The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-12-27

week is not q good one In which 10
offer theatrical diversion to people
Who are giving time and money to
the purchase of holiday gifts. In none
OF DUR playhouses. central or outlying,
is there a now production 60 describe in
this letter. So 7 may use my space TO
tell you about some compositions
which, as has been demonstrated at
experimental matinees within the fort
night VIII never be put regularly on
sale. One of them was presented by
advanced pupils of the American Acad-
cmy of Dramatic Arts, and they did
~ well enough 90 warrant a conclusive
judgment on the subject matter. "A
Failure" written by Bjornstjerne
BJornson in serYilG imitation of the
masterfuI Ibsen, is an endeavOr to
dramatize a case of bankruptcy and
make it interesting to a theatre audi
ence with the bare, hard facts Of BUSH
ness disaster. Such an undertaking
has never been carried through TO sue
cess, though there have been narrow
escapes from failure, such as Henry
Arthur Jones' The Middleman," with
ITS struggling, starving potter, his In
ventiOns mlsapDrOpriated by a CONNER
ciai scOundrei, acted by Mr.. Willard on
American tours. The man who justi-
hes Bjornson's title is one Tjalde, a
OF industry, who keeps various leaky
enterprises ahoat till a load of debt
IS too heavy for them to carry longer,
sd1d they sink suddenly into the mud
OF the stream on which they have
seemed buOyantly prosperous. As he
becomes more and more desperate. his
tricks Of false pretense pass into de-
vices Of swindling. and the sluggish
movement Of the play shows his mental
torture while keeping the secret Of his
insolvency from his proud family and
The trustful community The work lis
neither imaginative, like some Of
Hauptmanns, nor engrOssingly literal,
like most Of Ibsen's-
The fudlity Of writing such a play
as "A Failure was proved by the
single separate fact that. even with
an audience of friendly students and
guests with long hair on and in their
brains, the most effectual scene was
the only theatric one. so old in idea
and so little freshened in manner that
an ordinary assemblage would have
disdained fl, and only impressive on
this occasion because if broke the mo-
nOtOny Of uneventfuIness. The captain
OF Inflated Industries, maddened by
the lawyer who comes to force him into
bankruptcy, holds a pistol at the mans
head and is prevented from firing. not
by any physical resistance, but by a
calmly convincing argument that an
assignment would be wiser, all things
considered, than an assassination. The
lesson taught 70 receptive observers Of
the stage by the Ibsen school of dram
Artists is that even the truest tran
scripts from life are not interesting
unless they contain more than ordinary
episodes. Photographs are not hung
IN art galleries, nor are monographs
used in musical academies.
Czaoroo psernar7 cs1,,,-- g.. 80 - tt,,-,
pedanuc pOsers who purposely write
odd things i'm order TO be kicked and
cufed, and a provoking fact about the
Fellow is Clevcrness so exceptional
that he can't be ignored contempt
uously. He is a London dramatic
critic, and he strives to be singular
even absurd. I'm his reviews as we'll as
ia his fiction. In his Arms and the
Man Richard Mansfelds artistic au-
thortty was no more than sufficient to
compel sober consideration except
from a few Mansfield impersOnated a
man who bore military arms as a
trade, as mechanic who works with
tools, and who was scared by the perils
of warfare. yet did his duty brayely
as a matter of business. The Charac-
ter was a close and true study Of hu-
man nature at an average. A still less
conventional piece by Shaw "Cashel
ByrOn's Profession" I'm which the hero
q
was tried here at "a matinee and duly
ridiculed into oblivion. We have lust
now had a third i'm Candida" which
Arnold DAILY produced of an afternoon
The actors with DAILY were Dorothy
DOnnelly, DOdsOn Mitchell Louise
CLOSER, Herbert Carr and Il. Newton
Undo, and I think &c right TO name
them, because they gave their services
with risk of abuse ST they
failed and only a gain in reputation If
they succeeded. And their success as
interpreters Of Shaws meanings was
positive don't mean 10 say that the
comedy developed any commercial
value. 7 don't think it did. And ] am
sure it won't be tried as a money
making venture. Not many seekers Of
pastime at ehe theatre would take the
trouble TO appreciate it. and some Of
them couldn't If they would.
The man who writes plays for the
open market has TO brand his charac-
tiers Enthusiastically as sober or face
tious, virtuOus or vicious. and as a
general rule he ddTes not put those
different qualities at variance i'm a
single individual, no matter that il is so
often so in life. But there is in Can
oida' young clergyman who is a
right good fellow and no hypocrite. yet
very faulty with vanity and savagely
Jealous when another chap loves his
wife; and there is q bOyishly passion
ate poet with an exquisite sense of
honor and "a sensitive conscience. yet
scoundrelly 70 the extent of endeavor-
ing 70 WOO a wife away from her hus-
band. The natures of those two men
are reasonable in their contradictions,
but in play we are accustomed 10
watch struggles between right and
wrong as embodied in opponents. and
hardly ever do we see the contest
Waged at the same time within the in
dlyiduais. Moreover. the clergyman f.
laUghabie in his conduct and the poet
IS ludicrOus i'm his. and, while both are
pathetically emotional also an evening
gallery wouldn't permit the parquet 20
be discriminate, even If IL wanted 20.
However, the clergyman's sordid
lather-ln- who turns the relation
snip 70 account I'm getting contracts;
MS austere typewriter. who overflows
her small champagne capacity with q
jag: and his assistant rector who is
sadly sanctimOnious, have been ere
ated by shaw I'm q straightaway and
unpedantic manner; and as 90 the
wife, she is the sweetest. geutlest dar-
ling that ever carried herself and two
rival lovers through the pcrils of a
triple affair to q state OF safety. When
at the climax Of the mems contention.
they agree that the woman shall
choose between them, and she IS asked
70 render her decision, she calmly sets
forth the faults of each and SAYS she
viii accept the love OF the weaker one.
The clergyman thinks she means the
poet and so 90 those in the audience who
haven't read the printed play. but in
her just and fond judgment the tempt
er who resolutcly tries TO get her is
mentally III nor ruo-q1ft- efrOr,oor- fl,or7