The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-11-18


sive; II is the theme-the portraiture OF
warped natures, deprayel manners, UNI
healthful things, and, over all and perVao-
Ing all, the intimation Of n KIND OF grim
satisfaction and sardonic joy in the pre-
dominance and triumph of clever wicked
ness That has been the trend Of Mr.
Pinero's writings for some time, and ii has
made them very dreary
A DISAPPOINTING DRAMATIST.
For this dramatist is not n Swift or
Thackeray, grasping the whole of human
nature and human life, and showing how,
in the conflict and contrast of their good
and evil, the misery and the pathos
transcend everything else, but an artificial.
pinchbeck satirist, only or chiefly intent
on devising tainted theatrical situations,
in order 20 show his own cieverness IN the
voidance OF splenetic sarcasm. Not in our
time has any playwright fallen away from
high standard, and disappointed admir-
ing expectation, as Mr.. Pinero did, when
he deserted the ideals of THE Squire ana
Sweet Lavender" and began the manu-
facture of such stuff as Mrs Tanqueray.
Mrs. Ebbsmith'' and the Cay Lord
Quex." IT Is inexplicable. DR.. Johnson
remarked that "a man who wants to make
himself conspicuous viii tumble in hog
sty, If people will only look at him anc
call him to come out" It would be pain
full to be obliged TO believe that in his ar
duouS quest of originality, Mr.. Pinero had
been driven to such a pass as that. Surely
there can be no need of these vagarieS-
Surely there is another and a far better
way of viewing the duty of an author TO
his vocation and his time. One of the
greatest objects / have always had In my
career" $50 wrote the fine old novelist G.
i. Z. James,. "has been to show that fic-
ton, without being dry and tedious, may
be rendered serviceable to every noble prin-
ciple. may be taught to convey every gen
erous lesson, and, by interesting our good
feelings. instead of our bad feelings. gain
over Imagination TO the side of virtue, and,
without crushing our passions. direct them
Alright"
AS TO PURITANS.
It is the common cry of fools. and Of
course IL may be expected again to be-
come audible now, that persons who OBJ
ject TO tainted subjects on the stage are
Puritans. and are necessarily persons of
prurient minds-which is to say that when
protest is made against a stencil, the fault
Is not in the stencil, but in the nostrils
of those to whom the stencil is offensive.
Mr.. Hare himself has not yet taken this
position, but he has specifically declared
that he perceives nothing of an evil ten
dency in THE Gay Lord Quex," and that
IL is thoroughly good play. In period
of acute and reckless competition. when an
actor has obtained successful drama
by which is meant a drama that shows
him. professionally, to advantage and,
at the same time attracts the multitude
it is natural that he should pronounce it
TO be excellent. and that he should hold
it with a determined grasp Opinions will
differ. Mr.. Hare was cordially welcomed,
and often and vociferously applauded.
This may mean little or much Popular
plauditS are sometimes mere impulsive
clamor, and sometimes a presage of COM
mercial success. 1t is certain that he will
have a following, and it is certain that
he told his English friends, he will meet
with no opposition from the Puritans. In
point of fact, there is no Puritan party
vi 81 n
Puritans dwell in New England and the
Middle West, and they do not attend the
theater. 1t is extremely probable that very
few of them have ever heard Of either
Lord Quex or Mr.. Hare. 1t is not by Puri
tans that the protest is made against rot
ten plays: 1T is by men of the world; t
is by observers who know that all this
stage talk about reformed rakes, old
FOUNDERS and repentent hussies is fiddle
faddle; that all this analysis of sexual
problems is crying nuisance; that nobody
has asked Mr. Hare or Miss Nethersole,
or Mrs. Langtry, or Sarah Bernhardt, or
any other foreign actor, to come here and
illuminate the public mind as to the sew
eral varieties and the frequently dismal
consequences of incontinence and infidelity
In the married state; that people in general
are sick to death OF the whole disgusting
theme and the whole weariSome tribe of its
pitiful expositors; and that unless there
is change before long, the theater will
be deserted totally, as 1T already is to a
very considerable extent, by the better
classes of society-its intelligence, its re-
fnement its character, its dignity and
| solid worth.
THE CORE OF THEM ALL.
One platitude in particular seems greatly
to have impressed the race of technical
writer's, of which Mr.. Pinero is a conspic-
| uous representative, the platitude, name
| ly, that an unchaste man woman may
| sometimes turn out to be good fellow.
This is the whole burden of 1.-THE Gay
Lord Quex,' and it is the phiosophic core
| of nearly all the off-color plays of the time.
1t is not quite so astonishing, however,
| as to cause paralysis. Personal charm,
| whether in woman, can and occa-
| Sionally it does, exist independent of chaS-
| tity: for personal charm is referabe back
| to the original fibre of the character. De
Quincy records that the most enchanting
| women he ever beheld were Lady Hamil-
| ton and Catalina-two names that long
have stood for valor more than discretion
The rose is always the rose; ii never, UNI
! Ger any circumstances, turns into the
thistle. There needs no ghost come from
| the grave TO tell us this and certainly We
| dc not require a theatrical literature or
| an encyclopedias of filth to give it illus
tration. The bedroom boudoir scene was
| acted with quite devilsh felicity by Mr.
Hare, MISUNDERSTANDING her almost
| comic eccentricity and her frequently and
| painfully nasal enunciation-with much
| varying emotion and felicitous piquancy
and telling force by Miss Wainwright but
when all is over, when you have seen and
/ thoroughly considered 1.-THE Gay Lord
| Quex'-if you are a person capable OF
| thought and feeling, you will leave the
| theater saddened in mind and depressed
| in spirit. You will have learned, or you
| will have been reminded, that the world
| is full of evil; that most men are actuated
| in all their conduct, by one of two mo-
| tives, greed or lust that women with but
| little exception, will make any and every
sacrifice for social position; that the hu-
| man heart is deceitful above all things
! else, and desperately wicked; that, as the
| poet Emerson tersely remarked. things
| are of the snake" that evil. if clever and
| rich--as 1T usually is-can accomplish all
| its purposes; that the great practical age
| of to-day has no time for poetic visions
| and romantic dreams, and no room for noble
| ideals; that it is vain to struggle against
| the colossal materialism now sweeping over
| the human race, and that the obvious and
4 only part of wisdom is to worship success
| and ask no questions. And, incidentally
you will reflect that Mr.. Hare is remark
/ ably keen, neat, trenchant, and brilliant
| actor, who has convincingly shown you how
/ clever he can be, and has made you dis
| tinctly unhappy. 1t only now remains for
| Ellen Terry TO appear as Camille, with
| Joseph Jefferson as Armand Duval, Henry
| Irving as the Count de Varville and Nine
| Ristori as Prudence, and the status of our
/ stage would be ascertained and settled for
1 at least one generation, and the present
1 writer could Law aside his Den-Which he