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

rain!' said n gentleman 10 'ne Iau' Wv
was with him as soon as the last cur
tain fell at the Madison Square Theatre
last night. II was meant TO be one OF
those verdicts which juries deliver ~ith-
out leaving the box.
Well, Lady Gladys was not as bad as
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.
mpnsions Of Mr.. Hoyt's theatre KIND OF
| cramrcd II and crowded everybody. Inc
painful impression given by all lne
| players was that they were acting under
a small glass case. and were AFRAID 10 let
themselves loose lest they smash things
to smithereens. Even the Star, Mrs'
Minnie Seligman-Cutting. kept her emo
tons IN a supremely suppressed cond,-
ton. and remained n pent-up tic OF
| dramatic expression to the very END.
Only once did che consent to haul on
and knock the daylights out OF a situa-
| ton. and that was at the end OF the hrst
act-when the heroine. wrought up to n
righteous frenzy by the heartlessnese
ana Cruelty VI lHt Idi CIV 49,
has purchased her famtly's estate n
is turning her out OF her home, rises on
her tippy-toes and wrathfully remarks;
You have had my fathers answer 10
YOUR in%sinuations and Insults, now axe
mine" whereupon she cracks the crusty
old guy across the face with her riuins
whip, It seemed rather funny at nrs'
that she should be going out MO tne
cold world In n riding costume. out TINS
incident explained the necessity Tor the
rio No exclamation. however. was OF
fered for later on sending Sir GILBERT
Vance out into n Rip-Van' Winkle-Eke
storm with an old red slipper on MS
foot and nothing 20 shelter his Martina
U-oshinpton hair from the biting blasts.
Mrs. seligman-Cutting appeared TO
carry a deep and dismal regret all
through the rest OF the play for having
| given way to her feelings in that horse
whipp,ne scene. The play actually
mosned for more OF her to slosh around
in after that; It gasped as II II were
laced too tight: It pleaded TO be given a
| loose leg so that 1t could cavort ABOUT
like a healthy. high-spirited melodrama:
II fairly begged at several points Tor
more hlstrionic excitation to the CUBIC
inch than It was getting and less nerv-
GUS prostration. But Mrs. Seltgman-
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
unappeasing as a gum-drop might be to
a hungry h%ippopotamus.
Lady Gladys Hope, in the guise OF a
Miss Gascoigne. who Is the travelling
companion Of n 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 estate which the
Hopes had lost. Returning to her former
home she turns her father-ip-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 had
done her father a great kindness in his
declining years, which causes her to call
everything square and AXE her hus-
band back to her arms, besides es-
tabllshing a frst-rate ente~nte-cordiale
iVi SCH hiIu ItI NlhItHh-N w ASH
~ington-haired father-ln-law.
Mrs. Seligman-C%utting's Lady GLADYS
is a languid Ships-That-Pass-in-th Might
sort OF n female, with a feud ranking
In her heart. She looks colly-wobbly
most of the time. but feebly laughs the
matter Off when you tell her she needs
a doctor. She falls into lachrymose
streaks, and then again she
with herself In n soft, low. confidential
way. while a bewildered Bioomingdals
look fills her eyes. Talk about repres.
s%ion-here you have It with suppression,
compression. depression and all the
others thrown in. The actress uses her
lower register entirely, so tina hei
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 ia mufied to prevent ar
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 t
keep her audience guessing, and she sue,
ceeded.
The play Is not rs bad as the treat
ment 1t received. Its heroine Is n creepy
undesirable sort OF n person, but thu
story is strong and well 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 1t. John Glendinning had a thank
less line of work In thrusting his hear
under a in-de-siecle Nemesis feet, 4
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
Nesta Tilley hats. was satisfactor,
enough, and there was considerable,
brightness In the efforts OF Lillian Law
renee, who, however, shouldn't nav
tackled Geno-a before she consulted
~pronouncing gazetteer: and of Herber
Ayling and Maggie Holloway. l. l. j