New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-06-08
THE LONDON STAGE.
THE @CAILED BACK" OF MEsSRs. HUGH
CONWAY AND CONYNS CARR.

fortunate Mr.. Edgar Bruce could find nothing
better than a stale piece of Mr.. Gilbcrts to open
with and when that failed to draw he tried one
MAY after another to 70 purpose His first hit
with The Private Secretary" and by the time the
public had found out how amusing that was, it had
10 be withdrawn and went n journey eastward 10
the Globe Theatre. where it is now playing without
Mir Beerbohm Tree, to whose quaint and quiet
humor it, success was chiefly due. The play 10y IT.
self is a triAe heavy 1t is. however, the only per
Torrance have seen of late where the voices OF the
actors on the stage at times inaudibe from
the noise of laughter in the stalls
Now. for the first time, the Princes Theatre mas
scored success of which the source Is to be louhu
mainly IN the play itself Scaled Back which
was brought ont here on Tuesday, is dramatized
version of Mr. Hugh Conway's novel by the author
himself rs the playb assures US and by MI
Comvns Carr Ii is understood that the real work
Of adapting the story to the stage was done by the
latter Mr. Conway has no experience of the the
atre Mr. Carr has long been cOnyersant with such
matters. aud his work in this instance indicates
very remarkable capacity for drama. In its nara
tive form Called Back <" Is essentially undramatic.
II has incident but the incidents are produced in
way which would be impossible on the stage. Ii 49,
moreover. in considerable part psychological study
md on the whole offered to the adapter n most I'M
pronisng field bristling with difficulties ut every
step Mr. Carr has taken this powerful story and
made out of il a still more powerful drama eiicc-
five sensational completely successful in It's first
and very imperfectly rehearsed production, with at
leas, of the principal characters in the hands of
very unfit actors.
Asa story. Called Back turns upon the loss of
reason by the heroine, and its title. not very
happy one, means simply that she is called back TO
reason In the play this is but one and not always
The most prominent motive. At the beginning
Gilbert Taughcn has lost his heart and his sight. BY
n familiar device we learn how he met Pauline
beautiful girl. in Italy, loved her. formed some
vague engagement with her. and hopes still more
vaguely To meet her again and marry her. THIS
narrative is told in his chambers in a Talk with his
SISTER aud her lover young surgeon who is to re-
store CilLet 10 sight by the simple means of oper
nting on a cataract IGuiire arrives, thinks GilbOt
rcce YES her coldly discovers the of it in his
blindness which She not supposed to perceive at
FIRST and they swear eternal fidelity to each other
aitc,h. Gilbert under an impulse less fully cX-
planned than il might be to the audience, resolves
10 90 back with Iaaliae that night to the house
whore she is staying Her friends are Italian con-
sprator, and it is death to anybody found near the
place but go he will and Pauline undertakes to
hide him while he watches over her. though why
ale needs watching over is not clear. All this is
meant u lead mp 10 the catastrophe and the I'M
probabilities need not delay MS
IN tn ncxt seen, we are introduced TO Or. CcGi,
chief of rhc cOn,pratOrs aforesaid, and Paaiiaes
nncic. (caai a fanatic who thinks il the right
thne to rob lis niece and nephew of The fortune of
which hr is trustee in order to promote a plot
which l. betrayed as fast a. II IS made by PaOO
Gaori. police spy figuring as patriot and amusing
H. leisure by making love 10 Pauline. who viii none
Of him. Her brother Aptl0ay arrives and demands
IN account of the estate aud thousand pounds
down neither Of which is the patriotic but default.
ING uncle in a condition to give. In this emergency
Iaoio offers to ind the money if CcAdi will give him
III niece aud 20 tn he consents, wEcrenpon suit is
lad TO- the lady by her spy-loycr only to he repealed
with angry contempt. to which lie rctorts with
threats. Re-cnter the brother; quarrel between
brother AMI lover, 4HtOay Slaps PGO'os face right
and left with his white kid glove, inviting him 10
seek redress how and whore he will, TO which iaOlo
naturally responds here and now and AHtkODy
Ia, turned his back upon him. punGcS his dagger
into it. once twice thrice. Iii is done with light
mig swiftnesS. PcuiiRc shrieks and swOOns. Gilbert
starts ont from ms hdingpacc, and is himself only
saved from Ia1los knife by the chance discovery
that hc has seen nothing The curtain falls with
GiB,y' bending over Tdaliacs body and the wills
pered exclamation of Cclcri. lie is blind
II a murder is TO be done on the stage it could
not be- done better 1t proves the KEY to all the
rest When the curtain rises on the next act, Taa
Hae has gone mad. GHb1t has recovered his sight.
believes 1t was PGu'at who was murdered, and has
devoted his life to detecting and destroying her
sas,in 10 this end he has an ntcry Jew with an
Italian patriot who OF course proves to be tcaei,
who equally of course finds himself in danger and
runs Oh. Gilbert having gone to find him in his
lodgings has startling scene, of which the most is
not made, in the meeting with PdgliFe abandoned
Nv her uncle whom her lover then Just discovers
70 be alive and insane. He puIsucs the patriot
80 Paris. The secret police appear the
IN ftrtl his ulauS Vyo10 of Them
who neatly avenges himself by eXpla Iing
70 GHJTt that Pauline in fact no better
than she should be- aud that il was her lover on
whom justice was done by murder CmCj, mean.
time. has been betrayed, entrappod and shipped to
Siberia whittier gilbert resolves TO follow him in
order to learn from his lips the truth about his
niece.
The easy crcdulity which leads gilbert TO cherish
a suspicion of his be;rohcd on no better authority
than the word OF spy is only TO be justified by the
necessity of his making the trip to Siberia, but for
which the chance of bid for antl-l;usSian pieju-
aiccs and the display of a realistic scene of prison
life would be lost. The audience moreover, knows
that Gilbert is on a wrong scent, and the movement
az the play does not advance single step during
this long JOURNEYS CegD is found though we all
wish he had not been, for the CWeri of M G. W.
Arson is deporable performance and nothing in
his life became him less than his leaving of it. No
more spasmOdic protracted. meaningless and
altogether ludicroos death scene has been enacted
GIbri comes back frcIghted with his discovery Of
PaalH's innocence which he would have learnt as
surely and much more quickly by staying in Paris.
Pauline RECEIVERS her reason and her lover, while
Paoo meets his DOOM is about 10 meet it, as the
curtain falls on tie last scene.
This is obviously melodrama and a good one
though everybody talks a great deal too much and
there sundry structural faults in the play some
OF which have indicated The talk can easily be
cut down. aud the logical ecccutrcities are not Of
kind Of which an audience shows itself rcsentful.
No play could have been better received, nor as
L.. -...-.l IL.