The Washington times., 1901-10-15
AT THE THEATRES.
The NntionaI-Julin MarIovve.

| Of the past, preStof Julia Marowc fits
into town with another piece built for her
especial use from Charles Majors In
diana-made story of the Courts Of Eng
land and France in the early part of the
| sixteenth century, This new Marlowe
| play, When Knighthood Was in Flower, -
pleased one of the best audiences the Ma
tional has yet held this theatrical year
last night, and in none of iler previous
works has Miss Mariowe's Art been more
thoroughly appreciated.
! In going to Mr.. Majors s story for play
Miss Marlowe must have had in her
minds eye the fact that it would afford
her almost unlimited opportunities, that
| b, ing the star of a company she was GER
tainly entitled to most of the good lines
| the centre of the stage throughout the
| evening, and the honor of being re garded
| as a target by the operator of the cal
| cium light For truth to tell, while there
are a number of characters that stand
out rather prominently. Mary Tudor
played by Mis-; Marlowe-is the whole
| show in when Knighthood was in
| Flower"
| The dramatization is the work of Paul
| Kester, who has done his work consider
ably better than the other fashioners Of
| recent plays from bound golumes have
| performed their labors. While there are
| certain portions of the piece that are quite
preposterous, in the main the story is
well told ard interesting. Mr.. Kester has
not thrown much of the tale away. He
| has made quite n little of the episode of
the duel with Judson which, in the book
happened before the story began, but
being a modern playwright, and under
standing the fondness of modern aud
plays. he has brought out the incident so
that it is one of the important scenes in
the piece The dramatist has condensed
many of the long-drawn-out passages of
the volume into wonderfully brief scenes
| one of the best achievements in this line
being the prolix struggle OF Mary, with
| her love overcoming her pride. her van
| ity, ambition and fear. Measured by the
! Edward E. Rose standard, which prevails
| with almost every stage version of a
| novel that has seen the footlights during
| the past few years, Mr.. Kester's work is
remarkably good and easily the best thing
| of its kind that has come to Washington.
| Of course, he has the decided advantage
of such a charming woman as Miss Mar
lowe to assist him in the interpretation
of his effort. and there is hardly another
| English-speaking actress who would give
the same gayety, caprice, temper, love
and the proper spirit of fun TO the lines
that she does.
1t is in the early part of when knight
| hood Was in Flower that the audience is
best entertained, and il is also in this por-
tion of the performance that Miss Mar
lowe goes through her courtship scenes
| with Charles Brandon Mary Tudor does
most of the lovemaking, most charmingly
a..
which has no counterpart among her con-
| temporaries, and acting with much bril-
liancy. finish. and ease. and delightful
| comedy.
The first act is brought to a close after
the kissing episode between the lovers.
| The second act gives the scene in bed with
all the rough comedy made familiar by a
dozen of modern farce writers. The third
act relates TO the discovery, transferred
| in the play to a tavern
! Two scenes are required for the fourth
act. The first is very ridiculous. and in
I stead of being impressive, as the dram
| atist evidently intended, 1t Is about as lu-
| dicrous as can be imagined. The scene
! is the French court. Mary is the Queen
| of France, and the old king is dying in an
| adjoining room. with the court orchestra
| playing appropriate incidental music" "
| Mary learns that her lover Brandon, Is In
| Paris, and almost Immediately following
| the receipt of this news comes the infor-
| nation that the king is dead. Nobody
/ thinks of hanging Grape on the door bell
! or even summoning the undertaken or pre-
/ pairing the obituary notices for the news
! papers. Instead. the dauphin. who has
! been told that he is now the king, comes
on and without delay proceeds to turn the
! keys in every lock, and bolt the windows.
/ After having cut off every avenue of es-
| cape for the poor Tudor girl, he extin-
cuisines the lights and commences to
| chase Mary around the ROOM although he
has the Kindness of heart to pause every
| once in while. so as to give the queen
| chance to pound on the doors scream at
the top of her voice, for help, and other
| wise prove her loyalty to her lover Bran
| don: who. happily for the nerves of the
audience arrives via secret panel Just
| In time 90 tab his trusty sword under the
| arm of the dauphin as the latter holds
| the fainting Mary in his arms
And, mind, the kings body is still warm
1t Is a scene to delight the hearts
| of the occupants of the gallery
and make them think for the
! moment they are seeing THE Sporting
Duchess, "Tbe Conquerors.' La Tosca.
| or one of the numerous other plays In
| which the same Situation" hes been
! utilized. The serious minded of the audi
| ence wonders what the fuss is all about
| and irreverently laughs immoderate-
| ly. If Playwright Kester had actually de-
| vised the scene as a comedy contribution
| TO the play he could not have been more
| successful.
The last scene in this final act concerns
| the forgiveness of the King, as in the
novel.
The best member of Miss Mariowe's
! company is Bruce McRea. who as Charles
/ Brandon. is handsome and manly lover.
/ He evidences a proper conception of the
! character and his work during the per-
! fOrmance is almost faultless. Wilfred
North adds n display Of swordsmanship
/ to his Interpretation of the roles of the
I Dauphin and Juds0n, neither of which fits
| this admirable character actor very well.
! Charles Harbury makes Henry VIII n
/ weakling, while Charlotte Cranes Lady
Jane is very charming bit. Frances
/ Ring makes Anne Boleyn, introduced into
| the play by Mr.. Kester, an interesting
! part, albeit a small one. Other members
of the company are c. f. Gibney, sydney
| Teller, A Douzet. George Christie, Fred
| eric Burt, Frank Reichter, Maud Lantry,
and Gwendolyn Valentine.
The only matii4e of Miss Marlowe's
| engagement will ~ given Saturday.
The Lnfnyctfe-fsShennndO
Last night the Lafayette Theatre fell
! into line with the other local playhouses
| with the reorganized Bellows stock com
| pany, and if a large audience counts for
anything Manager Walter Clarke Bellows
has the assurance that Washington wants
a stock company, for last night almost
every seat in the house was occupied
when the curtain was rung up the first
act of Bronson Howard's great war
drama, Shenandoah which had been
selected as the opening bill of the season
The company this year is under the ex-
elusive management Of Mr. Bellows.
A wave of enthusiasm and patriotism
invariably dominates an audience at the
sight of military uniforms. and the sounds
of the bugle. Added to this was the de