New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-06-17

There is a frank return to melodrama in the
last act all the subordinate parts being de
yeloped so as to accentuate the failure and
overthrow of the artful villain. Possibly the
play has been rendered more consistent as nneIo-
drama by filing out the minor parts but the
simplicity and beauty Of the story have been
impaired
Mr.. Tree in this instance seems to have al
lowed his talents for invention and padding 10
run away with his judgment and discretion He
has been unwilling TO put up either with play
or with a part with which Mr.. jefferson and the
American public have been sa tisfied for d gem
Grafton The play has been padded out and re-
written until il is hardly recognizable. Every
act drags because the minor characters are
pressed into service 70 fill in pauses with duh
recitatives and TO discharge their functions in
melodrama. Miss Lily Hanbury as Gretchen and
Mr.. Franklin McLeay Derrick are each ex-
cellent but they remain the stage gossipinG
ard intriguing until the audience is bored and
Iistess. Mr.. McLeay is a most conscientious
actor who throws himself with true American
energy into every fresh representation but there
is too much Of him in this play. and safety is
the word 70 be used in regard to all the per
formers. A brand new love scene has been writ
ten in for the last act but il is neither convinC
ing nor entertaining. The two child parts have
been enlarged, but nothing has been gained by
the process. The play is not good meIodrama,
and III directed efforts 10 stretch out the parts
and write in additional dialogue have only tend
ed to weaken it and to render it tiresome.
a play that is too difuse can readily be short
ened, but a reconstructed Rip is beyond rec
Iamation. Mr.. Tree has considered it neces-
sary to supply the happy-go-ucky drunkard
with conscience and to convert him into a
moraIist- Instead Of seeing good schnapps in the
bottle he talks about little black devils which
are pursuing him. A drunkard so far gone would
not throw the liquor into the fire after spending
nalf hour in trying TO steal it from his wife's
apron, and, at any rate. after making a conquest
Of the drink impulse he would have claimed
credit for his virtue and have remained indoors
out Of the storm. There is no access of sym
patty for the poor wanderer in consequence of
the undeserved reproaches when he has failed
TO set himself right; and if a temperance hOmily
is intended it IS awkwardly introduced, for the
vision Of the little black devils in the mountains
would be the natural sequel TO a deep potation
rather than q moral victory AT any rate, this is
not the real Rip. the good for nothing, who in
the pathos of his degradation and loneliness has
! touched American hearts for generation.
/ The staging of the play is beautiful and eff
+ fective. and there are some excellent passages in
Mr. Trees acting His Rip is a merry, ROSTER
ing scapegrace running over with anna blity
and good spirits a haunted, frightened figure in
the spectral glen, and dazed, wonder stricken
old man after his long sleep in the mountains,
The dialect is good and much of the byplay is
bright and animated. What the Improvisation
lacks is simplicity sincerity, realism and poetic
Imagination and these are serious deficiencies
English audiences may be satisfied with the per
Torrance but American pilgrims who visit Her
Majesty's Theatre their way to Paris viii be
inclined to put full stops between the letters OF
Rips name and to murmur 'Requlescat IN
Pace" for their Rip is not there; ne has van
isbed from sight, and he deserved a better fate.
/ n. F.