The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-01-16
oscar W|LDE'S DRAMA
Lady Windermere'S Fan Given Brilliant
Production at the Academy,
A CLEVERLY Constructed PLAY
Most of the Interest Centers Upon
the Singing Shafts of CYnicism Ut
tered by the Aesthetic Oscars Soci-
ey Men-The Romance of the Piece
of a Familiar Type-Story of the
Englishman's Play.

i
hibited his shrinking knees, encaSed In
plush bresche5; since he shocked the
world by his amorous and rather in'
decent devotion to the suniiower; since
Sir Arthur Sullivan caricatured him
as Burnthorne in the opera Patience"
the world has regarded him as
freak Now that he has put before tho
public play that is remarkable for
the singing cynicism Of its dialogue,
he is regarded as more of n freak than
ever. BY all the laws Of precedent o.
car Wilde should not have done any
thing more startling than attending
afternoon teas and receptions.
BY his first dramatic work, Lady
inlermere's Fan" which was pro-
duced at the Academy of Music last
evening. the aesthetic Oscar broke away
from the environments Of freakdOm
and appeared as q dramatist--and, too,
one of the cleverest of his age.
STORY OF THE PLAY.
Tue story Oscar Wilde tells IN Lady
Windermere's Fan" is about very
good young wife who discovers that
her very good young husband is paying
large sums of money to woman who
owns rather shady reputation who is,
in reality, the handsome mother OF the
young wife, having deserted her hus-
band and child twenty years before.
The large sums paid to her are the in
nocent contributions Of the young
husband who, out of devotion to his
wife, who believes her mother TO be
dead, would like to rehablittts
the wayward woman in society. When
in a moment Of innocent rage and hu-
initiation over the presence Of the sus-
pected woman in her house, the wife Is
preparing to fv to the protection of n
man who has long pestered her with
his attentions, she is saved from the
fatal step by the aforesaid woman with
the s. T., who after twenty years Of in
difference suddenly experiences pang
of maternal sympathy and rescues the
still innocent girl from ruin by claim
ing for herself an undessrved disgrace.
Ii Is in this situation that occurs the
episode Of the fan. Lord Windermere
has found his wife's fan in the apart
ment of Lord Darlington. The woman
with the reputation confronts the no
bleman as they face each other after
the discovery. and, announcing that
she took Lady Windermeres fan by
mistake when she was leaving thai
lady's home little while before, gath
cred to herself all the guilt, and in the
intensity of the moment when all
eyes are fixed upon the woman
with the reputation, Lady Winder
mere who has been concealed behind 8
curtain, takes advantage of the oppor
tunity and escapes, and her honor i:
saved Lady Windermere does no
subsequently learn that the woman
with the reputation is her mother, a.
might be expected she would, but aftel
a touching scene with her in which sht
expresses proper gratitude for the lady
services the night before, bids her
tender farewell and nestles in the arm
of her husband.
A HACKNEYED ROMANCE.
1t is hard to conceive Of class ot
people who can glitter SO incessantly
as the people Oscar Wilde has put into
Lady Windermere's Fan" The in
tsrest centers almost entirely in tht
heartlsss utterances of group o
rakes, and the sentimental interest o
the story is secondary to tn,
dialogue of these dissipated Gym
les. The real romance is rathe
hackneyed, and frequently i
tedious, the central situation is ia
milar, and the movement of the pla
at times is far from brisk Oscar wake
up his audience when he trots on hi
rouos and sits them about the stag
much after the style Of a minstrel pei
formance, with an interlocutor in tn
middle, whose duty it is to draw ou
shafts Of wit from the end msn-an,
. these shafts are sharpely pointed,
must be admitted.
The performance at the Academy
, last evening was given the benefit o
an unusually good stage setting. Tn
young, confding wife. Lady Winde
mere, was admirably portrayed b
Miss Evelyn Campbell. Miss Virgins
' Harmed, as the woman with the histori
past, looked the part most effectively
n and missed no points. sustaining her
: self throughout with certainty. vivac
ity, and at the proper times with cor
= vincing passion. OF the male member
, of the company, Frank Gilmore, How
ell Hansell. Herbert Ayling, j. {
Saville and r. s Ahales were all poot