Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-10-21

necessary to give the details of the story,
which is intensely interesting and will
long stand as a model of the modern play
wright's art
1t seems that Pinero when he wrote it
had no idea that it would ever become a
great and popular success, for he feared
that the theater going public would refuse
to accept it seriously as a thoroughly sin
cere contribution to contemporaneous dra-
matte literature. He offered THE Second
Mrs. Tanqueray" to Manager Daniel Froh-
man of the Lyceum, this city, but that as
tute manager was unwilling to serve it up
to the exotic palates of his patrons.
When it was produced some time after
ward in London and really became the
reigning sensation, Mr.. Frohman was no
doubt greatly surprised and perhaps a
trif1e regretful at the apparently magnif-
cent lost opportunity. He was afraid
that New York wouldn't stand it, but
this cosmopolitan city has not only stood"
it, but it positively likes it, and that, too,
despite the fact that most of the critics do
not. These gentlemen have suddenly de
veloped didactic tendencies, and the theat-
rical columns of the big New York dailies
may soon be expected 10 contain long ser
mons on morality. Ii this should prove to
be the case, what a contrast will thus be
afforded with the other portions of most of
those papers!
The offense in the case of The Second
Mrs. TanQucray" seems to lie in the fact
that it deals with things as they really are
and not as they should be. The play shows
by means of strong dialogue, masterful
situations and adroit suggestions that a
misstep will be followed by retribution just
as surely as the sun rises and sets. This is
done in such vigorous manner that to
many the treatment might appear at first
sight to be unnecessarily and even brutally
broad but this is not the case. The thing
that surprised me most was that an author
should be able to handle subject so adj
mittedly tender" with much skill and
comparative delicacy, and so little actual
statement of the unSavory condition which
everybody who sees the play thoroughly
understands without exactly knowing at
what particular point in the progress of the
drama he received the information.
People may discuss The Second Mrs.
Tanqueray' from the moral or immoral
standpoint much as they like, but no
one who makes the slightest pretensions
to n knowledge of the technique of stage
writing will deny that from the literary and
artistic standpoints no play presented in
this city for many year is its superior, and
but few of them are its equals.
| Iwould not advise parents to take their
| young daughters to see The Second Mrs.
/ TanQueray," because the moral there
| taught may be acquired in much more
h quiet manner. But to grown persons, who
! know and realize that the world is not I'M
! sulliedlv pure, an evening with The Sec
ond Mrs. Tanqueray" will prove literary
treat.
| Harrigan's new play, The Wooden Stock
| ing" has caught the fancy of his clientele
just as most of its predecessors have done
! The Wooden Stocking is the name of a coal
mine in Pennsylvania, the deed of which
has been lost by the rightful owner and
! has been pasted in II Bible belonging to n
colored family. This Bible is transferred
for debt and other causes from one person
| to another, and it is upon the efforts to re
| turn it to the owner that the main thread
of the plot-if the play can be said to have
a plot-really hangs. It's a mighty slender
thread, but it does not require n very strong
one to hold up the story.
The scene is laid in New York, and
the Characterization, though necessarily a
trifle exaggerated for the purposes of
funmaking, is in the main good, and
coupled with the really fine mounting
which Harrigan has given the piece will
almost certainly insure for it long and
prosperous career. Dave Braham has
written six new songs. and there is not
one of them which the hand organs and the
street Urchins will not soon have. BY the
way, Mr.. Braham has in this company a
son, n particularly conscientious lad OF
considerable ability, who is likely to make
his mark in the line of work which he has
mapped out for himself.