THE THEATRICAL 'WORLD'OF1

894.

THE

THEATRICAL 'WORLD'

OF

1894.r.v

WILLIAM ARCHER.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW,AND A SYNOPSIS OF PLAYBILLS OFII

IK

VI-.AK

P.Y

HENRI GEORGE

llllil'.KRT.

LONDON:\V.\I.I

K K

SCO1895.

PATERMO

IT, M

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1058Q54

CONTENTS.MAY 5TILL BE HAD.PAGE

Jniform

with this

Vol.,

Price 35. 6d.

\i

PHE THEATRICAL OF 1893-

WORLD-

xxxi

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

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9

"TWELFTH NIGHT"IV.

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"TiiK CHAKIATAN"

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53

105^54

CONTENTS.PAGE

PREFACR, KV M'< GEORGE BERNARD

SHAW

-

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xi

AUTHOR'S NOTE

xxxi

Tun PANTOMIMESII.

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OLD Ji.w

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"THE CHARLATAN"(.MOST"

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"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 UPONDESIRE"

A TIME"

"THE LANDOF

OF HEART'S

"A COMEDYXIV.

SIGHS"

ARISTOCRATIC ALLIANCE"

"AN ....

85

"MRS LESSINGHAM"

"THEXV.

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"

127I

CONTENTS.XIX.

vii

PACK

"THE WILD DUCK"

-

-

136

XX.

ELEANORA DUSE

"A

SOCIETY BUTTERFLY"

" KING143

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.TinMil. 1. F.MAN"1

175

XXVI.VL"" SHALL

WE

FORCIVK

I

IKK?"**

" Tin.

TEXAN"

"THE

JERRY BUILDER''

MADAME176

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" "LITTLEGAIETY GIRL"

Miss 'CUTE"

"THE237

XXXVII.

"THE DERBY WINNER" THE GERMAN COMPANYXXXVIII."

-

245

GRAF WALDEMAR"

253

XXXIX.

"DER PFAKRER VON KIRCHFELD"XL.

...."DERMEINEID-

256

"ODETTE"HAUER"

"CLAUDE DUVAL"

259

CONTENTS.XLI.

'

ixPAGE

"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"

....

"

THE302

XLVII.

"THE WRONG GIRL" "THE SHOP-GIRL"XIAIII."Tin-.\\ii

-

312

K

i

DIVES"XI. IX.

320

"

IUUGENIA

IN

TAURIS"

-

-

324

I

I'-lt

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IHPAV"I.I.

33 2

THE RED LAMP"

"HAL

IHR HI'.HWAYMAN"

.

333

:

'CONTENTS.L1I.

PAGE

THE CHIEFTAIN"LIII.

339

A

STORY OF WATERLOO"

"THE VICARAGE"

-

343

EPILOGUESYNOPSIS OF PLAYBILLS, BY

347

MR HKNRY

G. HIBBERT-

371

INDEX

47

PREFACE.MYqualificationis,

for

introducing

this

annualfriend

record

as

I

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. Lastyears past those readers of Theinterest 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, thatthe reader will;

we have

resolved to try whether

not, just this

once more, turn

the page and pass from G. B. S. toforce of habit,

W.

A.,tin

by mere

without noticing,|

glarin;.; fact

that the musical duties,

(i.

U.S.,

Xll

PREFACE.off

by cutting himtheatre,

almost

entirely from

the

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

have

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

even at the opera

:

for

instance, that

there are certain permanent conditions

which

have nothing to do with puredeeply affect everydon.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 theproducedis

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 therebyall 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 thetheatre

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

on

his breadin this

and

butter.is.

Theatrical manage-

one of the most desperate country commercial forms of gambling. No one canforesee 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 allbut the merest fraction oflost.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 insteadof 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 youlittle

But

in the theatre

as you choose. must play a desperate youall.

game

for

high stakes, or not play atfalls

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 whichpermanently 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 handsuit

dozens of games thatis

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. Youis

impossible.

must disturb a man's reason before helisten toIt

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 theresult of the sweeping away of all reasonable economic prudence by the immense force of an artistic instinct which drives the actor to make

opportunities athis art,

all

hazards for the exercise ofirresistibly

and which makes the theatre

fascinating to

many

rich people

who canThe

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, astheatreas his"

actor-manager,fanciers,

to

interest

the

rich

and

to persuade

them

to act

backers."

If the enterprise

thus startedprofits of a

be watered

now and then by the hugeit

take a great deal to kill it. With the help of these profits and occasional subsidies, runs of ill-luck arc weathered withsuccessful 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 thereality 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, MrPenley, and

Mr

Terry, Mr Toole. Nearly

Wyndham, Mrall

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 ofthe theatre as one of the higher forms of art than Madame Tussaud's or the Christy Minstrels, orelse 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-managerhis popularity.

:

it is

due to

theatre

is

The strongest fascination at a the fascination of the actor or actress,More people goto

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 authorself-denial of the

would have reason to curse theactor-manager.to authors

Mris

managerial policy

Hare's personally modest anything but encouraging

who wish that all actormanagers were even as he. The absence of aandrritics

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

judgment asheis

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 Hamletis,

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 goodpart> in them.

We

thus see that matters are

made worsewhilst 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 listof real exceptions to the

London

rule of actor-

managementwith

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 wouldsacrifice

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 thenotion that the actor-manager can afford to be magnanimous any more than he can afford to belazy,

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

A

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,orwill

thefive

sumfor

that will keep the poet for a year

years at a pinch

openyears.

more than a week.he couldsell

not keep the theatre Ibsen, the greatest

living dramaticIf

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 shillingsmercial relations.I

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

find

an account of the productionin

for the

time

masterpiece

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

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 Mrfor

might have been written

Mr

rbohm Treehappened,

to perfection.

Whatnoit;

actually

however,

was

that

Londonit

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 workas Ibsen'sisstill

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 ownliterature.itself in

publishedperpetuate

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

communityfiction

and second, by diverting the bestin

of our literary talent from the theatre to ordinary

and journalism,is

which

it

becomes

technically useless for stage purposes.

The mattervisit

further

complicated

by the

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

opinion, are sufficient

by themselvestroublesome

to

maketo the

most reasonable people regard atheatre

visit

rather as

a

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 thepecting athe

illustrated press.

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

man andby

homes

after dinner, and, after

theatre

relays

worrying their way to of train and cab ororhalf-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 forfive 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 theindicated by the term"

sort of

maniadoubt,

catching on."

No

whenand

this

maniatheat

sets in, the profits are, as

we

havr seen, mormons.thisisis

Hut when it does not more frequent case the acting-

mana;.;rrwillsit

his wit's

end

to find people

who

in

his half-guinea stallsbal< 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 anexcellent 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 inthe 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 makesfact

that, with

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

industry.

Amonganactors,

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 theyin

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 morea play.

difficult to

obtain a fine cast for

The

"

star system,"in

whichis

is

supposed to

have disappearedforis

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 thegreatest operas

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

world,

isI

a

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

Harrisare

doeslike

for

Lohengrin.Irving:

All

the other stars

Mr

they have theatres of their own, and are

competing with him as men of business, insteadof co-operating withreceipt 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 tothe provincial starring exploits of the late BarrySullivan.

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 hardlycontaining good actors enough to cast three good plays simultaneously, even with the sixteenactor- managers countedin.

No

doubt such ansix

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

a

such an upward bound of public marked reduction of prices ?

demand withoutto

There

is

yet another

momentous prospect

be taken into consideration.

WeSoto

have

at pre-

sent nine actor-managers and only one actress-

manageressposition

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

whatto

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

andthe

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 middlefateis

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 changecriticisedfill

is

so patent, that one of the playsin

by Mr ArchercalledTlic

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 heroldplace.

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 superiorityto

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 ofhis attitude

this

complacent personwife, the

in

towards his

exposure beingis

made by

the wife herself.

His

not the sorttoplay.

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 neitherhewill

not touch

A

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 meansnever.

Man

clings;

to

the old

pose,

the old

and the actor in particular, cheap heroism whose life aspiration it has been to embodythat 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 theItis

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 bythe 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 acknowledgmentsbefore 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 wholethat

difficulty

was created by theas

fact

myin

Bulgarian hero, quite

much

as

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

Helmer

A

from the modern

catch

and conduct fromall

glimpse after glimpse of his own aspect this point of view himself, asarc 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 ofcourse, were hopelessly irreconcilable with either

theory.

Need

I

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 impostorof 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 peculiaritiesthat

make

characteristically

modern plays

as

repugnant to the actor as they are attractive tothe 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 anwill

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,

I

havein-

admit

that

Miss Janetin

Achurch,

for

stance,

who madein

for herself the

opportunity ofofactress-

"creating" Nora Helmerherself

England by placingAgain,

the positionis

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,orthe 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 timeripe for the

advent of the actress-manager

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

London

theatres, a struggle which, failing

an honourable treaty, or the break-up of theactor-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 atpresent 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

I

to

thank the Trustees under thefriend,

will

of

myTo

lamented Editor andthe Editors of the Pall

Mr EdmundSketch,

Yates, for

confirming his sanction of this reprint.

Mall Budget,one or two

and the Athetuznm

my

thanks are also due forarticles

their permission to include

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

nameI

of

my

friend

Mr George

Bernardthis

Shaw;

with

my ownam

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 ofreference.

W. A.

C. A.

AND

J.

A.

Mid gaunt kill-bastions1

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 PLAYSSTILL

RUNNING AT PUBLICATION OF1893."

"THEATRICAL WORLD OF

Last Performance.1894.P.I

AUTY'S TOILS (Strand)

JanuaryJanuary

3.

CAPTAIN SWIFT (Haymarkct)

17.

DON JUAN

(Gaiety)

Juneof Wales's;

16.

A

GAIETY GIRL (Princetransferred to Daly's,(Terry's)

September

10)

DecemberJanuary'6.

15.

GUDGEONS

THE HEADLESS MANMOROCCO BOUND

(Criterion)

...

March

10.

MRS. OTHELLO (Vaudeville)(Shaftesbury;

Januarytrans-

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;

HARRYto

(TrafalgarStrand,

Square

transferred8)

JanuaryTkii-ir.

February

21.

BILL (Court Theatre;N-OE (Adelphi...

January

16.

March

3.

THETHEATRICALOF

"WORLD"

1894.

I.

THE PANTOMIMES.^rd January."at

\VITH Cinderella"*

I

read in

last

week's

"

Celebrities

Home,"instill

"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 manya year.Ifit

He

has anything like the success

it

desei

he

will

in hisinif

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

pantomime*

not precisely wit, at least of reason and coherence.Lyceum, December26, 1893

March

7-

A

THEATRICAL WORLD OFButall 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 ofits

youth

the days of

Mathews andfar

Vestris at this very

Lyceum, the days of

Planch^ and of Beverley.course,is

Mr

Barrett's production, of

more

costly

and splendid than anythingit

Planch^ would have dreamt of;* but

runs entirely

on the

lines of the

old-fashioned

Christmas piece,

telling its story clearlyit

and

gracefully,

and

illustrating

with fantastic episodes which have a certain naturalIt is difficult to express,

relevance to the main theme.

without seeming to exaggerate, the pleasure which onefeels 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.

"Whenall

the Aristophanes arrives for

whom wemime

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. enchantinggraceful,fairy-tale to thesatiric

young

;

to the old a witty,

genially

phantasmagoria."

Thus

I

* 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

3

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

Mrand

Horace

Lennard,

thoughis

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 ourfurther 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 bribeCarroll

Might not

Mr H. D. Mr " Lewis

Traill

?

or"

Mr

Court-

with untold gold to work

my

Christmas puppetsPrince,

for

me

:

the author of The

Happy

Theto

Selfish

Giant,

and other exquisite

fairy-tales

wit,

Mr

Oscar Wilde.

A

poet and literary

artist,

then,

would have made

Cinderella

more

interesting to

grown-up people; noit

one could possibly have madechildren.It is

more amusingfolks

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-

4out"

THEATRICAL WORLD OFintermission:

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 Princethe kitchen at

;

her gambols with the stray cat inthe departure of the Baron,;

home;

Baroness, and the ugly Step-Sisters for the ball

the

reappearance of the Fairy Godmother, and conversionof 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, therat,

and the

lizards

;

the attiring of Cinderella in thefanciful

Fairy

Boudoir, a

deliciously

scene;

her

departure for the ball in a chariotponies,

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 discomfitureanovel 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 byall

5

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 Sylphlike,

Coquette,

who

presides over the jewels

and

scents, the

handkerchiefs, gloves, fans, and powder-puffs of theFairy Boudoir.

Mr

Jecks are an amusing Baron and BaronessVictor Stevens andSisters,

Harry Parker and Miss Clara and Mr;

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

Mris

Charles Lauri's

cat, are

they not the mostnatural history ?that

indisputable fact in pantomimicit

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 beautyWilhelm) are admirablyhas 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

6

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 outis

against

and the eyemanner,

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

diversifiedpieces.

with classical

fragments andI

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

andto

it

is

twenty years and more sincefor

it

has seemedsit

meSir

possible

any human being to

out a

pantomime twice

over.

Augustus Harris's fifteenth annual, Robinson Crusoe? is an excellent pantomime of what may becalled 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 seriesof gorgeous

pageants, with

interludesis

by the mostresplendentspirited as10.

popular "artistes."

The

Fish Ballet

beyond description, and*

will

no doubt beMarch

Drury Lane, December 26, 1893

THE PANTOMIMES.well

7to

when the dancers have become accustomedhabiliments.

their scaly

The Indianreally

Ballet

is

notthe

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

ifill

weat

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

enoughto

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 bedroomscene, 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 himselfpetticoat

in a red flannelliterally

and a

pair of stays, the

whole houseit

yelled with delight.

You may

think

odd, and even

8

THEATRICAL WORLD OFsomehowI

1894.to yearn for thetoilet,

ungallant, but

don't

seem

privilege of assisting at

Miss Marie Lloyd'sin dishabille;

orall

admiringone.

Mr Dan Leno

but,

amid

that vast audience, I

was evidently

in a

minority of

The twoto

Poluskis, as the Captain

and Mate,

proved themselves admirable pantomimists.

When

you go

Drury Lane take careis

to be in time, for the

encounter of the Poluskis with thethe 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 thehigher branches of theart.

The Crystal Palace pantomime hijack and the Beanstalk* may be confidently recommended to parents andguardians.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 danceof diablerie in the Valley of Desolationas either of them, toin;

and

as pretty

my

thinking,

is

the rustic dance

the village

of Cowslipdale.spirited Jack,

Miss Edith Bruce

makes a veryterrific

Mr Reubenis

Inch

is

a

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 OLDII.

JEW/'

9

"AN OLDLET meGarrick.

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 myselfliterature,

I

narrate the fable.

Though by

profession

an executioner, not

to say an assassin, of dramatic

when

I lay

aside the axe, the rope,

and theis.

furtive stiletto, I

can be a

man evenI

as

Mr Grundy

Simply as acourage

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 ofsaid his say,his

his opinions, of

whathas

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 aIt

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 MrFebruary3.

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 audaciouspitch

almost to theperhaps,

of

blasphemy; some ofpresent

us,

may even have been(at

when an

audience"line,

the old Haymarket, I fancy) hissed theto scoff, but Iit

I

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 beautiesof the Bible.

At our most popular burlesque theatreis

a low comedian

night

after

night

singing, with

unbounded applause, a slangy and vulgar parody ofthe story of the Prodigal Son,the Censorship, which

vetoed the tragic and beautiful Salome, offering noobjection.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 goodIt is

piece of work, either as afull

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 havebeen expected to rub him the wrong way. If Grundy had given us the slightest opportunityexercising this facile virtue, I

Mrforall

am

sure

we wouldnot.

have rushed

at

it

with avidity.;

But he hasis

The

drama

is

commonplaceSince

the satire

thin, superficial,

and confused.example, we tooconvictions.

may

has set the good as well have the courage of our

Mr Grundy

The drama,is

of course,

is

neither here nor theresatire.It

;

it

a mere framework for the

has the meritit

of being a quite simple framework, but

cannot be

12

THEATRICAL WORLD OFits

1894.I,

called neat in

simplicity.

Not

that

for

my

part,

object toas

its

essence.

That

fairy-tale was,

perhaps,

good

as another for the author's purpose.

Thethe

Monte

Cristo

motive

appeals

unfailingly

to

Who does not find a pleasure in picturimagination. " The Return of the Millionaire," transformed by inghis 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 acertain novelty in the conception of a

Monte

Cristo

who

carries

coals of fire in hislike

magic pocket-bookfable,

(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 thetale

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

a

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"comewellit

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 unfortunatelytold several times

isn't.

In theat

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 theskilful playwrightit

should dread more than obscurity,

is

over-insistence

on the obvious.

Again, theSterne

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

If Julius

why does he comewife's house,

and go with the utmost freedom in his trusting to the very improbable chancenot meet her?

that

he may

We

are not given to understand thatSlater does not

he

is

altered

beyond recognition.is

recognise him, but Slaterat last

blind with drink.

Whenat

the husband and wife

do meet, sheuntil her

is

somefor

trouble not to look at

himis

cue comes

the recognition.

This

a small matter, but in the

work of a champion of the well-made play we maysurely look for nicety of adjustment.Isit

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 ofthis 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

madeit

a mistake inits

not keeping his satire distinct, as

were, fromit

framework ofingenious

story.

No

doubt he thought

an

stroke of

and the dishonestClub;

trusteeis

economy to make the seducer members of the Moonlightonly an added sense ofarti-

but the resultIt

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 theIt 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 tooif

closely at the feathers ofstraight toits

an arrow,it ?

the barb goesI really

mark.

But does

do not

know,

for I

cannot in the least

tell

what markis

Mrthat

Grundy was aiming at ; and the worst of it I don't think he knows himself. There is alack of lucidity abouttrait

terrible

Mr

Grundy's invective.

As

followed

trait,

and each seemed morelife

irrecon-

cilable than the last with journalistic

and manners

"AN OLDas I

JEW."

15

know them,tell ?

I

how can youlife

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

recognised

scraps

of satire

quite legitimateat 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,

I

aminit

situation,

and whatis

is

make commonly termeda

light of plot,

construction;

drama,is

a characteristic of gutter journalismfoible, 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 Grundydefect

his little fling,

even

if it

involvethen,

a

trifling

of verisimilitude.satirist's

Granted,attackis

that the

main brunt of thephaseof

directedI

against a

journalism

with

which

amwe

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

1

6

THEATRICAL WORLD OFit

1894.

to the theatre, so

follows that I

must rub shoulders

with their prototypes two or three times a week, yearout, year in.I literally

Well,

I

looked

for these prototypeslestI

stood up and looked around,

mightcould

spy some obscure first-nighter shrivelling in a corner,

who had escaped my memory, andrecognise

in

whom

IT

some

traits

of John Slater, or Willie

W andle,meof

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 ofjust as they,hits at

my

colleagues

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

us a clique of log-rollers, the

"

up

to dateset

"

would probably have to represent us as aIshmaels

of

not, I hope, devoid of personal kindliness

and goodthereis

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

literary sense,

turned against his neighbour.

Thus

ample material for theit

satirist in theatrical

journalism as

is,

andall

if

he distributed

his satireit;

with any impartiality,

parties

would enjoy

but

whereas asit

is

the use of satirising theatrical journalismI

isn't?

John

Slater,

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

before

my

time,

and

I

don't

know why they should

be resurrected.

As

for

Brewster and Wandle, did

"AN OLDMr Grundyness?

JEW."

i;

even find them in his

memory ?

Has he

not simply evolved

them out

of his

moral conscious-

think

I

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 hestill

survivesis

in

other

incarnations

;

and the Old Actoreditions.

familiar to all of us, in several

" Well then,"

you admit theis it

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

not only reasonable to assume thatcall

have what

you would

'documents'it;

forI

the others also?"

Agreedthat

;

we will assumepicture

butfalse

must

still

maintain

the whole

is

and

inartistic.

At

even admitting that somewhere, in some purlieu of Bohemia, there may exist such a denthe very bestas this Moonlightgrossly 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

managerVulture

in

London who would shape

his policy, as

Mr Wybrow Walsinghamfor

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

B

1

8

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894. not instructingregion, but

discover in his peregrinations.

He

is

us in the natural history of an

unknownlife

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 thatdon't.

we should recognise the

picture,

and we

He may

say that the people satirised

are always the last to recognise the justice of thesatire.

That may be so when theare nothing of the sort.itself,

satire is directed;

against a united and

homogeneous body of men

butis

we

The

first-night

house

a house divided against

of which each sectionto 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 affordedthose which Ivanity 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 oneto 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 OLDextra character orin ?

JEW."for

19

The

example) thrown erudite and alcoholic critic is certainly a

two (Mr Polak,

thing of the past (his erudition,his alcoholism);

I

fear,

no

less

than

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

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 vanityin

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 whetherto

the very

name of

Bohemia ought notIt is true

I

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

in

a club smoking-room;

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

happen to be as unimpeachableare

inI

honesty as they

(Mr Grundy himself would,ability.it),

am

sure,

admit)

brilliant inI

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?

Onown

this

Mr Grundyit

lapse from virtueI

wish

could blot

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

20

THEATRICAL WORLD OFfind

1894.

You may

among

us " the smyler with the knife

under the cloke;" but who has seen the band ofblustering bravos

the Moonlighters

of

Mr Grundy's

imagination

?

invited

'

us pressmen

'

toI

combine

to

'

'

boycottit

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 ' gregariousin his'

but there was no

unwonted enthusiasm?"(

If

Mr Grundy

will refer to

the incriminated articleits

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

authorthis

" 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. Atprepared, 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 thethe

same

time,

I

am

Grundy's rebuke.

Without

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

imposed by ourit

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 OLDButI

JEW."

21

say again, go to the Garrick, and see whetherus.full

you recogniseyou, forit

Anofit

Old Jew

will certainly

amuseis

is

wit,is

much

of the sentiment

pleasant enough, and

admirably acted by everyquite

one, from

Mr

Hare,

who makes atorealistic

memorableMaurier,

figure of the

Old Jew, downdelightfullyis

young Mr Du

who

is

a

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 pieceI

is

by no means

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

For

vehemently

satiric.

I

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 OFIII.

1894.

"TWELFTH NIGHT."17ith

January.

AT

last, at last

!

The

long series of disappointmentsto thank

has ended at

last,

and we haveif

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

nothingare inthat

mechanical or academic about

We

feel

we

aI,

live playhouse,

not a historical museum.

Not

personally, object to seeing the theatre turnedinto a historical

nowhave

and againourscoffs (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 fortheirliving

merits,

withlast

whom Mr

but because, like those people Browning parleyed in one of histheir day.

books, they were of importance inGirl, 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 becausefor:

*

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 certainin the very act of

charmit,

growing

old.

Here,

I

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 duelapse 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 withit.

involved inis

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 hasall

the

instinct

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

found

sufficient

sanction

in

beauty,

with

"no

dor

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 OFin

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 wantongentilhomme,"

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 ofspell 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 theon Keats's Grecian Urntheinto their

figureslife in

workaday

"

Little town,

by

river or seashore,

We

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

reach and time of destiny.

etherealising

of the material, this elimination of

after-thought

from

life,

all

doubt and

fear

perennial charm of the poemfantastical" 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."MrDaly andI will

25fear, as to

never quite agree, I

the properdiffer in

way of

treating Shakespeare's text.

Weseems

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 thecurtain.

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-writinghis

author.

My;

rule"

wouldwhich

be,

"When

in

doubt,

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

seashore

tableau,

play on," in

which Shakespeare (who occasionallystrikes theis

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 secondfirst:

six loveliest lines in the

Duke's speechit:

:

Give

me

excess of

that, surfeiting,

TheThat

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.

26Thisis

THEATRICAL WORLD OF

1894,

so incredible, that I almost hesitate to;

make

the assertionfor 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 maysay,

for

the

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

Shakespeare's arrangement had involved the sacrificeof a few of the odalisques strewn about the floor of

the ducal seraglio,

we need not have beenthat

inconsolable.

But

I

do not even see

any such

sacrifice

would

have been necessary.

If the resources of the

moderncan saycases, of

theatre are unequal to the changes of scene requiredin following Shakespeare'sis,

arrangement,

all I

the

more shamein

to

it.

There are many

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

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 importantfor

and

characteristic

speeches (such,

instance,

asin

Viola's reply to Antonio,

" I hate ingratitude

morein

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

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 inartisticallyis

?

Perhapsart,is

;

but what

we wantelse's art.

Shakespeare's lack ofpossible authority

not

someonefor

What

there

"And

dallies with the

innocence of loveis

like ripeit

old

age"?

The emendationFinally,

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 shouldwill

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, andwiththe

to the ear

which

is

familiar

phraseis

in

its

quaintly

archaic form (and what eartionis

not?), the modernisa-

a quite sensible annoyance.;

There now

I

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 hastruly 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 twoother

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-

28fully

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

Whoit,

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 anlights,

original

and ingenious arrangement ofloveliestit

presentsper-

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 singAriel'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 noprotest 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 maywould not be allowedpart of the play?to passif

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'

29as

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 virtueexcellent

but

withpraise

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

andif

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 veryseductive one, thanks to Schubert and to the conductor, Mr ry Widmer, who has handled the music in such a fashion asto 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-elaboratedthe 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 Missof Viola's appeal for

Rehan's stature and Miss Lewis'sto give the thing point,

is