Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-11-04
THE GALLEY SLAVE.
This md / Trip 70 ChlIitsI1 llls
This Nwk's BID.
sHAKspEABEAN CHARACTERS.


.srhs Galley Slave" the potent 'melo-
| drama from the pen Of BARLEY Camp
| bell, will be seen again In Richmond
| after an absence Of some years at the
| Academy next Tuesday and "wednesday.
| The story of the play is 50 wei known
that its many strong. interesting. ana
thrilling points do not need TO be ~
sisted upon, but the fact that It VIII De
interpreted by the original company that
has met with such phenomenal success
| in the larger cities lends additional
glamour to the engagement. The cast IL
a remarkable one. including, as 1t does
Miron Leffingwell, Carroll Daily. ]. A.
Wheelock, w. w. Albree Qor the last
seven years with 1.-THE Old Homestead"
| Company, Charles Goodrich, Miss Lo-
drski Young 0or many years leading lady
| with Edwin BOOTH. Effie Darling form-
| erly with Rhea), Lola Morrisse. Hariette
| Sheldon, and other well-known people,
| sss
| Hoyts "a Trip to Chinatown" will be
at the Academy Of Music next Thursday
| and Friday. No great strength Is Claimed
| for the story Of the play. the main idea
| a
| sketches and up-to-date episodes. IL
IL n clever musical conceit. and satirizes
popular themes and characters In such a
manner as to afford a feast of continuous
| laughter. 1t will be- a notable engage
| ment. because on this occasion the skit
will be interpreted by the original New
| York company that presented II 1or ooS
| consecutive nights In New YORK. Inc
cast includes Harry Conor as Weiiand
Strong, Harry Gilfoil as the Waiter.
| introducing his whistling specialties ana
exhibiting his art as an adroit mixer
! of drinks; the charming Widow Guyer
Introduces Geraldine Mccain. with pretty
| Sadie Kirby as Flirt. Bessie Clayton,
| the sensational dancer Is also In the cast.
A carload of scenery. designed ana
painted by Arthur Voegtlin. together with
| properties and accessories, even 10 inc
| mrutest detail, will be incidental TO THIS
| production.
In no branch Of dramatic art mas pro-
| gress been more marked than IN the
matter of costumes and scenic display.
| This is an age of pictures. The BOOKS
sell best that are well illustrated IN
addition to being well written. Those
who run, and read while they run. get
| almost as much Information from pic
| torial art as from the letter press. the
| same desire TO satisfy the eye. as well
| as the mind, has become more and more
| apparent on the stage Of recent years:
| and in view Of the elaborate revivals OF
Sbaksnearean PLAYS a. word or two as
to how the actors dressed their parts
at the beginning Of this century will not
seem super1uous:
First comes Edmund Kean. whose dress
| as Shylock, obviously founded on that
| of Macklin, whose presentation OF the
| character has been the model for all sue
| ceedlng players. was good and enectve.
| though his method Of sdressing King
Lear was striking In its grotesqueness.
Evidently with some Idea OF conveying
| the feeling OF a very ancient day. Ed
mund Kean makes King Lear wear SAN
dals: but these do not help US much IN
our endeavor to fix the period which ne
intended to represent. The Anglo-Saxons.
who were probably In the actors mind.
were not, as a matter OF fact, wearers OF
Sc pdals, except In the case OF such OF
them as were connected with some 10.
lig;ous order. What period Lear's royal
robe, as seen in the old prints, Is sup
posed to represent / cannot imagine,
but his sceptre certainly resembles some
which may be found in thirteenth-century
manuscript, while his crown shows the
ugly crimson velvet bag, which old NOT
come into use before the end OK the
seventeenth century.
But with Kean's strange conglomerate
costume we take leave OF the old order or
things, for a new era Is dawning. inc
creator of the new idea was that charm-
ing writer and learned antiquary, James
Robinson blanche. who, though ne mao
not turned his attention specially to the
study of costume in 1873, was sufficiently
obseryant to notice how faulty the
Kemble principle of stage dressing was.
AS he himself said. he saw the English
soldiers in cooked hats, powder, and pig
tails, and he saw them In 1873 wearing
helmets and culrasses. Reasoning from
this he saw how absurd It was that the
soldiers before Algiers at the beginning
of the thirteenth century should wear pre-
ciseIy the same costume as those VINO
fought at Bosworth Field, at the end
of the fifteenth. blanche happened. IN
the course Of a casual conversation with
Charles Kemble In 1923. to allude to this
point. and that intelligent actor at once
saw the possibilities Of the suggested
new departure. He was at this time
managing Covent Garden, London, where
a revival Of king John" was IN pre-
paration for Young. and he requested
blanche to superintendent the production.
solely for love Of the stage and the de-
sire to elevate II. Naturally, he met with
strong opposition from those stanch con-
seryatiyes-the actors. "Never shall
forget" he says in his delightful RE
collections" 1.-THE dismay OF some OK the
performers when they looked upon the
fiat-topped chapeaux de fer OF the twelfth
century, which they irreverently stigma
tized as stew-pans! Nothing but the iact
that the classical features OF kembie
were to be surmounted by precisely
similar abomination would. think. have
induced one of their rebelllous barons
TO have appeared in 1t. They had no
faith In me, and sulkily assumed their
new and strange habiliments IN
the full belief that they should be
roared at by the audience" And
as he goes on to state. they
were roared at. but In quite different
way from that which they had antici-
pated. When the curtain rose and the
audience saw King John dressed exactly
like his efigy in Worcester Cathedral
and saw his barons In coats or mall, with
cyclindrical helmets and correct armoriaI
shields. and his courtiers in long TUNES
and nantes, they roared their appro-
baton: and the production was so great
q success, blanche says, the complete
reformation of dramatic costume became
from that moment inevitable upon the
| English stage.
It is interesting to learn that the great
English actress, Fanny Kemble. who had
been the FIRST to take any serious step
towards this reformation. did not APP
prove Of the logical result Of her own
Initiative. She expressed her opinion to
her brother Charles In these terms: 1T
is sufficient for the dress to be conven-
tional." She had no sympathy, evidently.
with what great living authority calls
this undramatic pedantry. which trans
fers the discussions Of the Society Of
Antiquaries to thu boards Of q theatre"
But Mr. Percy Fitzgerald penned this
sentence before the recent wonderful re-
vivals showed that 1t Is possible to pro-
duce an historic play with the most
minute accuracy In every detail. yet with
out overlooking the drama with accesso-
ries or losing single touch OF Its poetic
significance. And 1t u remarkable that
little "bit" Of accuracy sometimes takes
q general audience by storm. Fanny
Kemble relates such circumstance In
connection with her costume ~ Portia.
MY second Dress" she says. was sim
ply the Doctors black gown. with Z Gu
,,t6 hat t~Ss