Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-11-12
THE LONDON STAGE.
The Production Of ...ohn o. Dreams inc
Event OF The Season.

LONDON. Nov. 1.-THE production OF
If MADDEN Chambers "John O'Dreams'
at the Haymarket theater, on Thursday
last, was the event of the autumn season.
While the new play was received WIN
every mark of approval by critical audl-
ence, this was more due to the splendid
acting and staging than to the merits OF
the play itself. with its reclaimed courte-
san, whose mother was courtesan before
her, as the heroine and an opium eating
poet as the hero the performance was not
altogether pleasant in spite of the art OF
Mrs. Patrick Campbell and Mr.. Beerbohm
Tree.
John O'Dreams' is the soubriquet or
one Harold Winn, young poet ana
dreamer, who is contrasted in the play TO
realistic character player by Charles
Cartwright Both men are in love with
the same woman, woman who mas
through her worldly experience learned TO
measure the length OF love by the knowl-
edge of its depth. 10 quote Mr. Trees
own words he yearning for freedom from
one who is bound in the fcttcrS OF past.
gives opportunities for Mrs. Patrick
Campbell to reveal a complex nature by
the light of sympathy and romantic feel
ing, instead of cynicism and bitterness,
qualities which have so often characterized
heroines of modern plays.
John O'Dreams' was not written with
the view of enforcing moral, nor of prov
ing anything-but rather of representing
Some Human Beings AS They Are
with their human passions-and therefore
inspiring human interests. The play de-
riyes much dramatic force from the hero's
desperate efforts, through the influence
of a poetic love, to struggle against an
heredity tendency to seek consolation in
narcotics. have only family foreshad-
owed the psychology of the play, and have
not attempted to describe the plot Per
haps the Persian poet, Hofz's lines may
tell YOU more than mine. They are the
text of the play, and they rum
when wandered in the paths of love,
When love chung to my garments lost my
friends"
The Times in its critique of the play
draws attention to the rapid progress OF
the passion drama, and the freedom with
which the Femmepcrdue and her inter
ests are now discussed on the English
stage.
The adverse decision in the case of the
Empire Music hall is still Il topic of cx-
cited discussion all over the town. The
directors are chagrincd that their appeal to
the courts from the decision of the county
council not to grant the Empire liquor
license unless the promenade was closed,
was dismissed, and are yet undecided as to
what course of action they will adopt
Mrs. Ormiston Chant, the leader of the
crusade against the Empire, is naturally
iubilant over the successful fight she has
made. She states that she
Has Been Threatened With Bombs.
dynamite, stabbing, vitrol, shooting, etc
In the streets she is howled at, and is told
in certain shops where she is known to
take her trade elsewhere. In the mean
time the women who frequented the En-
pire have gone to other music halls which
have secured their licenses with little or
no trouble, as it was predicted they would
do. and the only practical good done is
that other music hall managers are profit
ing at the expense of Mr. Edwardcs.
Mr. Alexander opened the st. James
theater Saturday night with The Mas
Queraders, and il new curtain raiser en-
titled Gentleman jim, the work of Mr..
Walker.
Scgfricd Wagner made his bow to til"
London musical world at Queens hall
on Tuesday last. His only success was in
drawing II larg. audience, whose presence
was due to curiosity.
Miss Ellen Terry appeared in Glasgow
on Monday for the first time dulin-
Henry lrving's present tour of the prov
inccs Her health has been restored.
"All My Eye Nanno," which WAS pro
duced at the Trafalgar theater on Oct 81,
fell so flat that it has been withdrawn. 1t
will be rewritten and again presented.