The Washington critic., 1885-11-24
WASHINGTON. D. c., NOV. 81. 1886
uNTRAMMELED cRIrICIsM.

tNlhA VI VI ELED thIIItlSM.
Mr.. W. II. Gillette, who Is still starring
somewhere around the West with The
Private secretary" has written a new play,
which Is shortly To he produced In Washing.
ton, II deals with events growing out Of the
late civil war In this country, and is TO be
called Through the Lines" Mr.. Gilette's
new piece Is written from the Southern
standpoint, and II will have It's first few
months OF life on route extending south
ward from Washington New York Times.
Here is further evidence that Wash
ington is regarded by American play.
wrights as the best place in the country
from which to launch their uutricl
dramatic ventures upon the sea of fate
public opinion They consider the
judgment of Washington theatre pa.
irons better test as to the merits of
new play than the verdict OF any
other theatrical audience throughout
the land.
In selecting the National Capital as
the place where first to try the gauge
of public sentiment, the dramatic au.
thor exhibits n sagacious appreciation
of the enlightenment and critical cul.
ture of our citizens, for it is conceded
that the residents Of this truly cosmo-
politan city constitute a community of
rare ana diversified attainments. In
point of general intelligence and edu-
cation it is nowhere surpassed. The
reason why it is so consists in the fact
that by far the larger portion of the
population of the city is composed of
the best elements of the best classes
drawn hither from all sections of the
Union, while our foreign sojourners
come for the greater part from the
most polished and distinguished circles
of the Old World. Hence the seal of
approval or disapproval with which an
average Washington audience stamps
the production Of new play can be re.
lied upon as an almost invariable in
dex of the intelligent opinion of the
country
1t may be, however, that the judg
ment of Washington audience does
not always coincide with the judgment
of its newspaper critics, though editorial
criticism In Washington, taken as it
runs, is probably as discerning and at
the same time unprejudiced as in other
cities. 1t often happens that plays
which even the great journals of New
York unsparingly condemn, prove to
be the most successful, so far as liberal
patronage and wide popularity are in
dicative of success. But it must be re-
membered that nowadays, theatre
goers are not so much influenced as
they formerly were by what is called
newspaper criticism, which is quite as
apt to be the outcropping of individual
bias as awork of discriminating Justice.
The patrons of the theatre, more than
ever before, go and judge for them
selves without waiting to be told by the
dramatic editor whether it is worth
their while to do so or not.
This was illustrated quite recently
and strikingly by one of our esteemed
morning contemporaries, which, for
reasons satisfactory to itself, severely
denounced the character of the per-
formances at two of our uptown
theatres and focused the flattery of its
untrammeled critic upon and in behalf
of the attraction at another theatre. At
the end of the week the latter place of
amusement closed its doors and they
have not been opened since, while the
two theatres whose managers as we'll
as players were so badly excoriated con.
tinue their business as usual. We do not
intend TO convey the idea that the thea
Elm question closed its doors in conse-
quence of the merited praise of an un.
trammeled critic; 1t was for want of
patronage, which no newspaper criti
cism, untrammeled or otherwise, can
control. All of which goes to sustain
the point with which we started out,
that the people of Washington who at
tend the theatres, are in the habit of
exercising an independent judgment as
to the merits or dement's of a play re
gardless in great degree, of the pros
and cons of the newspapers As to
their likes and dislikes in this respect
they have standard of their own, as in
matters of dress and diet and daily life,
without consulting the oracles of the
press, and this is why the verdict of
intelligent Washington audiences is es-
teemed of such weight and importance
by the authors Of new plays, They know
that such verdict is candid and un-
biassed, and therefore just.