The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-09-14
INt1SElfHNTS.



The openinv performance of the Standard
Theatre on Thursday night proved unfortunate.
The play selected for tho occasion is an anna
flourish and heavy melodrama called An Open
Verdict" II failed to interest tho audience
Notwithstanding its originality and its strong
local color for the salient ideas and chief motif
of the work are not in themselves dramatic and
the treatment is clumsy and unsatisfactory. To
recount tho defects Of the story and all the mis-
takes Of construction would be idle We can
indicate n few OF the Rravcr errors. The nOdus
Of the play is legal one. growing out OF an
obsolete law. The conspicuous parsonage ia n
woman one Hester Tanhope. whose relation to
the other people involved is carefully concealed
until the last net. As she ms great deal more
to do than anybody else. and nobody can tell
why she does 1t. interest and sympathy give
way 10 perlexity in the minds OF the observers.
In tho first act the villain Of the piece marrics
tho heroine. leaving the hero and lover out
I'm the cold. In the second not the hero marries
somebody else and beeuilos the time in his old
Kentucky home with negroes and music. In
the third net the original villain has disap-
pcarcd. so has the heros wife. Whrreupon, in
the fourth act. the original hero and heroine hr-
com" man and wife. aud then tho vilnin, after
ten wears Hls"ncc, returns to claim his wife. in
defiance OF law aud common sense. and Is Killed
In the attempt. The hero IL tried for murder
AMI Hester iNfdntOpp saves his lie by ncknhNl-
cdging TINT she committed the crime herself.
This legend contains mntera quite ~ good
as hundreds of others that have furnished the
material for successful plays But II is crude,
undigcstcd material. taken. without even n lie
cent regard for the nnncs and icrlings oi living
characters from the kentucky records and
certainly with no imaginative or forming
power displayed In the connection or sequence
but with such pfrvors9n Of the actual Incl,
dents ns must meet with the strongest kind OF
protest from the relatives and friends Of those
whose names are purnded. Had the, play been
cut short its cnrn"r. for however much the pub;
liz may desire truth IN the theatre they will
hardly tolerate tile indiscreet and impertinent
However the drama will not meet with even
this opposition II passes into forRetiulncss by
virtue ot its own dead weight
The manor woman-whp made IL is igno-
rant. Wa Will not say Of stngr business and stage
limitations unon which SO much stress is fool
ishly laid 10y Theatre wOrkmen. but OF the rle-
mental conditions OF dramatic success. The
story is not told by action. The events do not
move by their own momentum. The person
ages narrate their experiences when the eNpe-
Fences should he dcclaratory. The interest is
not evenly progressive, i il broken by irrele-
sodes which are brightest and most entertain
ing nre superfuous or merely ornamental
The principal characters have no clearly de-
fined motives for aciion-that Is to say the spec
tator does not instantly perceive. as he should
what those motives are The chiet occupnhon
II the vain attempt to determine who hester
Ndnhope is ana what she Is up to.
ne unlleu tUpTIS OF lne NNS'lnultkt NJ llle
end OF the fourth act cannot determine what
killed the villain. There seemed tn lie two the
cries eNtant-thc most plausible OF which was
that the play had killed him The other waf
that he had killed the play
lnany cnse. the playwright asked his audience
10 be Interested IN what II could not understand,
and he thus appears in the singular attitude of
n dramatist who has not yet learned that the
first desderatum Of thcatric exhibition is intel
Eligibility, II" has mistaken confusion for nys-
terry. and actually believes that incomprehensi
blity IL suspended interest.
The disaster ut the Standard would not merit
so much thought as has been given to II II II
were not that the failure directs attention newly
To- those defects in workmanship which appear
To- be- characteristic Of native dramas. The ig
noranre ui dramatic construction and ~ the IS
srntial qunlity Of dramatic work. rather than
Ignorance ~ stage device. is tn" glnring defect
An Open Verdict " * Il reasonably interest
ing story. hut II is not dramatically told. the
excellent actors who deal with IL only show in
high relief the fatal mistakes ~ the Ruthor
Hrsfer Ntd"hOpe. the most conspicuous oi the
characters il the least interesting. and the ne
gro. Mise BUUdU the lenSt important OF the
characters. IS the most interesting. Mrs. Wal
Ter, an actress of vast experience. could do very
littlewith rul" which prevented her from doing
ANYTHING hut talk. She had SO much to explain
that she tired herself and her audience with
words.
MIR Magnify. who descended for the occnsion
| L. the Niger business. did so with discretion
NJ lens, and won uncquvocally all the sympathy
| which the audience had. Mr. Plympton played
| tho hero prosaicRly and Mr.. Frank Evans
enacted the villain with all the sulid unreas m
ahlencss and inhumanity that the lamrntahle
| condition Of Affairs required. The realism ~
| the play was perfect. Bayng bloodhounds
| snow scenes. negro chorusts. cotton pickers,
&c. lent every aid. hut they could not lend the
ANNA nor the nrt which mean success. so TINT
NJ tho end ~ tina second act of " An Open YER
dict" the audience had resolved itself into a
! coroners Jury and sat upon the play.