The sun., 1903-12-13

After q gay life, sober one; the reformed
rake; Tannhduser's return to an Elizabeth.
who awaits him patiently; dear, sweet,
virtuous Penelopei Shaw sees through the
humbug of the masculine pose and turns
the tables by making his Condidd ride the
horse of the dilemma man fashion. Maeter-
linck, in his "Monna Wanna" and Joy
eelle," enforces the same truth-that love
to be love should be free.
And the paradoxical part Of 1t all is that
Candida is a womanly woman. She is 80
domestic, 30 devoted that the thin-skinned
idealist Eugenie means over her kitchen
propensities. Shaw has said that Athe
ideal wife is one who does everything
that the ideal husband likes, and nothing
else" which is neat and sardonic definition
of the womanly woman's duty. candida
is not one of this sort. She demands as
her right her husbands trust in her love.
not heavenly rewards, not the consciousness
OF her own purity, not bolts and bars Will
keep her from going from him II the hour
strikes the end OF her affection. All of
which is immensely disconcerting to the
orthodox OF view, for it is the naked truth,
set forth by a man who despises not ortho-
doxy, but those who profess 1t and then prao-
tise paganism. This Shaw is terrible
fellow; and the only way to get rid OF terri
BILE fellow is not to take him seriously, but to
call him paradoxical entertaining, to throw
the sand of fattery in his eyes and Incl
dentally blind criticism at the same time.
But Bernard Shaw has always refused to
be cajoled and as to the sand or the mud
of abuse-well, he wears the very stout
spectacles Of common sense.
have written at length Of the perform
ance at the Princess May 1t be repeated;
for on it's surface Candida" is elittering
comedy, we'll made, full Of fun and those
delightful turns of character revealed to
the vision OF an upcompromising critic OF
human nature. Let me again congratulate
Dodson Mitchell for not turning James.
MoreH into sleek clerical humbug and
Arnold DAILY for the general performance.
He himself might have been less effeminate
and hysterical. but his Eugene as an initial
effort deserves high praise. Perhaps the
exalted opinion held Of Mr.. DAILY by his
friends may be realized some day. He
has the stuff in him.
And it might not be amss hero to say
that it is dangerous sometimes when you
monkey with the English language.
wrote that the last scene of Candida" goes
up in obscene smoke Alas! it came out
-obscene"-the very last quality in the
world Of which Mr.. Shaw could be accused.
/ write this in Justice to both Mr.. Shaw and
the players who 80 sympathetically inter-
.preted his little masterpiece last week.
Tuesday evening enjoyed the contrast Of
Shaw and Max Halbe. Invent to the Irving
Place Theatre, my head buzzing with the
Celt's brilliant wit, and such was the power
Of the German dramatist that In two
minutes l had forgotten the womanly
woman, Cdndida's shawl, the chastity it
guarded and all the rest Of the problems
posed. The first act Of Der Strom" proved
strong meat. 1t was a very human scene,
though very unpleasant to the theatre
goer who desires a meal composed Of plums
and pepper-sentiment and humor Halbe
seems fond of gloom. His environment
matches the sombre tints Of his characters.
That river Vistula positively becomes a
morbid obsession before the play is half
over. Ibsen--who is really classic master
in his moderation, as compared to latter
day eItravagances OF form and feeling
employed with far more discretion and
eject the mill stream in "Roamersholrn.
In ~Der strom" there are few moments
when the ear is not free from the assaults
of bowling gale. II more was given the
eye a balance might be struck. One key,
one string-no matter about the Paganini
legend-soon becomes monotonous, even il
manipulated by a virtuoso. And that
Halbe is not His "Jugend' was far more
powerful and displayed cleaner craftsman-
ship "Mutter Erde." "'Frei Liebe" are also
both better, because less artificial. Yet,
we must not deny the invention Of this
dramatist or deny his skill in putting
character before us. His three brothers
Dorm are well realized; the irate scoundrel,
the normal, the morbid melancholio. All
three get on your nerves before the final
.curtain As the end is melodramatic there
is no reason why We should have missed
seeing the catastrophe as well as learning
it. Mr.. Apthorp once wrote, In relation to
dAnnunzio's jewelled. poetic art. that
thing told interested him more than a
thing seen. True. But does It not depend
on the tellingP When Duse relates, We see
as in a mirror sheaf OF images When
Halbe relates, we only see an old man gee-
ticulating vainly on an empty stage. Franz
Kierschner is an excellent character actor
but he failed to visualize the horrors Of
the poet. And perhaps Duse would re-
quire parterre Of imaginative folk (very
uncomfortable folk to have around with
their high forehesds and their scrutinizing
glancesD to fully grasp her art.
The knowledge of this fact is one OF the
reasons why David Belasco leaves so little
to the'imagination. preferring to flood the
retina with color. and form, and thus avoid
the risk of being misunderstood by the
average theatrical audience. And when I
write average pray do not see me pen
ming the word with the smile of the superior
person curving my lips
The average theatrical audience has a
collective consciousness, a collective in
telligence, of an order that might not be
found in any one Of it's units. The dramatist
who knows this appeals to the many-in-one
organism, and the reason New York has
witnessed 30 many failures this season is
that some playwrights overlook the
fact that the public is not damn fool.
The moment writer undertakes his au-
dience he ia lost. 1t is all very we'll to say
that you must not write over the heads Of
the neople hut by the same token an Eiffu