The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-12-04
NEW DRAMAS IN CONTRAST.
.,ug ulsoUERADERS,r "To VEN
rstS." AND "THEOoTToN KING.o

n..t.. Frohrsn's Company Regius : wiu.
,.r season ~ the E-pire wiss = Play BY
u..ry Arthur Jones-Rese CoehIa. =,
al. star Produces = Fteee ~ Mrs. H.
aldo rschseo-A As.ir ~ ths
Academy OF N-sis ~ s-ttor vase.
very feverish and extremely theatrical
a,,ms Of a kind that has often failed TO impress
sr,6ned audience deeply, made q profound SEN
alton at the Empire Theatre last evening. Tho
..u.es of this effect were not hard to discern.
~. Members Of Charles Frohman's stock COM
ANY concerned in the performance were favor.
i,.s who had been absent more than
h.lf A year. and their welcome home gave cordi-
.li,y to the occasion. The author was Henry
Aytbur Jones, recommended not only by Lon
don vogue, but possessing in this country q good
,.putation, earned by clever work. The play
90. acted with skill and force, and with all the
iIb.ral helps Of the best stagecraft. Besides those
favorable conditions, and, of course, the para
mount factor in the great success achieved by
.The Mssqueraders,' was the intrinsic power
NJ the work itself. Notwithstanding the repel-
liant nature Of the theme, the unseemliness of
the principal characters conduct. and the un-
vorthiness Of most Of their motives, Mr.. Jones
had written a play with one episode far too en-
crossing to be resisted, even by such an accus-
toned and critical ~assemblage as that which
crowded the Empire.
The singular and absorbing happening was a
zane Of chance, in which one gambler staked
his wife against the others fortune of a
million dollars. This was In the third act.
The actors were Henry Miller. William
Fsyersham, and Viola Allen. Earlier in the
inlay Miss Allen had been a barmaid,
who married Mr.. Faversham, q dissolute
b.ronet. although she was more truly loved by
Mr.. Miller. a not opulent scientist. At the end
Of about three years the baronet was an impe-
cunious drunkard. the scientist was very
vealthy, and the former barmaid was a mis-
erable wife, who had consented, upon the
solicitation of her husband, to borrow
money from her still faithful lover. Then came
remarkable gambling scene. The reckless bar
onet consented to wager his wife against the
ardent scientists million dollars, the game to be
three cuts at cards. It may be easily seen that
10 theatric an affair as that had to be vividly en-
acted in order to render 1t thrillinglyd dramatic.
The author had led up to IL adroitly. and had i'm
parted more FEASIBILITY to the story than wonld
seem possible in q play. wherein the explana-
lions and descriptions allowed to a novelist are
not permissable: but after he had done all he
could in devising and writing the situation. the
matter depended for triumph or fasco.
for applause or ridicule, on the two
actors. Mr.. Miller and Mr.. Faversham
won applause for q triumph. The whole thing
lasted no more than Ave minutes from the time
the two excited men faced each other across the
table for tho hazard until 1t was over. Mr..
Faversham played his part violently. under
orders to follow the example OF his London pre-
decessor in the role, no doubt, and that was
surely the wise way to do It. The
character was that Of a bully and sot, and It was
correct to make him demonstrative. Mr.. Miller.
e~nacting the part Of q dreamer and thinker. was
properly sell -controlled. although excitement
cut once in favor Of the husband. and he was
e%Iultant,, The wife entered: and the game was
were cut again. and this time in favor OF the
lover. A third trial would decide. The lover
SURE sSt q Of s Win sRRDs; made ads the ae'o other ' sseaI. IN nlT that
case, to deliver the money. Then he cut-and
CERTAIN was lifted nine times after that. Climax.
and the fate of the drama in New York was
The players acquitted themselves we'll
Allen had to begin as q dispenser OF drinks In
time Of q hunt clubs bali. Here a kiss OF the
bsr%a ID, Tas put S,I up for for ;Sle by %.n auS wba , she
The scientist hadn't money enough 70 buy
t SsSoh nets secured cur II the sU girl herself By Offering mar
riase, which she accepted In order to rise from
credit than the one which followed. -
g a1sn ' Fright tin in It's %H s%sFei ,asSn snd i 9aTthis ssd II. the
sIsayy 1ndsr saSnsh g that. the msrri.se was "SS an;
fortunate, that ths hu:bsnd's prosisaSy had
from the. man whom be knew she loved.
Cranky heartiess man. Miss De. Wolfe as an
equally ,cool-blooded woman, and Mr.. Edeson
S we're e sl a Z fiSe. r But i hsrs. an al aRaeasa
the play. good human nature was scarce and
nSa%y% oa pSli Tsi ii P nj. goa;.s' sn ce@p Ssi asaif this IS
time. Everything was strained awry In the
3 I course. the venturesome Yet adroit author
Of The Masqueraders' did not dare 70 deliver
S he VI. .ii;sI aPsi H. e @, the he I %sn ls .eO .e. the .Ss card: ssis
that she loved him, that she belonged e
him; but ,a6s that hat, she H. T sSsrsupo KIN dep n 3
and the audience was left to Imagine that,
some time or other. they would be able to J jGin
Fischer was valuable here, and earlier. In i'm,
parting emphasis 70 a sister OF the heroine. and
brother OF the lover. Mr.. Thompson gave a
clever sketch OF an innkeoper. 1t was a fine rep
resentation altogether.
There was a curious assemblage OF characters
on the stage of the Star Theatre last night en-
gagged in developing a play called T Nemesis"
Its subtitle was Love and Hate. $50 the specta-
tors learned at the outset.that the people in this
play were concerned with the usual emotions
which agitate stage folk. They were all very
usual people, in fact, and they were inter-
esting because they did the customary thing
with such rare lack OF skill. There were
counts. doctors. barons. and captains, American,
Russian, French. and English, revolving I'M
steadily about a Swiss lady with a past. Many
Of their names terminated with an "Of." and
there was enough gossip about spies ank secret
agents to make the atmosphere Russian when 1t
took on any tone whatever. But that was not
often.
Even the central lady in the piece based her
claim to sympathy on as nimsy a past" as any
stage heroine ever feckoned on. She came
down from her Alpine roOst with a young
Frenchman. who promised TO marry her and
didn't because she was an humble peasant maid
and he was a French marquis. That was the ex-
tent OF his contribution TO the lady's past, for the
plAy takes care TO explain that "she shrank
back from him in dread" But she goes TO
Russia, gets a fortune and an "ofr and comes
hack 10 Paris, where she creates such an amount
OF gossip that the characters in the piece spent
half the nrst act in talking about her. She meets