The Washington times., 1895-01-27
IN THE THEATERS LAST WEEK

The anceDts and the moderns, the legiti-
mate and the romantic, the melodramatic,
the burlesque, and what not-all had fair
inning last week at the theaters. 1t is far
cry from Shakespeare TO the playwrights who
paint the ford dramatic pictures of this day
and generation, but this very variety OF
method and compass is the spice OF lie on
this side of the footlights.
There was perhaps as fine contrast as
could be desired ia the ways and means of
men and manners as presented in the Merry
Wives OF Windsor'-that most charming of
all Shakespeare's deiineations of home life
among the Anglo-Saxons-a as modern
ways and means are depicted in 1.-THE SeBa-
tor" We have here almost the alpha and
omega certainly the omega-of progress in
social diplomacy.
Weeks in which the legitimate acts as
counteractant upon the somewhat autocratic
arrogance of the latter day saints in the
| drama are therefore very desirable and have
their uses. The abuses belong to the new
schools. For this reason it may he said that
the last week was one OF special interest.
Mr.Crane with his all-around, weIl-equinped
company, was ct the New National. where
the weather was entirely eliminated as sup
pressor OF theatrical enthusiasm in aud out of
theater. His Fa!staii, in the palmy days of
his gallantry and as the most unique Lothario
of the stage was OF course, the centripetaI
attraction of the week, but Sir John had for
midable riyal--not in buckram-in Senator
Hannibal Rivers. You paid your money and
you took your choice. Perhaps you took
both; great many people did.
At the Grand Opera House they gave us
captain Paul" Anachronisms do not count
in the drama, nor is 1t grieYous fault that
Shakespeare made ''coa-t' for the inland
country of Bohemia. It is not history and in
congruity. however, which are 1.-The matter
with Captain Paul
1t is simply romance the most romantic
schoolwith nothing in the story that could not
be gathered from any yellow-back repository.
The first act is fearfully prosy and the subse-
| quent acts are commonplace. The ship scene
in the third act is quite good thing from
the spectacular point of observation. The
agile style IN which scme of the sailors got up
the ropes and the way in which others got up
without the assistance OF sea legs suggested
that some of the cast were United States
marines. Such was the fact There is only
one actor in Captain Paul.
1t was quite different in "A Country Sport, :"
which was over al the Academy OF Music.
May Irwin, as everybody knows. is very
clever She Is what might be called robust.
soubrette Mr.. DALEY, too. is inimitabie
May Irwin can be May Irwin. They are the
law and the prophets all to themselves. So
were the other bright people in the company.
People who have never been South before
or after the war could have studied some of
its landscapes and peeuliarinstitutions to ad-
vantage in the .South Before the War"
which was the well-a tended attraction last
week at Kernans Lyceum Theatre 1t is,
however, merely a passing show. There is a
great deal OF what they show you in the
play still extant. The cake walkers and the
cotton pickers are immortal.
The good points in 1.-The Burglar" which
delighted many people at Buffers Biiou
Theatre have so frequently been chronicled
that the play has become a standing institu-
ton for each returning season. This burglar
is very welcome visitor for his own sake
and for the good company in which he IS al
ways found.