The morning times., 1897-01-05
The Columbia.

\ very pretty audience greeted the Wash
ington debut Of Arthur Bourchier and
Violet Vanbrugh at the Columbia Theater
last evening. The auditorium was en-
Couraginely well filled and the character
of the audience was such as to confirm
the English players in their belief in Amer
lean toadyism. Mr. Bourchier Haunted the
royalty in every line of his advertise
ment, ard if any of the foreword anent
Miss Vanbrugh omitted to mention her
claims for consideration as an artist, it
did rot fail to impress the fact that she
was the fayorite godchild of baroness
Burdeut-C c QUITS. Last night however, they
were on trial as actors
Mr.. Bourchier has progressed much in
his dramatic work since he was leading
man with DAILY His principal gain is in
The economy of expressiveness. He now
denotes fine distinctions, bits of fun, the
details with sure and true means. 1t is
rot merely an Improvement in technique,
for he has polished his acting with repose
and finish.
Mr. Bourchier naturally chose for his
300 nights in London. 4 first hearing
of it plunges the American in to deeper
wonder than ever at what amuses the
British. The piece is The Chill Widow"
It's fun is congested in an uproarous Situa-
tion in the second act and a thoroughly
amusing third act. The first act is COM
paratively tedious. 1t is poorly cen
ceved plot. The dram atiSt does not
seem to be able to control his materials
Only in the middle of the third act does
he arrive at the gist OF his story, and
having the fun well in hand in the third
act he seems overcome with surprise at
his own cleverness and rings the curtain
down in haste.
The best results seem to have been
achieved by the stage managers, or perhaps
Justice would direct that the actors have
the credit. Some OF the scenes were
handled with exceeding cleyerness. This
is especially true of those involving the
| presence Of Mr.. w. G. Elliott. This gen
tleman would commend himself to an
audience if only for the distant resem-
| blance of his features to those of atinira BILE
Ned Holland. But Mr.. Elliott has claim
| to praise on his own merits. He possesses
definite idea of farcical methods and
| lis clear-cut, incisive performance of the
| obdurate, stoical Martindale was the legit-
innate hit Of the piece There is all sort
| of drollery lurking i'll the apparently hard
| face Of 1.-The rock The Duckworth Crabbe
| Of Mr.. Blakely was another excellent piece
of comic acting. His personation of n
| conceitcd old meddler was accomplished
with much skill.
The third person who left most emphatic
| impress in the appreciation of the audience
was Miss Irene Vanbrugh, Though asa god.
| child she may be an orphan, as an actress
she is very charming and artful. If the
Vanbrugh sisters were to change parts ii
| would strengthen the consistency in the di-
| rection Of affections and give more op.
| portunityfor the audience to enjoy he better
i actress of the two.
Mr.. Bourchier has provid ed only a fair sup
| porting company The Scotch dialect OF
| Mr. Kinghorne sounded as il itmi eht be quite
perfect; it was at least quite unntelligible;
| but his pantomrne was admirable and
such a physiognomy was never seen on
human out of Zm's Irishmen in Judge
The scenery was very pretty.