The evening world., 1894-05-29
LADY GLADYS"

was with him as soon as tne iust 'ui
tain fell at the Madison Square Theatre
last night. II vas meant to be one OF
those verdlcts which juries deliver WIFE
out leaving the box.
Well, Lady Gladys" was not as bad az
that. The outside weather was wretched,
but there was something tolerable about
the play. The principal trouble seemed 10
be that It needed elbow room. The meas
ure OF Lady Gladys Is melodramauc'
and the comedy Ind domestic drama d.
mens,ons OF Mr.. Hoyt's theatre KIND or
crampcd II and crowded everybody. Inc
painful impression given by all the
players was that they were acting under
n small glass case. and were afraid to let
themselves loose lest they smash things
to smithereens. Even the star, Mrs.
Minnie seligmap-C Cutting, kept her emo
tons In a supremely suppressed mol
ton, and remained a pent-up utica OF
dramatic expression to the very end.
Only once did she consent to haul on
and knock the daylights out OF a situa-
and that was at the end OF the nrst
act-when the heroine, wrought up 10 a
righteous frenzy by the heartlessness
and cruelty OF the parvenu old chap. VINO
has purchased her famtly's estate ana
10 turning her out OF her home, rises on
her tippy-toes and ~wrathfully remarks;
"you have had my fathers answer to
your %insinuations and insults. now take
whereupon she cracks the crusty
old guy across the face with her riding
whip. II seemed rather funny at hrst
that she should be going out INTO 'ne
cold world in n riding costume, but this
explained the necessity for the
RIG No exclamation. however, was OF
fered for later on sending Sir Gilbert
Vance out into a Rip-Van-Winkle-Eke
storm with an old red slipper on MS
foot and nothing 20 shelter MS Martina
Washington hair from the biting blasts
Mrs. Seligman-Cutting appeared 10
carry n deep and dismal regret all
the rest OF the play for having
given way to her feelings In that horse
wh,nning scene. The play actually
moancd for more of her to slosh around
in after that; 1t gasped as II 1t were
laced too tight: 1t pleaded to be given a
loose leg so that It could cavort o
like a healthy, high-spirited melodrama:
II fairly begged at several points Tor
more histrionic excitation to the cubic
inch thar 1t was getting and less nerv-
Gus prostration. But Mrs. Seligman-
Cuttings dramatic mensuration refused
to deal with larger dimensional proper
ties, so Lady Gladys" was served up
to the audience, who tried to take 1t all
seriously. in crushed chunks OF emotion
that were difficult Of definition and as
u%nappeasing as a gum-drop might be to
a hungry hippopotamus.
Lady Gladys Hope, in the guise of a
Miss Gascoigne. who is the travelling
companion of a giddy young blonde
countess. wins. unsolicited. the love OF
the son of the man who took away the
Hopes home and sent My Lady's father
to his grave with a broken heart. She
becomes his wife and receives for her
wedding portion the estat which the
Hopes had lost. Returning to her former
home she turns her father-in-law out OF
doors. and tells the son to go, too. The
latter gets brain fever, but lives to have
the vengeful Gladys find out that he a
done her father a great kindness In his
declining years. which causes her to call
everything squar and take her hus-
band back to her arms. besides es-
tablishing a frst-rate entente-cordiale
between herself and her Martha Wash
ington-haired f~ather-in-law.
Mrs. Seligman-Cutting's Lady GLADYS
Is a languid n-the-Night
sort of n female, with a feud ranking
in her heart. She looks colly-wobbly
most OF the time. but feebly laughs the
matter on when you tell her she needs
a doctor. She falls into lachrymose
streaks, and then again she
with herself in a soft. low. confidential
way. while n bewildered Bloomingdale
look fills her eyes. Talk about repres-
sion-here you have 1t with suppression
compression, depression and all the
others thrown in. The actress uses her
lower register entirely, so that her
voice may In no way betray her feel
ings. Her pericardium Is filled with cot
ton batting to deaden the heart-throbs
and her pulse is mufled to prevent an
awful calamity following the %Quickening
of her blood by the dramatic passages Of
the play. Another actress would have
sailed right in and let us have seen tina
her emotions were attending properl,
to their business. but not so Mrs
Seligman-C. She evidently wanted L
keep her audience guessing, and she sue,
ceeded.
The play is not as bad as the treat
ment 1t received. Its, heroine is a creepy
undesirable sort of a person. but tn,
story Is strong and we'll told. The clever
est and ~pleasantest bit OF action present
ed in connection with 1t was that o
Mr.. James X. Hackett as the countr,
curate, 1t was a delightfully."- robus
and human p~ersonation, and everybod,
liked II. John Glendinning had a thank
less line OF work in thrusting his hear
under a in-de-siecle NEMESIS feet, L
have 1t ruthlessly scrunched. but he go
through 1t all with dignity and credit
The lady with the large imagination
which she shaded with one OF the new
Vesta Tilley hats. was satisfactor.
enough, and there was considerabl
brightness in the efforts of Lillian Law
renee, who. however, shouldn't hav
tackled Genoa before she consulted
pronouncing gazetteer; and of Herber