that was an awful frost

we

lost

^2,000 by

A "And
Blank's,

what about the play

that

followed it-

you know?"

(with cheerful conviction}

;

Oh, that was a great success and had quite a run " Without prying unduly lost ,4,000 by that into the secrets of the treasury, we may be quite

"

we

sure that every season brings forth

its

crop of similar

" successes."

Mr John
*

Tresahar, author of The

Chinaman*
13.

at the

The Chinaman was produced September

On
:

21 and 22 the following advertisement appeared Owing to the immense success of The Chinaman, the Management will
r

September "

un it till further notice." "Further notice" was given on October 2: "Owing to previous arrangements, Last Night, Thursday next, at this theatre of The Chinaman. Due notice October 4 was the last night, and will be given of transfer." " notice of transfer." The Foundling, the world still awaits the at Terry's, was lavishly advertised and paragraphed as a brilliant matinees ; but success, and played at Wednesday and Saturday
j|t

the Opera Similarly Uncle's Ghost, produced at " " on great success Comique, January 7, was advertised as a on January 23. On January 20, and a "brilliant success"

had not got from the bills.

far

beyond

its

5oth performance,

when

it

vanished

"THE CHINAMAN."
Trafalgar
ability,

241

Square Theatre,

is

comedian of some

but as a dramatic author

for himself.

dent

in

well, let him speak Fenton, a briefless barrister, resiPercy the Maze, Hampstead, has written to the aunt

on

whom

his supplies

depend, informing her that he

has a flourishing practice, most of his clients being

what do you think?

assigned for this

Chinamen! and

that

he has
is

a Mandarin stopping in his house.

No

reason

moonstruck mendacity; it is absoOn the very day lutely gratuitous and motiveless. when his aunt unexpectedly returns from abroad, it
happens by pure chance that Percy's friend, the Hon. Harry Hampton, has put on a Mandarin's dress to go to a fancy ball, so that, of course, he has to enact the
celestial
visitor.
if

enough

The idea would have been silly Hampton had assumed the disguise on
;

purpose to personate the imaginary Mandarin

sented as a coincidence, the thing
is

repre-

mere lunacy.
just

Hampton, you must know, a married man, has

returned from a
little

trip

to

America, undertake n

without his wife's knowledge.

While

there,

he has

inadvrrtmtly
l-i-l.ruary

made an

offer of mania^i- to a circus-

offered

" brilliant 3, it ceased to IK: a BOCOm," Imt .still " two hours' fun !" On February 12 it was still hearty l>ut on the following ra Comi<|u< <l;iy the )|>t "to let on |.,w trims." For further illustrations of my argument
.

<

that there

is

no

niand
/,-,-,? />'////,/</

for

brainless fane,

let
,f

UK

to

the fete of

///,-

(Arti,
//

(Artul. NLI.),an.lof The

\.\vi.), 'rong Girl (Art

1,-

i-

1.

Truthful X A II.).
I

242
rider,

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
the Houp-la Girl,

1894.

who has

followed

him

to

England with her fire-eating father (what originality of

invention
!),

and now by pure chance turns up

at

Fenton's

house.

The
enable

principal

circus-girl is to

Mr

advantage of the Tresahar to work in the

scene of the interrupted can-can, indispensable in this

sort of farce

two or more people (one of them,

if

possible, a clergyman or a County Councillor) dancing a frenzied breakdown in front of the stage, while all

the other characters strike attitudes of stupefaction at

the back.

It is

always this scene that

;

is

represented
it

on the
stock.

six-sheet posters

the colour-printers keep

in

But do not imagine that

is

Mr

Tresahar's comic

invention
at all
!

exhausted by these gigantic efforts. Not You are further to understand that during her
in

husband's absence

America, Mrs

Hampton

has

been

in France,

and having there inherited a hand-

some

property, has, under the terms of the will, incon-

tinently

fallen in with a brother of hers, of

changed her name to Gratin. She has also whose existence

Hampton has never heard. He, too, has taken the name of his deceased relative (you can see from here the culinary pleasantries to which this name gives rise),
so that the brother
their return

and

sister present

themselves on

to

England

as

Monsieur and

Madame
in

Gratin.

Being, furthermore, of an exceedingly affec-

tionate

and

caressing

disposition,

they

indulge

frequent endearments

in the presence of

Mr Hampton

"THE CHINAMAN."
disguised as a
injurious

243
his
is
it

Mandarin, which

fill

mind with
not?
this

suspicions.

Exhilarating,
!

farrago of frigid absurdities

in the act

Conceive the author

!

of elucubrating them
for

Think of the

great

hit on the name moment, Gratin, and the idea of the inheritance and the

example, when he

unknown brother
" As when

These

are the high joys in which

the artist finds his reward

a great thought strikes along the brain, flushes all the cheek."

And

You may perhaps imagine

found to
sit

that since people could be

out and even to laugh at The Chinaman,

the dialogue must be better than the plot.

It
is

Not

at all!

quite of a piece

full

of the trumpery quips

and quibbles which the amateur playwright invariably mistakes for humour. The acting, then ? It is true
that clever
sort of

comedians sometimes succeed

in putting a

mechanical movement into plays of

this order.

That

is

the case with The Foundling at Terry's

not with The Chinaman.

middling

all

round.

The performance is c/v Miss Edith Kenward is vivacious

(.Mara

as the circus girl,

and Miss

boy with real humour.

heard.
at least
.

Mr

Jecks plays a Erank Wyatt's broken

j

English, on the other hand,

If

is

the very worst

era

Wyatt does not know French, he might take the trouble to listen for five minutes to a
English.

Mr

hman speaking

What, then, do the

people laugh at?

Well, there are a good

many worthy

244

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
world

1894.

folks in the

who

will either

laugh or cry with

perfect docility as soon as they clearly understand that

it

is

expected of them

especially

if

they are not

required to

pay

for their

amusement.
a theatre
;

But these are

not the people

who support

and we

critics

ought no longer to mistake them for the patrons who I am sure that we do harm to give the drama's laws.
the stage at large by our tacit conspiracy of tolerance.
I,

at

at

any rate, wash my hands of it, For the sake of record I mention the appearance " short-skirt the Royalty of an American artiste,"
in a

named Miss Hope Booth,

was
utterly futile,

C. T. Vincent, entitled Little

comedy Miss 'Cute* The

variety

"

"

by
play

figure,

and beyond a pretty face and a neat the performer seemed to have no particular
life

qualifications for the walk of

which she had chosen.

Neither her acting, her singing, nor her dancing was of

any account.

Miss Booth
as

is

said to be advertised in

her own country

"
'cute,

cunning, and curly."

This

which

eulogy she doubtless merits; and among a public is content with such qualities, she ought to

command

success.

The

acting in the play

was

Mr
I

only noteworthy piece of Ivan Watson's performance

of an Italian

villain.

wish

Mr
in

take a lesson from

Mr Watson

Frank Wyatt would broken English.

In The Gaiety Girl^ which has been removed to

*

September

14.

Does not seem

to

have been repeated.

"THE DERBY WINNER."

Daly's Theatre,*

245

Mr Rutland

Harry Monkhouse as Dr
tainly loses nothing

Briefly,

Barrington replaces Mr and the part cer-

exceedingly
pleasant

droll,

by the change. Mr Barrington is and Miss Kate Cutler makes a very

substitute for Miss

Decima Moore

as the

Doctor's

demure daughter.
on the
first

The

other changes in the

cast were,
I^etty

night,

unimportant, for Miss

Lind was
in

prevented
title- part.

by indisposition

from

appearing

the

Despite her absence,

the piece went enormously with the

crowded house.

There

is

no doubt

that this class of play has

become

a social

institution, the history of which will one day form a curious study. This is the real New Drama, and it has brought its own New Journalism in its train.

But

have at present neither time nor space

for philo-

sophising.

XXXVII.

"THK DKRBY WINNER."

COMPANY.
l\ill

THE GERMAN

Mall Hudgci, 2oth September.

for

THI-.KI
1

are

some people, no doubt,

whom

the

rhurm of the new Drury Lane play resides in its chariots and its horses. Not so for me. I can work
uj>

but a mediocre interest

in

the uncomfortable
for

and

undeceptive scrambles which pass

*

races on the

See note,

p. 59.

246
stage.
I

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
don't

1894.

know which
;

are the

more uneasy, the

quadrupeds or the bipeds

nervousness invariably takes hold on me.

pleasure of seeing Miss Hetty
cart

and the contagion of their Even the

Dene

in

a governess-

and Miss Beatrice Lamb

in

in a two-horse victoria

does not,

my

case,

amount

to rapture.

All this

equine business is probably better done in The Derby Winner* than it ever was before. The stage is laid
with

some
clatter

imitation sward which effectually deadens

the

of

the

horses'

furthers the illusion.

and immensely went with perfect Everything

hoofs,
in

smoothness, except the great race at the close,

which the favourite somehow romped in last instead of first. That, of course, was a mere accident
favourites will

do these

things.

In

all

other respects,
absolute

the

four-footed

performers

behaved with

propriety,

and even played

Yet
it

their parts with consider-

able

spirit.

was not the

Houyhnhnms

that

charmed me and held me spell-bound in my seat from f mv own race, a. Yahoo It was one 7.30 to 11.45.
and a brother.
In a word,
it

was the

villain.

He
I

is

a villain and no mistake

a colossal specimen

of his tenebrous tribe.

lago

is

a pigmy in comparison.

have known, in melodrama, more intrepid scoundrels villains who held on undaunted against more over-

September
22.

15
Still

December
running.

15.

Reproduced

Princess's

December

"Till:

DKKUV WINNER."
for far-seeing

247

whelming odds.*
fertility

But

machination, for
all-

of resource, for coolness, callousness, and

this

round cussedness, and no superiors.

He

Major Mostyn has few equals has, as he himself puts it, an

;

astounding number of irons in the fire and if, in the end, they all of them burn his fingers, we feel that

though he has not commanded success, he has done more he has deserved it. To me, I confess, there
is

something depressing
In

in

the contemplation of his

I

discomfiture.

my

heart of hearts,

accuse Sir

Augustus Harris and his collaborators of gratuitous pessimism in representing that so Napoleonic a knave,
surrounded by such amazing fools, could not even manage to win the Derby. I call it immoral thus to
sacrifice intellect, courage,

and indefatigable industry

It

to

mere

brainless,

stolid respectability.

suggests

the alteration of a single

word

in a

well-known couplet

of

Mr

Kipling's " Ride fast who cares, shoot straight who can, The odds are on the weaker man.'
:
;

.et

us try to unravel

some of the threads of Major

Mostyn's machinations.
view
wife,
:

He

has two main objects in

to possess himself of the Earl of Desborough's

Muriel,

and the Earl of Desborough's

failing
in

horse,

Clipstone, or,

the latter point, to prevent

Clipstone from winning the Derby.

i-t

How,

then, does

about

it?

He begins
villain of

by lending the Earl a large

AY;/.,-.

For insl.mce, the

The Colton

Sec

Arti.

248

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.
is

sum

of money, and so obtaining a lien (this

;

very

your old-fashioned playwright would simply have called it a mortgage) on that nobleman's This is Thread No. i. Then, in a leisure property. unconventional

moment,

he betrays the
don't

Earl's

nursery-governess.
this,

Perhaps you
suspect

see

the

purpose of

and

him

of yielding to

an impulse of the
villain.

heart,

unworthy of a self-respecting
the Major.

You

little

know
2,

Not only

is

the seduction Thread No.

but

it

branches into two, or even three, subsidiary

threads of vast importance.

The

nursery-governess

is

the daughter of the Earl's trainer, and the sweetheart

of his favourite jockey, the one

Clipstone to victory.

man who can

ride

begin to see the Major's ? He tells the jockey that the Earl has betrayed game his sweetheart, and the Earl that the jockey has

You

behaved

like

a scoundrel to his esteemed nursery-

governess, thus leading the Earl to dismiss the jockey,

and the jockey

tells

to conceive
2,

an implacable hatred
b).

for

the Earl (Thread No.

a and

Furthermore, he

the trainer that the Earl has dishonoured his

tries

grey hairs, and

to induce him, in

revenge, to
2, c)

hocus Clipstone.
into

It is true that this

thread (No.

leads to nothing, for the villain has neglected to take

account

the

inflexible
!

probity

of

all

(stage)

trainers.

But no matter
the attempt.
I

He

was

logically

bound

to

make

And now

bethink

me

there

is

a fourth branch

249
(</)

to

Thread

No.

2.

The

Earl,

to

whom

the

nursery-governess has confided her misfortune (naming

no names), has
under
trainer),

written her a
letter

most sympathetic and any gentleman would,

the

even affectionate

(as

the circumstances,

to

which comes into the

villain's

daughter of his You hands.

Countess, and
to the jockey

might suppose that he would pass it on to the tell her the same lie which he has told

and the

trainer

but this would show a

spirit.

parsimony of invention unworthy of so great a

You

are to

know (and

here we

come upon Thread

No. 3) that a former mistress of the Earl's, Vivien >arville by name and eke by nature, has arrived at
I

his ancestral

hall.

The

Earl has just begun a letter

to her, requesting her to betake herself elsewhere,

she,

when

him

thereto by the Major, swoops down upon an electric blue tea-gown, and there ensues a midnight scene of tears and reproaches, at which the
in

moved

Major takes care that the Countess

shall assist unseen.

Then he
"

My

jicks up the unfinished note, beginning, dear Vivien," pieces this exordium on to the
letter

effusive

to

the

nursery-governess,
to

shows the

composite document

the

Countess,

and

thus

determines her to take the midnight express to King's Cross, without even waiting to change the tail dress
1

in

which she happens

2

to

be attired.

Thus

is

Thiv.id

No.

ingeniously and
3.

effectively intertwined with

Thread No.

250

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

The Countess who so imprudently Francillonizes does not care one straw for Major Mostyn but, her in his power, he is determined to stick having got
;

at nothing,

tremble to think what might have happened in Act iii., scene i, had the villain had to
I

and

deal with a less able-bodied heroine than Miss Beatrice

Lamb,

or even

had the Earl battered

at the

door a

few minutes

later.

divorce suit naturally ensues,

while the villain forecloses his lien (Thread No. i)

I

am

not responsible for the legal terms

and com-

pels the selling-up of the Earl's stable.

sporting

Duchess buys in Clipstone, and forces the Major to fall back upon Thread No. 2, #, />, and c, in his quest
of the Blue

Ribbon of the Turf.

Failing

in

his

attempt to hocus Clipstone, he hocusses the jockey who is to ride him and it is only by a malicious
;

intervention of Providence that

b,

Thread No.

2,

a and

breaks

down

at

the very last

moment, and the

nursery-governess's sweetheart, resuming his allegiance

to

the

Earl,

brings

Clipstone

triumphantly to the

winning-post.

Was

not right in protesting against the pestilent

this

pessimism of

conclusion?

Do

we, in real

life,

see courage, dexterity, and perseverance thus baffled and put to shame by mere inert stupidity ? I say we do not. Major Mostyn ought, by rights, to have won

both the Countess and the Derby and I adjure any gentleman who feels within himself a true vocation
;

251
towards villainy not to be deterred from that spirited by the gloomy misrepresentations of Messrs
Harris,

career

Raleigh,

and Hamilton.

The

battle

is

not

ahvay to the weak,

every one,
it

nor the race to the slow.

Not

can boast Major Mostyn's commanding genius; but who would baulk a real talent for music (let us say) merely because he despaired of
is

true,

rivalling

Wagner?
I

When

remember the

delight

with which
night,
I

watched the Major at work on Saturday cannot sufficiently deprecate any undue dis-

An American critic has couragement of villainy. recently been bragging of the banishment of the
villain

What

will

from the popular dramas of his native land. not your true-born American wrest into a
?

subject for self-gratulation

If

he knew how

little

we envy him

this fancied superiority,

and how fondly

!

and admiringly we cling to our traitor Abolish the and where would The Derby Winner be ? villain, Why, nowhere! Spectacular drama would cease to
i, Sir Augustus Harris would abandon the National Theatre to its fate, and the stage would go (from the Ixjt us make no mistake about horses) to the dogs.

it

the villain

is

our ultimate

bulwark against the

encroachments of Ibsmism.
I

!><:<!

have not yet had an opportunity of visiting the " Theater in Ix>ndon at the Opera

Comique, but a list of the company has reached me, which keenly arouses my curiosity. It appears that

2$2

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.
to call

the partition of emplois, of what

we used

" lines

of business,"
stage.

still

obtains very definitely on the

German

Every member
down.

of the

special line laid

company has his or her Herr C?esar Beck is Erster

hero

Held und Liebhaber

Georgine
(first

(first

and

lover),

Frl.

Vande*

is

Erste Heldin

und Liebhaberin

heroine and loveress). Then we have a "youthful " hero and lover," a singing lover," a "bashful lover,"

a "character comedian," two "first youthful come" " first character-actor," and a dians," a heavy
father
is

"

(Hddevater).

regret to observe that there

no Schurk, or

villain

fact

which seems to

indicate

some

relaxation of moral fibre in the

drama

of the Fatherland.
Still

more

nicely discriminated are the

employments
"

of the ladies.

After the "

first

heroine and loveress

comes a

"first sentimental loveress" (the heroine,

is

we

may
"

conclude,

strictly

practical

possibly a
"

New
one
naive

Woman).
loveress."

Then we have two

"first soubrettes,"

second soubrette," and a

first

and second
list,

The

next personage on the

however
"

delightful in

herself,

makes us look with some conShe

is

sternation

upon her predecessors.

loveress
"

first
\

youthful

(Erste jugendliche Liebhaberin}

This somehow suggests an ascending scale of seniority "youthful loveress," say 18, "naive loveress," 28,
*

This lady did not appear, her place being taken by

Frl.

Eleanore von Driller.

"GRAF WALDEMAR."
" " sentimental loveress," 38, and
loveress
clines
"
first

253
heroine and

but no

the imagination falters and de-

go any further. At this rate we should have some difficulty in distinguishing between probably the first lady on the loll and the last, who is somewhat
to

crudely

set

down

as

KomiscJie

Alte

"comic old

woman."

XXXVIII.

"GRAF WALDEMAR."
Athenaum, 22nd September.

A RATHKR

ill-considered

attempt
"

to

establish

" Deutsches Theater in

London

has been

made

by a company under the direction of Herr Charles The past ten years have witnessed a F. Maurice.
distinct renascence of dramatic art in

Germany, and
company, pro-

there

is

no doubt

that a well-selected

ducing, with adequate scenery and appointments, the

works of Sudermann, Hauptmann, Max Halbe, or Otto Hartleben, would command a good deal of interest

London, but among English playgoers of intelligence and culture. At the Opera Comique, unfortunately, no effect ive It would aj. peal is made to any class or nationality.
not only
residents in
tax
tlit

among German

most devoted patriotism to

sit

out such a
with

performance as that of Kreita-'s

*

Graf Waldemar*

SeptcmU'r
ilate

15.

As none of these German

tin-

than thrrr or four nights, it will IKof j>ro<liKtion. The ix.-rformanccs

|>la\. i.m i,. r sulliru -nl it I nu-ntion

were ultimately

254

THEATRICAL WORLD OF 1894

which the season opened. The drama, produced in 1847, was a strong one in its day, and in Germany, But the general perhaps, its day is not yet over.

European movement has

ideals of the
it

left

it

far

behind.
"

The
world-

"

Sturm-und-Drang Periode
Graf Waldemar, the
is

survive in

unabashed.

cynical,

weary, dare-devil voluptuary, of Karl

a lineal descendant
Classical

Moor, of Die Riiuber.

"

English

contains no terms to characterise him, but the slang

word

To

draws his portrait find his analogues in our own

"

bounder

at a single stroke.

literature

we must
Arthur
a

go to the works of Ouida and to

Jones's

Mr Henry

Duke
spirit

of Guisebury,
in

who would

greet

congenial

the high-well-born Graf Schenk.

Yet throughout the whole of the romantic intrigue, our sympathy is enlisted in behalf of this swaggering
personage, and his conversion through the influence
of the angelic heroine, the beautiful daughter of the
virtuous

market-gardener,

is,

of course, a foregone
short,

conclusion.
assassins

The
its

play,

in

with

its

hired

and

mysterious Russian princess,

who
is

turns out to be a cast-off mistress of the Count's,

hopelessly

old-fashioned,

and not

to

be redeemed

from tediousness save by acting which shall bring

out
to

the

full

its

not

inconsiderable

vigour

of

transferred to the Royalty Theatre, a season of comic opera was attempted with small success, and the enterprise came to an end
in

January 1895.

"GRAF WALDEMAR."
dialogue

255

The performance at the was not only haphazard, but spiritOpera Comique It would be unjust to dwell on its ludicrous less.
and
situation.

scenic deficiencies.
control

of the

They were doubtless beyond the management, who may fairly have

expected to find the theatre better supplied with Wherever stock scenery than was actually the case.
the
fault

may

lie,

the fact remains that the dingy

for scenery

makeshifts which served

were destructive

of

all

illusion.

pressed
certain
it

by the
is

Perhaps the actors, too, were deshabbiness of the appointments;

little

that they put

conviction into their

work.

Herr Caesar Beck, who played Graf Waldemar,

brilliant, fascinating,

did not attempt to represent the

ironic

and Byronic Don Juan, but made up

like

an

Australian squatter, with a beard half a yard long,

and was throughout heavy,

stolid,

sentimental,

and

utterly devoid of that personal magnetism which can alone render such a character comprehensible.
I-'raulein

Eleonore von Driller played Gertrude with

Kraulcin
as

pleasant sincerity and with a good deal of technical

skill
;

hut

Milli

Elsinger

the

Princess

seemed

to have

no

qualifications for the part except

good looks and goodwill

amateurish.
best passable

her playing was absolutely

The
and

other

members of the
a

cast \\viv at

at worst grotesque

an epithet which

applies

in

particular

to

mature and well-grown

lady compelled by an unkind destiny to represent a

boy of seven.

256

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
XXXIX.
"

1894.

DER PFARRER VON KIRCHFELD."

26th September.

THERE

is

capital

stuff in

the

German company
it is

at

present appearing at the Opera Comique, but

not

seen to the best advantage under existing circumstances.

When

the

bill

is

changed every second

;

night, the plays can at best be but half rehearsed

and the scenic appointments of the theatre are of the most beggarly description. The performances take
one back
cial

to the

stock

good or bad old days of the provincompany days of tattered and threadbare
;

scenery and
the

ill-fitting

wigs; days
in

when

the voice of
It
is

prompter was loud

the land.

almost

refreshing, after the carefully-upholstered,

clockwork

performances to which we are nowadays accustomed,

to see dramatic expression reduced, as
it

were, to

its

elements, and deprived of all external and adventitious One may even admit that it is aids and attractions.
greatly to the credit of our visitors that they should

contrive to acquit themselves as they

are
all

do when they

the time straining to hear the prompter, who,

hutch in the middle of the stage, reads the text But right through, from the first word to the last.
in his
this is certainly not the

way

to

do

full justice

either to

the author or to the actor's

own

talent.

Perhaps,

"DER PFARRER VON KIRCHFELD."

when
the

257

existence of a

German colony has fully awakened to the German theatre in our midst, Herr
will

Director
longer,

Maurice
to give

be able to run
to

his

pieces

and

more attention

mounting and

rehearsal.

The

only important production of the past week

was Ludwig Anxengruber's " Volksstiick mit Gesang " Der Pfarnr von Kirch/fid.* The playbill should
have said " ohne Gesang," for the musical element was discreetly reduced to a minimum being
rather

thus rendered co-extensive with the vocal talent of

the company.

Of Anxengruber's work
at

cannot as

yet write with any confidence, for there are

no

play-

books on

sale

the

theatre

(the

policy

of the

management
public),

being, apparently, to discourage as

much

as possible the attendance of the

English-speaking
dialect baffled

and the Bavarian or Tyrolese

me

a good deal. However, a fellow-journalist of nan nationality kindly explained to me the main lines of the plot, and I was able to follow the later
acts pretty closely.

The

play

seemed

to

me

strong in

motive, inartificial in construction, simple and forcible

in

dialogue.

useful

The account of it given in Klaar's handbook, Das moderns Drama, appears to

just.

be eminently
critic,

"It has for

its

subject," says the

"the outward and inward

priest,

struggles of a nol>le

and devoted

the outward battle which a pastor

258
full

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

of his purely ethical mission, has to carry on against dogmatic bigotry, the inward battle induced
in the soul of a celibate priest

by a deep and pure

love for a

woman.

The

figures of this

drama are

drawn with convincing truth and with the deepest

intensity of feeling.
particular,

The
is

embittered Wurzelsepp in

who

is

rescued by love from his God-and-

world-hating pessimism,
terisation.

a masterpiece of charac" Der Pfarrer But," Herr Klaar continues,

von Kirchfeld does not mark the summit of Anzengruber's achievement.

Now

and

then, especially in

passages where the tendency is too pronounced, the play reminds us of the more unsophisticated forms of
the
Volksstiick.

Anzengruber's second play, on the

Meineidbauer^
is

other hand,

Der

model of the

concentrated,

classical

peasant-tragedy."
this

We
I

are

promised Der Meineidbauer

(with

week, and

hope

the aid
it

of the

British

Museum
I

Library) to
its

appreciate
cessor.

more thoroughly than In the meantime let me say

ideal

did

prede-

that

Herr Caesar

Beck seemed an

"

Pfarrer von Kirchfeld," full

of dignity, tenderness, and unction; that Herr

Max
von
with

Weilenbeck,

in the part of

Wurzelsepp, proved himself

;

a most able character-actor

Driller

that Frl. Eleanore

played

simplicity,

Thomann

peasant heroine, Anna, charm, and feeling; and that Frau Heinoldwas excellent as the Pastor's housekeeper,

the

old Brigitte.

The

other two productions of the week

"ODETTE."
were quite unimportant.
pleasant farcical

259
Tilli*
is

Franz Stahl's

a
;

while Robert

comedy und Bertram^

of no literary significance

oder die lustigen

Vaga-

bonden^ by Gustav Ra'der, is an enormous buffoonery, without plot or coherence of any sort a sort of It was like a dramatisation harlequinade in four acts.
of some of the farcical adventures in the Miinchener
Jiilderbogen interspersed with copious selections from

the

Dentscher

Liederschatz.

extravagance,

however,

it

By dint of became really,

colossal

though

somewhat

fitfully,

amusing.

XL.
"

ODETTE."" CLAUDE DUVAL."

MEINEIDBAUER."

"

DER

yd October.
in Paris nor in London, on its first prowas Sardou's Odette\ a frank success. Mr duction,

NEITHER

Bancroft describes

its

career at

the
in
it

Haymarket
the

as

"aggravating" but the public

decidedly.
first

it

was profitable
never

long-run,

took

to

cordially
I

and

On
I

Saturday night,

when

saw

it

for the

time,

discovered the reason of this lukewarmto impart

it

ness,
it

and am now prepared

concern.

to

whom
Odette

may

People did not

t

much

like
22.

S.-|.t.-inI..T
1

'3-

260

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

because Odette was a very bad play. I don't know I should have made this remarkable that discovery

had
\

seen

it

at the

Haymarket on

April 25th, 1882,

with

Madame Modjeska
Mr
Bancroft
all,

in the title-part,

mounted and
skill

stage-managed with the sumptuousness and

of

which

may

almost be called the inventor,

with the gloss of novelty upon it. But at the Princess's, the play was divested of every external and adventitious charm. One saw the bare

and, above

it

bones of the thing, and a miserable, rickety skeleton What struck me most was its hoary made.

antiquity of subject

and
this

style.

and again whether listening to, and not rather some resuscitated drama
was indeed Sardou that
of Kotzebue's a companion-piece to The Stranger.

asked myself again I was

Perhaps the curious conventionality and staginess of the

English dialogue had something to do with this effect, to which, also, the robust sentimentality of Mr Charles

Warner's method
It

may

doubtless

have contributed.

would be interesting to know how much there is of Sardou in that long speech of Lord Henry Trevene's
to his daughter, at the
in the clear
star,"

end of the second

act

"
:

And

blyew skyeye there trembled a pale gold

It

&c.

must be admitted,

too, that in France,

before the divorce law, the play had a certain relevance

as a

mere pamphlet, which it totally lacks in England, where the hero has to be endowed with special and intransigeant views on the indissolubility of marriage

"ODETTE."
(I

26l
it

presume he
all.

is

Roman

Catholic, though

is

not explicitly stated) in order that there

play at

may

be any

England, the hero imposes on himself the very disability which the law imposed on him in France, and against which it was the author's
Thus,
in

purpose to protest.
allowance

But when we have made every

have, so far as possible, recon-

when we

structed the original play,

and replaced
It

it

in

Paris,

and
and

in

1881

it

remains an almost incredibly empty

possesses
all

unintelligent production.

Sardou's

limitations, with scarcely

any of his qualities.

it

In one

respect

it

is

instructive, for

shows what a mistake

complaining of the tricks and ingenuities of Sardou's ordinary manner, in such plays as Les
in

we make

Pattes de

Mouche^

Dora (Diplomacy), and

if

fedora.

We

are apt to write as though,

refrain

from
to

feats

Sardou would only of legerdemain, he might be exsolid,

pected

produce strong, simple,

genuinely

human
all

plays.

No
is

expectation could be more ground-

Here

a play in which he
all

has

renounced
all

sleight-of-hand,

scrap-of-paper-hunting,

com-

The plot can be told in three plicated wire-pulling. and any man of the most ordinary theatrical sentences,
sense could have constructed the scenario just as well
as Sardou.

There

is

no ostentatious cleverness to
its

vex our souls; and what do we find in

U'hy, nothing

stead?

absolutely nothing

neither simplicity

of style, nor solidity of character, nor depth of ethical

262
insight.

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

Never was there a play which appealed more exclusively to our ready-made and stereotyped
moral judgments, apart from all consideration of individual circumstances. Odette is simply the " Bad adulteress in the abstract, and as such ticketed

Woman,"
the

without the least study or suggestion of

causes

and circumstances, the

of her case.

palliations

or

aggravations,

What

is

her

character?

merely perverse ? What is her relation to her husband? Why has their marriage
Is she passionate or

broken down
first act, I

judge by his proceedings in the think there is a great deal to be said for
? I

To

Odette, and the part of her conduct which

can

most unhesitatingly
hypocritical

condemn
As
for

is

that

gratuitously
after
is

telegram.

her

life

her

husband has turned her out of doors, it what was to be expected, and he is the

precisely

last

person

who

has any right to reproach her. Then, in the end, we are treated to a sudden effervescence of
conventional and

unanalysed, undifferentiated

ready-made maternal sentiment, one of those sickening

scenes in which the good old voix du sang utters itself in a flood of lachrymose mendacity, and the
"

innocence

"

of a young
is

girl

(who

is

old enough to

know

better)

respected throughout a series of cruel

intelligence.

insults

to

her

What

is

particularly
is

astonishing in this work

of the astute Sardou

his

total neglect of that first principle of theatrical sagacity

"

ODETTE."

263
resting-

which bids the dramatist always to provide a

place for the sympathies of the audience.

We

are

not even asked to sympathise with either the husband

or the wife in this unhappy matrimonial complication.

Up

to the very last, they vie with

each other in the

senseless egoism of their conduct.

On

the whole,

it

appears as though the author expected us to bestow

a qualified admiration upon the husband ; and yet the one point in the whole course of the play at

which we can heartily approve anything said or done by either of them, is the point where Odette, by way
of adieu, flings the word
"

Lache

"
!

in his face.
in the

No,

no

if

this is all

Sardou can achieve

way of

drama, he did wisely in returning to his conjuring-tricks, which are evidently the very essence As the curtain fell on Saturday night, of his talent.
serious

up to the surface of my and expressed to a nicety my sentiments of memory, " Mais il ne the moment pense pas, mais il n'e*crit il est de rien creer de solide et pas, mais incapable
:

a sentence of Zola's floated

de vivant."

Of Mrs Anna Ruppert's performance

part, I

of the

title-

need only say that

could not discover

in

it

those high qualifications for her

other critics have discerned.
fairly

new

calling which

She seemed
of

to

me

intelligent

amateur,

possessed

certain

amount of
by the

force

and

feeling,
it

but sadly handicapped

?

how

shall I phrase

the extreme exiguity

264

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
Of Mr
Charles

1894.

of her physique.
already spoken.

Warner

have

Mr

Bernard Gould and

Mr

Herbert

Flemming were good in accessory characters, and Miss Ettie Williams showed grace and simplicity in
the part of the innocent Eva.
It

would not be

fair to

say that

Claude

Dura I*

a\

the Prince of Wales's consists of

Mr
are

Arthur Roberts

and nothing

besides,

for

there

two or

three

other capable comedians in the cast

Stevens,

Mr

Charles E.

Mr H.

O. Clarey,

Mr

Fitzroy Morgan,
to rely

and

Mr

Eric Thorne.

But these actors have

upon

the authors,

Nunn,"

for

Messrs Frederic Bowyer and "Payne their opportunities, whereas Mr Arthur

writes, or,

Roberts practically

at least,

makes

up, his
their

own

part.

The

fantasy

of the

authors and

literary skill

are of the meagrest description,

and the

abundant
(as

whole fun of the burlesque which, for the rest, is resides in Mr Roberts his comic business

Mr

Austin Dobson would say), his gags, wheezes,

interpolations,

and
call

interludes.
it

His

gift
its

of comic

realism,

if I

may

so, is

seen at

best in the

two female impersonations which he introduces a barmaid and a scandal-mongering lady. Of course
they are grotesque, and in a certain sense vulgar ; but every touch is founded on minute and delicate
observation.

memory

for

Roberts has a marvellous eye and At the Strand gesture and motion.
*

Mr

September

25.

Still

running.

"DER MEINEIDBAUER."
Theatre,

265

some

years ago,

forget in

what burlesque,

he gave an imitation in dumb show of a woman doing her hair, which was nothing less than a masterpiece of realism. His Hebe of the Beer Engine is no
less

admirable
"
!

in

its

barmaidism
I

said

An encyclopaedia of Mr Moy Thomas, beside whom

way.

"

was

sitting

and

This
it

raises

may Mr

not be the highest form of

could only echo his admiration. art, but at least

Roberts's performance far above the level

of mere brainless buffoonery.

Anzengruber's peasant-tragedy, Der Mcineidbauer* produced last week by our German visitors at the

Opera Comique,

is

by

far

the most interesting thing a very strong and sober

its

they have yet done.

It is

play, simple as a fairy-tale in

theme, sincere and

impressive
iish

in

its

manner.

We

have no plays
it

in

literature, past or present, to which

can

well be

compared.

If

one had

leisure,

it

might be

why the English peasant is so devoid of tragic dignity, or why, if he be not devoid of it, no Anzengruber has arisen to act as
interesting to inquire
totally

his interpreter

on the

-that function

may
;

stage. Perhaps who knows ? be reserved by Providence for

Mr Thomas Hardy
"
i

and
"

yet

one would rather look

the Yorkshire dalesmen

Meineidbauer
''
ii

among

or the

"of Cumberland than among the

rustics of

Mr

Hardy's Wessex.
*

cognate

sti

September

26.

266

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
why
dialect
is

1894.
so exclusively
is

of inquiry would be

ludicrous on the English stage.

Der Meineidbauer

almost entirely written in a dialect as different from High German as broad Scotch from English ; but who could venture to write a tragic play in broad

Scotch?
a
subject

The French
as

peasant
for

is

not so intractable

the

English

dramatic

purposes.

George Sand's Claudie and Francois le Champi are in Anzengruber's manner, and so, with an added dash
is Le Mailre by M. Jean Jullien. Herr Beck gave a sombre and powerful portraiture of the conscience-stricken peasant-perjurer, and Frl.

of realism,
Caesar

von
But

Driller

played Vroni

(a

quaint

contraction of

Veronica) with a great deal of sincerity and charm.

I

cannot help repeating that

if

Herr Maurice

wants his productions to be generally attractive, he

must make some

adequate mounting.

slight

effort

in

the

dire'ction

of

XLI.
"

THE CASE

OF REBELLIOUS SUSAN."
"

"

TRIP TO

CHINATOWN."

TRUTHFUL JAMES."
IQ//J October.

IN The Case of Rebellious Susan * at the Criterion, Mr Henry Arthur Jones offers us that rarest of commodities
in

the theatrical
*

market, a
Still

pure comedy.

October

3.

running.

"Till:

CASE OF REKELLIOUS SUSAN." 267

in

There are one or two scenes

little

which

it

deflects a

on the side of
is

and where

but they are quite episodic ; the comedy-writer who has never availed
farce,
little

himself of a

reasonable license of caricature?

English literature, assuredly, knows him not.

point

At no

does

Mr

Jones's

play

trend

towards drama.

Great problems, great passions, great sufferings, do not enter into its scheme. Society is regarded from
the ironic point of view, as an amusing

game

in

which

nothing very greatly matters, since only vanities and velleities, not love and life and death, are really
at stake.
It

might have
:

for its epilogue this single

verse of

Heine

" Vorbei

Und

sind die Kinderspiele, Alles rollt vorbei

Das Geld und die Welt und die Zeiten Und Glauben und Lieb' und TreuV

Not a very exhilarating epilogue, certainly, and I am more amused than surprised to observe that one
critic

at any rate (the only one whose judgment I have as yet seen) is seriously shocked and pained at " " the cynical sermon which Mr Jones has preached.
I

think

my esteemed
is

colleague ought to look up his

I~imb, for this

a case in which the famous plea for

the irresponsibility of
insist

comedy

really applies.

If

we
re-

on

regarding

it

from the serious, moral,

sponsible point of view, we

may

say (forgive the facile

Life,

Oscarism) that nothing

is

so tragic as comedy.

268
once

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
for all,
is

1894.

not a laughing
is

matter,

and

in the

long run there

in

something essentially melancholy But for once in a the hollow pretence that it is.

way, and in certain moods, this pretence diverts and

even delights us i-Ve take our revenge on

laughing at
appeals.
it
:

life

by

and

it is

to these
it

moods
to

that

comedy
these

More
therein

precisely,
lies
its

seeks

beget
say at

moods
that
fection

success.

Let

me

once

The Case of Rebellious Susan succeeded

I

to per-

so far as one, at least, of the audience was

don't

concerned.
lies

know

that the irresponsible

mood

nearer the surface in

me

than in another, and

certainly I

am

the very last to sympathise seriously

ideal

with

of womanhood " Nature's enforce. play appeared " is a stay-at-home darling," says Sir Richard Kato, the
fireside-and-nursery

which the

to

woman, a woman who wants to be a good wife and a good mother, and cares very little for anything else." In that case, Nature and I differ, as we do, indeed,
on a good many other
the
points.

Between ourselves,
in this play
is

woman

sympathise with

Elaine
;

Shrimpton. She happens to be a fool and a vixen but that is not the fault of her ideas it is their
misfortune.
foolish
fools,

If a creed or opinion were

it

necessarily

because

is

held by a certain

number of
'scape

which

of

our

world-wisdoms
barrel

would

whipping? with which

Thus one

of

the
to

fowling-piece
folly as
it

Mr

Jones

sets forth

shoot

"THE CASE OF REBELLIOUS SUSAN." 269

flies, is

aimed
is

at

one of

my own
but a

little

ideals

while

the other
evidently

levelled point-blank at
to

what the

satirist

holds

be

pious

opinion

the
?

monogamous What is an
laugh at
heartily,
it

ideal

of marriage.

But what then

cannot
afford

ideal
in

worth

if

you
? I

to

once

a while

laughed, and very

It
is

at
is

Mr

Jones's

banter.

only

when
it,

ridicule
like

stupid and malevolent lhat one resents

If

any other stupidity.

is

we
is

decline to laugh at

anything that

not wholly and solely and inherently

and invariably

ridiculous, there
is
it

an end of comedy.
simple.
If

The
to say

play, then,
call

comedy pure and

it

you chose to

a comedietta,

would be hard

you nay, for the whole gist of the matter might have been nay, has been once and again compressed into one act.

jealous wife rides the high

horse for a certain time, threatens, and even attempts,*

vengeance
less
*

in kind,

and then climbs down more or

is

ingloriously

that

the

whole

story.

Dumas

" to say In the attempts," I do not know. understood the author to imply that she not only attempted but accomplished the retaliation she threatened and I actually noted on my tablets the two speeches in which this

How

came

theatre,

I fully

fact is

conveyed.

When

came

to write the article,

by some

freak of
slip

memory

out of
ly)

my

or lapse of attention, I si-em to have let tin in ken. Perhaps I instinctively (and quite unornthat

expunged a circumstance

might have run counter

to
it

my

classification of the play as a pun-

comedy.

In any case
tin-

was a

to

come

surprise to me, in preparing these pages for across the abov.-

press,

2?O
eked
it

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
out
into

1894.

three

acts

in

Franrillon,

more

ingeniously and daringly than Mr Jones; but then Dumas had French society, French manners, to deal
with,

and

that

is

a great advantage from the theatrical

point of view.

Mr

Jones

say

it

without the least

skilfully trans-

impugning

his

originality

has very

posed the theme into the key of English life. The simplicity and directness of his handling please me
His technique is really excellent. Note immensely. how he plunges straight into the middle of the matter
in the
first

scene, without any tedious

and conven;

tional exposition.

Dumas

could have done no better

well.

Sardou would not have done so

He

would

have opened with two servants dusting the furniture and discussing their master and mistress in the intervals of a stereotyped flirtation.

As the
is

play goes

on, too,
times.

we

see

how Mr Jones

moving with the

;

He

has no soliloquies, no overhearings

only

one coincidence, and that a very simple one. The way in which the affair between Lady Susan and

young Edensor
there
is

is

made

to leak out

is

as pretty a piece
;

of theatrical workmanship as heart can desire

and

genuine and

original

comedy

in

the char-

acter of the Admiral, who, in the middle of an out-

pouring of vinous penitence for his conduct towards his "jewel of a wife," rambles off into a complacent
speculation as
to

why

it

is

that

" the best Englishdevils

men have

always

been

such

among

the

"THE CASE OF REBELLIOUS SUSAN."

women."

2/1

Of

course there
:

is

to the account

the play has

its

always a debit side weaknesses both of

for

matter and manner.

The erring husband,

example,

is an inconceivable noodle, without a single convincing touch of character. A strong character he must not

out "in committee," so to

problem could not have been worked speak, and the comedy drama. Dumas was confronted would have become
be, else the

with

too

much made
times

the
the

same

difficulty in Francillon,

and he
are

husband

noodle

but

there

noodles and noodles, and Lucien de Riverolles has

ten

more character than Mr Jones's James

His imbecility reacts upon his wife: we

Harabin.

can care very little for a woman who could ever care at all for such a man. Whatever else she forgave
him, she ought not to have forgiven his suggestion
that she should

"

go to Hunt

&
it

Roskell's

and choose
this

something"
pleasing

as a

memento,
in

would seem, of
life
!

episode

their

married

On

this

principle, a lady's jewel-case

might come to be a

sort

of bead-roll of her husband's conquests

register engrossed
in

a Leporello-

gold and diamonds.

Again,

Mr

Jones would have strengthened his last act enormously if he had prepared us for the sentimental passages between Sir Richard Kato and Mrs Quesnel. I
confess
I

was utterly taken aback when

the

Sir

Richard

Benedict, and many of the began play audience must certainly have been in the same
to

272
case.

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
Pray
to

1894.
not at
all
:

understand that
these love-passages

am
in

ob-

jecting

themselves

they

and quite in place but they would have been much more effective if something in the earlier
are pleasant,
;

had led us to expect them. Indeed the whole play would have been strengthened if this second, or third, thread of interest had run right through it.
acts,

And now we come

because
it is

to a delicate

point
it

delicate,

impossible to touch upon

without an

Mr Jones, appearance of pettifogging and pedantry. it seems to me, is not sufficiently alive to the value of
words and phrases
nocent, of
style.
;

he

is

negligent,

not to say

in-

verbal cavillings

may seem unfair to descend to which would be impossible if the

It

author himself had not the courtesy to provide us with the printed text of his play ; but I promise to

adduce no examples which did not strike my ear as I heard the play on the stage, before I had ever set
eyes on the book.

Not
"

for a

moment would
:

urge

Mr

Jones to be more

literary" in his diction

he

is

already too

much

inclined,

now and

then, to sink the

is

dramatist in the essayist.

as
in

But there

such a thing
;

dialogue, no less than in disquisition style chosen words, and rightly balanced phrases, rightly

are just as essential to dramatic as to narrative or

expository prose.
things.

Mr

Jones

is

careless

of

these

He

often writes heavy

and

flaccid sentences

which tax the elocution of the actor and the attention

"THE CASE OK REBELLIOUS SUSAN."

of the audience
sonic discreet
sci/e
it.
;

273

and when an opportunity

verbal

offers for

little

Take,
"

for
I

felicity, he does not always instance, this speech of Sir Richard

Kato's

Well,

can afford to look on with the

complacent curiosity of an intelligent rustic who sees the coach rattling down the hill at a devil of a rate
with runaway leaders and no break."
thirty-four words at a stretch, with

Here we have

"no

break,"

no

resting-place for the voice,

no opening

for light-and-

shade of

deliver)'.

The

actor has simply to reel

them

out, like a conjuror

drawing a ribbon from his mouth.

? If you had such phrases, you

You

think this niggling hypercriticism

to listen to a play containing

many

would

your opinion, and realise the difference between nervous and flabby dialogue. I do not mean that Mr Jones's dialogue is flabby as a whole,
alter

but there are too

take

many

soft spots
is

in

it.

Such, to
catalogue
"

another
ladies

example,
for

Sir

Richard's
:

of the
girl,

whom

he has sighed
girl
;

light

a dark
;

girl,

a red haired

tall

girl,

a short

girl

a merry girl, a sad girl," and so forth. There is no trace of wit in any of these antitheses, or in the
set

which Mrs Quesnel presently responds; and what sense is there in such a pa> if it be not Mr Jones may reply that he aims witty ?

companion

with

at naturalness, not
real
life

at artificial wit,

and

that people in

do not always
like

talk wittily.

No;

but clever

people,

Sir

l\i<

hard and Mrs (Juesncl, do not

274

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.
flatness
;

talk with this elaborate

if

and long-drawn

and

they did,

we would

rather not have their conver-

sation reported.

Some

of the audience laughed, as

;

people always do at mere patter but this was disYet tinctly one of the languid passages of the play.
again, to take a less obvious point,

Mr

Jones

is

too

fond of allowing his characters, in sentimental passages,

simply to echo each

other's

words.

"All's

dull grey with

my

life;"

" now," says Lucien, for the rest of and Lady Susan repeats, "All's dull grey

me

with

me

for the rest of

;

my

life."
is

Here, for once, the

so very easy that
it

effect is pretty

but the trick

ought to be sparingly employed. Lucien says, " I shall hide you

I I

A
in

little

further

on

die,"

and

Lady
you
in

Susan

again
till

heart till " And echoes,

my

shall hide

my

heart

die."

This

identity of phrase grates

second

line

of the couplet,
It
is

on the ear; we expect the and we have the first

echo
the

repeated instead.
the

right that she should

sentiment,

for
;

that

belongs

to

amcebean

on pain of mere mawkishness, she ought to vary the expression. She might have " And I shall treasure you in mine said, for instance,
rhetoric of love
but,

as long as I live." tion

;

This

is

not a very famous inven-

Mr

prettier

and tenderer

Jones might easily have hit on something but it will serve to illustrate
;

If Mr Jones had worked over his meaning. dialogue two or three times, with keen and critical

my

2/5
attention to these verbal
bellious
niceties,

The Case of Re-

Susan would have had a much better chance

its first
is

of outlasting

popularity.

The
himself,

piece

capitally acted.
is

Mr Wyndham's
;

Sir

Richard Kato

a real incarnation

he

is

the

man
Miss

and could not possibly be

better.

Mary
vivacity

Moore
;

plays

Lady
all
its

Susan

with

agreeable

but the
bring

part

really

requires

Miss

Ada
C. P.

Rehan
Little

to

out

possibilities.

Mr

does what he can with the cruelly "sacrificed" of James Harabin Mr Kemble plays the Adpart
;

miral in a

broadly effective fashion

pleasant,
if

and Mr Ben
in

\Vebster

is

trifle

stiff,

the part of

Lucien Edensor.

Miss Fanny Coleman plays one of

the excellent British matrons

who

usually

fall

to her

lot, and Miss Gertrude Kingston makes a distinct Mr Fred Kerr and Miss character of Mrs Quesnel.

Nina Boucicault enter with excellent

parts of

spirit

into the

Pybus and
is

his Pioneering spouse.

Mr

Charles A.

Hoyt's variety

play,

A
It

Trip

to

Chinatown*
to delight

simply a

music-hall

entertainment,
go.

and not a bad one as such things

seemed

the audience at Toole's Theatre on the

I

night
prised
is

when
if
it

saw

it,

and

should not be sur-

l>ecame very popular.

The

leading part

played by
September

Mr
29.

R. G. Knowles, a stolid American

Transferred
to

Strand,

I>rmUr

17

January 12, 1895.

276
11

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

artiste," with

a stentorian voice and an undeniable

style.

quaintness of

The

topics of his

humour

are

somewhat monotonous and not over

refined, but the

that.
artist,
is

audience does not in the least mind

Mr De
not an

"artiste,"
to

Lange plays a comic old man like an and the rest of the company
what
is

fairly

equal

required of

it.

As

can say very

little for

Messrs James Mortimer

Truthful
at

and Charles Klein's

Royalty,
I

farce,

James*
all,

at the

prefer to say nothing

except that

the first-night audience

it.

seemed
it,

to be entertained to

by

By

far

the best thing in

my

thinking, was

the part of the slavey, played to perfection by Miss " If this Lydia Cowell. part had been stronger, my
notice
Philip
light

had been longer."

Mr

G.

W. Anson and Mr
comedy and
the

Cunningham supplied

the low

comedy

respectively, both doing their best with

uphill parts.

XLII.

"A GAY
FREELY
ceed.
curtailed,

WIDOW."
24/// October.

Gay Widow f may

several
there's

possibly suc;

It

contains
;

capitally acted

and

amusing scenes no offence in't. It

it

is

is

far

from being one of the merely imbecile farces about

*

October

213.

Transferred to Strand, October

1527.

f Court, October 20

December

277
\\hich I recently

spoke

my mind
it

with

some emphasis.
not
;

The

public

may

take to

or they

may

should
But,

be sorry to say anything to prejudice the

unless
I

issue.

greatly misinterpret the signs of the times,

this sort of thing

managers ought to be warned that

is

practically played out.

;

Gay Widow may

;

pass

muster

one or two more adaptations of third-rate French farces may chance to succeed but, generally
is

speaking, the reign of the adapted vaudeville

over.

\Vr do these things better ourselves

why should we
half-a-dozen

go to France

for

them

There

are

English playwrights

who can

write better plays than

Gay Widou*

plays which have at least the advan-

tage

of representing

English
life

life

(after

fashion)

instead of torturing French

into an English dress.

some twenty made French

Saturday night at the Court took us back in memory years, to the time when the machinevaudeville was the staple

commodity of
it

the theatrical market.

Ten

years ago
it is

was rapidly

going out of fashion.

simply an antiquity, To-day like the crinoline, the chignon, and the "bone-shaker"
velocipede.
It

may

l>e

a counsel of immorality, but

cannot

help wishing that

some English dramatist had simply

I

appropriated the idea of Sardmi and

)eslandcs's farce,

and made

a totally

good
In
r

the

hands,

comedy of it. The idmother who, having gt her daughter off determine to make a fn-sh t.ut and see a
new

278
little

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
of
life

1894.

but that

is

really all that is

is

good

in the

play, or at

any

rate all that

good

for

England.

An

English dramatist, I am quite sure, would not have wasted one whole act out of three on the daughter's

wedding-day, giving us a tedious succession of preliminary scenes before the subject of the play has
fairly

announced

Belle

Maman

be presumed that in the wedding-guests were recognisable

itself.

It is to

and amusing

types,

and
life

that the

whole act bore some

relation to Parisian
it

as

it is.

bore no sort of relation to

For that very reason, London life, and the

wedding-guests were a mere procession of meaningless

grotesques.
I

am

sure,

too,

that

no

competent
his

English dramatist would have

made

his solicitor-hero

go

off

on a five-weeks' wedding-tour, leaving

mother-in-law to decide whether he shall change his

offices,

and what
rather

letters are to

be forwarded to him.

This

is

"

steep," even
it is

for

France

saving Sar-

dou's reverence,

one of the

silliest

postulates that
it

ever farce was founded on.

In the English play,

does not in the

least

appear on what grounds the

mother-

solicitor bases his extravagant estimate of his

in-law's

business

capacity.
;

Perhaps
if

this

may be
nothing

clearer in the original

but

so

we

are at once conis

fronted with another difficulty, for there

to explain

mother-in-law's sudden outbreak of " " as Mr Hawtrey calls it. financial idiocy, or idiotcy

the

do not know whether

to attribute to

Sardou or to

"A GAY WIDOW.'

Mr Burnand
of his

279

Peter Rutherford's interminable recital

maritime

misadventures.
in the

Ancient Mariner

In any case, the second act was as tedious as

the wedding-guests in the first. We, metaphorically" " beat our breasts and longed " to hear the speaking,

loud bassoon
fun
is

"

of the entr'acte.

Some good enough

consequences
is

got out of the duel

and

its

in the

third act, which, to

three.

my

thinking,
is

the best of the

The

letter-scene, indeed,

the one really note-

worthy comic invention of the play it is worthy of Mr Pinero. But we relapse into weariness when we

come

to Dudley's evasions to prevent his wife from

learning

the

real

reason of his duel

an excellent

reduction to absurdity, by the way, of the whole heroic" mendacity convention. Why on earth shouldn't he
tell

the truth ?"

lies lose all

we keep on asking ourselves and his their savour. Here again it is the forcing
;

of French sentiment into English dress that

is

at fault

though one cannot but doubt whether, even

people think
it

in France,

necessary to
It

lie

so furiously on such

should be quite possible, in slight provocation. sum, to cut down the tedious passages of the play,

and draw the amusing passages together.

But what

may
s

In-

its

fate,

A Gay Widow
purpose.
farce
is

uses up a good
I

subject to very
"

little

Vet why should

say

up

The French
;

English

comedy
Mother

and there

does not preclude an a raprial title The

ready to hand.

280

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
is

1894.
I

Mr Burnand
realise until I
is

the Last of the Punsters.

did not
the

saw

Gay Widow how dead

in this

pun

on the English stage. ant and almost pathetic

of an old friend.
It

There was something

pleas-

temporary resurrection
feel

made one

young

again.

Even Mr Burnand has sobered a

years.

little

with the passing

He

does not pun with the old reckless Byronic

profusion.

But when a word-play comes

in his way,

he has the courage of his traditions and does not

" cut "
it.

Three several

times, for instance, are the

" flat." changes rung upon the meanings of the word " " How was it Son-in-law you came to think of flats ? " I needn't Mother-in-law say I had you both in my mind." Mother-in-law " The flats were bringing in " nothing." Son-in-law They were flat and unprofitable." Mother-in-law: " They have been accustomed Son-in-law " Yes, and on them." to live in flats."
: : : : :

Fancy a love-scene carried on in this fashion "You want to have me under lock and key."
:

She

He
let

"

Under wedlock and

key."

She

"
:

Don't

us

our friendship securities in order to speculate in matrimonial bonds." For the rest, as I gather from
sacrifice

M.

Sarcey's account of Belle

to

Maman, Mr Burnand

seems
fidelity.

have followed his original with absolute

excellent

Miss Lottie Venne plays the title-part like the comedian she is, with invaluable crispness
vivacity.

and

Mr

Charles

Hawtrey,

in

a part not

"ROBBERY UNDER ARMS."

quite

28 1

so

irresponsible

as those with which

we

are

accustomed

to associate

him, acts with his unfailing

is

ease and naturalness.

as the
bert

charming and Messrs Edward Righton, GilHare, Wilfred Draycott, and W. Dennis are all

Miss Eva Moore

young

wife

good

in

characters of

some importance.

XLIII.
"

Kni.r.KRY

UNDER ARMS."
SLAVEY."

"THE LADY

$ist October.

Tm

ki:

was a long period

in

the

history of that

benign institution, the Censorship, during which the

drama of Jack Shcppard was prohibited

subversive
to

as

being

public

morals,

but was, nevertheless,

occasionally licensed for benefit performances.

benefit

Why
morals

audiences

should

have had

their

subverted, while the virtue of the

common

or every-

day public was so sedulously safeguarded, is a point that, so far as I know, has never been satisfactorily
elucidated.
explain.
Jf

The Censorship decrees;

it

does not

Mr

traditions of his

Pigott had acted up to the high office, I fear he would have licensed
for benefits only.
it

KMtry under Arms*

the
le;i^t

There

is

not

doubt that
'
I

represents bushranging in the

>

MI

< ,

.:

>rr

22

Novcmlxnr

9.

282

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
colours,

1894.
a glamour of

most fascinating

and
art of

casts

romance round the gentle

"
sticking up."
"
I,

For

my own poor

part, I left

the theatre a prey to regret,

in

not to say remorse.

"

Et ego

Arcadia

too,
all

have been in the bush, that

the
heroic
virtues.

home and

nursery of

police permitting (and, according to Robbery under Arms, they are well-nigh powerless to prevent), I might have been ranging

The

there to this hour, adored of Beauty, beloved of the poor, pious, beneficent, happy. Alas too late, too late An abyss of irrecoverable years yawns
! !

between the blithesome bushranger that might have been and the crusty critic that is. But to the
younger members of the audience, unless they be of
degenerate race indeed, the example of Captain Starlight

must surely have been alluring

in the extreme.

Was

there a single lad of spirit in pit or gallery

"
"

who

did not long to plunge into the wilds of Shepherd's

Bush,
with

stick

his

a Bayswater omnibus, and retreat booty to the impenetrable fastnesses of

up

Wormwood Scrubbs?
In point of construction, Robbery under
certainly

more Australian

than

Aristotelian.

Arms is The

formula of the dramatisers

Messrs Alfred Dampier

and Garnet Walch

each act with what

is

a very simple one.

They end
police
their

may be
covering

called a stalemate

and

bushrangers

each

other

with

revolvers,

and Victory hovering on doubtful wing

"ROBBERY UNDER ARMS."

over the
martial
tableau.

283
rises

When

the curtain

again, we gather that Victory continued to vacillate, " this way and that dividing the swift mind," until both parties got tired of it and called off their forces.

The bushrangers
still

are

still

at

large, the

police

are

alive

and matters,

in

short,

are

precisely as

they were.

very well for

to

This honours-easy style of situation is all once in a way but we presently begin
;

hunger
of
it

for

something more decisive.

semel,"

We may
"

"
placuit

say

but

scarcely

decies

rei>etita placebit."

Not

until the

end of the fourth

act does either party gain a clear advantage.

Then
his
last

the gallant
shot,

Captain Starlight, having

fired

and

therewithal killed the villainous Inspector

Goring, sinks
so
it

down

riddled with bullets (or at least

my

seems) and gives up the ghost. At this point emotions overcame me, and I hurried from the

ensanguined scene, trusting to ascertain from next day's papers whether, and in what way, he came to
life

again in the
I

fifth

act.

Hut no

With trembling
only to be

hands

opened

the Daily Telegraph,

critic

disappointed.

The

apparently knew no more

than
or,
if

did of the ultimate fate of Captain Starlight,

I

have
I

he knew, he kept his counsel. Since then about anxiously inquiring of every one " Did Captain Starlight die?" and the answer iiu-t,
-otu-

has always been, like that of the schoolboy

who
fro/en,

asked

whether the

water

in

his

bath

was

284
"
I

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
don't

1894.
I

know."
;

At

this

moment

am

ignorant
fifth

as to his fate
act.

no one seems to have seen the

;

appearance he was dead he even took such an unconscionable time in dying as seemed to
all all

To

preclude

hope of resurrection

and yet

it

is

assuredly an unheard-of and (as they say in Australian)

close-up inconceivable thing that the hero of a melo-

drama should die

in the

penultimate

act.

On

the

whole, the betting seems to be against his resuscitation.

He
:

the Bush

was an exemplary character, he poured forth his soul

letter

this

in prayer,

Bayard of he

wept over a

from his mother, he rode his

own
in a

horse in a steeplechase, and

won
fact

a feat which,
inter-

man

of his girth, presupposes a special

position of Providence.

But the

remains that

he not only effected several of those forcible redistributions of property which the title of the play calls by a sterner name, but that he also killed a
policeman in the discharge of his duty. The policeman, to be sure, was a villain, and deserved to die
;

but the law cherishes such an inveterate prejudice in favour of its myrmidons, that it would scarcely be
possible
for

our

hero,

on coming
live,

to

life

again, to

marry on his undistributed

moreover,
that

his Aileen,

and

a prosperous gentleman,
It is

savings.

worthy of remark,

George
a dart,"

Storefield,

who

honest as daylight and straight as seems to have nothing to do with the

there "

appears on the playbill one

"ROBBERY UNDER ARMS."

action, unless
act.
it

285
in the fifth

be to marry the heroine

then,
I

All

things considered,

fear

we must
is

.rd Starlight as

extinguished so far as this world

to range the

concerned, and gone

44

bush of Elysium.
love,

There Turpin shall greet him with praise and with And Sheppard and Hood be his Kellys above."
is

Seriously speaking, the play

in construction

astonishingly artless

anuising.

It is

and dialogue, but by no means una great deal fresher and livelier than

the

pattern-printed

melodrama of commerce.

By

this time,

no doubt, a good deal of superfluous matter has been cut out of it incidents and speeches, which

may have had

audience,

their

meaning

for

an

Australian
to

but

conveyed

nothing whatever

the

London

public.

By

this time, too,

plays Captain Starlight,

and animation
the
first

into his

Dampier, who has probably put more dash His performance on acting.

Mr

night was an exceedingly amiable one.

He

has

heard,

one of the pleasantest speaking- voices I ever and was altogether the most courtly and
record.

debunnair brigand on

He made

Captain

light overwhelmingly popular, and invested his profession with an irresistible and quite seductive

charm.

But he would have enlisted our sympathies quite as immorally if he had taken his part in a little
quicker
that

time.

It

must not be supposed, however,

the authors
"

make "bushranger" and

synonymous.

"gentle-

man

absolutely

Oh no

They do

286

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

not dissemble the fact that there are black sheep

in

that

profession, just as in

any other.

The

bell-

wether of the sable

indeed,
is

flock, a very abandoned ruffian

played with uncompromising and pictur-

Mrs Anna esque vigour by Mr Charles Charrington. Ruppert threw herself heart and soul into the part of
the heroine,
I

and performed equestrian

feats

which

own, brought

my
to

heart

into

my

mouth.

She
in this

certainly

showed

much

part than in Odette.

Mr
"

greater advantage Bernard Gould displayed

his devotion to his calling

disguised,
has,

as

an

Irish

by appearing, admirably knockabout artiste," who

Police.

by some strange chance, enlisted in the Mounted Both he and his co-mate in buffoonery, Mr
Buller, were

George

now and then genuinely amusing.

Clarence Holt, Mr Herbert Flamming, Mr Rothbury Evans, and Mr William Bonney were excellent
in subsidiary characters.

Mr

Despite

its

childishness of plot

a jumble of the

Cinderella legend with the episode of the disguised

bailiffs in

Goldsmith's Good-Natured Man

musical
farce,

Mr George
at

Dance's

The Lady Slavey^ *

the

Avenue, struck me as a very fair specimen of its class, and seemed, when I saw it on its third night, to be
shaping for success.
acting and
Its attraction lies entirely in the

in the spirited music,

;

mainly contributed

by

Mr John Crook
*

for
20.

in

point of invention and

running.

October

Still

'THE LADY SLAVEY.

writing
it

287
with the

dues not

for a

moment compare
even of
the
life

work of
Hall."

the

Mr Adrian Ross, or Mr Charles Dan by is He is not a production.

Mr "Owen
and soul of and

thing of beauty,

he does not know the meaning of refinement; but he raises ugliness and vulgarity to the level of a fine
art,

and

is

inconceivably, indescribably droll.

More

than once he entirely upset the gravity of his fellowactors

;

and though larking and guying on the

abhorrence, in this case
I

stage

are

my

really could

not

blame them.

Moreover, there

is

something so frank
inoffensive
:

and hearty
and, in

in his vulgarity that

it

becomes

this
is

from what
a

instance at any rate, it is quite free known as " spice." Indeed, the play as

whole

is

innocent of the leering suggestiveness,

the elaborate and deliberate indecency, which appear

to have proved so attractive in other productions of
this class.

Miss

May Yohe gambols

(I

very agreeably

through the part of the ncat-ankled Phyllis.

a crudity in her acting
e)

There
its

is

use the word in

;

literal

which
to

is

voice

my

undeniably piquant and her clarion ear its timbre seems precisely that of a

cornet-a-piston

is certainly unique, though its beauty be open to question. Miss Adelaide Astor looks may her second dress is really a poem extremely pretty

and dances
abundant

delightfully;

Mr Pateman

acts
;

with

spirit

as

an

impecunious

Irishman

and

the grotesque cleverness of

Mr George Humphrey's

288

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

performance of an officer and gentleman reduced to the rank of a bailiffs man, deserves a word of recognition.

The German company

at the

Opera Comique have

been doing a good deal of sound and creditable work, under sadly disadvantageous circumstances, both before and behind the curtain. They are clever

and

versatile

comedians,

but

their

repertory

has
light

hitherto been of slight intrinsic interest.

The

comedies and farces of Von Moser, Schonthann, and

L'Arronge are neither strong enough nor sufficiently different from our own plays of the second order
to

be very attractive to

English audiences.

Dtr

Veilchenfresser,

Krieg im Frieden, Das

Stiftungsfest,

Mein

Leopold,

have been passed

and other pieces of similar calibre, in review, and in each there have

been some capital pieces of acting, more or less obscured by imperfect rehearsal and miserable mounting.

Last week

Von

Moser's

Der

Bibliothekar* to

which we owe The Private Secretary, occupied the and was acted with excellent spirit by Herr bill,
Caesar

Beck

(a very able, pleasant comedian),

in the title-part,

Herr

son,

Ludwig Schubart Herr Max Weilenbeck, Fraulein von Driller, Fraulein Anna Hocke, and Frau Heinold-Thomann.
*

Herr Ernst Peter-

October 20.

28 9

XLIV.
11

His EXCELLENCY."
Pall Mall Budget,
\st

November.
to

HI.

first

thing,

and the chief

is

thing,

be said

about His Excellency*

it is

very enjoyable.
or

Mr

from beginning to end, Gilbert has never been more

that,

merrily

more

pleasantly

inspired.
is

If

we

think

with greater affection

feeling

yes, that

the word

for

my
our

of

some of His
Sir

Excellency's

predecessors,

that

is

mainly
to

because they are wedded in

memory

Arthur

Sullivan's

ingenious,

witty,
part,

elegant, playful,

and pellucid

strains.

For

my

my

favourites in the Gilbert series are Tlie Pirates of

Pcnzance, The Mikado, and the delightful Gondoliers.

You, no doubt, have other preferences, with which,

whatever they

may

be, I shall certainly not quarrel.

all,

The main

point,

on which we

hope, agree,

is

that in inventing
ful, really

and perfecting this graceful, thoughtrecreative form of entertainment, Mr Gilbert

enhanced the harmless gaiety of nations, and earned

a gratitude which even the amplest pecuniary rewards
It is no disparagement to can but poorly express. Sir Arthur Sullivan to say that the real initiative (.tine from his collaborator. Just as Wagner created

Bayreuth

music-drama,

so

did
Still

Mr

Gilbert

create

>ctobcr 27.
1

running.

290

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
;

1894.

Savoy extravaganza
it

and

in its little

way (not

to say

profanely) the latter

the two, for

is the more perfect creation of Wagner had not Mr Gilbert's genius for

stage-management. We used to wonder, in former days, whether the musician did not suggest to the
librettist

some of
;

rhythms

his amazingly vivid and versatile but recent events have entirely vindicated

Mr

Gilbert's originality even in this respect.

He

can

write just as sparklingly for

Mr
!

Cellier or for
if

as ever

he did

for Sir

Arthur Sullivan

Dr Carr only Dr
must

Carr could sparkle in response But we must not be unfair to Dr Carr.

We

remember

that,

under

the

circumstances,

Mozart

himself would have been handicapped by the mere I write of fact that he was not Sir Arthur Sullivan.

music as one of the ignorant, but perhaps for that very reason my feeling may be taken as fairly representing
that

of the

average audience.

One

critic,

I see, finds in the score of

lack of tunefulness."
sistent

His Excellency " a certain To me it seemed that its per-

The
It

"tuneyness" was its chief defect. was a mere string of tunes, structureless and, to use a Johnsonian word, unidea'd.
fluid

and

overture

itself

sounded

for all the

world like a set of quadrilles.

pretty, refined,

But Dr Carr's tunes are

then even humorous.

and now and

vulgar

They have none of the

blatancy which passes for cleverness with one or two His orchestration shows no of our minor composers.

"HIS EXCELLENCY."
great individuality, but

2QI

seemed

to

me

quite competent.

On

the whole, the ear was pleasantly

;

amused through-

out the evening

unstirred
to

it

was only that the pulses remained

intelligence
(if

and the

that has anything

do with

the matter) ungratified.

There was

real

humour, to
soldiers

my

thinking, in the

song of the dancing

all

("Though I'm

a soldier

pugnacity"), in

the duet between

little

Dame Hecla and

the Syndic ("

in

You

the roguey-poguey, you "), second act (" One day the syndic of this town "). The bee-song at the beginning of the second act was
quite felicitously set,

and the quartet

assigned to

Nana and Thora and

If

and a good deal of the music their lovers was

distinctly piquant.

Dr Carr has not the

Arthur
Sullivan,

vivacity

and inventiveness
delicate
least

of Sir

or

the
at

workmanship of the late

Mr

Cellier,

he

writes agreeably, unpretentiously,

and

in

har-

mony

with what

we may
tell

call

the Gilhertian tradition.

With the exception, perhaps, of The Yeomen of the

Guard
true

(which, to
/

the truth,
llency
is

do not very

clearly

remember),

nearer approach to

comic opera, as opposed

to extravaganza,

than
is

anything

Mr

Gilbert

has

as yet

done.

Its

plot

simple and ingenious, with no supernatural elenunt, and with none of those quibbles and quiddities, thus,

dilemmas" and " ingenious paradoxes/' which the author .so much affects. K\vn in The Mounte'

nice

banks there was a ma-ic potion, and

ii

292

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

so intricate that, delightful though the piece was as

a whole, the plot of the second act to this day remains a mystery to me. In the new opera everything is
as clear as
daylight.

We

feel,

indeed,

that

some

further complications

might have been worked up without overburdening the theme. It is odd that

Mr Gilbert should in this instance have departed from his usual practice of giving his operas a second title, for a very apt second title lay ready to hand.
The
or,

piece might have been entitled His Excellency ;

The Biter

Bit.

Scribe would

have revelled

in

the idea
of the

of so natural and effective a development

al

Haroun
of
it,

made

not

Raschid theme, and would have comic opera in our modern

such a happy

post-Offenbachian sense of the term, but a dramatic

opera comique.

Indeed, the thought

for

is

one

that,

without
originality,
it

moment

questioning

Mr

Gilbert's

learn that

one would not be surprised to had previously occurred to some French

dramatist.
in

or

Spanish

Granted

the

potentate

in

disguise,
his

wandering dominions (and

some
more
or

out-of-the-way part

of

this idea

belongs to the

common

stock of romance), what

likeness
to to

natural than that his

noticed,

himself should be

and should
personage himself?

suggest
the idea

some more
inducing
words,
into

less

nefarious

of

him

to

personate

Thus put

wrapped in a mist of pronouns, the notion may seem to lack something of

"HIS EXCELLENCY."
the
perspicuity for which
it

293
it
;

have been extolling

lucidly.

but in action

comes out quite

setting
is

Of
placed

course, the

in

which

Mr

Gilbert

has

the

theme

extravagant
his

Governor who spends

joking, the

The enough. whole time in practical

elevation
Griffenfeld

pirouetting regiment, the instantaneous of the Corporal, and the degradation of

such incidents and characters as these

do not

precisely belong to the sphere of realism, or

even, so to speak, of rational romance.

passes,
Scril>e

The
a

action

not

in

the

Denmark
placed
it,

of convention

where

would have

but

in

Denmark

of pure fantasy.

Mr
;

Gilbert does not even shrink

for instance
is
is

from topical allusion

"
Griffenfeld.

When

the case

quite completed, then

trvuU-d, as

the

prisoner

defeated with severity

you're

probably

" For "

All.

it's

my summary

carefully provided that the jury shall IK.- guided by one-sided which disti esses Lalxmchere

It is
It is

rough on Lalxmchere hard on Laluchere

it

Oh, the dickens, how

Labouch'
;

sickens u-ndrr-lu-arted

Ihre

is

no

scrupulous
words,
parture.

pedantic fidelity of local colour, no In other avoidance of anachronism.

Ciilhert

Mr
i

does not attempt any new deHis formula is essentially that of the old
Tin- only clitleretu e
is

Savoy

\trava-. in/a.
to

that

he

happens

have

hit

on

pleasant

and

ingenious

294

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
is

1894.
relief after

comic-opera theme, which

something of a

the merely verbal quibbles, the tricks of logical leger-

demain, on which so many of his plots have turned.

What
Definite

a peculiar

talent
in

is

this

of

Mr

Gilbert's
to

and limited

its

processes, even

the

point of monotony,

it is

nevertheless curiously elusive

of analysis and classification.

This mighty paradoxNever,

monger
for

is

himself an

embodied paradox.

perhaps, did a

man
is

of such genuine literary faculty

Mr

talk

an astonishing virtuoso in language so much and say so little. Here we have his
Gilbert

fourteenth or fifteenth extravaganza (to say nothing

of his other plays),
thinks, or

and we know no more of what he

feels,

how he

about

life

and death, about

man and woman,

hand.
Is

than he had never taken pen in he an optimist, a pessimist, or a meliorist ? Is he Christian Is he a Conservative or a Radical ?
if

or pagan

Is
it

he a cynic or a sentimentalist
is

may

say that

not a dramatist's business to

faith,

You make

any direct profession of

ending
religion,

and point

to the neverpolitics,

controversies

as

to

Shakespeare's

and philosophy. But Mr Gilbert is not a He is of the lineage, dramatist pure and simple.
of Shakespeare, but
at

not

whatever distance

of

Aristophanes.
to expect,
if

In extravaganza we have every right

not to demand, a more or less direct

criticism of
it.

life

and Aristophanes saw

that

we

got

Mr

Gilbert's extravaganzas, too, are full of

what

"HIS EXCELLENCY."
purports to be criticism of
to absolutely nothing.
life
is
;

295
it

but

somehow

comes

It

paradoxical and often

merely verbal persiflage, without any serious meaning behind it. Mind, I am not complaining ; I am only their very It is doubtless noting a curious fact.
colourlessness that has secured for these extravaganzas
their universal acceptance.

"But

hold!" you
?

say.

" Is

not
;

Mr
fact.

Gilbert

notoriously a cynic

"

Notoriously, yes

but matters
It

of notoriety are not always matter of

hap-

pened that
of Truth,
locality,

in early life

in

he wrote a play, The Palace which everyone, by the magic of a certain

his

was compelled to speak

all

whole thought

without disguise, imagining

uttering

the time that he was

our usual polite

insincerities.

Ever since

then the influence of this Palace of Truth has

itself

made

more or

less

felt

in

all

that

Mr

Gilbert has

written, his characters being for ever apt to break out

into preternatural

frankness

of self-revelation.

But

they do not
insight into
in
it.

reveal,

on

their creator's part,

human

nature, or

any deep any systematic disbelief

miserly,

No

one doubts that there are

and

ungrateful, and snobbish, and pretentious people in The the world, and it is not cynicism to say so.

cynic

is

he who

insists

on

the

baser element

in

what

we think our noblest

peak,
t.i

actions,

and habitually

the disadvantage of
find

human
.

nature.

In

Mr

(iilUrt

we

no rapacity

for

296
ralisation.

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

He

is

content to

make

merry, sometimes

rather heartlessly, over individual foibles

and

vanities,

the

minor uglinesses and absurdities, physical and He has none of the " saeva indignatio" moral, of life.

of Swift, the cold-blooded penetration of

foucauld,

La Rocheso
often
in

the smiling

scorn

of
is

Labiche,

mistaken for geniality.

There

more cynicism

Le Voyage de M. Perrichon, or Celimare le Bien-Aime, or Le Plus Heureux des Trois, than in all Mr Gilbert's
plays put together.
alike of enthusiasm

Mr Gilbert
women

seems to be incapable

and of healthy hatred.

fat

He

has

taught us that young

that old

love fine uniforms, and

these,

women

are apt to grow

and such

as these, are the favourite topics of his sarcasm, his

most scathing generalisations,

dictments against
It

his

most crushing

in-

human

nature.
in

was because the characters

freely in

Arms and
and

the

Man
Mr
In
its

indulged
after the

self-dissection

self-revelation,

fashion of the Palace of Truth, that

Bernard Shaw was

repelling the

accused of Gilbertianism.

impeachment he somewhat mistook

precise import.
his

He

triumphantly proved that whereas

at

criticism

was levelled

traditional

ideals,

Mr

Gilbert's banter implied

an unquestioning acceptance
itself

of these ideals, and spent

upon

reductions-to-

absurdity of the mere phrases and catchwords in which

they

are

formulated.
critics,
if

This

defence was

good

as

against the

such there were,

who compared

"HIS EXCELLENCY."

297
;

Mr

Shaw's philosophy with

those

Mr

Gilbert's

not good

against

who remarked
technical

that

Mr Shaw
The

had
of

unconsciously adopted one of the most

farcical

Mr

Gilbert's

devices.

distinction

drawn by Mr Shaw, however, puts us on the track of what is probably the true secret of Mr Gilbert's His talent is almost exclusively gifts and limitations.
verbal.

He

seizes

upon turns of expression, and, by

the application of a formal, mechanical logic, deduces

from them the quaint and paradoxical consequences with which we are all familiar. But his criticism very

seldom penetrates through the words to the things His humour is almost entirely conthey represent.
cerned with what philologists call diseases of language, artificially induced by a method of his own.

For the

rest,

he has

little

more than the

superficial

observation of a journalist on the alert for copy.

is

He
His

neither a story-teller nor a character- creator.

real

strength

lies

in

his

remarkable
gift

literary faculty,

and

especially in his unique

of rhythmical, as

distinct

from

This,
1

combined with

harmonious or sonorous, expression. his genius for scenic effect and

ment, has enabled him to produce the admirable and delightful series of entertainments of which His Excellency is the latest, and one of the
sta.L
-

It is
t

curious, by the way, that while the general

is

charming,
good.

none

of

tin-

individual

parts

is

partH

ul.irly

Mr

Grossmith and

Mr

Rutland

298

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

Harrington, both excellent in

their way,

have both

had much more

effective parts in earlier productions.

as the Syndic, makes an exceedingly out of somewhat scanty materials ; and quaint figure
is good as the Corporal of the Miss Nancy M'Intosh, Miss Dancing Dragoons. Jessie Bond, and Miss Ellaline Terriss are all charm-

Mr John Le Hay,
Mr

Arthur Playfair

ing

and Miss Alice Barnett

plays the inevitable

comic

old

woman

with invaluable discretion.

XLV.
"

ALL

MY

EYE-VANHOE."

"

DIE RAUBER."
7th November.

To

tell

the plain truth a

a luxury
I

am

fain to permit

myself once in

while

went to the Trafalgar

Square Theatre violently prejudiced against the new burlesque by its very title, All My Eye- Vanhoe* which
to me to plumb the depths of silliness. I found myself instinctively taking some trouble to avoid telling people where I was going, for I felt a sort of humiliation in even pronouncing the name.

seemed

testimony to our innate sense of our kind, that extreme ineptitude solidarity seems to have a sort of diffusive power, and to afflict
It
is

strong

with

even those

who have
*

neither art nor part in

it

with

October 31

November

7.

"ALL MY EYE-VANHOE."
a sense of personal degradation.

299
blushes for

One

one's species, as though the fact of existing in the

same hemisphere with

and

a flagrant outrage

upon sense
it.

taste involved a certain complicity in

In the

present instance, no doubt, such a feeling

may seem

disproportionate

but

own

to an old affection for

the romance of Ashby-de-la-Zouche and Torquilstone,

which made

me "squirm"
The
first

to see

its

name

so vulgarly

taken in vain.

act of the burlesque

of the
fits

second

say nothing, for a reason which

"

more

you to conceive than

speak" the first act bore out the promise of the title, and was abjectly Cedric became "Seedie Wreck," pointless and silly.
to

me

Rowena "Soft Roe-Ina," the Prior of "Jawfolks" Abbey was described as an "Any-odds-I'll-lay Brother,"
and the
wit of the dialogue

and business was

"

in a

concatenation according."

Fortunately, after invent-

ing these delightful transmogrifications of the

names
have

of Scott's
forgotten

characters,

the

author seemed

to

all

about Ivanhoe, and to

void.

set ofT fantasticat-

ing

in

the

The

thing would certainly have

it

hern more painful had

its

borne any resemblance to

as
I

alleged original

Kven

listened, too,
less inept

it

seemed

to

me

that the verse

was much

than the
into

prose dialo-iir, and

the
lilirrtto
I

when
this

afterwards looked

found

impression confirmed.
fairly fluent

Mr

Philip

layman can
if

write

rhymes

he could muster up a

and pointed few comic id. as, and

300

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

disabuse his mind of the notion that any mechanical and frigid perversion of words is necessarily amusing,

J.

he might one day write a tolerable burlesque. Messrs L. Shine, Harry Grattan, Fred Storey, and E. M.

Robson worked hard

to put

some

life

into the proattractive

duction ; Miss Phyllis Broughton " " Rebecca

made an

Hothouse Peach

and Miss Alice Leth-

bridge did some pretty dancing. " I dare to call this a spirited tour," wrote Boswell " to Johnson when he went to Corsica I dare to challenge

your approbation."
at

On

Friday

last

the

German company
than they had

the Opera

Comique dared to
weeks
past,

challenge our approbation with a more spirited effort

made

for

several

and

imagine they have had no cause to repent their Schiller's Robbers* is a landmark in theatrical daring.
history,

and one of the strangest

It
is

curiosities of

dramatic

literature.

a classic written by a schoolboy

a classic, one
boyishness.
Schiller

may
"
I

almost say, because of

its

ebullient

presumed

to

delineate men," said

himself,

"two

years

before

had seen a

man

"
;

and of

ignorant.

stagecraft, of course, he was ludicrously Yet such is the crude eloquence, the

vehement
that
it

sincerity, the youthful fervour of the play,

and

to this

has lived on the stage for more than a century, day never fails to draw a popular audience.
of course, partly by the simple fact that
*
it

It lives,

is

November

2.

11

mi: KAUKER."

301

Schiller's.

If

he had never written the Wallenstein

Tell,

trilogy

and Wilhelm

we might have heard

little

it enough of Die Rciuber at this time of day. is also, no doubt, inherently congenial to the German

But

temperament.
in tone,

Its
its

romanticism

is

intensely Teutonic

and

very sins

of extravagance in senti-

ment and robustiousness of expression are not without their charm even for the race which produced Goethe
and

Read Sudermann's lent its language to Heine. Sodom's Ende, one of the most successful plays of the Young Germany to-day, and you will understand
the popularity of Die Riiuber.
Schiller

was

in

the

play.

Marlowe stage of development when he wrote the Its qualities are precisely those of Marlowe
spirit

an uninformed but not ungenerous

of rebellion,

a fiery energy, a sonorous, untamed rhetoric.

in
its

Even

prose

the ring of the

mouth-filling

we seem every now and then to hear " mighty line," and many of Schiller's
polysyllabic

cadences would

certainly

have been a joy to Marlowe. Die Riiuber is the work of a Marlowe who has read Rousseau though I own it seems to me that the high-hearted Karl
;

von Moor makes an unnecessary confusion between Rousseau's state of nature and Hobbes's. There is

something of that inconsequence in his treatment of society which we remark in the murderer's explanation
of his conduct towards
his

victim

"
:

never liked

the fellow, so

did for him with a cold chisel."

Heir

302

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

Weilenbcck, who played Franz, was, as he no doubt ought to be, an anointed villain, but I am not
sure that he did not put a
into his turpitude.
little

Max

too

much

unction

Fraulein von Driller's Amalia was

simplicity

charming

in

its

and

sincerity.

may

remark, by the way, that the elocution of the whole

company was decidedly above our English average. The German actors have voices, and are not afraid
to use them.

The

transference of Little Christopher Columbus*

from the Lyric Theatre to Terry's does not seem to have impaired its popularity. Miss Addie Conyers

now

plays the

title

part (she

is

the third,
it

if

not the

fourth, in succession),

Lonnen and Mr
the

and plays Sheridan work

very brightly.

Mr
and

as hard as ever,

the dialogue bristles with the inexpensive gags about

County

Council,
is

without

which

no

popular

entertainment

nowadays complete.

XLVI.
"JOHN-A-DREAMS."

"A

DOLL'S HOUSE."

" Til K

MASQUERADERS."
1

4th November.

THERE is a slang phrase which I am tempted to to Mr Haddon Chambers, though I do not

October 29 December October 10, 1893.
*
15.

apply
quite

First

produced

at

the Lyric,

"JOHN-A-I>kKAM>.''

303
in a dis-

know

its

meaning.

It

is

commonly used
it

paraging sense
ins to

indeed, almost as an insult; whereas

me
a

(and

certainly intend

in this case)

to involve

high compliment.

Jo hn-a- Dreams* I
to

venture to say, proves

Mr Chambers
interests

be " on the

make";!
interest in

therefore
its

it

me, and revives

tell,

my

author, which, truth to

late.

hnd sadly

languished of

Of no man,

or at any rate of

artist, can we say anything more hopeful or more It encouraging than that he is "on the make."

no

implies,

if
;

he
if

of youth

young, that he is using the birthright he is old, that he has escaped the curse
is

of age.

If

we
that

are not

"

on the make," be sure we are

a

on the unmake.
or

In

art,

man
and

is

either going uphill

his foot

down

is, if

he has ever put

all, is

on the

Delectable Mountain at

not merely plashing

about (and perhaps groping for guineas, with more or

less success) in the

"What!" you

say,

Slough of Despond at the bottom. "can he never stand secure and

immovable on the pinnacle of perfect accomplish" in, nt ? Frankly, I doubt it, if his art have any larger
scope than the mere carving of cherry-stones.
in

And
S
us.

any
*

ca.^e,

the impeccable master, the

art,

"Andrea

Errori

"

of any
seem

very soon ceases to interest

1

llaymarkct, Novemlier 8
It

K inuhcr 27.
.<!,

vMiuld

that,

..

this

].!.:

.|iiite
t<>
it.

fn>ni that

which

here attach
I

My

meaning,
unalt

clear enough, so

leave the juragraph

304

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
leave

1894.

We

him

to reel out his

monotonous masterpieces
Half

at his leisure,

while

we

follow with eagerness every

struggling upwards.

step of the

man who

is still

the fascination of Ibsen

a fascination which even

those
is

who like him least lies in the fact that he "on the make." He never repeats himself, never pours new water on old tea-leaves. At an age when most men have lost all forward impetus, he is
feel
still

ever experimenting,
place."

ever

"

breaking out

in

a fresh

" nie him, as to Wagner, was given that zufriedene Geist, der stets auf Neues sinnt." And if

To

you ask

me

what brings Ibsen

context,

somewhat unlikely
tell

my thoughts why I am sorry I

to

in

this

cannot

you.*
return to

To
acts

Mr Haddon Chambers.

The

first

two

and a

half of John-a- Dreams are not only

much

the best work he has done, but the only work, to

thinking,
in

my

virtue of
little

which he can

really claim a

place in the

group of our serious playwrights.

^

Soon

after the

production of Captain Swift

"

Mr

Pinero,

being asked in some " any coming dramatist

singled out

interview or other to
in

mention
faith,

whose future he had

I

Mr Haddon Chambers.

wondered

at

the

time; and with every new production of Mr Chambers's my wonder deepened until Thursday
night.
*

Then

felt,

up

to

about 10.15 p M -> tnat

-

Mr
had

few hours before the production ofJohn-a- Dreams,

first

received and read (in proof sheets) the

act of Lille Eyolf.

"JOHN-A-DREAMS."
Pinero's penetration had been keener than mine.
11.15,
I

305
At

was not so sure of tms

falling off,
in
its
fall.

tne end of the play

was not only a sad

beginning with
it

but seemed to drag the

Things which had ap-

peared interesting and significant as we looked ahead,

now seemed,

in retrospect,

mere sound and

fury, signi-

But the whole upshot of the evening fying nothing was undoubtedly to Mr Chambers's advantage. The

two acts proved that he could write; the last two proved that he could not yet think, or at any rate could not give consistent dramatic form to his
first

thought.
for the

immense

That power, however, may come in time; interval between the first two acts

and the best of Mr Chambers's previous work, shows " on the make." The man who clearly that he is
could write the scene of Kate Cloud's confession and
of Pelcy
dignified,

de

Coburn's
;

dismissal

the

one
with

strong,

tactful
is

the

other

instinct

scenic

humour

If there

be despaired of. were a Chair of Dramatic Criticism at one

certainly not a
to

man

of the Universities, the professor might find in

John a
a

Dreams an
It

excellent object-lesson
to

for

his

students.

illustrates

perfection the difference

between

drama of character and a drama of mere mechanical

plot.
It

interests
interest

us keenly;

promises to be a drama of character, and it breaks its promise, and our

like a bird with a
1

drops

broken

wiiui.

Theverj

ti

to throw

John <i a preliminary

306

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.
first

search-light into the hero's soul.

In the

act,

on
for

board the yacht, we find

a woman's love, against a

this

dreamer contending

man

of concentrated purpose

and

fierce,

unimaginative, physical passion.

The

con-

trast is well
bilities
all

imagined, the situation is rich in possithe more so because the two men happen

to

be

friends.

Of course
that

it is

as old as the
;

hills,

but

that merely
situation
is

means

it is

typical

and every

typical

The
and

capable of a hundred fresh developments. lady inclines, and much more than inclines, to

the poet, the dreamer, "

sea,

who

tells his

rapture to the sky

"

words in a unpacks fashion which leads us, on the one hand, to doubt his constancy, on the other hand, to question his power of

and

his heart with

sustaining the battle against the

sombre determination
he seems
"
fluid

of his inarticulate
shallow,

rival.

In

brief,

and

and

at the

end of the

first act,

the odds are

on the deeper man." We feel sure that some flaw, some weak spot, in Harold Wynn's character is either
to lose

him
act,

second

go very near to it. In the we find him an opium-eater (by the way,
his love or to

the scene between the father and son, in which Harold confesses and renounces his vice,
is

both well conceived

his renunciation,

and

well written), and,

unconvinced by

especially as the astute old parent leaves the

opium-

phial under his very nose,

we

all

expect

some

trouble to arise

more confidently from his weakness and

the

irresolution

of character,

But now a new motive

"

JOHN-A-DREAMS."
little.

307

comes

in,

and bewilders us a
let

The

heroine,

Miss Kate Cloud, who has

hints even in the
first

fall

some mysterious

act, takes

the old Vicar apart

and confides
the town,

to

him

that her

mother was a woman of

was
well,

and

that she herself

her mother's

daughter, until she was rescued, educated, and launched

as a singer

by some philanthropic lady.

;

This seems

an

being

Magdalen unnecessary complication now in vogue, we cannot quarrel with Mr

but,
for following the fashion,

the

Chambers
work out

and

electing to
it.

his

problem with

this additional factor in

When

the second act closes, the character-study of

;

John-a-Dreams has not got much forr'ader still hope for the best. There are two acts

but

we

to

come,

and much may be done

there
that
is

in

two

acts.
It is

Alas

the third

act brings us rapid disillusion.

soon evident that

;

no character-study whatever or, at any rate, the character is to have no effect on the action
put
it

or, to

quite precisely, that the only element of

is

character which
is

in

any way
is

to influence the action

the mere Adelphi villainy of the saturnine Sir Hubert

(larlinge.
all,

Harold

Wynn
his

not a John-a-I)rcanis

at

but a veritable John-a-Deeds.

His dreaminess,
are

his

rodomontade,
a
is

unpracticality.

only

skin

kes the pledge against opiates, and he

keeps
firkle,
it

it

like

man.

Kven when

his

Kate seems

and he

very wn-tche<l.
fly

In- f<-.-ls
r.

would appear, to

to the

'uinloit*

no temptation, His fortitude

308
is

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

nothing short of Spartan.

He
it

the twinkling of an eye, and

conquers his vice in takes him about a

minute and a half

to

his lady-love's Past.

overcome his prejudice against In both cases he wins without

is

turning a hair.
far as

There
is

no

struggle,

no drama.

So

the action

concerned, he might have been an

ascetic engineer (engineers are always virtuous) instead

of a self-indulgent

poet.
first

We

see

that

his

poetic

vapourings of the

act were

nothing but inert

;

embroidery, mechanical decoration

and we are not

slow to remember that, as decoration, they were rather

cheap and tawdry.

love
Sir

Nor

is

there any struggle between

and

friendship,

either

on
love

Harold's

side

or

Hubert's.

The moment
flies

comes

in at the

door, friendship
to

out at the window.

past

It is
left

needless
tiniest

add

that

the

heroine's

has

no

trace

upon her

character.

The

frayed

hem

of her

garment has been mended to perfection, and is as good as new. She is all purity, all refinement, all
magnanimity.

Then why, you

ask,

has the author

made

all these preparations to no purpose ? Why is Harold a poet and opium-eater? Why are he and Sir Hubert sworn friends ? Why is Kate an ex-

Promenader

I will tell

you why.

All this elaborate

mechanism tends simply and

posterous Adelphi situation.

solely to a single pre-

That

is

the
*

"one

far-off
'

sublime event

To which
is

moves."

Harold

contrapshun a poet, partly because a poet is a

this

whole

"

JOH N- A-DREAMS."

309

decorative object and lends himself to declamation, but mainly because poetry and opium-eating are

supposed to go together
order that
the villain

and he

is

an opium-eater

in

may

find a bottle of

laudanum

ready to his hand when the great situation requires it. Villain and hero are sworn friends, and have, as is the

common
in

practice of the studious youth of this realm,

entered into an "Oxford compact

order that the hero

"
I

may

of perfect amity, be induced to write on a

"

piece of paper,
villain

release you,"

which paper the

may

fraudulently represent as being addressed

to the heroine.

And the heroine has frayed the hem of her robe on the Piccadilly pavement to no other
that she

end than
an hour

may

insist

on giving the hero half

for reflection before

he pledges himself to her,

even talked the hero into

that half-hour being essential to the execution of the

villain's plot.

If the villain

relapse, as lago seduces Cassio, or

Hedda Gabler
in the thing.

Lovborg, there would be some meaning

1

John a )reams would justify his name, and character would be the determining element in the action. But
n<>:

the

situation

is

purely
of
will,

mechanical.
his

Harold's

w.-akiK-s or stn-n^th

temperament, his
it
;

mental
indeed,

habit,

have nothing to do with

it

unless,
in

we hold

John

a-1

)reams like infirmity

him not

to recognise at a glance that in Sir

Hubert

.vri-ht C.arlinge

he had to do with an inveterate

for

phi

villain.

As

the last act, on board the

310
yacht,
it

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.
at

would scarcely pass muster even

the
its

Adelphi.
intellectual

Words

fail

me

to express

my
It

sense of
is

and dramatic

feebleness.

a mystery

how

could ever proceed from the same pen which wrote the second act, and the really daring scene
it

between Harold and Kate

in the third.

Wynn good parts. He

and
to

Harold

is

not one of

Mr Beerbohm
it

Tree's

did not seem to believe in

himself,

any rate (though not, apparently, to the majority of the audience), he remained unconvincing. Perhaps it was the somewhat windy insincerity of his
me,
at

poetising in the

first

act that led

me

to mistake a

mere

ideal personage for a genuine character-study.

Mrs

Patrick Campbell lent her peculiar personal charm to the character of Kate, and, on the strength of
it,

made

a marked success.

The more dramatic

is

scenes she

distinctly underplayed, but that

a fault she will no

doubt correct as the run

Cartwright as Sir

proceeds.

Mr

Charles

Hubert Garlinge was the very man the author seemed to intend, and that is, of course,
that can

all

be required of an

actor.

Gould was admirable

as the benevolent Vicar

Mr Nutcombe Mr
;

Herbert Ross may almost be said to have leapt into fame by means of the delicate and skilful comedy of
his Percy

de Coburn

and

Mr Edmund

Maurice and

Miss Janette Steer were excellent as

Mr and Mrs

Wanklyn. I have left myself no space

in

which to do justice

"THE MASOUEKADEKS."
to the very interesting performance of

311

A Doll's House*
at the

(rechristened Nora) by the

German company

Opera Comique.

Fraulein von Driller's Nora, though

not very profoundly thought-out or minutely elaborated, was full of spirit, and of the right spirit. None of the

many Noras
the
first

I
;

have seen

made

so

much

of the end of

act

the second act was quite creditable

throughout (one easily forgives the slurring of the and if the last scene of all was marred by tarantella)
;

a too great infusion of temper,

it

must be owned that

more famous
fallen

actresses than Fraulein

von

Driller

have

deeper into the

same

error.

Herr Beck was an

ideal

Helmer

the very

man

himself.

Not even Mr

Waring's excellent performance realised the character

so thoroughly.
intelligent,

Herr Rusing's Rank was sketchy but

cast were but

and the other members of the

scene represented a gaunt and arras-hung baronial hall, decked with trophies of war and of the
so-so.

The

chase

as though the
!

Helmers had taken a

flat in

the

Castle of Otranto

The

run of The Masqueraders t was resumed at the

St James's

audience.

on Saturday night before an enthusiastic Miss Evelyn Millard, as the heroine, has
advantage over Mrs Pntrick Campbell,
is

fvrtainly this

that her heart

entirely in her work.

She
the

is,

perhaps,

rather too

much
*

of the barmaid
I

in

first act,

and

does not

Rtffictentiy indicate

)ul< ie's

underlying dis-

November

7.

t Sec

p. 126.

312

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
;

1894.

taste for her position

is all

but in the subsequent acts she

that can be desired.

Elliot,

Mr

Alexander,

Mr

Waring,

Mr Esmond, Mr
good
as ever,
call it so,

and Miss Granville are as

force, if

and the sheer brute

of

Mr

Jones's situations continues to

one may work

the audience up to a very high pitch of excitement.

XLVII.

"THE WRONG

GIRL."

"THE SHOP
28M

GIRL."

November.
if I

THERE were some

remember
rightly,

promising scenes and ideas,

in

Kennedy, produced but in The Wrong Girl*

he has gone, over,

Wing, by Mr H. A. some seasons ago by Mr Edouin

The

New

his

new

farce at the Strand,

at

for the

moment

any

rate, to

the

imbeciles, already a quite sufficiently large and industrious body.

at the
I

If there

were any possibility of arriving

genuine facts as to theatrical success or failure,

should be quite willing to accept The

its

Wrong Girl
success,
to

as a test case, and, in the event of

apologise to the

School of Imbecility, individually

admitting that they supply a want,

and

collectively,

and have

their place in the

economy of
is

the universe.

All the external circumstances are in favour of

Mr

Kennedy's

piece.
*

The

acting
21

quaint and spirited

15.

November

December

"Tin:

WRONG

GIRL."

313
Blakeley, the

the former epithet applying chiefly to

latter to

Mr

Miss Fanny Hrough the first-night reception was warm to the point of enthusiasm, and the press, so far as I have observed, has been lenient, if not
lutely cordial.

We

have here

all

the ingredients
its

of success

except a
if,

good play, even of

success
is

inferior
in

kind

and

as

aforesaid,

achieved

spite of that little reservation, I shall

be constrained

to admit,

what
that

have hitherto denied with some

the
great

vehemence,

public

does not know

brainless

humour and comic

of the play
potestas
is

invention

from

and

machine-made tomfoolery.
is

The

antique groundwork
The/tf/r/V/

nothing to

its

disadvantage.

so convenient a source of dramatic compliit

cations that
after
life
;

it

probably survive on the stage long has ceased to be an appreciable factor in real
will
is still

and the time

distant

when audiences

shall

d (line to take an interest in plots to obtain the stern

parent's consent to Edwin's marriage with Angelina.
Till

marriage

itself

has gone by the board

and perhaps
still

afterwards

"Bless you,

my

children," will

be the conventional tag of farce. For my part, I am perfectly willing to take a keen and sympathetic interest in the circumvention of the heavy father, on the sole
condition that the plots to that end shall have a certain

demands

measure of ingenuity and plausibility. No one that would be to insist on the probability
;

substitution of

comedy

for

farce;

but plausibili:

3 14

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
is

1894.

very different matter,

want, for the
action
is

surely indispensable.
feel that

We

time being, to

the course of the

not inconceivable.

Our imaginative credence

;

will stretch to
is

a certain point, but no further

last essential

and

it

the

first

and

of the author's craft to

know what

strain

may

safely

be put upon
Girl,

it.

At a

very early point in

The Wrong

my

imaginative

credence snapped short off

"and

the subsequent

proceedings interested me no more." Mr Kennedy tried to resurrect a convention which died nearly two

hundred and
lous,

fifty

years ago

the convention of miracu-

impenetrable disguise.

The convention

of the

indistinguishable twins, or even of startling accidental

resemblances of the Dubosc-Lesurcq order, is still, in a certain sense, alive but here we had simply a case
;

of an actor, announced on the

bill

as

"

Mr

Willie

Edouin, of the Strand Theatre," making himself, by the aid of false hair and paint, so exactly like another

man, that the other man's wife, meeting her sham husband in broad daylight, two minutes after parting
from her
This
it

real

husband, has no suspicion of the

trick.
;

is

simply asking us to believe in a miracle

to

and
that
that,

ought

be the

first

axiom of dramaturgy

miracles do not happen.

The beauty

of

it

is

even with

all

the assistance of that "theatrical per.

is

spective" which

worker, the miracle does not happen,

supposed to be such a wondernor anything

is

approaching to

it.

Mr Edouin

not in the least like

"THE WRONG
Mr
Blakeley
;

GIRL."

315

for the other.

a baby in arms could not mistake one Mr Edouin mimics, not very happily, a

few of

Mr
his

Hlakeley's very easily imitable

mannerisms

but (to say nothing of his features) his stature, his

figure,

voice,

are

all

utterly

different

from

Mr

Blakeley's.

The
hits

impossibility
in

of the

positively

you

the

eye;

whole thing why should Mr

it?

Kennedy expect us

to play at believing in

In

the complications which he extracts from his miracle, moreover, there is scarcely a touch of ingenuity or

happy invention.
being, in the

The

intrigue

is

bewildering without
It

good sense of the word, elaborate.

has no form, no elegance, none

"
intrigue-weavers.

of that perspicuity in
all

complexity which ought to be the great aim of

How comes

it,

then,"

Mr Kennedy

may

ask, "that, by your

own showing,

the reception of

the play was

Well,
I

'warm

to the point of

enthusiasm'?"

own

it

surprises
that

me
first

but
night

it

has been proved

again and again

audiences

have a

tolerance for brainless farce which the general public

is

far

from sharing.

"

packing" of the house,

to

Without suggesting any absolute we may be sure that a large

is

proportion of a first-night audience

considerations
stranger.

influenced by
is

which

the

paying playgoer

They are interested in the success of the

the

author,

management, or the

actors,
I

and

have

therefore a motive for stretching what

their imaginative

have railed
If

credence to the very utmost.

the

3l6

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
came

1894.

public at large

to the theatre with the express

purpose of obliging
persuading

Mr Kennedy and Mr Edouin

it is

itself that

vastly entertained,

by should

have no doubt of the continued success of The Wrong Girl. But that is not the motive that generally takes
people to the play.

Did

my

ears deceive me, or did genuine sounds of

" disapproval mingle with the

playful remonstrance

Ohs

"
!

of simulated and

which greeted the grivoiseries (we use a more straightforward word in English) of The
at the Gaiety? If so and I do not think can have been mistaken the fact was very significant. It is the first time I ever heard what shall
I I

Shop Girl*

say?

well, that sort

of thing, hissed on the English

Far more flagrant offences have passed of late without a murmur but at last it seems as though years the public were awakening to the truth that the only
stage.
;

way

to

keep the stage wholesome and reputable

its

is

to

take the censorship into

as a whole, let
inoffensive,

own

hands.

The

piece,

me

hasten to say, was clever, merry,

It

and

entirely successful.

was greeted

with those deafening volleys of applause which the

English public reserves exclusively for Gaiety extravaMr Irving and Miss Ellen Terry were never ganza.
saluted (in London, at any rate) with such salvoes of
irrepressible

enthusiasm as rewarded the humours of

Mr Edmund Payne and

*

Miss Katie Seymour, Miss

Still

November

24.

running.

"THE SHOP
Ada Reeve and Mr Seymour
that the audience
that

GIRL."
Hicks.
It
;

317
was not, then, it was simply

was

in

an ill-humour

one or two speeches were so gratuitously and

deliberately suggestive as to disgust a certain portion

of the audience,

who had

the courage and public spirit

to express their disgust.

No one

can allege that the

In the

party of protest was too quick to take offence.

first

act they listened without budging to a long list of "birthmarks" on the persons of a group of young ladies, then and there present, which are supposed

examined and catalogued by a young described in the language of the day as gentleman,
to have been

"

the chappie

who

trots

them around," or something

notions there
is,

to that

effect.

To

old-fashioned

perhaps, a suspicion

of indelicacy in such a scene,

it

and, indelicate or not,

certainly struck

me

as witless
It

and nauseous

but

it

passed quite without protest.

was only when, in the second act, a newly married husband manifested the utmost impatience to investi" " birth-marks of his wife, wondered whether gate the

"we
till

could not find a quiet place here," and was met

it

by an underlined "Oh, can't you wait?"

then,
I

was not

say, that hisses

mingled with the gasps of

I

delight which (as a faithful reporter,

am bound

to

admit) greeted the sportive

sallies.
;

pardon for printing

has certified as
surely, be
unlit
fit

lh sr things

luit

beg the reader's what the Censor

to

In-

spoken on the

mot,

for

publication.

Veiled allusions are

3l8

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
If

1894.

useless in these cases.

we

are to preserve the stage

from that Puritan intermeddling which is the bugbear of the hour, we must not shrink from nailing to the counter the base money which some people find such
a cheap and ready substitute for the sterling coinage
of
wit. It is

quite true that a jest's impropriety

lies

as

much
ceives
realise

in the ear that hears as in the

it.

mind

that con-

But

it

is

precisely an author's business to

what

effect his

words

will

average ear, so to speak, of the public

produce upon the and when he

;

knows

that a certain speech will appear to the

mass of

his hearers

an impropriety, and

will

be accepted and

(by some) rejoiced in as such,

it is

useless for

him

to

argue that

it

may have an innocent meaning, and

it.

that

he

is

not responsible for the interpretation which the

audience puts upon

sort

We

all

know

perfectly well the

of chuckling laugh, often accompanied by an

!" of

"Oh

mock
;

protest,
I

which greets a "risky line"

deliberately bid for that

in burlesque

and

venture to assure the authors,

managers, and actors

chuckle,
or

who
to

who

fail

expunge a speech which

it,

unintentionally provokes
their
large.

that they are betraying

at

own

true interests

and those of the drama

But the ultimate

itself;

responsibility, of course, lies

I

with the public

and

am

glad to observe

some
alive

indication, however

faint, that they are

becoming

to the fact.

For the

rest,

The Shop Girl

is

undoubtedly one of

"THE SHOP
the brightest

GIRL."

319

and

cleverest pieces of

songs are written by "

Mr H.
I

J.

The its type. W. Dam and Mr

Adrian Ross," and

appreciation of

my

Mr Dam's rhyming

cannot more strongly express than by saying

that,

not having received the slip which apportions

the lyrics between the two authors, I

do not

to this

moment know which were his and which his collaborator's. The song sung by Mr Seymour Hicks in " Her golden hair was hanging down the second act,
her back,"
is

not precisely an edifying production.

It

treats in a tone of flippancy a subject

illustrated in

one of

his

which Hogarth best-known series of plates,

and which
than
for

is,

perhaps, better fitted for Hogarthian

illustration.

Hicksian

But

it

is

cleverly

written

and

cleverly

sung; and so

far

sharing the Puritan point of view, that

am I from I am always

ready to stand up for anything

brains in
platitude
it.

(in

reason) that has

Roscommon was
wrote,
It is

guilty of a hypocritical
is

when he

"For want of decency

want of sense."
sort

not necessarily anything of the

we may once

for all

disabuse our minds of that

It is

particular piece of cant.

"want of decency and

I

want of sense" that the public,

to tire of.

Mr Edmund

beginning Payne's impersonation of the

hope,

is

blighted shop-walker, Miggles, was a first-rate piece of

which he triumphs over his defeated tyrant, rose to the dignity of really His partner, Mis^ Katie powerful grotesque a< IIIIL;.
fooling;
in

and the drum scene,

32O

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
less

1894.
the

Seymour, was no

clever

in

her way, and

immense

success of their Japanese song and dance

was by no means undeserved. Mr Arthur Williams and Miss Lillie Belmore were both quite amusing, Mr Colin Coop sang his one song excellently, and Mr

George Grossmith, jun., was quaint in his somewhat monotonous fashion. The dancing of Miss Topsy
Sinden
is

not very
stiff,

much

to

my

taste

it

seems to

me
;

essentially

and remarkable rather than graceful

as

but

it is

exceedingly popular with the audience.

very
bright

Miss
mil-

Ada Reeve was

the

shop-girl

lionairess, but her art appeared to

lie entirely in

a sort

of personal piquancy.
to

Mr

Ivan Caryll's music seemed

my

unskilful ear considerably

in

above what we are

It

accustomed to
very tuneful

such productions.
taking.

was certainly

and

XLVIII.

"THE WIFE
THE

OF DIVES."
5//j

December.

" S. X. gentleman who chooses to be known as Courte" why does he trouble us with so silly a pseudonym ? may perhaps do good work for the stage when he has come to know the difference between
brutality

and

strength, smartness
at the

and

wit.

His Wife
last

of Dives* produced
*

Opera Comique
December
8.

week,

November 26

"THE WIFE OF

DIVES."

321
he has

was not a mere matine*e ineptitude.

learnt to blush for
it

When
a-

as one of the sins of his youth,

he

will

be

in

fair

way

to

become

competent

dramatist.
it

In point of structure and characterisation

was

<}iiite

on the matinee

level,

but there was somein its very disagree-

thing not altogether

commonplace

ableness

the most part

and the epigrammatic dialogue, though for no less futile than inappropriate, was

every
wit.

now and then illuminated by a genuine flash of The very names of the characters betray the

'prentice hand.

When we

find a millionaire

dubbed

Julius

Bodkin, we

Van Duccat and know what

a curate the Rev. Boanerges

to expect.

And

the author

takes care not to disappoint us.

His plot does not

hang together in the least have no bearing upon it

two-thirds of his dialogue

and

his characters are not

men and women

ising

at

all,

but phrase-making, attitudinthe author a present of a

shadows.

I will

make

suggestion

a very simple one.

Let him pigeon-hole

the play for ten years or so, then take it out and Let him make his " Wife re write it from first to last.

of Dives," not a lady with a Past

gratuitous as Miss

her Past
in

is

quit<

Kate Cloud's

John-a-Drtams
jilted the

but simply a vain

in a
fit

woman, who, having

hero

of pique and married the parvenu,

now cannot

endure to see her former lover marry another woman.

her give her rival the

diamond

IK

<

klace, with the

deliberate purpose of denying the

.uif't

and involving

322

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
;

1894.
this starting-

her in an accusation of theft

point
let

and from

the

then be like

drama develop as best it may. It will Ibsen's Hedda G abler turned inside out
, ;

and

commonplace at present, it is like nothing in heaven or earth. Even if it were better constructed and written, the vagueness of Mrs Van Duccat's
writ

character

and motives would deprive

it

it

of

all interest.

In

its

dialogue, however, ludicrously pretentious

and

overstrained though

was, there

seemed

to lurk the

promise of better things. About one in twenty of the This is not a author's witticisms was really witty. but as there was scarcely a line that large proportion
;

did not aim at brilliancy, though the ratio of hits to misses was small, the absolute number of clever things

was

from contemptible. out the wit which is not wit

far

If the author

would cut

the mechanical allitera-

tions,

the

forced

antitheses, the vapid Oscarisms

there would remain quite as

article as is fairly

much

of the genuine
life.

admissible in a play of modern

is

Unfortunately,
to quotation.

it

the inanities that lend themselves

give a small anthology, by

showing other clever young gentlemen how not

way of to do it
:

" He has the wealth of a Dives and the manners of a Dustman." " He owns several clubs and restaurants. There are more waiters than people in the clubs, and more people than waiters
in the restaurants."
I must say that these people who get the best of everybody give the best of everything." " Before dinner, one thinks ; after dinner, one drinks."

"

"To

keep the happy mean

is

generally to be meanly happy."

"THE WIFE OF
"
Marriage
is

DIVES."
a

323
for

an extravagance

for

man, a necessity

woman."

"The Old
"
"

Bailey is the new Bull- Ring." Societies are the curse of society."

How

can you give up love and liberty

for

domesticity and

drains?"
crime

" In the old times the aristocracy looked upon trade as a now they look upon crime as a trade." " Am I what I look, or do I look what I am ?"
;

The

very brightest scintillations

find in

my
I

notecan't

book are the parvenu's remark, "It seems

belong to a club unless the club belongs to me,"

and

Lord Cyril Sieveking's lament for some one who "married an American with an accent like a banjo."

The
and

really

good things of the dialogue, growing, as

cannot thus be torn from their context.

they necessarily must, out of the interplay of character

situation,

Miss Olga Brandon did not seem to be at her best

in

the part of

Mrs Van Duccat,

little

in which,

however,

there was very

for the actress to take

hold

of.

She showed a good deal of emotional power in the last act. Miss Florence Friend was pleasant as the
victim of the diamond-necklace intrigue,

and Miss

Carlotta Addison was excellent as a British matron of

the advanced type.

Mr Anson

played the millionaire

with his usual grotesque vigour;

Mr

Charles Glenney
to
"

portrayed the hero in such a

way as

make

the

vulgarism "If
natural in his

hadn't have loved you

;

seem quite

mouth

and Messrs Cosmo Stuart and

passable pieces of comedy.

Cecil

Ramsey contributed

324

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

XLIX.
"IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS."
Pall Mall Budget, 6th December. ignorance can be turned to account, the wise

"

WHEN
will

man

make no pretence

of knowledge."

cannot

give you the exact reference for this pregnant saying

of Euripides, but somewhere or other in his works

am
that find

sure you will find

it

as

Nora Helmer was sure

law-books you would

somewhere or other
it

in the

written that forgery

with a good motive was

rather laudable than otherwise.

The apophthegm,

at

any
act

rate, is quite

up

to

it.

worthy of Euripides, and I cheerfully If the check takers at the Theatre Royal,

who could

Cambridge, had been instructed to exclude every one not construe a simple piece of Greek say

a passage from

Xenophon

my

anabasis to the Iphi-

* genia in Tanris would have been summarily barred. I could have repeated the Lord's Prayer in Greek, but
that accomplishment might not have been held proof a performance of positive of my fitness to criticise I had just enough of Greek to In brief, Euripides. enable me to follow the performance in the crib with-

out hopelessly losing the place. The play itself I had read long ago in a German translation, but I had
forgotten
it

utterly.
*

"Why,

then," you ask,

30.

"make

November

325
these disgraceful confessions?
it

Why

not either 'smug

up,' or say nothing about it?"

Simply because

my

ignorance wished that he could

was, in its

way, a godsend.

Who
his

has not

come

with an absolutely fresh

mind

to

play

of

Shakespeare's,

perceptions

unblunted by long familiarity, unhampered by tradiThis was precisely my position tional reverence?
with

regard to Euripides.
instinct

recognised a fine and

provident

in

that

temperate application to
short-sighted pastors

Hellenic studies which

my

and

masters used to stigmatise as laziness.

Here was
barbarian

I,

then, precisely in the position of a

to stray into the Theatre

who had chanced

somewhere

of Dionysus

in the latter half of the fifth

century

B.C.

The

lyrical,

and even the rhythmical,

less lost

element

in

the

drama would be more or

upon

him

but the smattering of Greek he had picked up

would enable him to follow the dramatic

arrive at

action, and some understanding of the sort of pleasure which the playwright aimed at giving, and the audience
apj eared to receive.

He would know, in a general was a poet of high repute but he would also have gathered that there was an opposition
way, that Kuripidcs
;

party to

whom,

in the

words of

its latest

representative,

Mr
if

Swinburne, he was "the dreariest of playwrights that term be. not over-complimentary for the

dun
his

W.
as
a

hers

that ever

lloimdrrrd through
thus appioa< h

woik

diainatist."

He would

326

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

the play with a perfectly even mind, and be able, from his barbarian point of view, to form an estimate
of
its

without
critic.

purely dramatic qualities which might not be the expert Athenian its interest even' for
It is

always instructive to

make

abstraction
it

of the literary integuments of a drama, and see

its

in

bare bones, so to speak, as a representation in

action of

human

character and destiny.

is

The
there
is

first

thing that strikes this barbarian

that
in

a great deal

more destiny than character

all.

the play.

In

fact,

character can scarcely be said to

enter into the matter at

teristics that are

Iphigenia has no charac;

not plainly dictated by the action

Orestes and Pylades are

differentiated
is

Tweedledum and Tweedledee,

by external circumstances; and but the simple-minded savage who Thoas nothing exists for the sake of being hoodwinked by the wily
only
Hellene.

"Ah, your Greek

"
!

wits,"

he

says,

"how

quick they are

is knowing on the spur of the moment the very trivial inventing instance of sagacity which he applauds. The Athenian

little

that

Iphigenia

audience must have chuckled over the compliment, so

much

better deserved than the ingenuous Scythian

;

imagined
aimed.

and

that chuckle,

and not any

illustration

of character, was evidently the effect at which the poet

In the

first

scene between Orestes and Pylades,

Orestes, appalled by the difficulties of their adventure,

suggests instant

flight,

and Pylades has

to screw his

"IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS."
courage to the sticking-place
;

327

but here again a mere

is

momentary

effect, rhetorical rather than dramatic,

is

intended, since there

no attempt

in

the sequel to
is

carry through the suggestion that Orestes

irresolute

and Pylades a man of

rather contrast, the

steadfast mettle.

Compare, or

the characters of

way in which Shakespeare sustains Hamlet and Horatio The essential

!

difference between Goethe's

is

and Euripides' Iphigenia

that the

whole development of the German play

to

depends upon character.

The

poet's

effort,

then,

is

keep the audience

First
;

amused by an

interesting story, set forth with the aid

of several approved theatrical devices.

the device of the misinterpreted oracle

we have

but Euripides

merely plays with it for a moment and passes on. The irony of the thing vanishes when Iphigenia's seemingly bodeful dream proves to be in reality auspicious.

In the CEdipus Tyrannus and Macbeth, which

are tragedies, not popular entertainments, the seemingly auspicious oracles prove to

be bodeful of doom.
scene of exposition
(note

Then we have
between
Orestes

skilful

little

and

Pylades

how,

in

the

absence of

play-bills,

they are careful to

name each
lamenta-

other at the very outset); then a brief

tion,

lyric

a sort of aria, for Iphigenia, followed

by one of
the Hciils-

those long |)assages of animated narration

man's account of the fren/y of

in

><1

his

capture

which

it

is

evident that Greek audiences must

328

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.
"

" have taken great delight. These messenger scenes are sometimes considered to have been forced upon

" the Greek dramatists by the unity of place"; but the

development of such a passage as this proves that the narratives were not simply mechanical necescareful
sities for advancing the plot, but were inherently, and The Herdsman .having even potently, attractive.

departed, a pathetic recitation for Iphigenia, describing the sacrifice at Aulis, brings us up to the choral ode.
first

The second

act, or episode, is
its

a piece of singularly

modem
Hugo,

stagecraft
its

opening scene worthy of Victor I have somewhere conclusion of Scribe.

heard or read of a Danish settlement in Greenland to

which only one ship a year is despatched from the mother country. It happened that in 1870 the ship set sail immediately after the declaration of war
between France and Germany, so that for a whole year the Greenland colonists knew that Europe was in
flames, but were shut off from every

rumour

as to the

progress of events.
ship

Then,

in the

autumn of jSyi, the

made

her annual reappearance, and the whole

story of the Terrible

Year

Worth, Gravelotte, Sedan,

the Siege of Paris, and the

Commune,

the collapse of

one empire, and the creation of another

recluses.

had

to

be

poured forth in a breath, as it were, to the awe-stricken This is precisely the situation of the opening

scene between Iphigenia and Orestes, with the added

"IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS."

329

circumstance that the person on whom this avalanche of world-history descends has a keen personal interest
in the

events narrated.
at

Iphigenia has been rapt to the

the very outset of the Trojan
in ruins, Achilles
is

Greenland of her day

expedition
;

Ilium

is

now
is

dead,

Calchas
fallen

is

dead, Ulysses

"missing," her father has

brother's

by her mother's hand, her mother by her and all this she learns in less time than it
;

takes
this

me

to write the

words

And remember

that

all

once poetry and history to the audience, that the very names would stir their blood, bringing
was
at

with them a thousand associations of glory, of terror

Apart from character and what more magnificent dramatic effect could passion, be conceived ? It was here that Goethe, partly because
in

a word, of romance

he did not write

for a

Hellenic audience, but mainly

inferior,
fell

because his statecraft was

Euripides.

far

short of

The
letter,

recognition scene, again, with the device of the

is

manipulated with an ingenuity worthy of S ribe or Sardou but at this point Goethe, who
;

makes the recognition dej>end on no chain of chances, but on the character of Orestes, had the artistic, if not
tin-

scenic,

advantage.

Then we have what may be

;n

called a telling

domeM
and

the raptures of the

long-lost brother

sister; alter

which

passage of
to a close.
is

consultation, of plotting,
In

bungs the episode

act,

the

fir^t

scene of the third

the audience

33O

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
and
its

1894.
is

entertained,
flattered,

sense of national astuteness

"

by Iphigenia's hoodwinking of Thoas

while in the
last

for

they held the grey barbarian lower than the Grecian

child
"
;

scene of

all

the poet reverts

to narrative,

and the "angelos"

delivers a recitation

which might have been written by Mr Rudyard Kipling The for style, by Mr Rider Haggard for matter.
piling

to the escape of the fugitives is Haggard's manner. One difficulty overcome, another crops up; until at last the Dea ex

up of obstacles

exactly in

Mr

machina appears to secure the happy ending, and so flatter the national spirit once more by bringing these
events of the heroic age into direct relation with the
life

of the present.
it is

Yes,
in

very easy to understand

how

the Iphigenia

Tauris must have been vastly entertaining to an Athenian audience. It is a Volksstuck of the first
order.
I

don't

know whether

its

reception

is

on

record, but unless the judges were absurdly superior

persons, I think they

must have awarded

it

the prize.

can be very profitably presented by underon the narrow stage of the Cambridge graduates Theatre is another question. You must know that
it

Whether

Greek acting
world over,
thrilling

Cambridge, like all acting all the had its palmy days. One hears accounts of the achievements of Messrs
at

has

Stephen and Macklin

in

the Ajax, and fascinating

I

legends of the performance of The Birds.

myself

"IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS."
saw the Eumenides some years ago
;

33!

it

was scenically

more

effective than the Iphigcnia,

for Athene,
it

and with a lady

of
last

"dea-certa"

presented fewer elements of

the ridiculous.

The performance

Friday was

most creditable
taste,

to all concerned; what earnestness, and enthusiasm could do was done without fail

but these excellent qualities are powerless to convert

men
by

The music, into women or amateurs into actors. Mr Charles Wood, pleased me very much, and I am
who know
tell

assured by those
pleased
I
;

that I

"

had a
is

"

right

to

be

but music, to

the truth,

Greek

to

me.

wish

Even

could say that Cambridge Greek was music. apart from the terrible banality of the vowel
I

sounds,

the

ruthless

Englishness

of

intonation
if

is

destructive of

all illusion.

May

suggest that

the

promoters of the Greek plays, instead of merely amusing their little academic world, wish to render a real
service to art, they will at least attempt a return to

something

representation?

approaching the original conditions of Let them boldly revert (after due

experiment) to the
hieratic robe.

mask, the cothurnus, and the

Let them

Let them instruct their actors to intone

their

instead

of

bow -wowing

speeches.

(athletics permitting) reserve their

performances for a
circus tent,

more

genial season, hire a

commodious
i

build a

wooden

stage after the (in

its

k proportions,

and

assign the chorus

parts

proper place

in

the arena.

The

would then be recited by trained singers instead

332

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

of untrained actors; the sex difficulty would be got

and we should be spared the incongruities of a heroic play treated like a modern
over just as
it

was

in Attica

comedietta by unmitigated undergraduates

frocks.
last,

in Liberty

The performances might

;

at

first,

and even

at

seem grotesque more grotesque than

but, frankly, they could not be

that of last week,

and they would

be much more

instructive.

"

THE BIRTHDAY."
1

2th December.
effort

MR GEORGE
dramatist was

BANCROFT, whose maiden

produced
is

as a

at

the

Court Theatre on

Saturday evening,
pirations
is

refreshingly careless of the as-

and

affectations of the time.

The Birthday*
It
is

modest almost
flowers

to the point of bashfulness.

and sunshine, benevolence, manliness, and innocence. One was prepared for a hereditary bias
all

in

the direction of teacup-and-saucer

comedy

but

really

Mr

Bancroft seems almost to have omitted the

from his concoction, and given us only the cream and sugar. There is a touch of character in this
tea

proceeding which

cannot but applaud.

It

takes

some courage

for a

young man
*

of to-day to dally with

21.

December 8

"THE RED LAMP."

An
It

333
it.

the innocence of love as though he believed in

affectation of callow cynicism
is

so

much cheaper
little

and showier.

We

are getting just a

tired

of

Byron
no

de nos jours,

who

leaves

Harrow a man of

the world, and Cambridge a decadent for

whom

life

has

secrets

and love no
does not

illusions.

Amiability

alone,

however,

make a

playwright,

and

The Birthday gives but scant evidence of specific talent on its author's part. The end of the play
shows a pretty fancy and a
it

light

touch

for the rest

presents nothing very noteworthy, either in con-

was well played by and especially by Miss Day, Draycott, Dora de Winton, who showed real grace and simThe revival of the Aide-Carre farce, Dr Bill* plicity.
ception
or
in

handling.

It

Mr

\V.

II.

Mr

Mr George Alexander on his prosperous went very merrily with Mr Hawtrey in Mr Alexander's part, Miss Lottie Venne in Miss Fanny
which started
career,

Brough's part, and Miss Edith

original part of the

Ken ward

in

her

own

Kangaroo

Girl.

LI.

lUi

KI-.D

LAMP."

"HAi., mi. HIGHWAYMAN."

igM
IT

December.
spirit

might have brought balm to the wounded

all

of "X. Y. Z.," and

*

the other letters of the alphabet

January
9, 1895.

December 8

334

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

who have been

audience that

bewailing in the Times the deprava-

tion of public taste, could they have seen the

filled

enormous

Haymarket last Thursday afternoon to applaud those chaste and breezy masterNo pieces, The Red Lamp and The Ballad- Monger*
one could desire a better confutation of the theory " that it is the unholy attraction of Kate Cloud's past"

the

There is that draws the public to John-a- Dreams. " " neither an partiallyopium-drinking sot" nor a
reclaimed harlot
allusion
"

in

The Red Lamp.

any
sins

There
flesh,

is

no

whatever to

of

the

past,

present, or future.

turns

is

sister's

sentiment on which the play and the devotion to her brother

;

The

love-interest,

properly

so

called,

is

not

only

quite
purity.

subsidiary, but of absolutely Robertsonian We hear a good deal of political crimes, it

is

true,
is

but the only

"

vice

that

comes

within
is

our ken

cigarette-smoking. tionable

In

brief, there

nothing "questalent

about the play

except

its

and

yet

impious and horrific John-a-Dreams certainly could not have drawn a better audience. The truth
the
is

that the

public has a depraved taste for being

interested
that

and amused, and will flock to any theatre happens to be in vogue, where a fairly enter-

of

Played at matinees, December 6 and 13. On the afternoons December 20 and 26 The Merry Wives of Windsor was performed. Two evening performances of Hamlet (December 28 and 29) brought the season to a close.

"THE RED LAMP."

taining play

335

It has got over the silly is presented. of " X. Y. Z." and the other unknown prudishness

quantities, but

it

has no morbid hankering after ladies

with a

history.

What

it

hankers
will

after

is

poignant
against

drama, the clash of emotions,

will
;

battling

and we

all

know

that

breaches of the social

and moral code are

matic conflicts.
reason

particularly fruitful of such dra-

The

rational-minded public sees no

why

this

whole category of subjects should be

;

placed under a taboo

but

it

is

the veriest folly to

interest

pretend that
in

any one takes a prurient or vicious

Paula and

The Second Mrs

simply because

Tanqueray Kate Cloud happen to

this contro-

or John-a- Dreams,

have been
versy,

women of irregular life. In Mr Haddon Chambers is paying

art.

the penalty

of defective

His play

is

so ill-considered

and

ill-developed as to give a
tion that

little

he has dragged

in

colour to the conten" his heroine's

past"

merely to pander to some perversion of taste in his audience. It is not because Kate Cloud is a woman
with a past, but rather because she obviously " X. Y. Z." is
in the land.
is

not,

that the voice of the outraged

heard
for her

We

feel that there is

no necessity

that

it

invented

in

cold blood, as

does not really belong to her, that it is in obedience to it were,

"

some

extrinsic, inartistic, illogical motive.

X. Y. Z."
attract

assumes the motive

a morbid-minded

to

have been a desire to

public by dealing with indeli

336
topics
;

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
whereas the author's
real

1894.

motive was simply

situation.

to bring

about a

telling

melodramatic

He
his

required

some

obstacle

between his hero and

heroine in order to give the villain time to work out

his

machinations

and he simply grasped

in

at the first

way, without the least idea of subverting public morals, calling the blush of shame " X. Y. to the cheek of Z.," or in any way setting the
obstacle that
his

came

Thames

or the Times on
it

fire.

And

have very

little

doubt that

is

precisely the melodramatic situation

the thing which in

my

eyes, drags

fohn-a-Dreams
that

down

to the level of

The

Red Lamp

makes the

public crowd to

Mr

Chambers's play

just as they did

on Thursday last to Mr Outram Tristram's. It would be too much to pretend that there is no greater
interest in the character

and

situation of

Kate Cloud

than in the character and situation of the Princess

no pressing need for adjusting our attitude towards Nihilism and tyrannicide, so that the moral problems suggested by The
Claudia Morakoff.
feel

We

Red Lamp seem

All of us,

to

us

rather remote

and

abstract.

on

the other

frequently called

upon
of

to

less hand, form an opinion, and pur-

are

more or

sue a certain
persons
social

line

conduct,

with

reference

to

who have infringed the dominant moral and The question of our attitude towards codes.
and Kate Clouds of
this

the Paula Tanquerays

is

world
the

anything but remote and abstract;

therefore

"THE RED LAMP."

history of

337
pre-

Kate Cloud, however unconvincingly

sented,

is

more

actual

to

us,

than the history of

Claudia

Morakoff.

"X. Y.

Z.,"

no

doubt,

would

have us pretend that we never have the least occasion, in decent society, to consider such questions but
;

the

common-sense of even Puritan England has long

in rebellion against this ostrich-like
is

ago risen
crisy.

hypoI

There
I

not a

word

in

John-a-Dreams

could say as much for all the other popular entertainments of the day not a word that is unfitted for the ears of any person who is old enough to
wish

go

to a

may remember
this article
is

"grown-up" theatre at all. As my readers indeed, I have hinted as much in

my

none of the highest.

and
a

opinion of the play as a work of art " But as for it a

calling
"

sickly

"

immorality,"

desecration

to

the

stage

rendered illustrious by the spotless refinement of " X. Y. Z." must " Buckstone and excuse Sothern,"

me

if I

quote from that esteemed

classic,

The Vicar

of Wakefield,

Mr
It

Burchell's expressive monosyllable of

to

"Fudge!"

would be interesting
**

know, by the

way, whether the Misses

X. Y. Z." are permitted to

read the story of Olivia

No

doubt the episode of

Lady Blarney and Miss Carolina \Vilhelmina Amelia

Skeggs
is

blacked out, after the fashion of the Russian

"

censorship, in the
I

X. Y. Z." edition.
test the theories

\u-nt to

The Red Lamp, not to

of the alphabetical Jeremiahs of the Titnes^ but to see

33^

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

Miss Janet Achurch's performance of the heroine, of which I had heard excellent accounts. It is a very
strong and
vivid piece of acting, quite
full

in the

tone

of the play, and

It

of emotional self-abandonment.

seemed

to

proved sometimes to ring a little false in moments of exMr Tree's Demetrius remains an admirable citement.
piece of grotesque character-acting, and

in the

me, too, that Miss Achurch had immanagement of her voice, which used

Mr Nutcombe

Gould made an

excellent Ivan Zazzulic.

Mr H. M.
to the

Paull has contributed a

new curtain-raiser
The

bill at
its

the Vaudeville, where

New Boy
distinctly

reached

three hundred

and

fiftieth

performance on
is

Saturday night.

Hal the Highwayman*

above the average of its class, and passes half an hour I was a little disappointed, I own, very agreeably.
that Kitty Carter did not soften

down

at the close,

repent of her jealous frenzy, and stand by the others

in

furthering the

highwayman's escape.

Mr

Paull

seemed even
Kitty, called

to lead

up

to

the situation in which

upon
I

to identify

Handsome

Hal, should

declare that she had never set eyes on the gentleman

before.

This

take to be the conclusion demanded,

not, perhaps,
tradition, the

by the logic of character, but by the

convention
is

if

work.

There

no room

for

you will, of this class of such development of

character as should render one thing inevitable, the

*

December

15.

Still

running.

"THE CHIEFTAIN."
other impossible
;

339

author might
clusion,

fairly

and the choice being left open, the have chosen the pleasanter con-

and

at

the

same time given

his

actress

an

additional

opportunity.

The

frankness

with

which

Kitty confessed to Celia the secret of her treachery

seemed
little

to

me
is

improbable

but,

piece
I

well put together

and

well written.

on the whole, the Miss

as the

Helena

)acre

showed

real

ability

"woman

scorned," Miss

Esm

Beringcr was pleasant as Celia,

made a dashing highwayman, and Mr Mackay's stable-boy was a clever bit of broad comech.
T. Kingston
|.
I..

Mr

LII.

"THE
\\'.\<;NKR

CHIEFTAIN."

Pall Mall Budget, 2oth December.

and
;

Sir
if

Arthur Sullivan are

I

my
it

favourite

composers
I

and

put Wagner

first,

is if I

only by

right of seniority.

Perhaps, on the whole,

had my
J'ina-

choice,

would rather have comi>osed Tristan und

Isolde than Pinafore.

is
it

so

And yet, I don't know much more companionable. You can

;

whistle

from end to end

whistle Tristan

whereas you can't

Isolde.
It is

at least /can't

und

"good joy"

in

the theatre, but

it's

of no use whatever on a lonely

road after
.

nightfall.
tlie

For Sir Arthur Sullivan, at any

tn.ii)

date of Trial by

Jury onwards,
;

have

cherished a

warm and

grateful admiration

but never

340

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

did he so imperatively claim

gratitude as last

both admiration and

at the

him, and
If

to

him

Wednesday night alone, we owed a

in

Savoy.

To

delightful evening.

Mr

Burnand's lines can

to have inspired his

any valid sense be said collaborator's graceful, and jocund,

I

and

witty

and

exhilarating rhythms, then

;

be forgiven him

but as

much may down number after glance

grows
in at the art

number

in the libretto,

my wonder
"

which can steep such jingle-jangles

merriment.
veritable
flies

melody and

The
in

"
lyrics

in their musical setting are

amber.

One
critical

is

standard to the work of

prepared beforehand to apply a modest Mr Burnand. He is

man

1875

of his period; and his period say, 1855 to was one of absolute indifference to common-

sense and literary form in burlesque.

Planche had

almost ceased to write, Gilbert had barely begun.

The

stage was given over to happy-go-lucky, irrespon-

sible improvisations,

slap-dash cleverness, but

talent of the

some of them showing a sort of all relying far more on the

comedians than on the invention or wit

reigned supreme and when been exhausted, there arose a convenient theory that the worse and more idiotic a " " pun Was, the more mirth-provoking it became. We
of the author.
;

The pun
all

the good puns had

hear amazing tales of the rapidity with which this or that successful extravaganza was written ; but when we
turn to the libretto,

we cease

to

be amazed

at the

"THE CHIEFTAIN."
rapidity
it is

34!
"
It

the success that astounds us.

may

be interesting to know," writes Mr Burnand in the preface to The Chieftain* "that The Contrabandista
[of

which the new extravaganza is an expanded version] was written, composed, and produced in sixteen
It is interesting to
little

days."

know

that in 1867 authors

had so
their

respect for their art,

public.

One

only wishes that

still

and managers for Mr Burnand

would take some

fact that the

interest in the

" mirth-provoker," pun, as a

more important is dead, and

that the

palmy days of improvisation are past. There would be something touching in Mr Burnand's
if
it.

faithfulness to the pun,

one

felt

that his will

were

in

any way concerned

in

But he has probably come

to think in puns, just as

Mr Swinburne

has

come

to

think in epithet-laden antitheses.

alter

We

can no more

an inveterate habit of mind than we can assume

new handwriting at will. We can at best laboriously and temporarily disguise it. His dialogue, then, and
a
his versification,
less

must be regarded as matters more or

Burnand's control
;

beyond Mr

not so the utter

is

futility

of his comic invention.

There

no reason

in

the world why, even on the somewhat crazy ground-

work of The Contrabandista he should not have raised

,

more coherent and shapely superstructure than The Chieftain. He had only to take a little more time and
;

thought

but thought
*

is

precisely
12.
Still

what

Mr Burnand

December

running.

342

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.
public.

declines to expend

thing feebler or

upon the playgoing more childish than the

NoThe

story of

Verisimilitude, Chieftain can possibly be imagined. of course, one does not look for; but humour and

ingenuity are equally absent. With music less masterly than Sir Arthur Sullivan's, how it would have bored us!

As

it

was, the music

redeemed everything.

There

was something a little i867-ish, I thought, about one or two of the numbers in the first act. But the finale
brought the house down, and the second act was a delight from beginning to end, each number more Sir Arthur Sullivan is surely sparkling than the last.
the most polyglot composer on record.

He

can write

music

in

any language under the sun, and always with

felicity.
all

equal grace and

after

We

left

the theatre charmed,

concerned upon a brilliant congratulating It is precisely lest this success should resuccess.
establish the tradition of the

have spoken

my

Inept Libretto that I mind so emphatically on Mr Bur-

nand's share in

it.

When

the

collaborators

came

before the curtain, the composer, not yet recovered

from his sprain, appeared to the physical eye to be leaning heavily on the librettist's arm/ To the mental
vision,

the positions were reversed, and Sir Arthur

Sullivan

seemed

to

be tripping gaily and gracefully

along, carrying

Mr

Burnand, a dead weight, on

his

shoulders.

"A STORY OF WATERLOO."

LIII.

343

"

STORY OF WATERLOO."

"

THE

VICARAGE."
December.
?

26///

\Vnv docs

I)r

Conan Doyle only

gift,"

trifle
it is

with the stage

anti-social

He
to

has evidently " the

and

and

indefensible in any one

who can

write

do so with

all

his might.

The

good plays not country swarms

with excellent story-tellers,

forth a

new one

but we can

and every month brings tell our dramatists on

our

For my own counting the thumbs. have a strong liking for what I know of I)r {art, Conan Doyle's work, but he is not one of the great
fingers, not
I

artists

whom

Fiction cannot afford to lend, even for

If

the briefest term, to her poverty-stricken sister.

he

can write three acts with anything like the felicity of touch of which he has given proof in two one-act
pieces, his position

as honourable as
tainly

on the stage would soon be quite his position in literature, and cer-

no

less

lucrative.

The

Story of Waterloo*
the
first

which

Mr

Irving

produced

for

time

in

London

at the

Garrick matinee in aid of the Newport

Market Refuge, more than confirmed the opinion of his ability which his comedietta of Foreign Policy^

produced

last

year under

Mr

Charrington's manage-

ment, led us to entertain.

*

The
17.

idea

is

eharming,

December

344

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
is

1894.

and the dialogue

and,
in

nervous,

delicately

humorous,
eminently

the
or

good
scenic.

sense

of

the

word,

theatrical

Even with an actor of quite

little

ordinary talent in the part of the Waterloo veteran,

I

have no doubt that the

piece would get well

over the footlights.

The

only theatrical quality of

which
tion.

it

gives no definite proof is power of construcFor this there is scarcely room in a play
little

which

is

inventor of Sherlock
constructive
does.
faculty,

more than a monologue but if the Holmes does not possess the
;

should

like

to

know who

Mr
is

Irving's

performance of Corporal Gregory

Brewster

a carefully elaborated and admirably sus-

tained piece of character-acting, showing the subtlest sympathy with the author's humour. It is to my

thinking the

finest

thing
it

Mr

Irving has

done

in

comedy if comedy means to be slighted merely because the What I liked least, both in the short.

can be called

a thing by
play

no
is

author's

conception and the actor's execution, was the very I wonder if it would not have been more end.
artistic to

have

left

the old

man

alive ?

It is natural

enough, no doubt, that he should join his comrades and " the Dook," and one hopes he did not go
without his
flag

and

his firing party

but the end

is,

nevertheless, theatrical,

and too

clearly foreseen to

be

very

effective.

Mr

Irving

was ably supported by

Fuller Mellish.

Miss Annie Hughes and

Mr

"THE VICARAGE."

345

A performance

of The Vicarage,

Mr Clement Scott's
Le
Village,

pleasantly-written adaptation of Feuillet's

preceded Or Doyle's piece, Mr and Mrs Mr Arthur Cecil appearing in their original

Bancroft and
parts.

The quiet Never was play more admirably cast. of Mrs Bancroft's playing after she learns of dignity
the plot against the peaceful
life

of the vicarage

is

very touching

Mr

Cecil never did anything

more

delightful than his

embodiment of
is

the simple-minded

Vicar

and

Mr

Bancroft

perfect as the selfish but

good-hearted bachelor
serpent in this elderly

who comes
Eden.

near to playing the

EPILOGUE.
KK;HTKKN-NINETY-FOUR has not been such a
and memorable year
eighteen ninety-three.
in

stirring

the theatrical world as was

difference can be

The

summed

up very

briefly,

thus

ORIGINAL ENGLISH PLAYS. MR PINF.RO.

1893. 1894.

The Second Mrs Tanqueray. The Amazons.

Nothing.

MR OSCAR

WILDE.
Nothing.

A Woman

of No Importance.

MR
Robin Goaifellow.

CARTON.
Nothing.

MR HKNKY ARTHUR
The lianble Shop. The
The

JONES.
.!/,/..

/i/mafcrr.

The Case of Rebellious .V.r///.

MK
Sowing
the

I.KUNDV.

Wind.

An
The

(>;,,'

New Woman.

348

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

POETIC PRODUCTIONS AND REVIVALS.

1893.

1894.

Becket (Lyceum). The Foresters (Daly's).

Nothing

at

Lyceum.

Twelfth Night (Daly's).

IBSEN.
The Master Builder (New).
Rosmersholm.

Nothing new.

Hedda

Gabler.

A
Act).

The Wild Duck. DolFs House (in German).

Brand (Fourth

An Enemy of the People. A DolFs House (in English

and
Italian).

INDEPENDENT THEATRE.
The Strike at Arlingford.
Alan's Wife. Leida.

The Heirs of Rabourdin. The Wild Diick.

Question of Memory.
Cat.

The Blafk

FOREIGN PERFORMANCES.
Eleanora Duse.

Eleanura Duse.

The

entire

Comedie

Sarah Bernhardt.

Madame
It

Rejane.

appears, then, that in no department has 1894 a

marked advantage over 1893, while in some it stands at a marked disadvantage. To my thinking, indeed,
the one

event of interest in

counterpart in the previous year,

of

1894 which had no was the production

Mr George
its

Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man.

Not
on
it

that I think that

"romantic comedy"

sufficient,
;

own

merits, to render the year illustrious

but

certainly revealed a

new and

peculiar talent,

and

EPILOGUE.

349
(I

may

[x>ssihly

be remembered

have more

than

merely speculative grounds

for this

prophecy) as the

forerunner of other plays, equally characteristic and

much more accomplished.

I

am

far

from

suggesting
is

that

the

comparative
signifi-

barrenness of 1894
cance.

a fact of any particular

it

On
in

the contrary,
reality

is

purely fortuitous.

A
as

year

is

an

arbitrary division,

so

far

theatrical history

to the old

is concerned. If we were to method of reckoning by " seasons "

revert

from

summer
different

summer we should arrive at a quite result. Then The Second Mrs Tanqueray
to

would

fall

within the season 1892-93, and

its

successor

from the same pen (we

may

confidently hope) within

the season 1894-95, leaving the intermediate 1893-94

without any contribution from

Becket would
fall

Mr

Pinero.

Similarly

King Arthur to 1894-95, and the intermediate season would have no Lyceum
to 1892-93,
that

production wherewith to adorn its record. It happens Mr Pinero has taken longer than usual over his

new
than

play

it

happens that

Mr

Irving found
in

it

more

convenient to produce King Arthur

in

January 1895

December
<

1894.

To draw
in

any auguries

from

tlK-sr

ham

es

would be absurd,
for

unless, perhaps,

we read an augury

good

Mr

Pinero's <K -termina-

tion to give ample time and thought to his m-xt venture. If The Sffimd Mrs Tanqueray had been a failure,

and

his silt-wr

had been due to discouragement, then,

350
indeed,

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
we should have had
movement.

1894.

to record a serious

check

to the dramatic

As

it

is,

there

is

no sign

of even the slightest relaxation in our rate of advance.

Public interest in the stage
is
is

undiminished, and there

certainly

no decline

in

the average of intelligent

Taking the productions of the year all round, we find that merit and success have been The Old Criticism approximately commensurate.
receptivity.

has continued to exercise, in some respects, a hurtful but where it has succeeded in killing a influence
;

piece of able work,

it

has always been helped

by
or

some inherent weakness, whether of conception

of representation.

We may

safely declare,

in short,

that a steadily increasing

being applied to dramatic production,

is

amount of brain-power is and that there

no sign of the tendency having met with any check

during the past twelvemonth. Still, the fact remains that this volume presents the Some friendly record of a comparatively lean year.
critics,

cannot but respect, found that predecessor, though dealing with an exceptionally fat year, contained such a preponderance of trivial and ephemeral matter as to render very quesI
its

whose judgment

tionable

its

right to exist.
I

What

these critics will say

of this volume,

tremble to think.
but
I

Their premises,
venture to put

of course, are incontestable;

forward one or two pleas

which may conceivably

mitigate the trenchancy of their conclusion,

EPILOGUE.
There
is,

351
of audacity in the

at

first

sight,

an

air

very idea of such a year-book.

are
after

Better

men

than

other arts

engaged year ; yet none of them dreams of making an annual collection of his articles. What right have I
to imagine that

year in

the criticism of the

are suffered to

mine are worth garnering, while theirs drift like autumn leaves before the

" " cold obstruction wind, and presently to rest in the

of dust-covered

newspaper-files

Why

should

go

pretentiously to oblivion in volume-form, instead of

accepting

it

quietly, like

my
?

betters, in

the natural

course of journalistic things

These questions would be quite unanswerable if the interest and vitality of criticism were strictly proportionate to the talent of the critic.
case.
I

But that

is

not the
;

Subject must also be taken into account

and

venture to suggest that, as a subject for criticism,

the

drama possesses
arts.

certain advantages over all the

other

Th<-

subjects with
are,

which criticism
:

is

commonly
This
is

concerned

roughly speaking, four

music, plastic

and

pictorial art, literature,

and the drama.

The circles obviously an unscientific classification. the drama overlap, and the drama is, of music and after all, included in the wider circle of literature.
I

Jut

we

find,

in

practice, that

the four departments

indicated engage the attention of four different classes

of specialists.

What, then, are the characteristics of

352

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
departments,

1894.
as
?

these four

regarded

materials

or

bases for the parasitic art of criticism

tinction at
painting,

clear dis-

once suggests
other.

itself

between music and

literature

on the one hand, and

and the

drama on the
is

Criticism of music and painting

;

very largely a criticism of technique, of execution

criticism of literature

and the drama

life.

is,

or ought to

be, very largely a criticism of

It is true that all

competent rest on a wide foundation of

in formulating

discussion

of music and painting must

aesthetic theory,

and

that

many

critics

and expounding their different theories, have produced works of great and endur-

ing value.

critic is no longer philobut chronicling, so to speak, the sophising musical or pictorial productions of the day or of the week, he has seldom time or space to refer back to

But when the

at leisure,

principles.

He

passes from picture to picture, from

performance to performance, approving or disapproving, as

the case

may

be,

and producing a

series

of

marginal notes, rather than a

sustained analysis or

argument.

The

art-critic

goes to a given exhibition

and

writes a sort of gossiping or judicial catalogue

of the pictures which attract his attention.

His work

may be
wit
;

full
it is

of observation, penetration, knowledge,

essentially

but

and

inevitably scrappy.
in a

He

will often dismiss a

hundred pictures

articles; this

whole volume deals with

It
is

just

couple of about a

hundred

plays.

very seldom that, in his jour-

Kril.cxiUE.
nalistic

353
occa.Mon
to

capacity,

he

has

any

write

and carefully-developed essay on a single When he wants to do so to use a given theme.

us
picture as the text for an aesthetic dissertation, or to
in

study
painter

their

he

at

sequence the works of a particular once writes either a maga/ine article

musical
critic,

or a hook.

The

again, in his capacity

is

as a chronicler of passing events,

ch'iefly

concerned

with technical details of execution,

creation.

as

opposed to
brief

The appraisement
at

of this or that individual

performance, instead of being relegated to a

paragraph
the body
his

the

end of an
and

article, is

apt to furnish
Virtuosity
is

and substance of
;

his

work.
is

main theme

virtuosity

a matter of evanes-

cent,

though for the moment absorbing, interest. Even when he has a new creation to deal with, his
is

criticism

largely technical,
life

matic relation to

a relation which becomes

and bears but a problemore

work
in

definite, indeed, in proportion as the

question

approaches to literature, and especially to drama, by I am far taking the form of oratorio, opera, or song. from denying that a

man

of genius

may make even

;

a newspaper notice of the Royal Academy or of a " Monday Pop.'' permanently valuable and delightful
all
I

maintain

is

that

it

assuredly takes a

man

of

genius to do refrain from

<-nt

so.

Mr

<

Bernard Shaw (why should I an opinion s< u< -miane to my

>

point ?)

has to

my

thinking a peculiar genius

354

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
musical

1894.
vital

for bringing day-by-day

criticism into

relation with aesthetics at large,

and even with and the

ethics

and

politics

in a

word, with

life

fact that
of,

he cannot be goaded into making a collection

selection from, his articles,
is,

or

own, somewhat of
is

a rebuke

to

me.

But

my

suggestion

that,

even

assuming Mr Shaw to be right, it does not follow that I am wrong. He has the advantage in talent, I in theme. He deals with the art which is furthest from
life,

with that which

is

nearest to

it.

Of course

it

Shaw's ingenuity to prove that the reverse is the case but the sense in which I use the " " nearest " terms " furthest and is, I hope, sufficiently
;

would not tax

Mr

clear.

To
it

state the matter briefly,

arts,

music

is

the most
relative
;

absolute of the

drama one of the most

and
"

is

much
it

easier to write interestingly

of the

relative than of the absolute.

But,"

may be

"

urged,

there

is

not, or

need not

be, anything technical, abstruse, or criticism of literature.

It

scrappy in the

forms a large part of the

brilliant

life-work of

many eminent and

not

writers

yet

not one of them

nor

Mr

Lang, nor Theodore Watts, nor Mr

issues
in
its

Mr

Mr
of

Saintsbury,

Traill,

nor

Mr

Quiller-Couch

a 'Year-Book

Literature.'
is

The drama,
very
far

present

condition,

certainly

from being the most important or flourishing branch of English letters. Why should we be supposed to want a yearly chronicle of the theatrical

i:riLO<;UK.
world,

355

when

the

much

larger
is

and
left

more

fruitful

domain of poetry and

not,

fiction

unchronided,

certainly, for
this
I

want of able

historiographers?"

To

can only answer that the temptation to

essays
a
lies

collect

these

precisely

in

the

fact

that

they deal
to speak,

with

limited,

clearly-defined,

and,

so

manageable subject. A critical year-book of literature, or even of imaginative literature alone,

and exhaustive as this record of the drama, would be more than any one man could possibly accomplish, and would run to something like the bulk of the Post Office Directory. The most industrious
as detailed

reviewer makes but casual dips into the literary lucky-

bag

whereas the
event

critic

of the

drama takes cognisance

importance in the England resembles

of every
theatrical

of the

slightest

history

of the year.

France, and differs from Germany, Italy, Scandinavia,

and even America,

her drama.

in

the extreme centralisation of

literary life of the stage
''

The whole

(one

must be allowed to use the term "

literary

without

committing oneself as to the quality of the literature) ntred in some do/en or fifteen theatres in the
1

Knd

of London.

It

is

true tha< a great

many

plays are
vincial

produced
;

at

Kast Knd, suburban, and pro

theatres

but
"

they are absolutely ephemeral

and negligible
Within

the

penny dreadfuls'' of the drama.

I

my own

experience,

cannot
that

recall

single

play of the slightest importance

has been pro-

356

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

duced out of the West End of London.

then,

Now
tour,
it

and
will

when a company happens

but these are

to be

on

give a few performances of a play not yet seen in

town

preparatory to the

little more than public rehearsals, London production. To all intents

and purposes,

at

any

rate,
fall

the seed-plot of the English

within,

drama may be

said to

and

well within, the

two-mile radius from Charing Cross.

year's occurrences within

To

record the

an area extending from Oxford Street to the Thames, and from the Law
Courts to Sloane Square,
is

to write the history of the

it

English drama for that year, "as

porary."
All

strikes a

contempro-

the higher
its

theatrical life of the

this centre,

vinces draws

nourishment from
in the

and
echo

words

first

spoken

Strand

will presently

eastward and westward to the shores of the Pacific.

I

am

not vaunting this centralisation as an advantage,

it

but merely noting

renders
it

as a fact.

And

since' this fact

possible for a

man

of very ordinary faculties

and opportunities

to give a

complete record, within

reasonable limits, of the heart-beats which send the

wonder
doing
?

blood coursing through so vast a system, can you that it should seem to him a thing worth

However humbly we may

rate

it

as a branch
is

of literature, a form of art, the English

drama

un-

deniably a social institution of the

I

first

importance.

am no

great believer in the direct moral influence

I

of

drama

doubt whether

Don Juan

has ever

re-

EPILOGUE.
formed a
sober
ideas
libertine or

357
a drunkard

LAssommoir made

but the indirect and diffusive influence of the

and

ideals presented

on the stage cannot but be

consider that
a successful

enormous.
play

When you

Mr

Jones's Masquerades, for example, or

Mr
all

Haddon Chambcrs's John-a-Drcams

bability l>e witnessed

will in all pro-

by

at least a million

people

the world over in the course of the next ten y

you

will scarcely

deny
is

that the present

and

future of

the factory, so to speak, which turns out such widely-

disseminated wares,

a matter of rational concern.

The
field

critic

of ihe drama, then, can survey the whole

with an exhaustive minuteness impossible to the

critic

who takes for his province the illimitable expanse of literature. And he can not only survey it he may not unreasonably hope to exercise an appre:

ciable influence

upon

its tillage.

What

literary critic,

he I^amb and Arnold and Pater

rolled

into

could hope to produce a visible effect upon the

unhasting, unresting, majestic development of English
literature
!

As

well

think to

alter

the course of a
illustration,
I

glacier by chipping
grant, goes a
little

at its edges.

This

beyond

the mark.
it

Great
is

critics

influence

lesser

critics,

and, though
starts

doubtful

whether criticism ever

.

an

artistic

in

the long run,

the

advame
It
is

ino\ement, it idaid om-. \\\\\

if

only

in

long

run.
r,

imirh

man,

at

the

can look bark and say, M This

358
tendency

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
I

1894.

helped to foster

that craze I did

someis
is

thing to kill."
reality

No
;

dynamic

doubt every word spoken but the object to be influenced

in

so

vast, that

the activity of a

individual critic or group

of

critics

produces no measurable and momentary

critic,

effect.

The dramatic
to
be,

on the other hand,

sense,

appears
history.

and

is

in

a certain

If literature

moves

like a glacier, the

making drama

may be compared
noisily along,

(though

its

to a mountain brook, babbling seeming to turn and wind incessantly general direction may be constant enough),

and neither so headlong nor so voluminous but that its rush may be checked at this point, hastened at
that,

and here and

there, perhaps, diverted into a

new

channel.

There
;

is

always a certain
flatter

movement

to be

recorded

and we may even

is

ourselves that the

movement
critics

not wholly beyond our control.

Some

maintain in spite of paradoxical assertions to the contrary) have an enormous influence,

(this I
if

collectively

the theatre-going public.

not individually, over the great mass of Though they can neither

crush a very strong play, nor puff a very weak one

into popularity, they can,

and

do,

make

or

mar
at

the

average play, whose

fall

fate

remains undecided
writers,

the

of the curtain.

Other

who may

not have

gained the ear of the great public, exercise an unmistakable influence upon managers and authors.

Thus

the dramatic

critic, far

more than

his literary co-mate,

EPILOGUE.
is

359
fight,

conscious of having a battle to

a policy to

pursue,

an end to

strive

for

and

this,

one may

perhaps be allowed to hope, tends to give not only a certain unity, but a special vivacity, a dash of character

and human
and

interest, to his lucubrations.

From
from

day

to day, from
;

week

to week,

he

is

carrying on a
fresh

campaign

his articles, as they

come

his pen, with all their blunders, all their crudities, all

their defects of insight,

and

foresight,

and proportion, may still have the hand interest of despatches from the
has been

direct

and balance, and firstIt

seat of war.

my

fortune to assist at

all

the events of any

1894, and in this

moment
volume
ence.
I

in the theatrical history of

present the sheaf of

my
it

special correspond-

It
its

has at

least
;

the

merit
if

within

own sphere

and
lies

of completeness be not at the same

time readable, the fault

then

in the writer,

not in his

And now
in

(as Richie

Moniplies puts
I

it),

"to promul-

gate the haill veritie,"

is,

must own

that this year-book

it

my

intention, not merely the record, but, as

It
is

were, the prolongation of a campaign.

chiefly, as
is
it

only, or

bears upon the future that the past >ear

worth n-<i>rdmg.

A m-wspapcr
It

criticism

is

quit kly

read

;un kly forgotten.

its little effect,

may have produced whether of assent or dissent, which will

habit of thinking

liv:

on

in tin

and

feeling,

long after the individual utterance has vanished from

360
his

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
;

1894.

mind

but

its

direct influence ceases with the

day

or
in

week of the paper's currency. Frankly, then, it is the hope of protracting, and at the same time focusdirectly or indirectly,

sing, their influence that these articles are collected.

They one and

all,

make

for a

certain line of policy,

which

most potently believe

can at best appear
it

to

be conducive to the best

In a detached

interests of the English stage.

in

article, this policy

;

fragmentary fashion

venture to hope that

may

body

itself forth

more

clearly,

suasively, in the collected effort

year.

and perhaps more perand thought of a whole

I

Proselytistn
I trust,

is

my

aim

confess

it

freely

but not,
either

the fierce and narrow proselytism of

I

an orthodoxy or a heterodoxy.

have no

wish to convert

my

reader to any particular

dogma

or

enthusiasm, but simply to beget or confirm in him a liberal, helpful, and hopeful habit of mind in relation
to the stage,

equally remote
is

from lax and cynical

short, as

acceptance of what
rejection of

base,

and from contemptuous

because
it

what

is

better,

falls

yet, of the ideal best.

Do

seem
of

to pontify absurdly, talking of the petty

politics

stageland in

imperial themes?
that just because
it

might befit Let me remind you once more is petty almost to ludicrousness in
is

strain

that

extent, our stageland

susceptible of influence at the

hands of any one who brings sympathetic intelligence

to bear

upon

it

while

it is

well worth influencing by

EPILOGUE.

361

reason of the vast sphere throughout which its influA few pages back, I defined ence, in turn, is felt.

Stageland as that tract of ground which

lies

between

Oxford Street and the Thames, between the Law Courts and Sloane Square but in so doing I really
;

exaggerated
divided
into

its

area.

It

is

nothing but a garden

some

dozen or fifteen plots or beds,

which we name the Lyceum stage, the Haymarkct,

the
Garrick, the St James's stage, and so forth. Placed side by side, these play-beds, if I may call them so, might perhaps make up an expanse of two
;

or three acres

and

in this

very modest pleasance the

whole English drama has to be grown. What more natural than that we should supervise it with jealous
care,

and

find

an absorbing interest

in trying to

enable

and encourage the

entrusted
for

different gardeners to cultivate to

the best advantage the plots entrusted to

;

them

Yes,

such power as they wield involves a

species of trust.

They

are the holders of a monopoly,

it is

none the

less real

because

conferred on them by
the whole space
It
is

circumstances, not by law.

so limited, every inch
us,
is

Where

of importance.

behoves

then, to be unwearied in urging that every plot

in

our

little

stage-garden should be devoted to the

its

highest form of culture

conditions

will

admit of;

and
stuff,

that,

even

if

it

grow only the homeliest greenThat

the produce shall at least be fresh and wholekind.

is

my

reason for including

362
in
this

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
yearly

1894.
insignificant

survey

even

the

most

corners of the demesne.

Clearly,
if

we

are to have any influence

upon the
attentively

cultivation

of these play-beds,

we must

study their conditions and possibilities.

It is futile to

clamour

for pine-apples in

a climate suited only for

olives for our

cauliflowers, or to insist

on a dish of

own
tive

private delectation,

when we know

that the effec-

demand

is

for

broad beans.

cultural metaphor, the critic

drop the hortiwho wishes to be more

To

a Possiblist
elect, for
siblist,

than a voice crying in the wilderness, must always be or at least, if he should now and then ;
the sake of argument, to write as an Imposhe must always know and confess what he is
I

about.

am commonly

suspected,

know, of being

a hardened Impossiblist

a sort of critical Will-o'-the-

Wisp,

who would

lure into the sloughs of bankruptcy

guidance.
to
sit

any manager or author rash enough to put trust in my At a first night, not long ago, I happened
mine.

beside a dramatic author who is an old friend of " Do you know anything of this piece ? " he " I asked me before the curtain rose. "Yes," I said ;

have read
it's

it,

and rather believe

his reply.

in it."

"Oh

then

no go," was

In that particular instance,

he happened to be right ; but he afterwards confessed It is true that, in the main, the innuendo was unjust.
that
I

take the keenest pleasure in certain plays which

to the general public
;

do not appeal

but

am

so far

EPILOGUE.

363

from confounding them with the commercial drama (I use- the term in no derogatory sense) that I am

much more
mate
example,
I

apt to underestimate

than

to

overesti-

their attractiveness.

In the case of Ibsen, for

have several times done

my
is

best to dis-

courage experiments which

successful, as such things go.

ultimately

proved very
less desirous
;

No
I

one

than

to force Ibsen

on the public
if

at large

no one

would be more surprised than

foreign dramatist, were to

he, or
really

become

any other popular on

the

English stage.

Ibsen's plays are relished by a

;

small but sufficient public

arc

they have exercised, and

exercising, a marked influence on the English drama, no less than on that of France and Germany

but

the

critic

who should
make room

depreciate
it

earnest

and

worthy English work because

should
try to

is

"not Ibsen," or

Ibsen by slaughtering our native playwrights, would be not only a traitor but a fool. I claim for the non-commercial drama a
for
right to exist as best
it

may, and to influence,

in Un;

natural order of things, the commercial

drama

but

when you
to call

find

me

confounding the two, or decrying

the other,
I

the one in the inU

give you h

me

an Impossiblist, prefixing whatever most

forcible epithet your vocabulary

may

furnish.

it

Thrre are haughty spirits among us who hold that is no part of a critic's Imsine^ to |..i\ the smallest
public
that he
is

attention to the

simply to record

364

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
what

1894.

his personal impression, "after

will,"

flourish his nature

and pass on

in majestic indifference.

No
;

one, I

believe, consistently acts

at all events,

up

to this doctrine

no one,

who

really loves the theatre.

the critic ought not to be led by the public

his

Assuredly to form

opinion in accordance with what he thinks " the That is one of the commonest public wants."
vices of criticism.
;

and most obstructive

business
is

The

critic's
it

is

to lead, not to be led

essential

but to that end

absolutely

that

he

should keep
to influence.

fairly

in touch with the public

will often deal

he seeks

He

with a play from two aspects

the ideal

and the

practical.

He

will try to

enable his readers to

whether they are

at the

form their own judgment on the practical question and, likely to be entertained by it
;

same

time, he

will

point out where

to
fall

it

seems to
of,

him

to achieve,

and where

short

a not
little

impossible ideal.

Thus he may hope,

and
that

within his

sphere, gradually to beget a habit of thought

less

more or
his

consonant with his own

to be,

he believes

own
in

on the whole, the better opinion, is implied This is the fact of his writing and publishing it.
I

the sort of proselytism at which

to drag

aim.

do not seek

my

readers by leaps and bounds to

my own

personal or ideal standpoint, but rather to reinforce

their appreciation of

what

is

reasonably good, while

is

insinuating a not too importunate desire for what

practicably better.

KI'ILOliUE.

365
believe

Now
or refute

make
its

so

bold

as

to

and

this

volume and

predecessor

will

sufficiently

confirm

my

contention
unpractical,

that so far from being

an
"

exceptionally
critic,
I

crotchety,

and

"

faddy

have been endowed by nature with a quite

taste in things theatrical.
I

normal and average

may

often give reasons for

my
may

likes

and

dislikes

which

would not occur to the man

indeed, from which he

in the street

reasons,

actively dissent

but in
I

the bare fact of our likes and dislikes, he and

are

commonly, and even

at plays

surprisingly,

at one.

Putting

aside the non-commercial drama,

and looking simply

theatres,

bidding for ordinary popularity at the regular you will find very few instances in which I
at large.
I

have radically differed from the public

have liked (without enthusiasm) a few plays which they did not greatly take to, such as The Charlatan,
i

cases
that

Once upon a Time, and Mrs Lessingham ; but in these it was rather from the critics than the public
I

dissented, for the hapless piev- were killed by

criticism before they

had any

real

the public.

On

the other hand,

chance of getting at I doubt whether

you

will
ie

discover in the space of these two ye.

pi

play which distinctly bored me, and yet

:

he public. With regard tu permanently attr.; two plays one in each year I have vehemently The liaubU nted from the general approval.
<

by

Mr Henry

Arthur

Jones,

CUIIM*.

366

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
ill-inspired effort
;

1894.

an unfortunate and
fessor's

and The Pro-

Love Story, by

Mr

J.

M.

Barrie, I regarded as

fitfully

the author's talent.

public and
I

amusing improvisation, totally unworthy of In these two cases, then, the

disagreed as to the merit of a particular
I

piece of work; but pray observe that, though

liked the plays
tedious.
in

dis-

question,
rest, I

did

not find them

if

For the

am

greatly deceived

the

general sense of a
criticism
tified

play's

vitality

indicated in

my

of
its

it

be

riot,

as .a rule, approximately jus-

by

eventual fortunes.

There

is

only one

department of theatrical activity

with regard to which
fault
;

Adelphi melodrama

confess myself very

much

at

and even here such plays as The Fatal Card and The Derby Winner seem to me to merit their
popularity by being distinctly less tedious than the

general run of their class.

taste
is

With respect
that

to farce,

my

nicely coincident with

of the

public.

For years past, the farces which really amused me have one and all succeeded, the farces which
thoroughly bored

me

have one and

all

failed, in spite

of critical leniency and managerial puffery.

the musical farces,

As

to

the old three -act

again, which have lately supplanted burlesques, I have from the first

welcomed and applauded them, though I have often had to protest against the deliberate indecency in which some authors have seen fit to indulge. I am
by no means convinced that even
in this respect the

EPILOGUE.
a

367

body of the public

is

not with me, though the

habit of acquiescence,

begotten by the Censorship,

I am not claiming any my criticism could make

prevents them from expressing their feelings.

Need
or

say that in

all

this
?

direct influence whatever

If

mar

a play, there would be

no need

to point out
its

the coincidence between

tunes.

my judgment and

for-

But a writer in a high-priced weekly paper cannot possibly have any appreciable influence on the
fate

of any particular play.

in

He may
in

affect the estiart,

;

mation
few

which

it

is

held, as a
it

work of

who

care to consider

that light

but

by the if he

sends a few hundred people to the theatre, or keeps as many away, that is the utmost immediate effect he

can hope to produce and it is not hundreds but tens of thousands that make a play a success or failure.
;

What

have been trying to point out, at the

is

risk of

tedious egoism,
critics,

that although
likes

cannot, like
dislikes

some

impose

my own

and

on the

public,

my estimate

of a play, except perhaps in the one

article of

melodrama, affords a very fair prognostic of hances of success. What entertains me is exceed;

ingly apt to entertain the public

what bores
Therefore,

me

is

almost certain to bore the public.

I

when

am

accused of bein^
in

a crotrhcty, faddy, unpractical

critic
I

I think brief, an inveterate Impossiblist with tolerable assurance, plead " Not Guil: liny,

This faculty

for

making the best of the actual

368

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
lies at

1894.
the root of the
Its inspiring

without losing sight of the ideal

policy enforced in the foregoing pages.

principle, to

sum

it

the conviction that,

up as briefly as possible, lies in on pain of becoming an anti-social

futility,

and almost criminal

ing not

criticism

must ^fertilis-

sterilising, in its tendency.

Though

there

is

no shallower sophism, no more pernicious heresy, than that which would place the drama in essential

and

eternal

subjection

to

the

tastes

of a sort

of

abstract, average Populace,

which nowhere

exists in

the flesh, yet

it is

certainly a popular art in the sense

of being capable of giving pleasure to the multitude.

The

multitude, then, will always

art

have
it

its

theatres,

and the forms of

which appeal to

will

always be

worthy of sympathetic study, not only as a matter of

social policy, that the fare provided for the people

may be good and wholesome

of

its

kind, but also

because a vigorous popular drama is an excellent, perhaps an indispensable, basis for higher and subtler The essential fact to be borne artistic developments.
is that, in a vast community like no Public but many publics, and that if only we- can encourage the lesser and better publics to

in

mind, however,
is

ours, there

take an interest in the theatre, to think about

cultivate

it,

to

an

intelligent taste
is

and pay
limit to

for the gratifica-

tion of that taste, there

no

the possibilities

of progress in the direction of intellectual competence

and

artistic

refinement.

By a

fertilising

policy, then,

EPILOGUE.
I

369
for the healthy

understand a policy which makes

vitality

of the theatre as a whole, while insisting on

shall

such differentiation of parts as

enable

it

to

interpret and appeal to the higher, lower, life and thought of the age.

as

well as

the

Such a policy

is,

with me, not a matter of choice

I

hut of irresistible tendency.

instinctive,

was born with an

for the

unreasoning,

unreasonable love

theatre, simply as the theatre, the place of light

and

sound, of mystery and magic, where, at the stroke of

the prompter's bell, a

new world

is

revealed to the
is still

delighted sense.
within me.
out,

That unreasoning love

strong

If all the

germs of progress were stamped

entirely

and the stage declined

I

upon spectacle
find a melan-

and buffoonery,
close

should

still,

I believe,

choly fascination in the glare of the footlights.

But

upon the heels of this mania for the theatre came another and still more absorbing passion the
ion for high

thoughts and beautiful words, for

things delicately seen, and subtly

ined
-

-in

short,

for

that
call

and marvellously divinest emanation of

felt,

the

human

spirit
I

which we

literature.

These two
foolishly,
it

things have

loved, sometimes blindly

and

sometime^
i

hope,

with understanding; and

inevitable
flesh.

has
life

the

instinctive,

effort

of

my
in

to

make

these
great

two one

Literature

the

theatre

inventions greatly realised,

beautiful
as
<

words

beautifully

spoken
2

such

literature

an

3/0
attain

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

its highest potency only in this most fascinatbecause most complex and human, of artistic ing, mediums that has been the yearning of my whole

conscious

life.

Where
;

have found
I

it,

have rejoiced

with a great joy

wherever

movement, any endeavour, towards

claimed the
fanatical
fact with

have seen or imagined any I have proit,

(I

an eagerness

doubt not) often

the

and

disproportionate.

That

drama
ex-

should once more take rank

pressions of

among

the highest

English

creative

genius,

and

that the

theatre, not as a place of

mere pastime, should once more become a preponderant interest and influence in

the lives of thinking

men and women

rest,

that

is

the
life-

end
work

to
is

which, like all the

dedicated.

this year of

my

SYNOPSIS OF PLAYBILLS,
1894.
BY HKNRY GEORGE HIBBERT.

JANUARY.
i.

THE COUNTRY
:i
:

GIRL.
;
<

Revival

at

Daly's.

Cut

Peggy 7 /////?, Miss Ada Rehan Squire Moody, 'larke Harcourt, Sfarkish, M:
;

Mr Mr

William
IIerlert

<

In-sham;
Inland
; ;

Relvillc,

I5ri.

bruidi
6.

/.//

M/ //'///, Mr Allan Aynesworth Powell; A/Mhea, Miss Violet YanServant, Withdrawn 6th January. j, lite Catherine Lewb.
;

Mr Mr

AN OLD JEW:
;

Comedy

in

Five Acts, by Sydney

Cast: Julius Sterne, Mr John Garrick. C.rundy. l\inl Venables, Mr C.ilU-rt Hare; Bertie Burnsidc, Mr

Hare;

W.

L.

Alin^ilon

Douglas Craik,
Charles
/<zw,-.r
;

Mr

lui^ene

Mayeur
II.

Wybroiv
Willie

Wahinhai, Mr
Mr
C.
//'</;:
I
t

Rock; John
Rreu>ste>,

Slater, .}/..!., /./../>.,

W. Anton;

Mr W.
A'cz>.
I

Day:
;

I'.uist

The Hon. and

AJofyhus

/'inucatif,

Mi GOberl .n-|uhar: Mr /W,;/-, Mr II. >e I.an^e l-ramoni, Mi Gflbert Trent; (>/</.-/</,>>, Mr R,,|,l, H:u\\.H,d; /-V//S, Mr .!/; (1. Du Maurier I'enahh-*, Mr^ Th< o.|,.re \\'ri^ht Eliza, Kate Rorke. Withdrawn ('iiti; A'///// />///
: :

Frliruary.

"An

>M

ft
:

"
u..
//,/;//-,
1

l.y

CASE
;

FOR EVICTION.
Miss

Cast

Mr

Sr.,11

Iluisi

May

II

.Mi
'

ll'-lcn I. nek.
!

TWELFTH NIGHT
Mr Join.
Hriil^land
;

at
I

Daly's.
rt
;

Cast:
Antonio,
;

Orsino,

.mtiaii,
.-/

Mr Sidney lerU
Mi

Mr Thomas
I'alfntinf,

.SV,/

C,;//,////,
;

H>l.art
I.. .\v

I'.oxworth

Mr

Alfred Iliekinan

Curio,

Mr

Toby
II

BeUh, Mr Jam

.\ndrnv A&*ech(ek, Mr

372
Gresham
;

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
Malvolio,
Feste,
;

1894.

Sampson

Mr George Clarke Mr Lloyd Daubigny

;

Fabian,
Priest,

Mr Mr

William Powell ;

The Countess Olivia, Miss Violet Vanbrugh ; Officer, Mr Gollan WithMaria, Miss Catherine Lewis Viola, Miss Ada Rehan. drawn 28th April.
17.

UNCLE'S GHOST
at the
:

Farce in Three Acts (originally

produced

Opera

Prince of Wales's Theatre, I5th June 1887). Comique. Cast John Smithson, Mr John Tresahar ;

; Professor Erasmus Pipjaiv, Alfred Maltby; Professor Sharp, Mr Lionel Wallace; Professor Noodlechump, Mr Charles Lander; Doctor Howe, Mr K.

Cecil Crawley,

Mr

Charles Burleigh

Mr

Dagnall; Dr Watt, Mr Brandon Hurst; Nobbs, Mr II. Norton; Uncle Josiah Turbot, Mr Fred Thome Mrs Bartholomew, M iss ? ? ? ? Ravinia , Miss Carrie Coote; Emily Thome; PrePipjaw, Miss E. Brinsley Sheridan Jane, Miss Nolon.
; ;

ceded by SUNSET. Cast Lois, Miss Mary Kingsley ;Joan, Miss Mary Nolon Aunt Drnsilla, Miss II. Cowen Laurence, Mr Brandon Hurst Azariah Stodd, Mr Lionel Wallace Mi:

Rivers,
18.

Mr J.

F. Graham.

Withdrawn

I2th February.

THE CHARLATAN:
Haymarket.
;

Buchanan.
7Yie

Play in Four Acts, by Robert Cast: Philip Woodville, Mr Tree;

;

Mr Fred

Earl of Wanborongh, Mr Nutcombe Gould Lord Dewslniry, The Hon. Menyn Dat rell, Mr Frederick Kerr Terry
C. Allan;
Professor Marrahles,

Mr Darn ley, Mr

Mr

Ilulman

Clarke; Butler, Mr Hay; Footman, Mr Montagu; Lady Carlotla Deepdale, Miss Lily Hanlmry; Mrs Darnley, Mrs E. II. Brnoke; Olive Darnley, Miss Irene Vanl)rugh Madam Obnoskin, Miss
;

Gertrude Kingston; Isabel Arlington, Miss Tree.

17th May.

Withdrawn

A Play in Three Acts, translated 20. from the Norwegian of Bjornstjerne Bjornson by Osman Edwards,
adapted by George P. Ilawtrey.
Christensen,

A GAUNTLET:

Gaston

Cast: Riis, Mr Elliot; Mr Mr George P. Hawtrey; Alf Christensen, Mr Mervale; Hoff, Mr Alfred Bucklaw;* Peter, Mr IK-rbert

George; Mrs Riis, Miss Louise Moodie; Mrs Christensen, Miss Katherine Stewart; Marie, Miss Eileen Munroe; Frederike, Miss Cornelie Charles ; Kamma, Miss Florence Munroe; Hanna,

.SYNOPSIS
Mi-- K.ite
C.r.ive-:

OF PLAYBILLS.
O/t^a,

373

//', Miss Frances Burleigh;

Miss Kdith
1

Maitland; .Vr</ ,/. MI-Anni.- Row Withdrawn 24th January. - Preceded by PENELOPE. Cast: Toss, i, Mr C. Little; ritcher, Mr C.eorge
Clifford;

Maud

Ortrude,

Hawtrey; Walktr Chalks, Mr Aubrey Lumley: Mrs Croaker, Fileen Munroe; Penelope, Miss Kate Santley.

W.

27. Gattir.

THE TRANSGRESSOR:
Court

I'lay in

Four

Art.,, l.y

A.

Cast :AVi, /.angley*

Mr

Arthur Elwood;

Gerald Hurst, J/.A, Mr Seymour Hicks; Colontl Fostfi\ Mr I.imo Fernandez; A'/r Thomas Horndiffc, Hart., J. I'., Mr C. II. E. Brooktield The Hon. and A\-z>. Henry Mocdith, Mr Hurkl.iw
;

Fanny ('K-nmn Constance, Miss ln->sif Hatt>n; .hint-, Miss Minna Withdrawn ;th April. Sylvia, Miss Olga NctlicrM.k-.
I)a\i.l

^^r/. Mr

C..wis

.]//-^

U'oodvilh\ Miss

FEBRUARY.
I.

BEYOND

a Study ..fa
M.ii/croy.
;

Woman

by a

liy

a story of l\nu
IJtvre

Criterion.

Cast:

Woman, Mrs

fenton,

Mi^ Bernard

Captain

Fen ton, Mr Arthur Bourdiier.

An Aenooa
3.

]>erformancc.

Comedy in Four Arts, l.y KoU-rt Riihant Hrintley Sheridan, Mr II. B. Irving; Mr Brandon Thomas; Lord /><i::/e/0n, /^r Jonathan ( / Mr Cyril Maude; Captain Malth,u<>, Mr Lewis Waller; Sn
Uuchanan.
Cast
>'
:
.

DICK SHERIDAN:
i ,

//any Cha>e, Mr Sydney

Mar.r
/

Mr I.inley, Mr Edmund l?ro\i^h Mr Will Dennis; Mr /(/,/,, Mr F. M. I'a-^et Captain A'm\ At, Mr Crawler; Sir James I.oder, Mr II. I. Carvill; .)// .U'i\lnf^o, Mr John Hymn; Sei-;inf. Mr in; .I//- I.inlrys Servant, Mr Aiming; I. ady Miller, Mi>;

C.arrick,
r

/.ty Pamela Stirrup, Mi-Miss Kad.lilie;

:

worth,

I,, ti.i Ashwell The Hon. Mrs Elliott, M Miss Copland, Miss Ft tie Williams;
.

/ .,i,iy Shuttle'

ui.

u'.Ji,

,-th

I.inley^

Miss \Yimt,

,\.

Witlidrawn

3Oth

5-

CASTE:

Com.dy

in

Three Ads, by T. W.
.

the Garrick.

Cast

i-,

Mr

374
J.

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

Eccles,

Forbes Rol>ertson; Captain Haivtree, Mr W. L. Abingdon; Mr G. W. Anson; Sam Gerrid^c, Mr Gilbert Hare; The Marquise dc Si Maur, /V.v<>//, Mr George Du Maurier Miss Rose Leclercq; Polly Eccles, Miss May Harvey; Esther
;

Eccles, Miss
6.

Kate Rorke.
:

Withdrawn 4th

April.

THE LEGACY
:

Comedy

in

One

Act, by Frank Lindo.

Cast

Rol>ert Castleton

Jack Marty n, Mr Douglas Gordon; Alfred Attleboy, Mr Jonas Sparley, Mr A. II. Brooke .-/;//<>
; ;

Hamilton, Miss Mary Clayton; Clara Sparley, Miss Marjorie Christmas; Eliza, Miss Mary Bessie. JUDITH SHAKEDrama in One Act, by Alec Nelson, founded upon an incident in William Black's novel. Cast \Jack Orridge,'M.r

SPEARE

Rothbury Evans; Thomas Quincy, Mr Frank Lacey; Frank Evans, Mr E. H. Patterson; Willie Hart, Mr Lionel Calhaem HEARTS: Judith Shakespeare, Miss Eva Williams. Drama in One Act, by S. J. Adair Fitzgerald. Cast Dr Angus Williams, Mr Frank Mac vicars; The Rev, Josiah Darville, Mr W. Aubrey Chandler Capel Arliss, Mr Frederic de Lara Heresta Aynsley, Miss Emilie Calhaem Jane, Miss Kate Bealby.
;

TWO

Morning

performance promoted Dramatic Art. Royalty.

15.

by

the

Society

of

British

THE LITTLE WIDOW:

Royalty.
Cast
:

Farce

William Jarman.
Charles Sugden
Rattlebrain,
;

Mr

Dr Arthur Potter, Mr Frank Lacey; Auguste Bonsieiir, Mr A. E. W. r Mason; Morton, Mr E. II Patterson; Mrs }\ ilkins /'otter, Miss Sydney K. Phelps; Entity Randall, Miss Emilie Grattan; Sophonisba Bousieur, Miss Jane Gray; Mrs Constance RattlePreceded brain, Miss Minnie Palmer. Withdrawn loth March. DAYS: a Dramatic Incident in One Act, by IN
;

in Three Acts, by Wilkins Potter, Mr Welton Dale Captain

Mr

OLDEN
;

by Mrs Hodgson Burnett.

Cast

Jocelyn Durant,
;

Mr

A. E.

Capt. Desborough, Mr Harry Grattan Nethercliffe, Miss Emilie Grattan.

W. Mason
17.

Damaris
in

WAPPING OLD STAIRS:

:

Comic Opera

Two

Acts, by Stuart Robertson, Music by 1 loward Talbot. Vaudeville. Mark Sir Wormwood Scrubbs, Mr Herbert Sparling Cast Mainstay, Mr Courtice Pounds ; Captain Crook, Mr Henry
;

sv\ &S1S
IKT
;

<

>F

PLAYBILLS
;

375

AVw /V/,v. Mr Avon Saxon

Dick Fid,
.

Mr

Richard
I

lannah |fin Mary Turner; Molly Jc\ Mi. TempU-; .\ Jone>; Lai$y Pennant, Mis- Mary Mutton; A'<z/<? Capstan, Mi M. Warren; //'/; fiinnaele. Miss L. Stewart; Susan Siiniett, Mi ic I',ond. |r Withdrawn 6th April. Eventually preceded
l.y

WET
.I//-J

PAINT.
Chiselhiirst,

Cast: Peter Pen/.-y,

Mr

Ik-rlwrt

>ar-

lin^;

Miss Annie Laurie; Polly, MissCieraldinc

Wran^Jiam.
20.

DAN'L DRUCE.
Mr
;

Sir Jasper Coombe, William M>llison

Revival. Prince of Wales. Cast: William Kignnld Half I Druse, Mr Reuben Ilaincs, Mr Sidney Valentine;
; ;

Geoffrey U'inyard, Mr Fuller Mellish Marple, Mr Julian Cross ; Jot Ripley, Mr Fred W. iVrmain: Sergeant, Mr Charles Medwin; Soldier, Mr Lionel Wallace; Dorothy, Miss Nancy Mackintosh. Afternoon jK-rformance.
21.

THE NEW BOY

Law.
nith
D.

Farcical

Comedy
J.

in

Three Acts,

by Arthur
Koa<h,

Terry's.
;

Cast

Archibald Renniik,

Mr

Dr

Candy,
;

Mr

Beauchamp

Felix

Mr
;

J.

Heverid^e

Theodore de /irissaf,

Mr Sydney
;

Major, Mr Kenneth Douglas; Mr Slubber, Mr T. A. rainier Mrs Kennick, Miss Glacis Homfrey Nancy J\on< Even.S'//.f</;/, Miss Fsiue Heringer. y Taltrey Preceded Still running. tually transferred to the Vaudeville.
ii-n

liiilloek

l.y

THE GENTLEMAN WHIP,

Jiro*in

l.y II.

M.

i'aull.

Cast

Mr

lerick

\'olj>e

Ha.vtet
;

S/ade,

icn

Tom
; ,

Sincolt,
f,ui,
1',.

Mr
I

J. K. Ilatlield
>
.

Di\en,

Mr Sydney Mr decide
Mabel

Koltinson
Verend,
23.

I.ady

'erind,

Mi-

Adetia Dacrr;

Mi^- FMIH

ringer.

Play, l.y Fmile by A. Trixeira de Malti>. Opera Comique (Independent). Cast: Rabouriiin, Mi J.HIHS W-l-h: Chapu*ot% Mi Harding Cox; / enini,/nf, Mi M. Mallard; // /
:

THE HEIRS OF RABOURDIN

}

/..la: translated

Mil
Mr
1

w,
i

Mr QMM
.

'"ii

mil

Mi

\tl!i;;

///</,

1-ois

Roy,
i\n.

!Me, Miss

3/6
24.
Pettitt,

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.
by Henry

THE WORLD

Drama

in

Five Acts,

Revived at the Paul Meritt, and Augustus Harris. Cast: Sir C. Hitntingford, Mr C. Dalton; Moss Princess's. Jewell, Mr W. Elton; Martin Bashfonl, Mr Julian Cross; Harry Huntingford, Mr C. Glenney; Mabel Huntingford, Miss Olga

Brandon; Ned Owen, Miss Agnes Thomas; Mary Blyth, Miss Kate Tyndall; Blackstone, Mr Maurice Drew; Pearson, Mr F. MacVicars Owen, Mr Clarence Holt; Langley, Mr James Francis; Gilbert, Mr Maurice Dudley; Locksley, Mr F. Mavard; Hawkins, Mr J. A. Cave ; Wyndham, Mr Frank Darner ; Riishton, Mr J. Horsfall ; Detective, Mr F. L. Robins; Commissionaire, Mr S. Williams Commissioner, Mr John Durant; Marshall, Mr Nicholas Nomico Alice, Miss Ethel Verne Miss
; ; ; ;

Withdrawn, I4th April. DEXTER: Farcical Comedy in Three Acts, by 28. J. H. Darnley (originally produced at the Court Theatre, Liverpool, on 28th December 1891). Strand. Cast: Major Kildare, M.P., Mr Charles Hawtrey; Frank Fairfield, Q.C., Mr Lionel Wallace; Henry Thornton, Q.C., Mr Wilfred Draycott; The Hon. Timothy Townsend, Mr Gordon Harvey Reginal Dexter,

M'Tab, Miss Lydia Rachel.

MRS

Mr W. Fulton, Mr S.
M.P.,

Hawtrey; Mr Paxton, Mr Ernest Cosham; Mrs Lascelles James, Mr Alec Mackenzie Dexter, Miss Fanny Brough; Mrs Kildare, Miss Helen Conway; Mrs Thornton, Miss Eva Williams; Miss O* Hara, Miss Alice Mansfield Withdrawn loth Marie, Miss Ina Goldsmith.
F.
; ; ;

March.

Preceded by

FOR CHARITY'S SAKE.

F.

Cast

Nicholas Nubbles,
Catchpole,

Mr W.

Hawtrey
;

Mr

Zebeedy Benjamin

Mr
;

S.

Lascelles

Edward
Alec

Fisher,
;

Harvey
Ernest

Inspector Jones,

Mr

M'Kenzie

Mr Gordon Nick, Mr

Asham

Charity, Miss

Eva Williams.

MARCH.
5.

FASHIONABLE INTELLIGENCE:
Court.
Fitz

Duologue, by
C.

Percy Fendall.
Brookfield;
to

Cast:

Mr

Egerton,

Mr

H. E.

Mrs

Adam, Miss
:

Lottie Venne.

" The Transgressor."

6.

front piece

THE BEST MAN

Toole's.

Farce in Three Acts, by Ralph R.

Lumley.

Cast: Sir Lovel Gage,

Mr John

Billington;

SYNOPSIS
Price Putlon',
ll'alter

<>F

ri.AYmi.LS.

377
;

Brewer,

Mr J. Mr

ll'il/iams,

Mr

L. Toole ; Allen Skifford, Mr C. M. LOWIH E. A. Coventry; Miiich, Mr Cieorge Shelton Charles Brunt. .n: remble t Mr F. J. Arlton; Mrs
;

Aiihyn, Miss Beatrice I .anil): HrenJa di^. Mi^ Florence Fordyce Ada Jevons Hailey, Miss O>ra I'oole; Nina Skifford^ MissAlice Kingsley Sarah Spoon* ;-, MtnElkaJoiiftStone. Withdrawn 2;th June. 1'receded l.y HESTER'S Mr Owen Silverdale, Mr Henry Westland John f\oyle, Cast

Mont

MYSTERY.
:

Mr

C.

M. Lowne

;/<*/,
;

Mr

Miss Kate Carlyon

10.

Hester;

Arthur; Nanc,- Kuttsni'orf/i, Miss Florence Fordyce.

1
.

].

THE COTTON KING:

Vane.
Fleiinning;

Drama

in

Sutton

Warner;

Cast: Jack Osbornt^ Adelphi. Rithard Stockley, Mr Flwarl O'Neill;

Four Acts, by Mr Charles

!-\->nseca^

Mr

Herl>ert

James

Shi!linlau>,

Mr

Charles Cart-

wright; Benjamin Tw/yVr, Ponder, Mr Lennox 1'awle

Mr
;

Arthur Williams; The Rev.

Mr

Mr Lyston Lyle; Silas AV;//, Mr John Carter; Gcow Pi'f>er, Mr W. Northcote; Peter /'// Mr Tripp Bell, Mr Howard Russell; /////.?, Inspector Graham, Mr Williamson; Mrs Drayson, Mrs Dion Boucicault Elsie Kent, Miss Hall Caine Kitty Marshall, Miss Alma
f>r Ciilbcrt,
; ;

Stanley;
I

Mrs Martin Smith, Miss Kate Kearney; Susan, Miss

;

larrUi.n

a while
10.

l.y

Hetty Draysott, Miss Marion Terry (who was replaced Miss Janet Achurch). Withdrawn 5th May.
Musi, all ar.ical

GO-BANG:
l,y

Comedy
;

in

T\\o Ads,

Libretto

Square.
Tapflei^h, it us

Adrian Kos., Musi, !,y Osmond Carr. Trafalgar Sir Rc<Man Cast: Jenkins, Mr Harry Grattan K.C.S.I., Mr Arthur IMayfair: /./////. The Hon.

l''it~poop,

Mr

(.

in ith,

junior;
;

Wang, Mr
;

A;w Sydney Howard; Narain, Mi I'n.lnick K".s.nd Lady Mr John L. Shine; 1/,'Ien Tafrlei^h, Mi Mis^ Alelaile ': Sarah Ann,-. l-'ritterlei^h, Miss A; Mi '.''///;/,

Mo

/'

:;il>ie

Tem]K

Mi.^

/>i

Dalrymplc,

lly Lin.l.

Withdrawn 24th A
(a

17.

FROU FROU
Henry

new

l.n-lish

vision).

Comedy.

Cast:

de Sartorys,

Mr

llrandmi

Th"

378
Brigard,

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
Mr

1894.

B. Irving;

Cyril Maude; Le Vicomte Paul de Valreas, Mr II. Le Baron de Cambri, Mr Will Dennis; Jack, Miss
',

Gladys Doree; Zanetto, Mr Crawley; M, Brigarfs Servant Mr Barrett; Servant in the Palazzo at Venice, Mr Anning; La Baronne de Cambri, Miss Vane; Louise Brigard, Miss Marie Linden Pauline, Miss Lena Ashwell Governess, Miss Radcliflfe Gilbcrlc Brigard, Miss Winifred Emery. A morning performance. Put in the evening bill, 3 1st March. Withdrawn I5th June.
;

28.

ONCE UPON A TIME:

" Der Talisman," by Louis N. Parker and Ludwig Fulda's H. Beerbohm Tree. The King, Mr Cast Haymarket. Beerbohm Tree; Berengar, Mr Luigi Lal)Iache; Diomede, Mr Nutcombe Gould; Niccola, Mr Gilbert Farquhar; Stefano, Mr
:

Play, freely adapted from

Charles Allan; Panfilio, Mr Holman Clark; Fetrante, Mr II. Revelle; Basilic, Mr Hugh Dorrington; Omar, Mr Fred Terry; Beppo, Mr F. Perceval Stevens; Benedict, Mr Willes; Guido,

Mr

Frederick

W atson
T
;

D. Cowis ; Caspar,
Hargreaves;

Mr

Baldino, Mr Gayer Mackay ; Pedro, Bert Thomas The Head Cook, Mr

;

Mr W.

Officer of the Guard, Mr Edward Ritchie; Habakiik, Lionel Brough Magdalcna, Miss Julia Neilson; Rita, Mrs Tree. Withdrawn 2ist April.

Mr

OF SIGHS Comedy in Four Acts, by 29. A John Todhunter. Avenue. Cast Sir Geoffrey Brandon, Mr Bernard Gould Major Chillingworth, Mr Vorke Stephens The Rev. Horace Greenwell, Mr James Welch; Williams, Mr Orlando
: :

COMEDY
;

Lady Brandon, Miss Florence Farr Mrs CJiillingworth, Miss Vane Featherstone Miss Lucy Vernon, Miss Enid Earle.
Barnett
;
;

Withdrawn 1 4th April.

Also,

THE LAND OF HEART'S

:

W. B. Yeats. Cast Michael Bruin, Mr James Welch ; James Bruin, Mr A. E. W. Mason ; Father Hart, Mr G. R. Foss; Bridget Bruin, Miss Charlotte Morland; Mary Bruin, Miss Winifred Fraser; A Fairy Child, Miss Dorothy Paget.
:

DESIRE

Play in

One

Act, by

Act, by A. C. Fraser

Play in One Wood. Globe. Cast Richard Carlton, Mr H. Reeves Smith; Lord Wilfred Pontefract, Mr Harry
29.

IN

THE EYES OF THE WORLD

:

Farmer; Horatio Parr,

Mr

Cecil

H. Thornbury;

Wilks,

Mr

SYNOPSIS
Fdwin H. Wyir

<)K

PLAMBiLLS,

379
II.

ll'.H.hro, Miss Kn>nt piece to " Charley's Aunt/' Still running.

VM

MaM

Lane.

31.
San.;
:

AN ARISTOCRATIC ALLIANCE:
l>y

Comedy

in

Three Acts,

Lady Violet
C.endre

dreville, adapted from Augier

and

de

Monsieur

I'oirier."

Criterion.
;

Gerald,

Earl of

Forirs,

Mr

Charles

Wyndham

Mr

Firkin letter,

Mr

Mr J. Mon i.nr
('..

Taylor;

Charles drover; Mr Anthony Grunwood, Captain Marchniont. Mr Frank Worthing;

Cordognaf,
.///,r,

Mr

II.

de Lan^c

/,/;.-/-.
(

Mr Markhani

l.0iiy ll'innifrtd Si/>/t>n,

Hughes;
led

by Hilary, Miss F. Francis;

MRS HILARY REGRETS.

Dr
/'<>:,/,

Miss Fowler; A'<u /.i, Mi^> Annie Miss Mary Moore. Withdrawn 2Qth May.
Cast
:

Mrs

Mr

F. Atherley.

ATKIL.
2.
l.y

JAUNTY JANE SHORE:

Kichanl Henry:

Burlesque

in

Tuo

Cast: Strand. John Cr<H)k. A'i,/nir,/, Duke of (/'/('//,*.//, Mr Harry 1'aulton; Edward II'., Mr Fdward Lew U (/-/>/. Mr Fred Kinney Matthew S/ior, \ Mr
l>y
;

Music

imphrey;

// 'atci

hnry,

Mr

Arthur Nelstone:
;

/)/</;/-,

Mr

Alfred H. Phillips;

/Vr/.>,

Mr

Charles Lovell

//,/
;

Huntley

Calcshy,

Mi

Fmineline

<

>rford

Elizabeth
I
;

Mary.
Yoin:

Florence Daly: Danic L~rsn/a, Miss Ada >oree Miss Carrie Coote .-///,/,;. Mi- Hilda Hanlmry; The
;

\ellicani
Allierton.

>\vnian

/aunty
ki.-har.I

Withdrawn
Moderb

lyth May.
Life, bj
(icori^,-

3.

MISS RUTLAND
.

Gaiety. (A morning performance.) Cast: Mi William HerlHjrt; 'the Hon. John .1

:.Vv.

Mat

\/on,

,;

I//-

Mi

<

luy

Mr Mordatint, Mr N Mr Mules I',ro\\n; Mr ll'atl>nrlon, Coulson: J/,/7,'//, Mr John Hyron faJ^on, Mr

M, W. Wjetj
/.<

1/,/r, //,/;//,

hi (''i.V^y,

Mi
]/'/

;/

Marstoi:,

Mi

dlry;

Mildft-ii

mere,
Solla
;

MiJ/.

ll'l.n

Fonytbj

><///<?;</<///,

Mi>

1'..

M. dc
.'

.'orry

Paget, Miss Oli

Mabel ll.ody; Mar-

380

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.
Ettie

garet Brown, Williams.

4.

Mrs T. H. Brooke; Eleanor Rutland, Miss

Medieval Musical Mysby Sutherland Edwardes and William H. Taylor; Music by F. Forster Buffen and W. H. Taylor. Vaudeville. Cast Enrico, Mr C. Emlyn Jones ; Satanio, Mr William Dever Vera, Miss Madeleine Martinez. A front piece to " Wapping Old
tery,
: ;

THE FIEND AT FAULT:

Stairs."
5.

THE LITTLE SQUIRE:

Lyric.
:

Comedy

adapted from a novel by Mrs de

la Pasture,

in Three Acts, by Mrs William Grat

and Horace Sedger.

performances.
)

(For a brief series of afternoon

;

Claud Vernon, Mr Charles Sugden Mr Wentworth, Mr Seymour; Wilkinson, Mr W. S. Laidlaw; Granfer West, Mr Montelli; Cartridge, Mr Bentley; Adrian
Cast Coursay, Miss Dorothy Hanbury;
Bessie Barton, Miss

De

Mrs De

Coursay, Miss

Fanny Brough; Mrs Hardwick, Miss Rose Leclercq; Mrs Brownlow, Mrs Edmund Phelps;

Mary Rorke;

Cicely Hardivick, Miss Isa

Empsie Bowman
Digger,

Mr

Bowman ; Lise de la Riviere, Miss First Villager, Mr Charles Crook Second S. Williams ; First Wife, Miss D. Thorne ; Second
;
;

Wife, Miss Fenton.

7.

Withdrawn 4th May.

Garrick.
Play in Four Acts, by Miss Cast: Mr Walter

MRS LESSINGHAM:
("George Fleming").
J.

Fletcher
Forbes,

Mr

Forbes Robertson; Major

Edward Hardy, R.A.,

V.C., Mr John Hare; 77/6' Hon. Archie Hope Glen, Mr Sheridan Lascelles ; diaries B. Sneaci, Mr Charles Rock ; James

Mr

Mr

Vane,

Mr

G.

W. Hardy; Master Bobby

Saker; Farmer,

Mr

Kate Rorke
Lessingham,

Lady

Snead, Master Frank G. Du Maurier; Lady Anne Beaton, Miss Mrs Porteous, Miss Dolores Drummond
;

Miss Elizabeth Robins; Mrs Hope Glen, Miss Withdrawn i6th Helen Luck; Harper, Miss Emily Cross.

May.
19.

CHARMING MRS GAYTHORNE

Comedy

in

Three Acts, by Charles Smith Cheltnam. Criterion. (Afternoon performance.) Cast: Earl Pinchbeck, Mr C. W. Somerset; Lord Groomsbury, Mr York Stephens; Sir Rupert Oakfeeld, Mr

SYNOPSIS OF PLAYBILLS.
Frank Macrae
;

381

The Hon. Julian Fairmain,

ftright-ivll,

Mr

A. E.

W.

Mason; Rejfinald

Mr

Mr

F.

Yernon; Lord OakficU,

Granville Barker; William, Mi^s F^sex Dane; Gabrielle,

Miss Di

T ravers;

Augustine, Mis> Mary Jcelyn;

Mrs GayActs,
l.y

Mrs Ivy Dacre.

21.

GENTLEMAN JACK:
I.

Drama

in

Five

Chas.

Vincent anil William A. Brady (originally produced in Cast: Jack Koyden, Mr James J. America.) Drury Lane. \\\ Joseph Hoyden, Mr William A. Brady; Mr Halliday, Mr Ben Hendricks; (/>;<? Ha lliday, Mr Cuyler Hastings; Bat
v;/,

Mr John Donaldson; Sehuyler Southgute, Mr Jay Tom Car/ton, Mr Frank Darner; Ma.vey Splash, Mr John M'Yey: Manager Short, Mr J. H. Wren; Special Officer H'aiter at the Roof Garden, of the Roof Garden, Mr F. Harris. n Mr Bert Tuckman; President of the Olympic Club, Mr Dan \iptain of Police, Mr Andrew Hayne; Alice Saunders,
\\iUon;
;

Mis>

<

li-or^e

I'.Miiond; Polly

Graham, Miss Sadie

M 'Donald;
\Vithdra\\n

Mrs Royden, Miss

Woodthorpe
;

Rolx.-rtha Krskine;

Mrs Morriarty, Mr Bud

TottU Splash, Miss Florric West.

nth V
21.

ARMS AND THE MAN

;

Mr

-yd. Bernard Shaw. Avenue. Cast Janus Wclrh Major Sergius Saranojf,

Romantic Comedy in Three Major l\ml Pctkoff,

:

Mr

liernard Clou Id

Captain Rluntschli, Mr \'orke Stephens; Major riechanoff, Mr A. F. \\ Michola, Mr Orlando Barnett; Catherine
Petkoff,

Mr^ Chailts

Calvrrt

Murray; l.ouka,
25.

Mi^

M.>I,-H-I- Farr.

Raina Petkoff, MUs Alma Withdrawn 7th June.

Play
'),

A BUNCH OF VIOLETS:
:

in

Four
/

Acts

(founded

liy

Sydney (Irundy.
.

Haymarket. ('a^i sir /'hil/ip .)/<//<//<////. Mi Tree; Harold Mount Sorrell, Mr Nutcomlic (loul.i:
Mi
C. M. H.ill.ird; .Mark
.

IfrG,
I

\\.

,;,

Mr
I

H..lm.inl'lark;

Mi Hay; l-'oot>iun, Mr Montagu and Mi Miss Lily I.mUiry 1'io/el, Miss Audi Mi TkM. \\nhdra\Mi Kiih July: ie|i.,du.
:

:>oyd,
i-d

Sth

.iler.

382
28.

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

THE MASQUERADERS:
St James's.
;

Play in Four Acts, by

David Rein on, Mr George Alexander; Sir Bryce Skcne, Mr Herbert Waring; Montagu Eddie Remon, Mr H. V. Esmond Lushington, Mr Elliott Lord Crandovcr, Mr Ian Robertson; The Hon. Percy Blanchflower Mr A. Vane Tempest; Sir Winchmore Wills, M.D., Mr Graeme Goring; George Copeland, Mr Ben Webster; Fan court, Mr Arthur Royston Carter, Mr Guy Lane Coulson Randal,
H. A. Jones.
Cast
:

Mr F. Kinsey-Peile; Sharland, A. Bromley Davenport Jimmy Stokes, Mr William II. Day; Brinkler, Mr Alfred Holies; Thomson, Mr F. Loftus; A Servant, Mr Theo. Stewart; Dulcie Larondie, Mrs Patrick Campbell;

Mr Mr

J.

A. Pentham;

Rodney,
;

Vanbrugh

Helen Larondie, Miss Granville; Charley Wisranger, Miss Irene Lady Charles Rain-dean, Miss Beryl Faber; Lady
;

Crandover, Mrs

Edward

Saker.

provincial tour from 28th

September

Interrupted by Mr Alexander's to loth November; with-

drawn 22nd December.

LIKE IT. Revival at Daly's. Cast: 30. AS The Duke, Mr Campbell Gollan ; Frederick, Mr Thomas Bridgland Amiens, Mr Roland M'Quarie Jaques, Mr George Clarke A Lord, Mr Bosworth; Le Beau, Mr Sydney Harcourt Herbert; Charles, Mr Hobart Bosworth Oliver, Mr John Dixon Orlando, Mr John Craig Jacques, Mr Lloyd Lowndes; Adam, Mr William
;
;

YOU

Dennis, Mr Rupert Lister; Touchstone, Mr James Lewis; Corin, Mr Charles Leclercq; Silvius, Mr Alfred I lick man William, Mr William Sampson Pages, Mr Olive Barry and Miss Florence Conron; Hymen, Miss Dagmar; Celia, Miss Phccbe, Miss Ida Molesworth Audrey, Miss Sybil Carlisle Catherine Lewis; Rosalind, Miss Ada Rehan. A few performFarren
;
;

ances only.
30.

KING KODAK:
;

Musical* Extravaganza,

by Arthur
;

Branscombe and numerous composers. Terry's. Cast: James South, Mr Edward Terry Dick Dashaway, Mr Charles Dan by Admiral Sir William Broadsides, ft.N., Mr George Giddens; Mr M. T. Head, Mr Compton Coutts; Hugh E. Foote, Mr Huntley Wright; I^ord Deadbroke, Mr E. H. Kelly; Lieut. Jack Broadsides, R.N., Mr George De Pledge; Charge Broadsides,

SYNOPSIS OF PLAYBILLS.

383

Mi- Ada Barry; Harry }\rnon, Mr J. Thompson; Set OFlynn, Mr F. \V. Trott Boltg Nnla, Mr W. Edwards; Hilda
;

South, Miss Violet Robinson; Letitia Gushingtcm, Miss Margaret Ayrtoun; I'iolct, Miss Mabel Love; LiHie, Miss Eva Levens;

Ruggles; Frankie Dashaway, Tarry, Miss Blanche Barnett ; Jtnnie Rossity, Miss Violet Friend Era Nesicnt, Miss Marie Lascelles; Ella (/'<;;//, Miss Irene du Foye ; Kitty Seabrook, Mi-- Kate Vaughan. Withdrawn 301 h June.
Lizzie

Dora Nightingale, Miss

Mi- Amy

Saunders;

Mil/if

.I/.-/

Y.

2.

HER DEAREST FOE:

Comedy Drama

in

Four Acts,

adapted from Mrs Alexander's novel l>y Miss Henrietta Lindley. Criterion. (Afternoon performance.) Cast: Colonel Sir Hugh

Mr Frank Worthing; Major Upton, Mr Frank Robert Ford, Mr Acton Bond; Frank Reid, Mr Hamilton Revelle; Adolphits Trapes, Mr Sydney Valentine; 7V Slade, Mr Charles Allan; Edwards, Mr C. Terric; Luiy Styles, Mi Dol.. re- Drummond; Amy Leigh, Miss Annie Webster; J///A, Mrs E. H. Brooke; Mrs Trovers, Miss Henrietta Lindley.
Galbraith,

Atherley;

Mr

Play in Five Acts, by Henrik Royalty. (Three performances promoted by the In\Verle, Mr George Wanle; de|>endent Theatre Society.) Cast Gregers Werle, Mr Charles Fulton; Old Ekda!, Mi Harding Hialmar Ekdal, Mr W. L. Abingilon; Gina EMal, Mi
4.

THE WILD DUCK:

Ibsen.

H.-rln-rt

Waring:
;

//
'/'"*,

Winifred

I-'ra-cr

M>

Swby,
Molvik,

Mrs
Mi

<,ill-i! Tii-nl

GfW*i
.

Mi Mi

Mr I^awrence Irving: huh- l.egassirk;

<

C.
!.

S.
;

Sl-arralt;
A',i<fi
>

/-'/or,
1

M.
Id
Lett

-idler

or. Ml

'

8.

A SILVER HONEYMOON:
Trafalgar.
ir
;
<

Donotic Corned]
'i.-w

Mai !
/.///>///,

lilda

'.lenn
;

Urumby, Mr A. M
'

Dnpres;

MlSS Maggie RobertA onage, Miss Adelaide Astor,

/;/, Mi
:

384
10.

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

Play in Four Acts, by Austin Fryers. (Afternoon performance.) Cast: Lord Hart land, Mr Alfred B. Cross; The Hon. Stuart Plcnvden, Mr Stanley Pringle; Lord Ruislip, Mr H. A. Saintsbury; The Hon. Tom Bucklaw,
:

GENTLE IVY

Strand.

Mr Rowland At wood; Mr Job Polwyl, Mr Leonard Calvert; The Rev. Stephen Trefelyn, Mr Orlando Barnett Ernie Bower,
;

Countess of ; Eglin, Mrs Theodore Wright; Laiiy Gwendoline, Miss Rose Nesbitt: Lady Adelaide, Miss Kate Bealby; Mrs Trefelyn, Miss C. E. Morland ; Miss Trefelyn, Mrs Gordon Ascher ; Ivy Bower,
;

Miss Valli Valli

Mrs

Polwyl, Miss Susie Vaughan

Miss
Cast
:

Frances

Ivor.

Preceded

by

A LOVE LETTER.
; ;

Captain Damborough,
;

Mr Graham Wentworth John,

Hetty,

Mr

V. Flexmore

Miss Clara Greet

10.

Lady Tore/tester, Miss Mary Stuart Nurse Edith, Miss Ethel Selwyn.

A SOCIETY BUTTERFLY:

Comedy
;

of

Modern

by Robert Buchanan and Henry Murray. Opera Comique. Cast Mr Charles Dudley, Mr William Herbert Dr Coppee, Mr Allan Beaumont; Captain Belton, Mr F. Kerr; Lord Augustus
Life,
:

Rose; Major Craigelder, Mr Henry J. Lord Ventnor, Mr S. Jerram; Herr Max, Mr H. Templeton; Bangle, Mr Charles R. Stuart; The Duchess of Neiuhaven, Miss Rose Leclercq Lady Milwood, Mr Walsingham The Hon. Mrs Stanley, Miss Liddie Morand Mrs Court landt
Leith,
Carvill;
;

Mr Edward

Parke, Miss E. B. Sheridan; Miss Staten, Miss Ethel Norton; Rose, Miss Eva Williams; Marsh, Miss Eva Vernon; Mrs Characters in the intermezzo Hera, Dudley, Mrs Langtry.
:

Miss Walsingham Pallas, Miss Liddie Morand ; sEnone, Miss Gladys Evisson; Pans, Mr F. Kerr; Aphrodite, Mrs Langtry. Withdrawn 22nd June.
;

12.

JEAN MAYEUX:
A

Mimodrama

in

Three
iQth May.
in

Acts.

Princess's.
12.

French Company.

Withdrawn

THE TWO ORPHANS:

Drama

Five

Acts,
:

Cast adapted from the French by John Oxenford. Adelphi. Count de Liniere, Mr Herbert Flemming; Marquis de Presles, Mr Lyston Lyle; Armand, Mr Ernest Leicester Jacques, Mr
;

William Rignold; Pierre,

;

Mr Charles Cartwright The Doctor, Mr W. Cheesman Picard, Mr David S. James Marlex, Mr W.

;

SYNOPSIS OF PLAYP.ILLS.
>tc:
I.

385

a Fleur,

Mr

J.

Northcote; Marais,

Mr

Hcrl>ert

Kudd; Count df Mailly, Mr

Y.

Kv

ran!

Marquis a* Estrecs, Mr

K. N..rt..n; Charlotte* Mr R. Collins; Jaequot, Mr Nesbitt; Countess de Liniese, Miss Alice Lingard; Louise, Miss Marion Terry; Henriettc, Miss Ellis Jeffreys; La Frochard, Miss Dolores

Orummond;
Craig.

.Marianne, Miss Marietta Polini ; Florettc, Miss

Edith Cole;

Genevieve,

Miss
Ailsa

Alma Stanley; CVra, Miss

Withdrawn i8th June.

IN 14. Play in One Act, Ca>t /<;/'< : f/'.^vr, Mr James by LmiU N. Parker. Avenue. \\\lrh; /'////// /frfiiw, Mr C',. R. Foss; Minnie Adare, Miss Winifred Kraser. A front piece to "Arms and the Man."
:

THE MAN

THE STREET:

17. Play in Three Acts, by Brandon Thomas and Henry Keeling. Revived at the Court. Cast: Sir Charles Jcnk>, Mr Mackintosh; Sir John Belton^ Bart., Mr Sidney Brough; The Hon. Dudley Chitmblcigh, Mr C. P. Little; Quayle, Mr H. Hudson; Lady Belton, Miss Lena Ashwell; The Hon. Mrs Dudley Chutnbleigh, Miss dertrude Kingston. Withdrawn I 4 th July. -Preceded' by MAIL. Mrs l-'runk Preston, Cast: Mrs Preston, Miss Carlotta Addison Mi- Yane Featherstone Mary Preston, Miss M. Ablx>t Capt.:

MARRIAGE

THE CAPE
: ;

in^lt Trovers,
'/,

Mr

\\'.

Drayctt
<

.]//

Quickc,

Mr

Sant

Mr W.
L.rd

II.

)uinton;

.Mason,

Miss Lilian

Lee.
19.

MONEY:
C'ast
:

Lyt ton's

Comedy.

Revival

at

the

Garrick.
.

Mr
//,

Sir John I'ttfy, Arthur Hourchier; Sir

h;
.V/i'///,

Mr
Robetl

Hare; I^rd Gloss l-'rcdctick Blount, Mr Alan Krinblc; Craves, Mr Arthur Civil:
sth,
,

Mr John

Mr Potbei
Mi
: < .

Mr
:

C.

H.

Mr

(..,
;

Mr

.S7/<;;/,

K dc
Fran/.

,,

Mr

>u

Mauricr

.SV;

.-,///.',

Mi A.

ty

':.inrnft;
.

Millett; Clara,

M
'

Gforgina, Mrs Maud Withdrawn 2Oth July run

;

resumed 27th
24

<

;>er.

TIME, HUNGER,

AND THE LAW:

Criterion.

Pi

(.\lirni..,i

386
formance.)

THEATRICAL WORLD OK
Cast: Ivan Ivanovitch Saradoob,

1894.

Mr Mr

Cyril

Maude;
Ramsey;

Vasili Ivanovitch,

Mr H.
;

B. Irving;

Dimitri Koitstantinovitch,
Cecil

Mr Lawrence

Irving; Grigori Grigorivitch,

Misha, I. Heslewood Nikolai, Mrlnnes; Anna Jvanova, Miss Dolores Drummond Katyer, Miss Isa Bowman. Preceded by SUPER, a One Act Play, by Arthur M. Ileathcote. Cast: Christopher Tweddle, Mr A. M. Heathcote Kenneth Adare, Mr R. Horniman Mrs Avery, Mrs Ed. Phelps.
;

THE
30.

THE CANDIDATE:
Oldacre,

Comedy
at
;

/by
\

Huntly M'Carthy from Revival Depute de Bombignac."

Justin

in Three Acts, adapted Alexander Bisson's "La

the

Criterion.

Cast

Wyndham Alaric Baffin, Mr George Giddens; Barnabas Goodeve, Mr W. Blakeley; Amos Martlett, Esq., Mr C. W. Somerset; Captain Hazlefoot, Mr Frank Worthing Jacobs, Mr Markham Dowager Coimtess Oster/ey,
Lord
Charles
; ;

Mr

Miss Fanny Coleman; Lady Oldacre, Miss Miriam Clements; Mrs Amos Martlett, Miss Pattie Browne ; Lady Dorothy Osterley,
Miss Mary Moore.

Withdrawn I4th August.

JUNE.
5.

JOURNEYS END
;

IN

LOVERS MEETING:

Proverb in One Act, by "John Oliver Hobbes" and George Moore. Daly's. (Afternoon performance.) Cast: Sir Philip Captain Maramour, Mr William Soupise, Mr Forbes Robertson
Terriss;

Lady

Soupise, Miss Ellen Terry.

BLACKMAILERS: Play in Four Acts, by John 7. Prince of Wales's. (AfterGray and Andre Raffalovitch. Admiral Sir Felbert Dangar, Mr noon performance.) Cast
:

THE

Julian Cross;

Mr

Dangar
B.

Felbert,

Mr

C. Colnaghi;

Edward

Davenport; Guy Joscelyn, Mr Harry Eversfield; Claitd Price, Mr W. L. Abingdon; Servant to Hal Dangar, Mr Frank Weathersby Servant to the Bond Hintons, Mr E. Bellenden ; Hyacinth Halford Dangar, Mr Charles Thursby; Lady Felbert, Miss Emily Miller; The Hon. Miss Alcyra Felbert, Miss Mary Collan Mrs Dangar, Mrs Theodore Wright; Violet Bond Hinton, Miss M. T. Brunton; Susan, Miss Henrietta Cross; Camilla Bond Hinton, Miss Olga Brandon.
; ;

Bond Hinton, Mr A.

NOPSIS OF PLAYBILLS.

387

SEVENS: A Dialogue, by E. II. SIXES 14. Whitmore. Criterion. (Afternoon performance.) Cast Miss Edith Cashdown, Miss Irene Yanbrugh Captain deorge Hope,
: ;

AND

Mr Arthur
14. I>.iuv>n.

Bourchier.
I'lay
in

CHERRY HALL:

Three Acts,

Avenue. Cast: Lady (Afternoon j>erforinance.) :'on, Mrs Bennett: .1//V\ .!/</,<;//', Miss Kttic Williams; Mrs Taylor, Miss Marjorie Christinas; Mabel I'ander, Miss Dora Mr Trevor, Mr Charles n; Maid, Mi A^iu-s Kuell (ilenney; Lord Haynton, M, /'.//., Mr J. A. Rosier: Lord Elgar,
;

Mr
/</</(

\V.

L.
':

Abingdnn:
J.

/V

Taylcr, MrCilliort Trent; Captain

Mr Lawrance iJjrsay; Mr Conipton Coutts; Michael, Mr James A. Warden; ^//, Mr Story Gofton Footman, Mr Barratt.
Barker; Walter Stockson,
Stockson,
;

Farce, by Mrs Adams Acton. 15. Cast Mr Sandhini, Mr taxge Helniore Mr Joshua Terry's. Sandhird, Mr I-!. H. Kelly; .]/; (Juinlin ll't'stlirooii; Mr Iluntley Wright: .1/ry Sandbird, Miss Jessie Danvers; Miss Polly Sand:

DULVERYDOTTY:

bird, Mi-> I'.lanche liarnett

Miss

I'era Westbrook,

Miss Lizzie
to

Rubles;
ik."
16.

Susie,

Miss

Kva Levens.

Front

piece

"King

THE MIDDLEMAN:
:

I'lay

in

Arthur Jones. Revived at the Cast Sir Seaton Umfravi

Comedy.
.,-tt

Four Acts, by Henry (Mr Wil lard's season.) Roe; Lady Umfraville,
:

Mrs George Canninge;

bruster
:

MrJoseph
<

Mr

!.

\iine

Ann Mr Roycc Carlton Mrs Cha Maud Chandler, Miss Keith Wakeman Captain
Felicia Umfraville, Mi>s \ ioK-t

Chandler,

Julian Chandler, Mr W. T. I.,, veil: Hatty Todd. M. Cyrus Rlenkarn, Mr Willard; J,-*sf /V;-r, Mr I.
i

II. II.
I

Hlcnkai

>

X'erity;

A'
II;

Mix

k; D.in.kn ,\\\

Kpiphany I\inks
.

Mr

Cecil

'

7r I'achfl, Mr Thos. Withdrawn 2jrd June.

iianlt

Sidi,

Mi

l8
tin-

U-^an her season

:

at

Daly's with

production of " I1 1

IZEYL.

Subsr|uenl

"La

388
Dame

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

aux Camelias," and "La Tosca." THE SPARE ROOM Curtain Raiser, by Leopold A. A. D. Montague and FOR GOOD OR EVIL Play in Three Acts, by Mrs A. J.
:

Macdonnell.
20.

Royalty.

(Afternoon performance.)

SHALL

WE

FORGIVE HER?
:

Drama

in

Five

Acts, by

Oliver West, Mr Frank Harvey. Cast Adelphi. Fred Terry; Paul Elsworth, Mr F. H. Macklin; Neil Garth,

Mr

Stapleton,

Charles Dalton; Doctor APKerrow, Mr Julian Cross; fames Mr Herbert 1' lemming; Reggie, Mr Harry Eversfield;
; ;

Grace, Miss Julia Neilson Jerry Blake, Mr Herbert Budd Aunt Martha, Mrs H. Leigh Joanna Lightfoot, Ada Neilson
;

Nellie West, Miss

21.

Mabel Hardinge.
:

Withdrawn i8th August.

THE TEXAN
Cast
:

Princess's.
Cecil

Play in Four Acts, by Tyrone Power. Sir Eardley Gumming, Mr Rudge Harding;

A. E. Drinkwater

dimming, Mr Oswald Yorke; Major Gordon Tyrrell, Mr Dr Bryant, Mr Ernest Cosham Jordan
; ;

Wycke, Esq.,

Mr

Littledale

Power;

Osborne,

Mr

L.

Lees;

Busteed, Mr Robert Munro; William Plainleigh, Mr Tyrone Power; Lady dimming, Miss May Howard; Mrs Gordon Tyrrell, Miss Edith Crane; Mrs Wycke, Miss Katherine Stewart; Maria Barker, Miss Kate Hartley Bishop, Miss Maggie Byron. Ran only a few

Craw ley, Mr Mark Paton;

Mr

nights.
23.

MADAME SANS GENE

M.

Victorien Sardou and

Play in Four Acts, by Emile Moreau (Madame Rejane's

:

engagement).
25.

THE PROFESSOR'S LOVE STORY:

J.

Play

in

Three Acts, by
Goodwillie,
Yellowlees,

M.

Barrie.

Comedy.

Cast
.

Professor

Willard; Dr Cosens, Mr II Cane; Dr Harting; Miss Agnes Goodwillie, Mrs G. Canninge; Lucy White, Miss Bessie Hatton; Ejffie Proctor, Mrs H. Cane; Sir George Gilding, Mr Bassett Roe; Lady Gilding,

Mr E. S. Mr Hugh

The Dowager Lady Gilding, Miss Miss Keith Wakeman Nannie Craddock; Henders, Mr Royce Carlton; Pete, Mr F. H. Tyler; Servants, Messrs Moore and Maxwell. Transferred Withdrawn 26th October. to the Garrick Theatre.
;

SYNOPSIS
27.
r.

<)K

PLAYUILLS.
:

389
Three Acts, by

A FAMILY MATTER
Compton and A.
(

Comedy

in

(Afternoon Cast: Conisbec, Mr Charles performance.) The Rev. William cs; Gilbert % Mr C. M. Mallard; Richardson, Mr Alfred Bucklaw; Lord Eustace I^slie, Mr \V.
ie<>ri;e

Hockley. The Rev. John

Garrick.

Granville;

Colonel Sir

George Mitchell,

Mr Howard

Sturge;

Sims; Lady Conisbee, Miss Mary Korke; Dulcie, Miss Winifred Fraser ;Jcan, Miss Ellis Jeffries; Maid, Miss Pendennis. Preceded by IN MINDS: ComCast Lady Margaret Minniver, medietta, by A. M. I leathcote.
Jiartram,
All>ert

Mr

TWO

Miss Annie Webster

28.

Parkins, Mrs Agnes Hill.

A NIGHT
1'Y

IN

TOWN:
Q.C.,

Farcical

Comedy

in

Three

on

H. A. Sherbourn (originally produced at the Strand, 2ist April 1891. Afternoon performance.) Royalty.

Cast:
Cecil

Mr Harry Paullon Fred, Mr Mr Hindman Lucas; Frank Darlington, Mr Loring Fernie; Mr Culpeppcr, Mr William Lock hart Jorkins, Mr Compton Coutts; Simmons, Mr Henry Nelson; Policeman, Mr Hul>ert Kvlyn; Pierotte, Mr Grahame Herrington -J//J Bablncombc, Miss Emily Miller; Mrs D0z
Babbicombe,
;

Mr

Ramsey;
;

Mr

Dovedale,

li Mabel, Miss I lenrietta Cross; Beatrice, Miss Florence Friend; Polly Parker, Miss Julia Warden; Mrs Pegivellt Blanche Kversleigh Maud Mcrrilon, Miss Lucille Heaton ;
; ;

Miss K. M'lver; Nellie, Miss Ada Palmer; Kettie, Miss Legh; Carrie Citthixt;, Mi- Kate Santley. Withdrawn nth in which Preceded by July. Henrietta Cross and Mr Hurdman Lucas aj>ieared, and by
Lottie,

FLOATING A COMPANY,
.'.;/,
;

VILLON.
Gervais,

Mr L-rin-

Fernie \l-atlu>

Mr

William Lockhart

ILlcnc, Miss Florence Field.

JULY.
2.

A MODERN EVE:
Haymarket.
..'.'oi;;/,

Play in Three Acts, by Malr.,hn

C. Salaman.

(AfternMn perfrmanre.)
,''/</)' .J/(

Cast:
lx>ttie

/r<"/,

Miss

Mr>

P.<

-ucn .mil

Mr

Charles Allan; /
',;:
,

nyon
Melfot*.

Mr TfWj &TMN/, Miss Conover;

390

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

Comedy in Three Acts, by Mrs Musgrave. Cast: Margery Sylvester, Miss May (A revival.) Whitty; Lucy M'Callum, Miss Georgie Esmond; Bella, Miss Annie Go ward Madam Clara Pryout, Miss May Edouin Volant, Miss Ina Goldsmith; Elsie Claremont, Miss Grace Lane;
Strand.
; ;

OUR FLAT:

Reginald Sylvester, Mr Charles S. Fawcett; Clarence Vane, Mr Herbert Ross; Mr M'Callum, Mr Ernest Hendrie; Stout, Mr K. M. Sill ward; Pinchard, Mr Robert Wainby Foreman, Mr Douglas Gordon Nathaniel Glover, Mr Willie Edouin. With; ;

drawn nth October.

Opera in Three Acts; Book by Michel by Frederic E. Weatherley, English Dialogue by Harry Greenbank, Music by Andre Messager; the book eventually revised by Adrian Ross. Savoy. Cast Gerard, Mr Scott Fishe; The Baron Vanden Berg, Mr John Coates; Notary, Mr Her ert Rolland; Picorin, Mr Courtice Pounds; Bobinet, Mr Walter Passmore; Franc al, Mr Avon Saxon; Bcr3.

MIRETTE:
English

Carre,

Lyrics

bicao,

Mr

Scott Russell; Burgomaster,

;

Mr

Herbert Ralland

Miss Florence Perry; The Marquise, Miss August revived 6th October to 6th December.
;

Mr John Coates; Mn.\, Maud Ellicott Bianca, The Dancing-Girl, Miss Emmie Owen; Withdrawn nth Rosina Brandram.
Mirette, Miss
;

5.

THE NEW LIFE

Avenue.

Play in

One

Act, by William
:

Gayer Mackay. Dennis Wylde,

Cast (Afternoon performance. ) Mr W. Gayer Mackay ; Robert Capper, Mr Herbert Flemming; Vera Wilde, Miss Mary Allestree. Also IN SEA: Musical Fantasy in

THE DEPTHS OF THE

;

One Act and Two Scenes; Words and

Lyrics by William Gayer

:

Mackay, Music by Angela Goetze. Cast Barker, Mr Robert Legge Algy Fitzroy,

Mr Hamilton

(Mortals} Sir James Revelle ;

Lady Barker, Miss Carlingford; Maud Fitzroy, Miss Hilda Rivers; (Immortals] Sylvia Whiting, Mrs Herbert Morris;
Marina, Miss Jenny Featherstone Ruby Mullett, Miss Groves \John Dorictis, Mr W. Gayer Mackay. Also
;

Juliet

SUCH
Cast:

IS

LOVE

Comedy

in

One

Act, by Alfred

M. Mond.

Clarence Montagu,

Mr Montgomery; Mr

Greville,

Mr Dawson

>YN< IP&IS OK PLAYP,ILL>.

3QI

Mill ward; Augustus Stanley , Mr Robert Legge; Mrs Rainer, Miss Cowper Coles; Miss Daisy Rainer, Miss Braithwaite; Mrs
Grcvillei

Miss

HOUSE OF LORDS:
; :

Mary

Allestree

Servant,

Mr

Shicl.

THE

Operetta in One Act, written by Music by G. W. Byng and Ernest Ford. Harry GreenUink Cast Dtike of Hanover Square, Mr Furneaux Cook ; Lyric.
S.

Mr Mnrgatroyd, Mr \Y. Halifax Finsinity, Mr Wilbur Gunn Laidlaw Huchtss of Hanover Square, Miss Adelaide Newton,
; ;

Lady
12.

Victoria Portobello, Miss

Dora Thorne.

TERPSICHORE
Lyric.

IMay in

One

M'Carthy.

(Morning performance
:

Act, by Justin Huntly for the benefit of

;

the Chorister^' .W*>ciation.)

Cast Margaret, Miss Ada Jenoure Lord Mohnn, Mr A. H. Barbara, Miss Marianne Caldwell Kevelle; Master Oldatre, Mr Ruclge Harding. Also Duologue, by Malcolm Watson.
;

DRAWN BATTLE
14.

A SUCCESSFUL MISSION:
Prince of Wales's.

Duologue,

in

One

(Tentative production, Ix-fore an afternoon performance of "The Gaiety Girl.") Cast: Alice
Act.

Gray, Miss
20.

Maud

H<>l>s<>n;

John

ll'inton,
in

Mr

George Mudie.

Play Cast: Colonel (Afternoon performance.) Terry's. Leigh, Mr Charles Rock; Lawrence Maker, Mr Herl>ert Flemming; Dr Langley, Mr Phillip Cunningham; Reginald Ijnvthian, Mr Rudgr Harding; The Rei: Mr Govette, Mr F. Percival
Davis.

A LIFE POLICY:

Four Acts, by Helen

Stevens;

Mr

Kelp,

Sini^; />r

Dw,

Mr Robb Harwood Dr Rogers, Mr Mr Harold Mead; Detectirf, Mr I'.

;

Albert
\\
;

(',.

house; John, Mr Rivers; Little I.auvenfe, Miss Valli Valli Mrs Herbert Mori,-, Elsie, Miss Winifn

Waring; Mrs Lothian, Miss Bertha Staunton; Nurse

'.'ttiMa,

Killings,

Miss R,,sc Dudley.

23.

NOT A BAD JUDGE:

R. Plane!.
!

Comic Drama
<

in

Two
nis de
\V.
'.:;.-.

by

J.

Treraf,

Mr

Royalty. Leslie Kruymi; Count

I

at

In-

.:

I.ug^;
I.

Mi John Caspar Lavatcr, Mr W. L. Abingdun; Christ Mr ("ompton ('outts; Zug, Mr E. D.I. ///, Kiiu; ItfMHM Notary, Mr Arthur Coc; Servatt Rull.y, Mr
.

392

THKATRTCAL WORLD OF

1894.
Miss

Barrett; Louise, Miss Ettie Williams; Madam Bet //tan, Kathcrine Stewart. Also a Revival of

THE LINEN-

Farcical Comedy in Three Acts, by J. R. Brown and J. F. Thornthwaite. Cast Benjamin Bazin, Mr E. M. Robson Squire de Broke, Mr W. Lugg Captain Harold de Broke, Mr Leslie Kenyon; Reginald Maitland, Mr Compton Coutts; Lush, Mr E. Da-nail; George, Mr Barrett; Sarah, Miss Cicely Richards; Elinor Marsh, Miss Ettie Williams; Mary Bazin, Miss Mary Raby; Mrs Maitland, Miss Katherine Withdrawn. Stewart.
:
:

DRAPER
;

26. Play in Four Acts, 1-y Christie Murray, Henry Murray, and J. L. Shine. Trafalgar. (Afternoon performance.) Cast: Frank Milton, Mr Charles Glenney; Sir John Saunderson, Mr W. L. Abingdon; Baron de Marsal,

THE PURITAN:

Mr Edward O'Neill James Burdock, MrJ. L. Shine; Mr Dnjlos, Mr Sant Mathews; Colonel Cheriere, Mr George Warde; Delbecchi, Mr Harry Grattan; Suisse, Mr S. H\\\;Jean, Mr II. G. Dupres; Waiter, Mr J. Mahoney; Countess de Ricquiere,
',

Miss Florence Seymour Alary Milton, Miss Winifred Eraser; Leonide de Blanc, Mrs Theodore Wright; Baroness de Marsac, Miss Alice de Winton; Madame Duflos, Miss Agnes Hewitt; Adele Duftos, Miss Dora Barton.
;

AUGUST.
as a front piece to "The Chilow, Mr F. Volpe ;

Produced Vaudeville. Cast Col. King Charles II., Mr T. Kingston; Master Perkin Portsoken, Mr A. Helmore ; Robin Ruddock, Mr T. A. Palmer; Sergeant Joel, Mr J. Mackay Lilian Clulow, Miss Esme Bezinger ; Cicely, Miss A. Beet.
9.
:

LOYAL

Play in

One

Act, by H. T. Johnson.

New

Boy."

II.

LITTLE JACK SHEPPARD:

H.
P.

Burlesque in Three
;

Acts, by

Stephens and

W. Yardley
:

Music by various

(A revival.) Gaiety. Cast Jack Sheppard, Miss composers. Georgina Preston \ Jonathan Wilde, Mr Seymour Hicks; Blueskin,

Mr Charles Danby; Mr Wood, Mr E. W. Royce; Abraham Mendez, Mr Frank Wood Airs Sheppard, Miss Lizzie Collier; Kneebone, Mr W. Warde; Sir Roland Trenchard, Mr
;

SYNOPSIS
W. Chccscman; Thames

<>l

PLAYBILLS.
:

393

Poll Darrcll, Miss Amy Au^arde Stan more, Miss Florence Levey; Edgeworth Jiess, Miss Violet TLMM.! 1'ioton; Mrs Wood, Monektoii, Kitty Kettleby, Mi ">> Kllaline Terriss. WithMinMari
<

<..

drawn 29th Septeml>er.

15.

HOT WATER:
MM.

Farcical

Comedy

in

Tl

adapted from

Meilhac and Halevy's "La Houle." (A Criterion. Cast: Chauncery l\ittlcton, Mr Charles revival.) Hawfrcy; Sir Philander Rose, Mr Kdward RiiMiton Martin, Mr Ce-.r^e C.idclens ; Corbyn, Mr J. G. Taylor: M'/.nd, Mr William Blakeley; Moddlc, Mr Sydney Valentine Clerk of the
;

Court,

Mr W.

V.

M,

I.

Atherley

Piclro^

Mr F. Vi^ay; Footman, Mr Nichols; Tiger, Master Mrs Paitlcton, Miss Edith Chester; Madam Marietta, Fdith Clements Lady Rosc Miss Alice de Winton; Mrs Pitcher, Mi>- Fmily \"ining \Janc, Miss Katherine Drew; Nina, Miss
;

Annie Saker.
30.

Withdrawn

5th September.
1'iece in

THEN FLOWERS GREW FAIRER:

Act, by Sutton Vane. arde; /,/
'

One

Terry's.
l

Cast

Jasper Hop,, Mr
\"<>rke:

Boyne,
Felicia

Mr Oswald
Hope,
-

in,

Mr

Stanley

Kennevs;
Miss

FOUNDLING
M. R.ibson.
l\nn<ll,
;

Gwynne

Herl>ert.

Miss Also

Li//k

THE

Farce in Three Acts, by

Cast: Major Cotton,

:

Mr Sydney Hruii^h Hunt ley Wright Ja<k Stanlon, Mr Oswald Vorke /V//;/r//, Mr (ieorge Warde; ./.'/,<

W. Lestoc.) and K. Dick Mr CharK Timothy HmU<'ji^. Mr

;

Sir Nicholas
Kl!i>

|u:
.tuny
I. title

Cotton,
:

.uii^han

Sophie

Cot,

Miss Ussher,
Mord.

iitlord;

The Tricky

M'tyi'ii

Witlidra\M) J()lh October.

PTEMBSK,
i

THE NEW WOMAN:

(

Comedy

in

Km:,
>

Sydney
Terry;

iriimiy.

Comedy.
>i<.rvc,

Cast: Gerald
Cyril

Cau

:.;;,

\li

(.',

Mr

Maude; Captain .Mi \\. \Y\. |]

!//

394
Pettigrew,

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.
;

Mr S. Champion ; Wells, Mr J. Byron Lady Wargrave, Miss Rose Leclercq ; Mrs Sylvester; Miss Alma Murray; Enid Bcthttnc, Miss Laura Graves; Victoria Vivash, Miss Gertrude Warden; Dr Mary Bevan, Miss Irene Rickards; Margery Armstrong, Miss Winifred Emery. Still running.
6.

THE FATAL CARD

B.

Play in

Haddon Chambers and

Gerald Austen, Murray Carson

C.

Stephenson.
;

Five Acts, by C. Cast Adelphi.

Mr
;

William Terriss

Harry Burgess, Mr Austen, Mr Charles Fulton James Dixon, Mr W. L. Abingdon Terence O'Flynn, Mrs Richard Purdon; Sulky Smith, Mr Cory Thomas; Harry Curies, Mr Herbert Buck! Hiram Webster,
; ;
;

George Man-able, Mi Harry Nichols; A. K.

Caleb Porter; Cyrus Wackford, Mr Ackerman May; Bully Jack, Mr W. A. Harrison; Dutch Winnigan, Mr W. Strickland;
Cowboy, Mr W. Younge; Cattleman, Mr Walford Mike, Mr F. Boden; Margaret Marrable, Miss Mill ward; Mercedes, Miss Vane Cecile Austen, Miss Laura Linden Miss Penelope Austen, Miss Sophie Larkin; Kate Threestars, Miss Du Foye; Servant in Act IIL, Miss Retta Villis; Servant in Act IV., Miss Beatrice
;

Mr

Hayden.
8.

Still

running.

Comic Opera in Three Acts, adapted by Brandon Thomas from the German of TheodorTaube and Isodor P'uchs; Music by Edward Jakobowski. Florian Bauer, Mr Hubert Wilke Delia Cast Lyceum. Fontana, Mr Arthur Williams; Lucca Kabbiato, Mr W. Denny
:

THE QUEEN OF BRILLIANTS:

Grelotto,

Mr John Le Hay; Major Mr

Victor Pulvereitzer,

Mr Avon
;

Saxon

Moritz,

Count Radaman Caprimonte, Mr Owen Westford Fred Story; Max, Mr F. Wright, jun. Btppo, Mr
;

Compton Coutts; Andrea, Mr Rupert Lyster; Waiter, Mr Henry George Fritz, Mr George Honey Don Garcia, Mr James Pearson; Footman, Mr Hendon; A Hackney Coachman,
; ;

Mr

Robert Stevens; Head Gardener,

Ruggles Orsola, Miss Annie Meyers; Mirandola, Miss Florence Burle; Carola, Miss Sadie Wigley ; Fioretta, Miss Lillie Comyns Fraulein Kauf, Miss Zoe Minna, Miss Susanne Leonard
Englestein,
; ; ;

Madame Amadi

Mr John Emma, Miss

Evans;
Lizzie

Madame
;

Gilfillian

Fraulein

Schmidt,

Miss Jessie

Bradford

Head

>YN
^ratron,

iPSl.s

ol-

PLAYP.ILLS.
;

395

Mi>s Hertha Staunton

i8th October.

Bella,

Miss Lillian Russell.

Withdrawn
13.

Farcical Comedy in Three Acts, The Hon. Henry Cast: Trafalgar. >:ald Hampton, Mr John Tresahar 1'ercy /-'enton, Mr T. G. Warren; Ephraim 7,. van Heekman, Mr Graham Wenlworth Miss Clara Jecks M. Hem i drat in, Mr Frank Cotton, Wyatt; Julia, Miss Cicely Richards; Constance Fenton, Miss Khoda Halkett; Lucy, Miss Delia Carlyle; Stella ran Heekman,

THE CHINAMAN:
Tresahar.

ly John

Mi-

SPARK:

Preceded by " L'Ktincelle. " by F.li/abeth Bessie of Miss Blanche Ripley ; Cera/dine, Miss Treherne, Delia Carlyle Captain Norreys, Mr Graham Wentwater.
Kdith

Kenward.

THE ELECTRIC

Adaptation

)'

Withdrawn 4th October.

14.
.

LITTLE MISS "CUTE:

by C. T. Vincent
;

Variety

Comedy

in
1

lour

arranged for the English stage Archie Forrester, Mr Gerald B. Norman. Cast Royalty. Spencer; Sir Arthur Kadcliffe, Mr V rank II. Fenton Admiral Edward Mountfort, Mr Carol! Leslie, Mr Kardley Turner :rd Hroughton; Count Giuseppe Marani, Mr Ivan Watson;
: ; ;

Jones,

Mr

Albert

Sims

1-ilippo,
;

Mr

A.

H. Brooke

Lady

Helen Dean, Miss Violet Leighton Armbruster Mrs Leslie, Miss Kthel Hope; Miss Cute Dexter^ Mi- Hope Booth. Withdrawn after one j>erforniancc. PreRadcliffc,

Mis>
;

Alexis

by
;

ON TOAST.

Cast

Mrs

fstfi.
;

Mi;

Vi.,lct

Arm-

bruster

Mrs Maplcson, Miss

Lillie

Young

Mr l\-ler

Mapleson^

Mr

S.

L.

Mr Owen Harris

Joseph,

Mr

All>crt Si;
15.

THE DERBY WINNER: Dnma in Four Acts, by

'ess

Sir

Augustus

Drury Lane.

(\-cil Kaleigh, and Henry Hamilton. The Duchess ofMilforJ, M s >hn Wood ; of Desbo rough, Miss Beatrice I-imb; Mrs I\nidly,

Harri-.

Cast

Mi;

Loo!

Donelly,

Miss Patti

borough,

Nurse Lumley, Miss Mr Ailhur B<>m< hirr

Amy
;
.,
i

AbUitt; The Earl of DesI

Evelyn Hughes; Colonel

MyL

James East;

396

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
;

1894.

Mr Charles Cartwright Captain Lord ChisMr Rudge Harding; Rupert Leigh, Mr Charles Dal ton; The Hon. Guy Bagot, Mr Ernest Lawford Cyprian Streatfield, Mr George (iiddens; Joe Aylmer, Mr Lionel Rignold Dick Hammond, Mr Harry Evefsfield Mr Langford, Mr Maurice Drew; Mr Wilson, Mr Charles Hurst; Mr Wallace, Mr Henry Loraine; Waiter at the Railway Hotel, Mr James Francis; Boots at the Railway Hotel, Mr Jervis Vincent; Auctioneer at TattersaFs, Mr Maurice Dudley; Guide at the Law Courts, Mr Arthur Cowley Usher at the Law Courts, Mr John Lock Servant to Lord Desboroitgh, Mr Digby Roberts Waiter at the White Hart Hotel, Mr Charles Danvers; Lady Hilborough, Miss Lena Delphine; Lady Mary Prestbury, Miss
Geoffrey Mostyn,

holm,

Lizzie Wilson ; Countess of Long-field, Miss Georgie Cook ; Duchess of Queenstown, Miss Lydia Rachel Lady Betty Tufnell, Miss L. Brooking; Lady Broadinoor, Miss L. Feverell; Lady Hilda Pentonville, Miss E. Beaumont; The Hon. Mrs BentoMiss Amelia P. Calhoun, Miss M. vwnd, Miss J. Talbot Transferred to Thyler; Miss Grace O'Grady, Miss St Aubyn.
; ;

the

Princess's,

several

22nd December.

and during a season with was continued at the Royalty, produced "Tilli," " Der Pfarrer von Kirchfeld," "Robert und Bertram," "Die Meined" bauer," ''Doctor Klaus," "Der Bibliothekar," Krieg ini " " Wilhelm " Mein Tell," Frieclen," Leopold," Stiftungsfest," " Hasemann's Tochter," "Faust," "Nora," "Die Rauber," " Hermann und Dorothea," "Eine Parlie Piquet," "Man Sucht" Schwabenstreiche." " Der einen Erzieher," Sportsman," and

Comique
that

GRAF WALDEMAR,

alterations being made in the cast, German Company opened at the Opera

25.

CLAUDE DUVAL:

Musical

Piece
;

in

Two

Acts,

Bowyer and Payne Nunn Music com posed Prince of Wales's. by John Cook and Lionel Monckton. Cast: Sir Philip Saxnnindham, Mr Eric Thorne Percy, Mr Sherlock Holmes-Spotter, Mr H. O. Clarey Fitzroy Morgan Pinchcr, alias Lord Touchem, Mr Charles E. Stevens \Johnny Albany, Miss Georgie Edwards; Harry Burlington, Miss Maud
written by Frederick
;
; ;

Crichton; Gussy Criterion, Miss

Ada

Peppiatte

Bertie Grafton,

SYNOPSIS OF PLAYBILLS.
Miss Marie
Wuzr.Ie,
Btirdell
;

397
;

Jasper,

Mr

].

Wintcrlx>ttom

Simon
;

Mr Hayman Jeames, Mr I^iidman; Claude Duval, Mr Arthur Roberts; Lady Joan Sajcmnndham, Miss Amy Liddon
;

Miss Eva Fllerslie; Dolly, Miss Nellie Arline; Betty, Miss Thornhill; Lctty, Miss Louise Norman; Polly, Miss Ida Young; Matjoric Saxmitndham, Miss Florice Schuberth; Lady
Gertie,

Dorcas Chetwynd, Miss Marie Hatton.

29.

Still

running.

A TRIP TO CHINATOWN:
;

Musical

Comedy

in

Tu<> Acts, by Charles Hoytc. Toole's. Cast: Wetland Strong, Mr R. G. Knowles Ben Gay, Mr II. de Lange; Raskleigh Gay, Mr Kdijar Stevens; Norman Blood, Mr Harry Milliard; n'illie Grow, Miss Clara Jecks Norah Heap, Mr Allwrt
;

Bernard; Price,
:ield;

Mi

MiStill

Slarin raync, Mr Kred ; Tiny Gay, Miss Audrey Ford; Isabella Dame, Fdith Yane; Flirt, Miss Georgie Wright; Mrs Gtiyer, Transferred to the Strand, 1710 December. Fdith Bruce.
Egl>ert
<

Mr George

Preceded by RICHARD'S PLAY. running. Kithard Mail land, Mr II. Tripp Edgar; Admiral Clipperton, Mr Albert Bernard Sylvia Delaraine, Miss Madeline Rowsell ; Postboy, Master Watson; Prudence, Miss Kate Everleigh. Adaptation of Sardou's Play, by Clement Scott. Princess's. Cast: I*ord Henry Trevene, Mr Charles Warner; fohnny Stratford, Mr Bernard Gould; Philip Eden, Mr Herbert Hemming; I^ord Shandon Mr Sheridan Lascellcs; l.otd Atthnr
;

ODETTE

Trevfn,-,
Ij

Mr

i:.ir.lK-y

Dr

/r/AVv,

Howard; Prince Nobitskvy, Mr Rcthbury Mr Sydney Bowkett; Mr Hanway, Mr

;
.

Gordun Tumpkins; Narcisse, Mr Paul M. Berti>n /.'</ Mr W. Rosse; Eva TVrrw/,, Mi^^ Fre-!'
William^
;

\laiie
;

(Vi'il;

t.ady

rinslry Shrriilan

Countess Varola, Mi-

W.
;

I..

Abingdon;
M. Doppl
Ruppert.

1'..

M. deSilla; Yalmard; C\i,

.!//
,

/>'/

Mi

Anna

Witli.lrawn IJth OctoU-r.

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
OCTOBER.

1894.

Comedy in Three Acts, by James Mortimer and Charles Klein. Royalty. Cast Nathaniel Tugstock, Mr G. W. Anson; Lemuel Bignold, MrT. P. Haynes; James Verity, Mr Philip Cunningham Guy Pontefract, Mr Douglas Hamilton James Selwyn, Mr Wyndham Guise; Mrs Florence Bignold, Miss Annie Bignold, Miss Elsie Chester Ferrell Ada Selwyn, Miss Carrie Coote; Sarah Tugstock, Miss Kate Kearney; Emma Roseby, Miss May Allestree Eliza, Miss Lydia Cowell. Transferred to the Strand I5th October; withdrawn 2;th October. Preceded by A PIOUS FRAUD.
2.
:

TRUTHFUL JAMES:

Cast

Sir

George

Allison,

Mr Wyndham
;

Guise

Herbert
;

Allison,

Douglas Hamilton Miss Martin, Miss Kate Kearney.

3.

Mr

May, Miss Carrie Coote

THE CASE OF REBELLIOUS SUSAN

Criterion.
C.

Comedy,

by Henry Arthur Jones.

Q.C.,

Cast

Sir Richard Kato,

Mr
;

Charles

Wyndham; Admiral
P.

Kemble James Harabin, Mr

Little

Sir Joseph Darby, Mr Fergusson Pybus,

; ;

Darby, Miss Elaine Shrimpton, Miss Nina Boucicault; Lady Susan Harabin, Miss Mary Moore. Still running.
E.

Mr Mr

Fred Kerr

Lucien Edensor,

Mr Ben Webster Mr Jacomb,

;

Dagnall; Kirby,
;

Mr Markham; Lady

Fanny Coleman

Mrs

Quesnel, Miss Gertrude Kingston

18.

MARRIED BY PROXY
W.
Yuill.

Farcical

Comedy

in

Three
per-

Acts, written by A.

Toole's.

(A morning

formance.)

Major Chardin, Mr Clifford Bown; Albert Chardin, Mr Edward Compton Captain Lumley, Mr Robert
Cast:
;

Greville; Lieut. Archer,

Mr

Harrison Hunter; Lieut.

PettigreT.v,

Mr Arnold Fitzroy; Hitmphrey, Mr Mr John H. Brewer; Mrs Hudson,

Cecilia Hudson, Miss Sidney Madeleine Meredith; Hemma, Miss Elsa Wylde; Miss Jessie Cross.
;

Reginald Dartrey; John, Miss Bessie Thompson; Olive Mitford, Miss Crowe

Mrs Bummer,

20.

THE LADY SLAVEY

Musical Farce in

Two

Acts,

Avenue. Cast: by George Dance; Music by John Crook. Robert's, Mr Charles Danby; Major O'Neill, Mr Robert Pate-

SYNOPSIS OF PLAY
man
;

I!

ILLS.

399

I'incent

A. Evelyn,

Mr

lerbert Sparling; Captain Fitznorris,

Mr Henry Beaumont Lord Lavender, Mr George Humphrey;

;

Flo Honeydew,

Miss Jenny M'Nulty;

Maud, Miss Adelaide

Astor; Beatrix, Mi>s Blanche Barnett; Madame Pontet, Miss Mks Mar) on; Klcho; Madame Iconise, Miss Duf< Emma, Miss Turner; Phyllis, Miss May Yohe. Still running.

A GAY WIDOW:
and
Gist:

Adaptation, ly F. C. Burnand, of
Farcical

MM.

Sardou
Court.

Dcslandes'

Comedy
;

" Belle

Maman."

Rutherford,

Horace Dudley, Mr Charles Hawtrey; Peter Righton Algy Bruce, Mr Gill>ert Hare; Johnny Danford, Mr Nye Chart; The Hon. Hugh

Mr Edward

Mr K. II. Kelly; Vicomte de Barsac, Mr Wilfred Draycott; Colonel Mnmby, Mr FredThorne; Dodd, Mr Com pt on Coutts; Mr Bent ham, Mr Will Dennis; Count Caramanti, Mr Kolib liar wood; Uncle Popley, Mr Fred Vaughan \\'alu<orth
Anstrttther,
;

Mumby, Mr Aubrey Fitzgerald Inspector Percy, Mr V. Everard Robert, Mr W. Kilter Kiley;/aw, Mr C. Francis Joseph, Mr Krnest Hertram Nellie Dudley, Miss Eva Moore; Mrs Pipwidgc, Mr Charles Maltby; Adcliza, Miss Malx.*! Harclinge; Con
;
;

Caramonli, Mi>^ \i<>let Rayr; Miller, Miss Arlette Mowbray; Miss \Vitham, Miss Lydia Rachel; Mrs Marbrook, Miss Lottie \enne. Withdrawn.
22.

ROBBERY UNDER ARMS:

Drama

in

Five Acts,

adapted by Alfred Dampier and darnel Welch from Rolf Holdrewood's romance. (Originally pnnhiced in Australia.) Princess's. Cast: Captain Starlight, Mr Alfred Dampier; />/</ Marsfan, Mr Hcrlert Klemming Jim .J/i/;-./<>//, Mr Rotlibury
;
1

'mini Morrin^cr,

Mr

1'aul

1'erton

Henry

Yiliart;

Trooper M-Qinnis,
Huller
;

Mr

Mi ,, Inspector d> Bernard (Ion Id Trooper

;
.

>.

Mr Ceorge
inglon; Daly,

Old Hen Marston,

Harris.

Mr

Clarence

Holt; George Storefeeld,

Mr Owen

Mr Charles

Mr
T.

Charles lender; Hlackjofk,

Mr

The

Champion Cook, Mr
'/,

Duyei:

W*
Mr

/
1
.

/.'.

Mr William
i

I'.onny;

Mr Archer; King
C///^/
. -

Hilly,

;:

/.//,

*?/,/,
,

..;

id;
-

/AI///M

H.

l'o\\

Mr

\\''

400
Sam

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894.

Daivson, Mr Scot; Arizona Bill, Mr Edwards; Aileen Marston, Mrs Anna Ruppert Kate Morrison, Miss Katherine Russell; Grace Storefield, Miss Rose Dam pier; Jennie, Miss
; ;

Marie Cecil Miss Euphrosyne Aspen, Miss Carrie Daniels Norah, Mrs B. M. De Solla; Bella Barnes, Miss Margaret Warren Withdrawn gth Lady Passenger, Miss Erlyn. November.
;
;

Comic Opera in Two Acts, by Music by F. Osmond Carr. Lyric. Cast The Governor Grijfenfeld, Mr Regent, Mr Rutland Barrington George Grossmith Erling, Mr C. Kenningham Tortennssen, Mr Augustus Cramer Mats Munck, Mr John Le Hay Harold, Mr Arthur Play fair; Sentry, Mr George Temple; First Officer, Mr Ernest Snow ; Second Officer, Mr Frank Morton Christina, Miss Nancy Mackintosh; Nana, Miss Jessie Bond; Thora, Miss Ellaline Terriss Dame Courtlandt, Miss Alice Barnett Bianca,
27.
:

HIS EXCELLENCY
;

W.

S. Gilbert

Miss Gertrude Aylward.

31.

Still

running.
:

ALL MY EYE-VANHOE
;

Burlesque in

Two

Acts,

by Philip Hayman Music by John Crook, Howard Talbot, Cast: Trafalgar. Philip Hayman, and Edward Solomon. Ivanhoe, Mr J. L. Shine; Will Scarlettina, Mr Harry G rattan Robert Fitzoof, Mr Fred Storey; Seedie Wreck, Mr Fred Wright, junior; The Prior of Jawfolke Abbey, Mr E. M. Robson; Sir Brandiboy Gilbert, Mr H. M. Clifford Mr Ithaacth, Mr James Stevenson; Prince Johnnie, Mr Harold Eden; The Lady Soft Nell Guitar, Miss Alice LethRoeina, Miss Maggie Robert The Countess of Grundy, Tomba, Miss Clara Jecks bridge Miss Agnes Hewitt; Boilden Oiley, Esq., Miss Bertha Meyers; Lady Alicia Fitzworse, Miss Nita Carlyon Miss Rebecca Hothouse Peach, Miss Phyllis Broughton. Withdrawn 7th November.
;

8.

Harold Wynn, Mr Tree Sir Htibert Garlinge, Mr Charles Cartwright Lord Barbridge, Mr Charles Allan; The Hon. and Rev. Stephen Wynne, Mr Nutcombe Gould; Percy de Cobttrn, Mr Herbert Ross; Mr George
Chambers.

NOVEMBER. JOHN-A-DREAMS Play in Four Acts,

:

by C. Haddon
;

Haymarket.

Cast

SYNOPSIS OK
,

I'LAVr.iLLs.

401

Stevens; //;/
First

Mr Edmund Maurice; Captain ffarding,l>\r Percival J/.-.v, Mr Willes; Boatswain, Mr Bert Thomas

Mr Montagu; Second Steward, Mr Lesley Thomson; Butler, Mr Hay; Kate Cloud, Mrs I'a trick CampSteward,
l>ell;

Janette

Lady Barbridge, Miss Le Thiere; Mrs IVanklyn, Miss Withdrawn 2yth Steere Servant, Miss Conover.
;

December.

JOKER: Farcical Comedy in Three Acts, by M. ml Tennyson. Avenue. (A morning performance.) Cast: Joseph Miller, Mr Fred Thorne; George Miller, Mr II. Ashford; Mr Caryon Crowe, Mr Alfred Maltby Felix, Mr Lewis Kitrhamon; Gerard Brewster, Mr Cosmo Stewart James, Mr W. 11; Mrs Caryon Crowe, Miss Emily Thorne; I'enelope, Miss Ethel Christine; Mrs Lowe, Miss E. M. Page; Stella LoveI, Miss E. Neilda; Fannie, Miss Annie Fox-Turner.
13.
;

THE

14.

A KNIGHT-ERRANT:

Romance

in

)ne Act, written

by Rutland Harrington, composed by A. J. Caldicott; front piece to "IIi Gust: The Baron de 1 unit: an r, Excellency." Lyric. Mr Ernest Snow; The Lady Ermcngardc, Miss May Cross; Artnand, Mr Alexander; Sir Flotian de Gracietix, Mr W.
1'hilp.

21

THE WRONG
!>
II
.

GIRL:

Farcical

Comedy
Mr W.
',

in

Three

A.

Kennedy.

Strand.
Ku,>ell

Cast:

Captain Harry
Hlakeley;
,

Montagu, Mr
1'hillip
'.

Ki>rlr>

Da \\son; George
1

Glenfieltl,
;

Oliver Chester,

Mr

1.

.ward

//'///, >// N

Mr

Cunningham; \Villic Mr Dudley Quran;

:>let

Edottin,
Co/6,

Mr

Willie Kdouin

fsaac

Mr
/'.'

I'ickard

Blunt;

Gladys

Goni

Armbrustcr;

kite l-'anny

-well; Eva Hniugh; Mrs Glcnfi Miss Daisy Uryer .]//> I-'tumantlc Wyville, Miss K. Lucille ..^n PRIZE: Comedietta, by
;

THE QUEENS
Mr Richard
I

Mackay. Cast: Captain

'lorn /'/
;

.,

Mr Pocba

>..

Colonel Da//is,

I'.lunt

Sergeant

>iit

MrCi

Harvey; Lieut. Hob Grav<

Rivers, Miss R. I.urille
Willi

402
1

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
The Wrong
Girl."

1894.

" performances of

5th

December; but there were subsequently a few morning

GIRL: Musical Farce by H. J. Dam; 24. Music mainly by Ivan Caryll. Gaiety. Cast: Mr Hooky, Mr Arthur Williams; Charles Appleby, Mr Seymour Hicks; Bertie Boyd, Mr George Grossmith, junior; John Brown, Mr Colin Coop; Sir George Appleby, Mr Cairns James; Colonel Singleton, Mr Frank Wheeler; Count St Vannen, Mr Robert Nainby Mr
;

THE SHOP

Tweets,

Mr

Willie

Warde;

Mr

Miggles,

Mr Edmund Payne;

Singleton, Miss Helen Lee; Miss Robinson, Miss Katie Seymour; Lady Appleby , Miss Maria Davis; Ada Smith, Miss Lillie Belmore; Faith, Miss Lillie Dickinson; Hope, Miss Agatha Roze; Charity, Miss Lillie Johnson ; Maud Plant agent '/,

Lady Dodo

Miss

Miss

Maud Hill Eva Tudor, Miss Fannie Warde Lillie Stuart, Maud Sutherland; Mabel Beresford, Miss Violet Monckton;
;
;

Allies

Howard, Miss Louie Coote; Maggie Jocelyn, Miss Maggie Ripley; Violet Tierney, Miss Topsy Sinden; Bessie Brent, Miss Ada Reeve. Still running.
26.

THE WIFE OF DIVES:

;

Comedy Drama

in

Three

Acts, by S. X. Courte (originally produced at Birmingham as "The Great Pearl Case"). Opera Comique. Cast: Julius

Cosmo

Van Duccat, Mr G. W. Anson Lord Cyril Sieveking, Mr The Rev. Boanerges Bodkin, Mr Cecil Ramsey Stuart Humphries, Mr Frank May; Darryl Dreighton, Mr Charles
;
;
;

Muriel Glenny; Lady Haltwhistle, Miss Carlotta Addison Haltwhistle, Miss Lucy Wilson; Cecily A Hardyce, Miss Florence
Preceded by Comedy J~)ick Ardingley, Mr Cast in One Act, by Arthur Ingram. Hurdman Lucas Richard Ardingley, Mr C. Medwin Violet Kate, Miss Beatrice Summers Ardingley, Miss Nanson
:

Friend; Mrs 8th December.

Van Duccat, Miss Olga Brandon.

:

Withdrawn

A FOLLY OF AGE

Augustus, Master Hal Bailey

30.

James Barlow, Mr

L. Bean.

ASHES:

Play in Three Acts, by Edward Collins and

R. Saunders.
Cast
:

Prince of

Reginald Denning,

Mr

Phillip

Cunningham

Wales 's. (A morning performance.) Mr Charles Glenney Sir Everett Kerr, DrJames Courtney, Mr Oswald Vorke;
;

SYNOPSIS OF I'LAYUILLS.

403
Fairfax,

Mr

Hroatileigh,

Mr

Stuart

Champion;

/''rank

Mr

Richard Saunders;
.'/,

Mr
tie

Frazcr,
1

Mr

J.

R.

Hatfield;

Mr Lawrence
ContU-sse

'-lurU'l

AVrr,

Captain Miss Lucy

\Vils.,n;
.

'y.

Maur, Mi- C.wynnc Herl>ert; Mi- Rubcrtha Krskine; Lady Constance Aln, Miss
St

Alice

lc

Winton.

DECEMBER.
8.
l>y

DR

BILL:

Farcical

Comedy, adapted from

Cast:

the French
/>/
//V///Vi///

Hamilton Aide.

Revival at the Court.

Rrown, Mr Charles Hawtrey: Mr Fi> man, Mr William II. Day; Mr Ilorton, Mr Kohl) Harwood George Webster, Mr K. II.
;

Kelly; Baggs, Mr F. Featherstone ; Sergeant of Police, Mr Francis; Louisa Brown, Miss Dora de Winlon \Jenn ie Firm an, Dolores Drummond; Mi Yiolet Lyster; Mrs Firman, Mi
Ellen,

Miss
;

Malx;!

Harding;

J/m

Fauntkroy,
Still

Miss

I-'.dith

Kenward
led

J/r.f
l.y

Ilorton,

Miss Lottie Yenne.

THE BIRTHDAY:
Cast:

running.

George Bancroft.
l\\ikefield,

Mr

Leslie,
;

Mr

Wilfred Draycott

Comedy in One Act, by Mr William II. Day; Dr Hubbard, Mr W. Quinton

;

Kuth
11.

Leslie, Mis>

Dora de Winton.

VILLAIN AND VICTIM:

(Morning performance
Milliccnt,

Dunham-,
)

l,y

W.

R.

Walkes.

for a Charity.

Cast: Adolphus^

Mr Cyril Maude; market

12.

Miss Winifred

Emery.

Hayl>y

THE CHIEFTAIN:
< .
:

Opera

in

Two

Acts, written

Burnand, c<>iii]x>se<l ly Sir Arthur Sullivan (an elal>oration The Contralandista," l.y the same author and coin, I.ill on iSth Deceml>c-r 1867). Savoy. produced at St
I

Cast:
Scot'

Count

I'

''.

:ids;

l\ter
,

Adolphus Grigg, Mr Walt'

/'/

Ferdin,-.

',

Mr Richard Temple
.

;/<.",

Mr

R.

Mi Morand:

o Cornel^

>'
1'.

Mi Bowdet)
-:icls..n;

Escatero,

Mr

.\\i>

E^ioder;
.

/'

'

Irani;

Dolly

mmieOwen;

Mara,/ni(a, Miss Fdith Join

404

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
;

1894.

Anna, Miss Ada Newall

Miss Ethel Wilson
15.
II.
;

Zitella,

Miss Beatrice Perry; Nina,

Still

Rita, Miss Florence St John.

running.
Act,
l.y

HAL THE HIGHWAYMAN:

Paull.

Play

in

One

M.

Vaudeville.

Cast:

Handsome Hal, Mr T.

Kingston; Sir James Mortimer, Mr F. Volpe; Danby, Mr Arthur Helmore; Tim, MrJ. L. Mackay; Celia Mortimer, Miss Esme Beringer; Kitty Carter Miss Helena Dacre. A front
',

piece to
24.

"The New

Boy."
I

EASTWARD HO
;

An

Operatic Burlesque, by C. M.
;

Rodney Revised by Willie Younge Music by C. E. Howells. Opera Comique. Cast: Reginald Nanty, Mr Joseph M' Bride; Kitty Spangles, Miss Jenny Dawson; Julian Ranter, Mr Fowler Gwendoline Betterton Burge, Mr C. A. White Thatcher Brougham, Miss Fanny Selby Rhoda Royal, Miss Annesley Minnie Patcman, Miss Alice Tiny, Miss Maudie Brookman Beresford Bella Vavasour, Miss Maude Adams Ine^, Brabazon,
;
;

Miss Edith Hoppe; Gladvs Fontenbleu, Miss Lilian Stead; Vera Fancourt, Miss Florence Lavender; Muley Muzf>ha, Mr George De Pledge; Fasti, Miss Madge Rockingham Zcjfa, Miss Kute Everleigh; Atcha, Miss Lilian Morgan; Bali-odour, Miss Rose
;

Bernard; Bebie, Miss Lilly Piercey Zeni, Mr Charles Baldwin; Also Mista Murphi, Mr Gerald Hoole.
;

THE HOUSE

THAT JACK BUILT: A

(Afternoons only),
26.

Pantomime, played by children by H. Chance Newton. Still running. Pantomime, by Augustus Drury Lane.

DICK WHITTINGTON:
Raleigh, and

Harris, Cecil

Henry Hamilton.

Cast: Dick Whittington, Miss

Ada Blanche; Alice, Miss Marie Montrose; Idle Jack, Mr Dan Leno; Eliza the Cook, Mr Herbert Campbell; Fitzwarren, Mr Spry; Prince Mi- Yung- Man, Miss Lily Harold; Emperor of China, Miss Agnes Hewitt; I'rinccss King Cat, Miss Eva WestNi-si-pi-sec, Miss Queenie Lawrence lake; King Rat, Miss Madge Lucas; Cat and Mate, the Brothers Griffiths; Fairy Christmas, Miss D. Wood; Fahy Blue /id/, Miss Lydia Flopp; Fairy Snowdrop, Miss Morris; Captain of the Seagull, Miss Kate Dudley; Steersman, Mr Percy Mordy;
;

Mangold,

Mr

Ilendon; Cabby,

Mr Fawdon Yokes; The

Sexton,

SYNOPSIS OF PLAYBILLS.
Mr
J.

405
;

Cave; Aides dt Camp, Miss Arrowsmith and Miss Gerard Pang- Si- Kit. Miss Kemble; Ho-ChcFmv, Miss \". Murton; A'///- )'</-/>',':,. Miss I.. Piitchard; Major Doi< \1:~ A. K~::ind; Ziin-Dra-1 Fllicott 4 Fond Moth -irkin. Still running. GLAUS: A Fairy Pantomime, written by Horace Leonard. Lyceum. Cast Santa C/aus, Mr William Rignold Queen .}fab, Miss Amy 11; Robin Goodfellow, Miss Lily Twyman Fantasy, Miss
Tee- To- Turn, Miss Delphine;
.
.
.

SANTA
;

Ina Lucas
Staunti >n
;

Truth, Miss Alice Rene ; Memory, Miss Bertha Hope, Miss H. Nicholl \Jack Frost, Miss Cicely Turner ;
;

Holly, Miss Cassie Bruce; Ivy, Miss

H.

<

allon

Gri>nsha~>.v,

H. Gallon; Mistletoe, Mi-s Sir Joseph Grimshaw, Mr Fred Kmney I^uly Gay Miss Susie Vaughan Marian, Miss Lillie Comyns
;

Eric,
:

Miss Kitty Loftus

ne New/angle,

Rosamund, Miss
;

Rosie

Leyton

Mr

Victor Stevens

Pert, Miss Clara Jecks

Richard Ca'ur de Lion, Mr Charles Thorburn; The Sheriff of Nottingham, Mr Harold Coulter; Kufns, Mr Francis Hawley; Uriah, Mr Richard Blunt; Robin Hood, Miss Annie Schuberth; Friar Tuck, Mr Wattie Brunton Little John, Mr 1'icton R..\lx)r')iiah Alan-a-dale, Miss Grace Lane; //'/'// Scarlett, Miss
; ;

Much the Millers-Son, Mr G. Durlach; Jack, Reginald Roberts; roily, Miss Grace Leslie; norothy,^\\^ Dishiy; Notary Mr K. Xanfretta: Stnvard, M. Philippe; Toy Soldiers, Mr Harry Kitchen and Mr Fred Kitchen; Tatters, Mr Charles I^iuri Moonbeam, Mdlle. Xanfretta Lullaby,
Marii- L.i-M-rllcs;

Mr

Judith KspiiiD/a; Nightmare, Si^nor F.douanl K.spin>/a;

Still

running.

HANSEL AND
;

Fly,

GRETEL
Madame

Fairy Opera; Libretto, founded on one of

:

Music by Hum|>erdinck Grimms' Fairy Ta

the
iheid

Daly's.
fulia

Cast

Peter,

Mr

CharK-s Copland
Fll>a;

(..rtrudt,

Lennox; Hansel.
du Bedat
1 ;

Grctel,

oho eats Children, Miss F.dith Miller;

Ilmlillc-

by

BASTIEN AND BASTIENNE:

:

Brophy

'.:

Still

29

SLAVES OF THE RING:

1!

406

THEATRICAL WORLD OF
:

1894.
y

Cast The Earl of Ravenscroft Garrick. Sydney Grundy. r The Hon. George De/amere, Mr Arthur Bourchier J< >hn I Tare
."\ I

Mr

K^'rton, M.J\,

Brandon Thomas;
iniliani
A't-nni'ily,

Dennis; Captain Douglas, Mr Harold Duudas, Mr Gilbert Hare; Sir

Will
Hart.,

Mr

Mr

Charles

Rock

Mr

Tweedte,

M.K.C.S., Mr Gerald Du Maurier; Helen Egerton, Miss Kate Rorke; Ruth Egcrlon, Miss Eleanor Calhoun; Mrs Egcrton, Mrs Boucicault Mrs ll'intcrbotham, Miss Kate Phillips. Still
;

running.

INDEX.
T1IKATRKS.
Adelphi, xvi., 76, 154, 180,233.

Lyceum,
208.

xxiii.,

xxix.,

i,

103,

Avenue, 91, 109, 155, 286.

Cambridge, Theatre Royal, 324.
17, 106, 175, 186,223. Court, 41, 79, 155, 276, 332. Ciarden, xxiii. Criterion, x\ix., 94, 166, 222, 266.
(

Lyric, 102, 289, 302.

)pera Comique, 40, 65, 147, 253, 256, 265, 288, 300, 310, 320.

Crystal Palace, 8.
22, 59, 143, 151, 160, 170, 176, 193, 196, 209, 244.

Prince of Wales's, 59, 67, 264. Princess's, 68, 153, 182, 246, 259, 281.
Royalty, 38, 58, 136, 193, 244, 276.
Saint James's, 126, 311. 203, 339. Strand, 72, 103, 182, 275, 276, 312.

251, 256, 265, 288, 300, 310. Drury Lane, xvi., 6, 245.
:

Dent-

.uer,

253,

9,

218, 316. 53, 96, 158,

186, 343.

X
i.irkct,

32,

85,

iiS,

loo,

\75.

302, 333-

62, 150, 232, 302. 275^<juare, 80, 237, 298.

Independent, 65, 136.

Vaudeville, 62, 221, 338.

PLAYS.
All
1

M
06.

213.
298.

La Basoche,
94
,

206. 208. M.ni, 75.

/ft-nis

and
69.
.

296.
288.

408

INDEX.
PLAYS
Continued.

The Black Cat, 94. La Boule, 222. The Bunch of Violets,

The
118.

Fashionable Intelligence, 79. Fatal Card, 233.

Faust, 103.

La Cagnotte, 238. The Candidate, 166. The Case of Rebellious Susan,

266.

Fedora, 177, 261. La Femme de Claude, 177, 209. Le Festin de Pierre, 52. Les Filles de Marbre, 146.

Caste, xvii., 53. Cavalleria Rusticana, 143, 160. Celimare le Bien-Aime, 296.

The Foundling,

Fool's Paradise, 225. 232, 240. Francillon, 147, 271. Franois le Champi, 266.

The

Chamillac, 144. Charlatan, 32, 48.

1

Frou-Frou, 106, 148.

Charlie's Aunt,

10, 238.

The Chieftain, 339. The Chinaman, 237.

Cinderella,
i.

A A A

Gaiety Girl, 59, 83, 244. Gauntlet, 38.

Claude Duval, 264.

Claudie, 266. of Sighs, 92. The Contrabandista, 341.

Gay Widow, 276. Le Gendre de M. Poirier, 94. The Gentleman Whip, 65.
Go-Bang,
80.

A Comedy

The

Gondoliers, 289.

Graf Waldemar, 253.

The Cotton King, 76. The Country Girl, 22. The Crusaders, 127.

Haddon
Hedda

Hall, 124.

Hal the Highwayman, 338. Hamlet, xvii., 334.

Gabler, 322.
107,

La Dame aux
Dandy Dick,

Camelias,

143. 177, 19363, 148, 238. Denise, 39, 95, 145.

168.

Les Heritiers Rabourdin, 65. His Excellency, 289.

Le Depute de Bombignac, The Derby Winner, 245.

Dick Sheridan,
!

H.M.S. Pinafore, 339. The Hobby- Horse, 148. Hot Water, 222.
Iphigenia in Tauris, 324.
Izeyl, 176.

47.

Diplomacy, xvii., 261. Divor9ons 143, 148, 151. Doctor Bill, 333. A Doll's House, xxv., xxvii., 311.

Don

Juan, 108, 112. Dora, xvii., 261.

Jack and the Beanstalk, Jack Sheppard, 281. Jaunty Jane Shore, 103. Jean Mayeux, 153.

8.

The

An Enemy
118.

of the People, xx.,

John -a- Dreams, 302,

Journeys End
170.
in

Jerry-Builder, 182. 334.

Lovers Meeting,

L'Enfant Prodigue, 153.

INDEX.
PLAYS
King Kodak, 150. King Lear, xvii. Krieg im Frieden, 288.
Continued.

409

The New Boy, 62, The New Woman, A Night in Town,

Niobe, 58, 238.

1 10, 238. xxv., 223. 193.

The I.AI ly from the Sea, 92. The Lady Slavey, 286. The .and of Heart's Desire,
I

Odette, 259.
91.

An Old

Jew,

9.

Liberty Hall, 56. Little Christopher

302.
Little

Once Upon a Time,

Columbus,

85.

Jack Sheppard, 218.

The

Little Miss 'Cute, 244. The Little Squire, JO2.

The
I~i

Little

Widow,
.\\iii.

Pair of Spectacles, xvii. Palace of Truth, 295. Les Pattes de Mouche, 261. Der Pfarrer von Kirchfeld, 256.

58.

Locandiera, 143, 160.

Phedre, 177, 194.

lyohengrin,

I/ondon Assurance, 56.

for !,<>ve, 52.

Loyal, 221.

Madame Sans
The

The Pink Dominoes, 238. The Pirates of Penzance, 289. Le Plus Ileureuxdes Trois, 296. The Private Secretary, 288. The Professor's Love-Story, 186. The Profligate, 39, 95.
Die Ka'uber, 300.

lene, 185.

Magistrate, 63. Ix." Maitre, 266. The Man in the Street, 155. hiriage d'Olymjie, 95, 147, 214. Marriage, 155. The Master Builder, 59, 142, 214. The Masqueraders, 126, 311. D.r Meineidliauer, 258, 265. Mein Leoj>old, 288:

The Red

I^imp, 334. Robl>ery under Arms, 281. Robert und Bertram, 259.

Robinson Crusoe,

6.

La

Rois, 177, 196.

Salome,

10.
-,

63.

The Second Mrs

Tanqtteray, 55,

The Merry Wives

334-

..f

Windsor,

102, 128, 141, 149, 335. ISO.

-h.ip Cirl, 316.

Middleman,

175.

The Mikado,
Mirette, 203.

289.

Sigurd Sleml>e,
I'.utterlly,

147.

Mr

>

Mil

rter, 72.

Sodon
.96.
199.
Slill \\'.i(crs

;oi.
1,

49, 225.

mnandeur, 153.

Kim

The

291.

)43-

4io

INDEX.
PLAYS
Continued.

The Tempter, 105. The Texan, 182.

Tilli, 259.

Le Village, 345. Villon, Poet and Cut-throat, 193. Yolpone, 66.

Vor Sonnenaufgang, Le Voyage de M.
296.
149.

La Tosca, 63, 177. The Transgressor, 41.

Perrichon.

Trip

to

Chinatown, 275.

Tristan und Isolde, 339. Truthful James, 276.

Twelfth Night, 22. Two Orphans, 153, 154

Uncle's Ghost, 40, 240.

The The The The

White Lie, 225. Wife of Dives, 320. Wild Duck, xix., 100,
World, 68.

136.

Wrong

Girl, 312.

Der Veilchenfresser, 288.

The Yeomen

of the Guard, 291.

The Vicarage,

345.

AUTHORS.
Aide, Hamilton, 333.

Dam, H.

J.

W.,

319.

Anzengruber, Ludwig, 257, 265. Augier, Emile, 94, 147, 213.

Bancroft, George, 332.
-Barrie, J. M., 186. Barriere, Theodore, 146.

Dampier, Alfred, 282. Dance, George, 286.

Darnley,
J.

II., 72.

De La

Pasture, Mrs, 102. Deslandes, Raymond, 276.

Doyle,

Dr Conan,

Bisson, Alexandre, 169. Bjornson, Bjornstjerne, 38. Boucicault, Dion, 54. Bowyer, Frederick, 264. Branscombe, Arthur, 151.

Dumas, A., fas, 209,

Edwards, Osman,
Euripides, 324.
Farnie, H. B., 222. Kendall, Percy, 79.

343. 291.

38.

Buchanan, Robert, 32, 38, 47,

79, 147-

Burnand, F. C. 276, 339. Byron, H. J., 55.

,

Feuillet, Octave, 345.

"

Fleming, George," 96.

Carre, 204, 333. Carton, R. C., 55.

,

Freitag, Gustav, 253. Fulda, Ludwig, 89.

Chambers,
334-

Haddon, 233, 302,

Congreve, William, 52. "Courte, S. X.," 193, 320.

Gattie, A. W., 41. Gilbert, W. S., 23, 203, 289.

81,

115

Godfrey, G. W., 55.

INDEX.
AUTHORS
Goethe, 103, 327. Grccnlnnk, Harry, 60.
.

411

Continued.

Mrs W.,

102.

Greville, Luily Violet, 94. Grimily, Sydney, 9, 22,

Il8,

M'Carthy.J. H., 169. Marlowe, Christopher, 301. Marston, I)r Westland, 54. Meilhar and Halc'vy, 106, 222. Mdfc.nl, Mark, 182.
Meritt, Paul, 68, 79. Moliere, 52, 66.

223.

"Hall. Owen, "60. Hamilton, Henry, 245.

Harris, Sir Augustus, 6S, 245. 1 lai vey, Frank, 180. II.iuptm.inn, ( lerhart, 149. 1'., 38. Hawtrey. I layman, I'hilip, 299. nry, Richard," 103.. " l"l>l>es, fnhn ( Miver,'' 173. Hoyt, Charles A., 275. Hugo, \ ictor, 328.
(

Moore, George, 173. Morand, 179.

,

Mortimer, James. 276. Mo-er, Ciiistav von, 288. Murray, Henry, 147.

',.

"

Xunn, Payne," 264.

'

Parker, Louis N., 90, 155. '.mil, H. M., 65, 338. Pettitt, Henry, 68, 79,^33. Pinero, A. W., 55, 63, 94, 128, M8, 335I

Henrik,
311.

xix., 59, 92, 136,

Power, Tyrone, 182.

Rader. Gustav von, 259. RaK-igh, Cecil, 245.
Rea<le, Charles, 54. Robertson, T. \V., 53.

arman, William,
ohnson,
. I

59.

errold, Douglas, 54.

II.

T., 221.
105,

Irnry Arthur, 55,

127, 175, 266. J'.nson, Ben, 66.

Jullien, Jean, 266.

n,

V..

M., 232.
iian," 80, 319.

Sand.
Keeling, Henry, 155.

'

1m, 199. j66.

\V., jun., 40.

Kennc

312. Klein, Charles, 276.

i, \., 63, 276, 329. Schiller, 300.

152,

185, 259,

I^ibichc,

Law,

Kugene, 296. Dge, Adolf, 288. Arthur, 62.

i

S8.
>28.
.

CU-nienl, 345.
'.

ilcs,

196.
3
8.

Horace, IO2.
.

69.

\V., 232.

109,

Lumley, Ralph, 75. Lytton, Lord (l'>\

296.
'93-

412

INDEX.
AUTHORS
Continued.

Sims, G. R., 79. Stahl, Franz von, 259. Stephenson, B. C., 232.
Sylvestre,

Vane, Sutton, 76.

Vincent, C. T., 244.

Sudermann, Hermann, 301. Armaml, 179.

Taylor,

Walch, Garnet, 282. Wilde, Oscar, 3, 55.

Wills,

W. W.

G., 105.

Tom,

xxvi., 54.

Wycherley, W., 22.

Yeats,
B., 91.

Tennyson, 208. Thomas, Brandon, 155. Todhunter, Dr John, 92. Tristram, Outram, 336.

Zola, Emilc, 65.

ACTORS.
Abingdon, W.
237Albertieri, Signor, 8.

L., 20, 57, 138,

Allan, Charles, 37.

Alexander, George,

xvi., xxiv.,

Campbell, Herbert, 7. Cande, 185. Cane, H., 176. Carleton, Royce, 176, 192. Carson, Murray, 236.
,

127, 135, 312, 333. Anson, G. W. , 1 20, 1 57, 276, 323. Archer, Frank, 160.

Aynesworth, Allan, 160.

Bancroft, S. B., 345. Barnett, Orlando, 118. Barrington, Rutland, 245, 297.

Charles, 79, 154, 310. Cecil, Arthur, 159, 345. Champion, Stuart, 232. Charrington, Charles, 286, 343. Clarey, II O., 264. Clark, Ilolman, 37, 126.

Cartwright,

Beauchamp, J., 64. Beaumont, Allen, 150.

Beck, Caesar, 255, 258, 266, 288,

Clarke, George, 29. Coop, Colin, 320.

Coquelin aint', 95, 144. Craig, John, 29.

3"Beveridge, J. D.
,

Cunningham,
64.

Philip, 276.

Billington, John, 76. Blakeley, W. , 1 70, 223, 3 1 3, 3 1 5. Bonney, W., 286.

Dale, Welton, 59. Dalton, Charles, 69, 182.

Bosworth, Ilobart, 29. Bourchier, Arthur, 160.

Brookfield, Charles, 47, 80, 159. Brough, Lionel, 91, 126. Brough, Sydney, 53, 158, 232. Buck law, A., 47. Buist, Scott, 20. Buller, George, 286.

Dampier, Alfred, 285. Danby, Charles, 220, 287. Daubigny, Lloyd, 28. Day, W. II., 20, 127, 333. De Lange, Hermann, 20, 96,
276.

De Max,
,

180.

Dennis, Will, 53, 281. 218. Deval,

INDEX.
ACTORS
Douglas, Kenneth, 65.
I

413

Continued.

Wilfred, 281, 333. hi Maurier, G., 2O.

t,
,

Hendrie, Ernest, 183. Herbert, W., 150. Hicks, Seymour, 47, 220, 317,
3I9Holt, Clarence, 286.

Duquesnc,

185.

Edouin, Willie, 183, 314.

Elliott, \V. G., 40, 127, 312. Kit. .n, W., 69

Humphrey, George,
Inch, Reuben,
8.

287.

Elwood, Arthur, 47,

Kinncy, Fred,
5.

159.

Esmond,
:
.

II.

V., 127, 312.

Rothlmry, 286.

Irving, Henry, xvi., xxiii., 105, 208, 344. Irving, H. B., 50, 106.
Irving,

Lawrence, 138.

Farquhar, Gilbert, 20. Fernandez, James, 47.

Fishu, Scott, 204.

Kemble, Henry, 159, 275.

Kerr, Frederick, 37, 150, 275.
79,

Flemming,
.

Herbert,

154,

182, 264, 286.

Kingston, T., 221, 339. Knowles, R. G., 275.

Lahlache, Luigi, 91. Lacy, Walter, 159.
I~iuri, Charles, 4, 5.

George, 155.

Fulton, Charles, 138, 237.

Giddct

170.

(ilenney, Charles, 69, 323. inond, 95.

Le

lay, John, 298. Leno, Dan, 7.

I

Gould, Kcrnard, 93, 117, 264,

286.

fames, 30.
Little, C. P., 157, 275.

Gould, Nutcombe, 37, 90, 310,

338.

Lonnen, K.

J., 302.

Lowne, C. M.,
Mackay,
'

76.

G., 232. Grattan, Henry, 85, 300.

J.
:n,

Grahame,

J.

L., 339.

Hcrljcrl, 30.
ige, 297.

:tclNh,

W.,

157.

Macklin, F., 182.

mith, George, jun., 320.

1<)I),

62.

Maude,

Cyril, 53, loS,

Guitry,

95, 232. 179, 218.

Edmund, 53, 310. Mrllish, Fuller, 344. Monkhou l.ury, 6l.

-c
.

Maurice,

Hare, GilU-rt, 2O, 57, 281. John, \\ 96,102, 159.

.

264.
20,
Nii-h.
: .

.,

237.
79-

Uobll, 2O.

Hawtrey,

Char

73,

223, 280, 333.

Outran), Leonard, 72.

414

[NDEX.
ACTORS
Contin itcd.
Sullivan, Barry, xxiii. Terriss, W., 105, 174, 236. Terry, Edward, xvi., 150. Terry, Frederick, xxiii., 37, 90, 182, 202, 232. Thome, Eric, 264. Thome, Fred, 40. "Tich, Little," 7.

Parker, Harry, 5. Passmore, Walter, 205. Patcnian, Robert, 287. Paulton, Harry, 103, 193. Payne, Edmund, 316, 319. Penley, W. II., xvi.
Peterson, Ernst, 288.
Playfair, Arthur, 298.

Poluskis,

The Two,

8.

Thomas,
1

Brandon,

xxiii.,

53,

Poulsen, Emil, 139.

1'oulsen, Olaf, 139.

06.

Pounds, Courtice, 204. Power, Tyrone, 182.

Toole, J. L., xvi., 75. Tree, II. Beerbohm, xvi., xi\.,

37, 85,
1

19, 126, 202, 310, 338.

Tresahar, John, 40, 240.

Tyler, F. II., 176, 192.
Cecil, 323. Righton, E., 223, 281.

Ramsay,

Rignold, W., 154. Roberts, Arthur, 108, 264. Robertson, Forbes, xxiii.,
102, 159, 174.

Volpe,
57,

Valentine, S., 223. 221.

,

Robson, E. M., 300. Rose, Edward, 150.

Ross, Herbert, 183, 310. Rossi, Cesare, 145, 166. Rusing, Ludwig, 311.

Waller, Lewis, xvi., xxiv., 53.

Ward, Willie, 220. Warden, Sydney, 65.

Waring, Herbert, xxiii., 135, 311,312. Warner, Charles, 79, 260. Watson, Ivan, 244. Webster, Ben, 275. Weilenbeck, Max, 258,
302.
127,

Schubart, Ludwig, 288. Shelton, George, 76. Sheridan, J., 302. Shine, J. L., 85, 300. Stephens, Yorke, xxiii., 93, 117. Stevens, Charles E., 264.
Stevens, Victor, 5. Storey, Fred, 300.
Stuart,

288,

Welch, James, 65, 93,

8, 155.

Cosmo,

323.

Willard, E. S., 176, 192. Williams, Arthur, 320. Wyatt, Frank, 243. Wyndham, Charles, xvi., xxvi., 94, 166, 275.

Sugden, Charles, 59, 103.

INDEX,

415

ACTRESSES,
Achurch, Mi
Addis.
>n,

Janet, \\i\..

Mi>> Carlotta, 323. Ashwell. Mi Lena, 53, 158. Adelaide, 287. Albert. >n, Mi>s Alice, 163.
Bancroft,

Coote, Miss Carrie, 40. Cowell, Miss Lydia, 276. lode, Mi-^ Nannie,
192.

176,

Crane, Miss Edith, 182. Cutler, Miss Kate, 245.

Mrs, 57, 159, 345Mi>s Alice, 298. Burnett,

Bartet,

183,

Madame,
Mi.vs

145.

Dacre, Miss Helena, 339. D'Aulian, Mi>> Kmma, 8. Dene, Miss Hetty, 246.
l)e

Behnore, Miss
Uerin^er, 339-

Lillie, 72, 320.

Wintmi, Mi
Krl.

Lsme, 65, 221,

Driller,

Dora, 333. K: von, 255, 258,

Bernhudt, Saiah, 63, 141, 146,

177, 193, 196.

266, 288, 302, 311. Dolores, 154. Duse, Kleanora, 141, 143, 151,

Drumniond, Mi
1

Blanch a, 6. Bond, Mi- Je>>ie, 85, 298.

60.

Mi Io]>e, 244. Boucicault, Miss Nina, 275. B.iwman, Mi F.mpsie, IO2.

. I
I

Kdouin, Miss Mary, 183. l^llicott, Mis> Maud, 204.

Klsin^er, Frl. Milli, 255.

02.

Brandon,

MiMi

Kmery, Mi
231.

Winifred, 53, 106,

l-a, 69, 323.

I\-

Ilrandrani,

-ina, 205.

Hnx.kes, Mi>- Alice, 5. Fanny, 73,

103,

Phyllis, 300. a lie, 53, 170.

Karr, Mi>> l-'lorence, \\i\., 93, 117. Feftthentone, Miss \'ane, 93. Ferrar, Mi^> Ada, 72.
iiiily,

95.
1

Urucr.

ti.

8.

.:ii!red.

s
.V

Friend, Mis* Florence, 193,323.

1

60.
1 1

lies,

8.

Patrick,
134,

126,

3'-

(irey, (iuilU-rt, Vvettc,

BOOt,
152.

Le, 5.

Hall
1

I,

79.
liy,

Ian
126.

1O2.
i

Chest

iith,

223.
170,
.,

Han

Lily,
y, 57.

37,

i.

Clem
223.

47, 170,
I

47, 192.
152.
.1.

275302.

Anna, 288.

INDEX.
ACT R ESS ES
Homfrey, Miss Gladys, 64. Hope, Miss Naomi, 72. Hughes, Miss Annie, 95, 344.
Ivor, Miss Frances, 72.

Continued.

Morland, Miss Charlotte, 72. Murray, 'Miss Alma, 117, 231.

Neilson, Miss Ada, 182. Neilson, Miss Julia, 90, 182. Nethersole, Miss Olga, 45, 46.
Palfrey, Miss

Jecks, Miss Clara, 5, 243. Jeffries, Miss Ellis, 154, 232. Johnstone, Miss Eliza, 76.

May,

65.

Kent, Miss Julia-, 8. Kenwarcl, Miss Edith, 243. Kingston, Miss Gertrude,
157, 275-

Palmer, Miss Minnie, 59. Perry, Miss Florence, 204. Poole, Miss Cora, 76. Preston, Miss Jennie, 220.
37,

Reeve, Miss Ada, 317, 320. Rehan, Miss Ada, xviii., 22, 30,
Beatrice, 76, 246.
133, 275-

Lamb, Miss

Langtry, Mrs, 150. Larkin, Miss Sophie, 72, 237. Lea, Miss Marion, xxix. Leclercq, Miss Rose, 57, 103,
150, 232.

Rejane, Madame, 183. Robins, Miss Elizabeth, xxix.,

101.

Rorke,

Miss Kate,

xxix.,

20,

57, 101, 159.

Leigh, Mrs H., 182. Lethbridge, Miss Alice, 300. Levey, Miss Florence, 220. Lewis, Miss Catherine, 30. Lind, Miss Letty, 84. Linden, Miss Laura, 237. Linden, Miss Marie, 106. Lloyd, Miss Marie, 6. Loftus, Miss Cissie, 85.
Loftus, Miss Kitty,
8.

Rorke, Miss Mary, 103. Rose, Miss Annie, 40. Kuppert, Mrs Anna, 263, 286.

Selwyn, Miss Beatrice, 72. Seymour, Miss Kate, 85, 316,

320.

Sinden, Miss Topsy, 320. Steer, Miss Janetle, 310.

Terriss,

Loveday, Miss Louie, 5. Luck, Miss Helen, 102.

Mackintosh, Miss Nancy, 298. Millard, Miss Evelyn, 311. Milieu, Miss Maud, 159. Millward, Miss, 236. Moodie, Miss Louise, 40. Moore, Miss Eva, 281. Moore, Miss Mary, xxix., 95,
170, 275.

Miss Ellaline,

5,

220,

298.

Terry, Miss Ellen,

174, 208.

xvii., xxix.,

Terry, Miss Marion, 79, 154. Terry, Miss Minnie, 5. Thomann, Frau Heinold, 258,
288.

Tr

e,

Mrs Becrbohm,

37,

90,

119, 125, 201.

Tyndall, Miss Kate, 69.

INDEX.
ACTR ESS ES
Vanbrugh, Miss Violet, 29. Vane, Sliss, 53, 235. Yaughan, Miss Kate, 150. Vaughan, Miss Susie, 5, 183,
Ycnne, Miss Lottie, 80,
202, 280, 333. Verity, Miss Agnes, 176. Victor, Mi-s M. A., 105.
183,

417

Contin licit.

Waring, Mrs Herbert, 138. William-, Miv* Kttie, 264.

Wood, Mrs John,

xvi., xxiv.

Wright, Mrs Theodore, 20.

YoM,

Miss May, 287.

Zanfretta, Mile., 5.

Zucchi,

Madame,

8.

MANAGERS, CRITICS, COMPOSERS,

Bancroft, S. B., 259. Barrett, Oscar, I, 8.
Carr, J.
Pigott, E. F. S. Plays), 281.

&c.

Messager, Andre, 204.

(Examiner of

Comyns, xviii., 49, Dr Osmond, 84, 290.

108.

Carte, K. I >'< >yly, 203. Caryll, Ivan, 320.

.

Quiller-Couch, A. T., 66.

Sarcey, Francisque, 280.
Scott,
147-

5.

Crook, John, 286.

Daly, Augustin,
xviii., 25.

Clement,

23,

74,

140,

Shaw, G. Bernard, 160. Stoker, Bram, 73.

5.

Emden,
(

(Scenic Artist),
Brothers, 235.

Sullivan, Sir Arthur, 203, 289, 339-

latti,

The

(Irein, J. T., xviii.

Thomas,

W. Moy,

265.

Harris, Sir Augustus, xxiii., 6. 232.

Wagner, Richard, xxv.,339.

1:., 74, 119, 180. Icolm, 74. Wilhelm, (Costumier), 5. Wood, Charles, 331.

WalkU-y, A.

Lanncr,

Madame

Katti, 5.

M'Ca.thy, J- H., 74Maurice, Charles, 253, 257.

"X.

Y. /.."333.

VOLUMES OF

PLAYS,

ENGLISH

AND FOREIGN, AND

OF

DRAMATIC CRITICISM, PUBLISHED BY WALTER SCOTT,

LTD.

INDEX.

THE THEATRICAL WORLD FOR THE THEATRICAL WORLD FOR

IBSEN'S

1893

...
.
.

PAGE

1894

PROSE DRAMAS

PEER GYNT

....
OF IBSENISM
IN

...

THE QUINTESSENCE
DRAMATIC ESSAYS

.... ....
THE THE
"

VOLUMES OF PLAYS
VOLUMES OF PLAYS

SCOTT LIBRARY

"
.

8
"

IN

"

CANTERBURY POETS

Crown

Svo, Half Antique, Paper Boards,

35.

6d.

THE THEATRICAL "WORLD" FOR

1893.
to

By WILLIAM ARCHER.

With an

Epistle Dedicatory

Mr. Robert

W. Lowe.

"That the literary drama dealing with social problems made great advance during 1893 ls universally admitted, but if proof were wanted nothing could be more conclusive than Mr. Archer's scries of thoughtful and pointed articles." Daily Chronicle. "As a record of the year's doings in the theatres Mr. Archer's volume stands unrivalled." Daily News. " We have ourselves read it, so to speak, in a breath, and though not always in accord with the writer, cannot too strongly admire the cleverness and subtlety of the whole. Mr. Archer's reasons for republication, and his method of dealing with his existing work, are exposed in a dedicatory address to his friend and associate, Mr. Robert

W. Lowe,
.

is also given an avowal of his dramatic faith. volume a mass of sound criticism, delivered in .1 There is, perhaps, more dishighly cultivated and effective style.

in

which

There

is

in this

putatiousness than

is

natured,

and
is,

is

invariably

absolutely desirable, but it defensive rather than

is

generally good-

aggressive.

The

volume

intelligent

worthy of Mr. Archer, will be valued by an public, and is of the highest importance to all who take an
in
fact,

enlightened interest in the stage."

Athenaitm.

Uniform with the above, Price

35.

6d.

THE THEATRICAL "WORLD" FOR

1894,ARI>

Bv WILLIAM ARCHF.R.

With an Introduction byGEO.

its

SHAW;

an Epilogue giving a review of the year,

;

dramatic movements and tendencies

Plays produced during 1894.

and a Synopsis of Casts of

Both
v,

the above

Volumes contain complete Indices of the

Authors, Actors* Actresses,

to.

Managers,

Critics,

etc.,

referred

London: WAITER SCOTT, LIMITED, Paternoster Square

IBSEN'S PROSE

DRAMAS
PER VOLUME.
and

Edited by William Archer.

COMPLETE IN FIVE VOLUMES.

CROWN
" We seem
is

8vo,

CLOTH, PRICE

3/6

at last to be

shown men and women as they are

. .

at first

it

All Ibsen's characters speak and act as if more than we can endure. . they were hypnotised, and tinae./- l/'icir creator's imperious demand to reveal There never was such a mirror held up to nature before : it is themselves. Yet we must return to Ibsen, with his remorseless surgery, too terrible. .
.
.

his remorseless electric-light, until ive, too, have grown strong' and learned to face the naked if necessary, the flayed and bleeding reality" SPEAKER

(London).

VOL.

I. "A DOLL'S HOUSE,'' "THE LEAGUE OF YOUTH," and "THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY." With

Portrait

of the Author, and

Biographical

Introduction

by

WILLIAM ARCHER.
VOL.

VOL.

"GHOSTS," "AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE," "THE WILD DUCK." With an Introductory Note. "LADY INGER OF OSTRAT," "THE VIKINGS III. AT HELGELAND," "THE PRETENDERS." With an
II.

and

Introductory Note and Portrait of Ibsen.

VOL.

IV.

"EMPEROR AND GALILEAN."

WILLIAM ARCHER.
'

With

an

Introductory Note by

VOL. V. ROSMERSHOLM," "THE LADY FROM THE Translated by WILLIAM SEA," "HEDDA GABLER." ARCHER. With an Introductory Note.
The sequence
set of

of the plays in each vohime is chronological ; the complete volumes comprising the dramas thus presents them in chronological

order.

"The art of prose translation does not perhaps enjoy a very high literary status in England, but we have no hesitation in numbering the present version of Ibsen, so far as it has gone (Vols. I. and II.), among the very best achievements, in that kind, of our generation." Academy.
"

We

have

seldom,

if

ever,

met

with

translation

so

absolutely

idiomatic."

Glasgow Herald.

London:

WALTER

SCOTT, LIMITED, Paternoster Square.

UTHORISED VERSION.
Crown
Sv0,
Cloth, Price 6s.

PEER GYNT: A Dramatic Poem.

BY HENRIK IBSEN.
TRANSLATED BY

WILLIAM AND CHARLES ARCHER.

This Translation, though unrhymed, preserves throughout the various rhythms of the Original.

English readers this will not merely be a new work of the poet, dramatist, and satirist, but it will also be a new Ibsen. Here is the imaginative Ibsen, indeed, the Ibsen of such a Ixjisterous, irresistible fertility of fancy that one breathes with ' Peer Gynt' difficulty as one follows him on his headlong course. . is a fantastical satirical drama of enormous interest, and the present translation of it is a masterpiece of fluent, powerful, graceful, and

"To

Norwegian
.

literal

rendering."/^* Daily

Chronicle.

Crown

8vo,

Cloth,

$s.

THE STRIKE AT ARLINGFORD.

(PLAY IN

THRKK

ACTS.)

BY
"
lir.->t

GEORGE MOORE.
i

It h.is

eiving

the large simplicity of real! it, has shown the U

.ma, and Mr. the art he i.

M
l.u

the

time essaying."
Lon<i

W. A.

in

The World.

KK SCOTT, LIMITED, Paternoster Square.

Crown

Sv0, Cloth, Price 2S.

6</.

THE QUINTESSENCE OF 1BSENISM.

BY

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW.

CONTENTS,

I.

II.

III.

IV.

THE TWO PIONEERS. IDEALS AND IDEALISTS. THE WOMANLY WOMAN. THE PLAYS.
(An Analysis and Description of Brand> Peer Gynt, and of each of Ibsen's Prose Dramas.
)

V.

THE MORAL OF THE

APPENDIX.

PLAYS.

(Dealing with the difficulties which attend the impersonation of Ibsen's characters on the stage in

England.)

"

Intentionally provocative
is

Mr. Shaw's Quintessence

of Ibsenism
brilliant.

Most

ought to think.

and unflaggingly audacious, vigorous, people think what they imagine they Mr. Shaw is of the few who think their
His determination to go over everything unhackneyed terms,

own
even

thought.

again,

and

to state all his opinions in

if they tally exactly with current expressions, has resulted in one of the most original and most stimulating As an expression of essays we have read for a long time.

individual opinion,

and

fluency."

it would be The Speaker.

difficult to

beat

it

in

power

London: WALTER SCOTT, LIMITED, Paternoster Square.

DRAMATIC ESSAYS
(3
Edited by

VOLS.).

WILLIAM ARCHER and ROBERT W. LOWE.

8vo, Cloth, Price 33. 6d. each.

Crown

VOL.

1.

DRAMATIC ESSAYS BY LEIGH

HUNT.
Portrait of

Selected and Edited, with Notes and Introduction, by

WILLIAM ARCHER and ROBERT W. LOWE.

Leigh Hunt as Frontispiece.

With an Engraved

This Volume contains the Criticisms collected by

LEIGH HUNT

himself in 1807 (long out of print), and the admirable articles which he contributed more than twenty years later to "The Taller," and never
republished.

drama and lovers of the play will welcome the admirably produced volume of Dramatic Essays by Leigh Hunt, selected and edited by Mr. Archer and Mr. Lowe, with notes, and an extremely interesting introduction written by Mr. Archer." The
All students of
'

"

'

World.

VOL.

II.

SELECTIONS
uispiece.

FROM

THE

CRITICISMS

OF WILLIAM HAZLITT.

Annotated, with an Introduction

by WILLIAM ARCHER, and an Engraved Portrait of Hazlitt as

book which every one interested in the history of the London stage will prize highly, and will not only read with pleasure, but will Scoff desire to have always by them for purposes of reference."

"

VOL.

III.

IN

<)N.

SELECTIONS FROM THE DRAMATIC

CRITICISMS OF JOHN FORSTER (hitherto uncollected), GEORGE HENRV LEWES, and WILLIAM ROUSON.
London: WALTER SCOTT, LiMiiED, Paternoster Square.

IN THE SCOTT LIBRARY.

Crown
8vo, Cloth Elegant, Price
is.

6d. per vol.

THE PLAYS OF RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. RUDOLF DIRCKS. PLAYS AND DRAMATIC ESSAYS. By
Edited, with Introduction, by

CHARLES LAMB.

With an Introduction by RUDOLF DIRCKS.

SCHILLER'S WILLIAM TELL.

lated,

Trans-

with

an Introduction and

Notes,

by

MAJOR-GENERAL

PATRICK MAXWELL.

SCHILLER'S

MAID OF ORLEANS.
;

Translated, with an Introduction, Appendix, and Notes by

MAJOR-

GENERAL PATRICK MAXWELL.

COMEDIES BY ALFRED DE MUSSET.

Translated and Edited, with an Introduction, by S. L.

GWYNN.
(or GOGOL.

THE
ARTHUR

INSPECTOR
5

GENERAL
By NIKOLAI
V.

"Revizor

').

Russian

Comedy.

Translated

from the original, with Introduction and A. SYKES.

Notes, by

IN THE CANTERBURY POETS

Square 8vo, Cloth, cut and uncut edges, Price
is.

per vol.

DRAMAS
JONSON.
Critical,

AND
(Selected.)

LYRICS
With
an
Essay,

OF

BEN
and

Biographical

by JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS.

PLAYS

OF
)

BEAUMONTAND FLETCHER.
With an Introduction by
J.
I.

(Selected.

FLETCHER.

POEMS AND PLAYS OF OLIVER

GOLDSMITH.
Critical,

With Introductory Sketch, Biographical and

by

GOETHE'S
The
last

WILLIAM TIREBUCK. "

LOR'S TRANSLATION),

FAUST" (BAYARD TAYMinor Poems. with some

of the

Edited, with an Introductory Notice, by

ELIZABETH CRAIGMYLG.

two Vols. may be had

2s.

in

Art and White Cloth, with

Photogravure Frontispieces, price

per vol.

London:

WALTER

SCOTT, LIMITED, Paternoster Square,

MR.

GEORGE MOORE'S NEW NOVEL

Cloth,

Crown

8vo, Price 6s.

ESTHER WATERS: A
BY
"

Novel.

GEORGE MOORE.

Strong, vivid. sober, >et undaunted in its realism, full to the brim of obserration of life and chancier, Ktther Water$ is not only nime;isarably superior to anything the author has ever written before, but it is one of the remarkable works that has appeared in print this year, and one which does credit not only to the author, but the country in which it has been written." Ti.e World. " Ag we live the book through again in memory, we feel more and more confident that Mr. M<> .re has once for all vindicated his po ition among the halfdozen living novelists of whom the historian of English literature will have to take Account." Daily Chronicle. "It may be an well to *et down, beyond possibility of misapprehension, my belief that in } tt \ r Wat*r$ we have the most artistic, the most complete, and the most inevitable work of fiction that has been written in England for at least two years."- A. I ^.i in The Speaker. "Hardly since the time of Defoe have the habits and manners of the masses' been delineated as they are delineated here. Kthtr Water* is the best tory that he (Mr. Moore) has written, and one on which he may be heartily congratulated." Globe. " M itthew Arnold, reviewing one of TolstoFs novels, remarked that the Russian novelist seemed to write bee tuse the thing happened so, and for no other reason. That is precisely the merit of Mr. Moore's book. . . . It inmiiil inevitable." Wettmiruter Gazette.
.

OTHER NOVELS BY GEORGE MOORE.

Crown
8vo, Cloth, 35. 6d. each.

A DRAMA IN MUSLIN. Seventh Edition, A MODERN LOVER. New Edition. A MUMMER'S WIFE. Twentieth Edition. VAIN FORTUNE. New F.diron. With F.VC
Maurice Grciffcnha^cn.

Illustrations

by

Second Edition, Crown 8vo, Cloth,

6s.

MODERN
"Of

PAINTING.

By George Moore.

the very few books on art that painters and critics should on no account leavo unread this is surely one." Studio. < book is one of the best books about pictures that have come into omr hand* fr win.- y:in." M. Jainrtt t; it :ftt. "A mow original, a bettor informed, a more Migfetive, and. more amusing work on the art of to-day, we have never read than this volume."
I

London:

WALTER

SCOTT, LiMMFP. Patcrnoter .Square

Crown

8vo, about 350 pp. each, Cloth Cover, 2s. 6d. per vol.

Half-polished Morocco,

gilt top, 55.

COUNT TOLSTOI'S WORKS,

The
following

Volumes are already

issued

A RUSSIAN PROPRIETOR.

THE COSSACKS.
IVAN ILYITCH, AND OTHER
STORIES.

MY

RELIGION.
LIFE.

MY

CONFESSION.

CHILDHOOD, BOYHOOD, YOUTH.

THE PHYSIOLOGY OF WAR. ANNA KARENINA. 35. 6d.

WHAT TO DO?
WAR AND
THE LONG
PEACE.
(4

VOLS.)

EXILE, AND OTHER STORIES FOR CHILDREN.

SEVASTOPOL.

THE KREUTZER SONATA, AND FAMILY HAPPINESS. THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU. as. 6d.
Uniform with the above.

IMPRESSIONS OF RUSSIA.
BY DR. GEORG BRANDES.
London

WALTER

SCOTT, LIMITED, Paternoster Square.

Crown

8vo, about 350 pp. each, Cloth Cover, 2s. 6d. per vol.

Half-polished Morocco,

gilt top, 55.

COUNT TOLSTOI'S WORKS.

The
following

Volumes are already issued

A RUSSIAN PROPRIETOR. THE COSSACKS.

IVAN ILYITCH, AND OTH

MY

RELIGION
LIFE

MY CONFESSIO
CHILDHOOD, BOYHOO1

THE PHYSIOLOGY C ANNA KARENINA.

WHAT TO DO
WAR AND
THE LONG
PEACE.
(4

VOLS.)

EXILE, AND OTHER STORIES FOR CHILDREN.

SEVASTOPOL.

THE KREUTZER SONATA, AND FAMILY HAPPINESS. THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU. 2S. 6d.
Uniform with the above.

IMPRESSIONS OF RUSSIA.
BY DR. GEORG BRANDES.
London

WALTER

SCOTT, LIMITED, Paternoster Square.

/**,

PLEASE

DO NOT REMOVE
FROM
THIS

CARDS OR

SLIPS

POCKET

UNIVERSITY

OF TORONTO

LIBRARY

PN 2596 L6A75

Archer, Wniiam The theatrical World of 1894