Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-10-06
THE TREATERS CROWDED.
Warde in New Play, the Lions Mouth-A
Straight Tip-The Little Tycoon-Min-
strels and Lesser Amusements All Well


warde in New Play, the Lions Mouth-A
Straight Tip-The Little TycOon-Min.
strels and Lesser Amusements All Wei
Patronized.
1.-THE Lions Mouth" a romantic drama
in prologue and four acts, by Henry Guy
! Carleton, was given last night for the first
| time in Pittsburg at the Grand Opera
House by Frederick Warde. 1t is al
together novelty in these degen
crate days to find a dIamatist
daring to use blank verse, and
| more than that showing good grounds for
I his audacity. "The Lions MOUTH is almost
| wholly in blank verse. and Mr.. Carleton uses
it without timidity. A single hearing is not
| enough to warrant a Judgment of the merits
of the play literature, but at least it may be
! said that there are in it passages of singular
/ beauty, that great deal of the verse is nlusi.
! cal, and that neither humor nor dignity nor
| Pathos have been sacrificed inskeeping the
| lines within the close limits of meter. About
| the drama there is no doubt at all. 1t is a
| play of power and real human interest;
| romantic. of course, and, therefore, at times
improbable to degree; and the strain
| ing for effect upsets even possibilities
at times. The plot is not exactly like dozens
| of other plots, but it has strong family re-
semblance to what romantic dramas, whose
locale is in Italy and time the Middle Ages,
| are wont to have. There is an assassination
| to start with and the pursuit of the
assassin Is the strongest motive of
the play, although love tempers the blood
thlrtiness and nicely entangles the eonspir-
ators Taking everything into considera-
tion "The Lions Mouth" is good play, with
more plot than character in it, and ex-
pressed generally in English far be-
such play at 35, makes Mr.. Carleton, who is
! journalist now of California, a factor OF
large size in the evolution of the American
drama. 1t must be noted however, that
| Mr. Co 1a@N Cf,tAn fSNfN NlNnlr
peare to some. purpose. Perhaps the
Venetian atmosphere with which Mr.. Carrie
ton endows "The Lions Mouth" inspired
him in the same way that it did
actually has breathed the air of
Venice and seen the lions of st. Mark,
which the immortal bard certainly did not.
In this way the close resemblance of some
passages to Shakespeare, the closer likeness
OF the characters and the general ia Shioning
of 1.-THE Lions MOUTH upon Shakespearean
lines, may be accounted for. In the first act
Mr.. Ward as Rt1,dtdO recalls more than once
Merclfio by his words his manner, and his
actions. The monkish imposter who is the
villain of the piece, in fact is the only char
acter that does not remind one OF some
figure in Romeo and Juliet" in 'Twelfth
Night" or some other Shakespearean
romance. This is not evidence against
! Mr.. Carleton, for it cannot be denied
that he could hardly have taken Il
/ better model, or borrowed, if he has
actually borrowed, from better source.
Once in while the language is involved
and the meaning obscure, and then a
likeness to Shakespeare-with due rever-
ence be it said-arises again. The jaiier-
Di0nySio-for instance, drops into archaic
humor just as Shakespeare is so fond of
making his DogberTys and Gobbos and other
lowly people do. We do not see the
fun ofmaking small personages in a drama
antique humOrists, but perhaps Mr. Carleton
is right in sticking wholly to the Shakes
pearean method. The real trouble is that
some OF the comedy in tThe Lion s Mouth'is is
But it is a small trouble after all, for the
comedy where it is important is extremely
well conceived, essentially new, or at least
in treatment, and the wit of the dialogue is
often sparkling.