Evening star., 1877-12-22
Has the Drama DecItued-

As we pass into Mr.. BOucicaults half-cen-
tury OF dramatic decline, We fail to see that
the pieces were much worse than i'm the pre-
vious ten years, and it Is unqueStiOnable that
several pieces were produced which keep the
stage TO this day, The plays of the late Lord
LyttOn and OF Sheridan Knowles have their
defects no doubt. They are artificial in the
extreme, but yet audiences can he found for
The Hunchback," for The Lady of Lyons"
and for Money" These three plays, maugre
their detractors, may fairly, as acting plays,
challenge comparison with anything produced
between 1900 and 1875, when, We are told, the
drama was in an extraordinarily healthy con-
dlti0n The halfcentury Of decline alluded to
by MIR. BOucicault must have been intended
by him to date from the year 1910, when, as
Mr. Charles Reade has shown, the influence of
the French school became paramount, and
first, translation, and then adaptation, saved
English dramatists the agony of invention. 1t
is also noteworthy that Mr.. BOucicault himself
appeared at that iuncture with London As
surance,' a strange patchwork of old scenes
and old characters, utterly wooden and soul
less 1t must in fairness to Mr. BOucicault be
admitted that he is hardly the author of Lon
drawn over his lines by the actors. Being
young man, and then very dOcile and lamb
like, MI. BOucicault permitted the very strong
cast of " London Assurance to rewrite whole
scenes, to cut others out completely, and, final
ly SO 10 tranSmOgrify it, that if he had not per-
sOnally assisted in the work of remOdelng he
would not have known his own play. Actors
and point triumphantly TO "LOndOn Assur-
anceh as the Actors play par excellence Its
first triumph, and its subsequent weakness,
arise from the character Of Lady Gay Span
ker, obviously modelled from Constance. in
" The Love Chase" Mrs. NiSbett could play
this entirely impossible character without
making it either ridiculous or vulgar feat
that no subsequent actress has been able to
perform. Probably Mr. BOucicault still be-
leveS London Assurance" TO be an English
comedy, but If he dates the decadence of the
drama from the time he became dramatist,
whom should he blame but himself? He has
chosen to invent mysterious Irish drama,
made OF Squreens, Shebeens, caubeen, and
peasants, the whole favored with the aroma
OF whisky punch. This strange farragO.
aided by stage carpentry, has had the power
OF attracting Irish audiences both i'm England
and in the United States, and must thus, we
suppose be admitted to have merit of some
kind. if one could only discover it. OF truth,
II Is poor stuff this Irish drama; but Mr..
Boucicault will pardon us for asserting that,
weak as it Is, 1t is quite as good as Paul
FRY" for instance. and vastly more amusing
than "lnkle and YaricO." These two last
named productions were immense favOrites
with our grandfatherS, for reasons which are
not apparent on the surface. Nothing can be
imagined more CHASTITY than these once popular
pieces nor can the present writer see the
merit of 1.-The Heir-at-Law," and other plays
of the same school, Everything written at all
in the same key as SheridanS comedies Is so
immeaSurably below them, as to prove merely
wearisOme. 1t Is, of course an invidiOus task
to select the works of living writer's for
especial praise, but surely THE Ticket of
Leave Man" to take an instance almost at
random, Is as far above the average senti.
mental drama of fifty years ago as SMOney"
Is above 1.-The West hdian."-(AU the Year
Round.