The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-02-03

but she Is not flt to hang up In ones memory
Sincerity in play ought to be as valuable rs II
is in a circus. Think Miss Rogers should Jump
through Mr.. Boucicaults hoops with the same
singleness OF purpose that charactcrizes the en-
press OF the arena.
But she does not. She isn't quite sure about
her flcndishness. Her mind appears to vacillatc
between two opinions. One is that Palma is u
very vulgar drab and the other is that there
may be something noble in her divergent
cusscdness," though she IL not able to tell ex-
actly what II Is. One somehow gets the notion
that she Is loaded with more wckedness than
she knows what to do with. and that II great
deal Of 1t is scattered round and wasted. The
thing which l dare say Mr.. Boucicaut would
call the moral character OF Palma puzzles her.
And 1t would puzzle anybody. for II IL made to
III into and unlock certain situations. And this
making OF the human win pdsse pdrtoM stiles
sincerity in ingenuity.
And ingenuity will not save the play. 1t never
did save any play
Boucicault agrees with Goethe that the rude
man is content to see something going on.
No do !. But IL must 90 on
don't care whether II be an Irish drama or
an Irish funeral When the procession stops
there is trouble.
play rs we'll as boat race must have pur-
pose no less than fixed point in space The
trouble with Palma " is that the playwright has
mistaken adjustment for development form for
motion. motion for action. action for meaning
He has actually come to believe that agitation IL
progression.
This Is all very cunning. and believe Mr..
Boucicaut Is the most cunning stagewrght
alive: but there isn't any authority in this craft
the play lacks the mystic element Of evil that
resides In the human heart II merely exhibits
the specific alterations OF n bad woman, who Is
bad because she wants to attract your atten-
ton.
This will not do. As a Down East friend OF
mine has pertinently remarked:
NNsssy,,Es i lISm In. R. Of cunning fell
I sat this play out with more wonder than ad-
miration. l could not help feeling that Miss
Rogers would be entitled to great deal more
praise for the acrd efficacy OF her ilendishness.
IL she had shown that she could play less de-
moniac parts without IT, | followed her through
the incidents with my senses and not with my
reason for she gives to wickedness a strange
physical subtlety. To me she had all the dread
Ophidian fascination that Holmes ascribed to
Elsie venner." and the hiss and rattle OF her
hatred recalled 10 my mind the crotdles hor-
ridus.
When It was all over felt like man who had
been standing before cage in which some-
thing dangerous was coiling and writhng and
striking wildly.
l can't think that this is wholesome after
| sensation.
notice that In all really great plays that have
held up the depravity OF the human heart there
was indistinctly seen but securely felt back
ground OF love and law and harmony. against
which the evanescent lightnings OF man pas
sion blazed all the more wildly and harmlessly.
Always just beyond the individuality Of a
great play lies the ocean OF humanity. We sit
by the troubled stream OF human experience.
but II our senses are rightly attuned. by and by
we shall catch the murmurs and scents Of
the infinite sea"
Mr.. George Clarke returned to his New York
friends in Palma" / think he might have
treated them better by not allowing his opinion
OF the play to appear in his acting.
1t Is a noteworthy fact that vllainy in woman
Is always regarded by the juvenile comedian as
trcspass on his rights. He retains enough Of
the man In his profession TO desire only good
roles for the women. George Clarke. like all
his fellows. is magnanimous enough to take all
the nendish parts. when they are strong ones.
rather than have women play them.
And cannot say that he is wrong. When
Rogers does the fiend she brings TO II arerbty
and edge OF which men know nothing-anA
even Mr.. Studley pales his Intellectual fire.
Actors hitherto noted for a rude masculine
niendishness cannot be expected TO look on I'M
concerned at such an innovation.