New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-01-27
THE DRAMA-MUSIC.
THE FALSE FRIEND.

-. IN every practlsed observer who gees the
go Four of the five acts of Mr. Edgar Fawcett's
drama are full Of remnisc"nce. The first, for In
taoce IS redoent OF Reades novel aud play =" 1t Is
Never Too Late TO Mend" Henry Kingsley snovel OF
..The Hillyers and the Burtons' and joaquin
uiller's melodrama of g The Danites," The second
owakens thou gifts of G. f. Rowe's play of 1.-THE
scatterleieh Jewels" recent novel called
.Nelly's Inheritance" and certain festival
descriptions in Scott, G. p. X. James.
md Bulwer. The third reviyes the solemn fra
GRANGE of Henry Dunbar and, IN the lightning
stroke and oppOrtune death of the accuser of crime
repeats an old effect from MosenthaPs Deborah
prst made known here by Mr.. Daily, as " Leah the
Forsaken" The fourth is an echo, somewhat dead
,ned by padding, of prominent incidents IN WilhIe
Collinys New Magdalen." 1t would be possible to
name other originals. but this citation shond be
sufficient. 1t is not asserted thai Mr.. Fawcett has
deliberately gone to these sources for these mater
ials; it is only said that, in form OF another,
these materials may be found IN these sources.
II follows, accordingly, and it is true,
that the play of The False Friend" being
mostly composed of old stock properties, Is,
in substance, hackneyod ard conventional.
The fact tlat old expedients are used to make a
drama. however is no evidence against the dra-
matte quality and ntilIty Of the work. Thonga ever
80 hackneycd and conventional in substance, play
sneveriheess good If its treatment of the old eX-
podents be treatment by acuon and be character
lied by freshness of invention In other words it
Is not SO much what you Go as bow you do IT, that
makes play. Mr. Fawcett's way OF doing ito
pass from the substance TO the mechanism OF " The
False Friend"- that to which literary workers
wac chances TO be nOvests rather than dramatists
Invariably resort. He has built mp this structure
DOT by action. but by picture. The first half OF II
is, in effect, the synopsis OF a novel, expressed
In tableaus. The active interest does not begin
till about the middle of the piece. and even
when has begun it Is speedily allowed to dIC0p Tor
lack of the concentrating instinct Of movement. Hail.
at least of the fourth act is supertnOus, and only
retards the climax. spectators attitudcit never
should bo forgotten-is entirely different from
the attitude of a reader. The latter has time and
taste for details. The former only wishes TO see.
not what people experience while getting knowl-
edge of themselves their circumstances and their
relations to others but what they actually do when
all these matters are known to them. aud what
comes of their conduct.
Mr. Fawcett, mindful of the 1ichborne case-to
which there is forced and unmely allusiOn in the
text-has apparently, wished to present in theatre
cal form the spectacle of scOundrel. with perhaps
good qualities, assuming the place of gentleman
whomhe believes to be dead, and, when threatened
with exposure ruin and infamy, turning at bay and
fighting against his fate with the terrible courage
Of despair. This was worth doing II it could be
done in a sharp terse manner, and with tan gible
memorable result. and not merely the statement
more or less crude aud cumbersome, of a Of sin
md crime. Mr. Fawcett has introduced more than !
dozen persons without actually dehneatng a |
nnele character The villain commits vlilany |
with neither ordinary discretion adequate mo-
tive and though hateful ard abominabe in almost |
every respect, so far as he is anything, Graves
nh eiunplV hecauSp he il canahle |
st last, of amatory passion. The rightful |
heir who ought to be the hero, is made a |
mere fguTe-nead, and a BOBBY at that 1t Is the |
actor, and not the author who makes him man. |
The comedy-persOns who are shunted III at ILL., |
leryals to relieve the sOmbre web Of the story, are
rite beings of caricature, and fantastic and tire
ZONE as they are irrelevant The dialogue, which |
$ full of housekeeping words and bigh-sOundng |
sentences is all of strain No effort seems to |
have been made to discriminate one individual |
rom another, in fibre Of mad, quality of tempsra
ment OF popularity of conduct. No effort is visible
toward making any person speak in character. The
principal interlOcutors many male and female
Edgar Fawcetts and all talk alike Devoid OfstrOng
md clear cOD:rdsted character, variety OF
dialogue, rational motive natural humor, con- |
tnuous movement, freshness Of plot, much novelty |
Of incident wholesome moral drift, and, except in |
spots of an essentially dramatic treatmentit is diff
cult TO see on what grounds r" The False Friend"
should be hailed as permanent addition to the liter
ature of the stage. Yet on the other hand II pos
sesses certain positive merits. Its chief situations
in the third fourth and fifth acts radically dra
matte are strong with passionate feeling and with
vivid Color and deeply fraught with the excit-
ing atmosphere of suspense. Its literary tone-tfor
MIR. Fawcett is poet and literary artist and has
written well, both in prose and versel-is refined
and is stimulating to the imagination. There is
plenty of faneifu suggestlveneSs all through the
work-frOm the bird-calls among the soitGdcs of |
Australian deserts to the face at the window lit up
by the momentary CLEAN of the lightning. the sud-
den, gliding entrance of the weird old crone, |
the fine expedient of the two portraits, aud the |
whole mystic environment of the tortured mpostor |
covering and yet dIatiDg. amid night and storm |
aud indefnable peril And lastly, and best Of all, |
there is opened, toward the end of the drama, |
vista of tragic experience and of dramatic POSSIBLE
ties. when arouses the deepest interest
The dilemma here exhibited is thai this usurpng |
impostor fnds himself allied with sister. whom of
course is his duty TO love with fraternal fond
mes but Tor whom he conceiyes another aud far differ
ent passion. Here at the dramat5t strikes his
field. IF lie loves me-" says the heroine, / will |
shake his heart with that love. till the mask falls
from his face" Through this means. at last the |
difficulty is solved and the wrong is righted. |
1t is obvious enough that this theme is NOR |
bid aud painful; but il is dramatic and |
the presence OF it, coupled with the portrait |
scene, the death OF the Noirtcr-likc old woman,
and the Grace Roseberry and Mercy Merrick en-
counter between the rghtful heir and the impOstOr,
has made the success of this play. That success is
great and may not last long but it is consider
able uuequivecal. and certainly very pleasant roth
10 witness and record Another cause of this result
Is the remarkably fine acting of Mr. Charles K.
Thorne, jr Mrs. t. J. Phillips, Mr. Harry Courtane
Il IL Il..L L.. L.