The Washington times. (Washington [D.C.]) 1901-1902, 1902-03-27
A Member of the Campbell Company vir-
tually Snatches the Honors of the
Evening From the Star by the Perfec-
ton of His Histrionic Art.
THE COLUMBIA-"TheN Notorious Mrs.
Ebbsmith,' a play in four acts by Ar
thur Wing Pinero

| A very remarkable thing happened at
| the performance of Pineros THE Notori-
| Gus Mrs. Ebbsmith" at the Columbia The
| atre last night.
| The audience, a large one, had endured
| for some time a lot of vapid twaddle be-
tween Agnes Ebbsmith, played by Mrs.
! Patrick Campbell, and Lucas Cleeve.
played by Herbert Warning, about the con-
| ISOLATION of poverty if coupled with love.
| 1t seemed to matter very little that
| Cleeve had wife or that there had once
been a Mr.. Ebbsmth in existence some
| where or other Both persons were weary
| of existing social conditions, and Agnes
| she was once called Mad Agnes-descanted
| very freely about the freedom Of love, and
| meanwhile went about her rooms with
| her hair unkempt for the greater part of
| the time, frocks unlocked after sans cor
sets, sans morals, sans everything in the
world, almost, that goes TO make woman at
tractive. Her father, she complained, was
drunkard; she had spent most miser-
able existence as a child, and when she
married she discovered her husband to be
something like a human brute, who, as
she expressed it, treated her first like
woman of the harem and then like a
beast Of burden"
Actor Arliss' Hit.
After a good deal of railing against the
social conditions to the point almost
where the audience began to show evil
dence of becoming exceedingly bored with
all the cheap cant and SNUG sophistry,
Playwright Pinero was gracious enough to
bring in a new characteristic Duke of
st. Olpherts, the uncle of Cleeve-and
from that moment until the conclusion of
the play the audience had something to
be thankful for.
st. Olpherts as played by George Ar
liss was q veritable revelation to the
most captious of the gathering. Rarely
has such histrionism been displayed to
a local audience, and he quite dominated
the play from the moment he made his
initial appearance, making Mrs. Ebb-
smith more of subsidiary figure than
anything else while he was on the stage.
St. Olpherts contributed an irony and
humor that fairly illumined the whole per-
Torrance, and created 4 new interest in
the play He brought Agnes to sense
of decency, and by laughing at her and
as he wished, although the complete
reformation was brought about by
clergyman and his sister. the Reverend
Amos Winterfeld and Gertrude Thorpe.
They gave her a bible. which she
promptly threw into the fire, exclaiming
that she had already trusted in it and
chung to it. and that it had failed her
in every instance. Then she Immediately
pulled it from the flames and groveled
;..,g, 1nlr .rrNaf III n= hat
brought the act-the third-to a close
that created a substantial lot of ap-
plause.
An Interesting Play.
1t is an interesting plav in many re-
speots, is this Notorious Mrs. Ebb-
smith," and while it has not the spark
ling dialogue of the other Pinero play
given by Mrs. Campbell on Tuesday, THE
Second Mrs. Tanqueray,' it is excellent
literature, and brings forth unqualified
admiration for the dramatist who can
build such a play on such an uninviting
basis.
1t gives Mrs. Campbell an admirable OPP
portunity to display her undeniable tech
nique and as an addition to the list of
peculiar females with which she has re-
called the Columbia audiences during the
week il is quite noteworthy. The a.
tress gives a remarkably good perform
ance, although there is no apparent diff
ference between her Paula Tanqueray and
her Agnes Ebbsmith, except in the mat
ter of environment and some other
dresses. She relies principally upon the
monotone that has characterized most of
her work in the plays already given, and
in the scene with the Bible she INDUCES
in some very strong melodramatics tina.
seem to almost lift the audience from the
chairs and compel applause. Even
in the early portion of the play Mrs.
Campbell gives many splendid exhibitions
of her pet suppressed method OF acting
upon which she continually harps. But
when il comes to stirring her audience
she calls into requisition the familiar
trick of the heaving chest, with head well
thrown back and forget5 all about her
theories Of quiet acting for the time and
accomplishes results just like any other
actress might.
Great Artistic Triumph.
of course 1t wasn't Mrs. Campbeli's