The Washington bee., 1895-09-28
TALK WITH SIR HENRY.
lie Is Not Of the Opinion that Modern PLAY
are Below the StandaI of Is Yaarsaro

are beiow the standald d of 3 Years 60
never saw but one Of Iosen's pIay.
acted he said when the reporter askef
him his opinion of them, "and have 10
read them all. Once I saw The Dorrs
house, and l saw in it some admirable
opportunities for the actors. particularlv
Tor the actress VINO played Nora. But
Ioutd not see in the play, or in those
that nave read, any breadth Of inter
est. Inc whole story, the whole action
was on such microscopic scale. Ger
tallly people who go to the thea ter
| want 10 De interested in some wider
Iieiu OF action than these plays offer
l oeileFe that particularly in America
rie romantic plays will interest you
| your history and your lives seem to me
20 lead you to an interest in them.
Americans have seemed to me to he in
| terested in the romance of the theater-
not the romance OF going to the theater.
out the romance on the stage in tho
plays you see. This is true of English
audiences. but especially true OF
pheater-goers in America. 1 have neve9,
seen the possibility OF the Ibsen plays
ever gaining great popularity. With US
IN England they never have. They are
given from time to time, but have
never attracted large audiences. For
my part, do not believe that they ever
will
L am going to act in little play OF
conan Doyle's Waterloo, " Irving said.
Wnen he was asked about the plays that
the literary men in England were writ
ing now. 1t was not written for me,
out DIR. Doyle wrote it and sent it to
me, and accepted it. I suppose that
drama lists are all literary men to the
same extent that novelists are, but
there are few of them who write for the
stage that learn the fundamental prin-
clples Of dramatic construction. I have
known a poet in England to write a
play without ever picturirg to himself |
the action of any of the scenes on the |
stage. Now, I don't think that such |
man will ever write good play, how
ever great he may be as a poet. Bull |
Wer LyttOn with 'Richelieu' and |
Money would never have been sue
cessful as a dramatist without the as
sistance Of Macready. They must learn
frst how to write for the stage. / am
delighted that Anthony Hopes play has
made success. I have known him for
years, and his father before him, who
was parson. AS to the talk of literary |
men writing for the stage, l don't be-
lleve that there is a man in England to-
day who deserves that title any more
than Arthur Pineno, the dramatist.
: The talk about the plays of the day |
being inferior to those of fifteen or
twenty years ago is something that one
must always expect. We are always
5rumIbling, and generally about the
past having been better than the pres
ent. If it isn't the plays, it's the actors,
and the theater-goers of one day are
cry likely to compare an actor to one of
lis predecessors to the disadvantage of
he present actor. The one that went
before is always remembered as better |
han his successors. With the drama
t is the same way / cannot see that |
he plays of ten or fifteen years ago |
we're superior to those that are written |
low. They seem to me as good. Peo-
lie say that actresses have to go back |
o the older pieces when they want to
md characters in which to do them
elves justice.
But there is Pinero, who, in the sec
nd Mrs. Tanqueray and The No
orious Mrs. Elbsmith,' is said to nave
Tritten two parts which are splendid [
Tomen's roles. Unfortunately, / have c
ever seen either of these pieces, but I S
m not inclined to believe that the a
rama of to-day is inferior to what a
as been written. The complaint n
gainst it is the usual thing that one a
lust always expect to hear. We are | f
II very likely to praise what has gone T
afore at the expense Of the present. T
eW York Sun. :,