New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-06-13
LONDON NOTES.
DIR. Forbes Robertson IN Melodrama
-Mr. Trees ReUiUaIs.
london. luna A

p
them, for Mice and Mem came as a remarkases
stage success to restore the balance of his To-
unes when he had tried many plays and had no.
seemed to know what the public wanted. In ra
turning TO the London stage after his tour IN
America ard In the provinces he has produced
wornan's work "-rhe Edge of the Storm hv
Miss Margaret Young. Enacted at the Duke %
York's Theatre this week. IL has delighted tina
galleries and when revised and toned down II
may prove a popular melodrama. 1t resembles
For the Crown" but is cruder and over
weighted with motive. and is constructed with
less skill The situations do not explain them
selves and the spectators do not understand
them until the cues are supplied as the piece
goes on. This is a defect. for clearness is an IN
dispensable requirement Of good dramatic writ.
ing and movement and the rattle OF musketry
do not offer compensations for the lack OF II,
Miss Young has Supplied action enough for
three or four plays. and so much happens before
the final fall of the curtain that the audience ia
dazed. and IS conscious Of having been through
an arduous and confusing campaign. She will
be readily forgiven. for modern plays suffer
from lack of action rather than from excess OF
ideas; and she has created part in which Miss
Gertrude Elliott ia enabled to show that she IS
not only beautiful and charming woman. but
also an actress OF temperament and individu-
|
in this play. and certainly has never done any
work finer in quality. The one great moment in
The Edge of the Storm comes in the third
act. when the Hungarian girl finds out that she
has married her fathers murderer. Charming
IN the prologue and in the two previous acts
with her cIearness of voice and her beauty and
grace. she suddenly becomes actress OF
power and saves a noisy. I'll constructed and
Iiu1ping play An apprentice may have fash
ioned the scenes with amateurish hand. but an
artist with personality and temperament Of
her own has triumphed over everything. II the
pIa gwright, as is perhaps too apparent, intended
that the woman should die at the last moment,
Miss Elliott by her individuality and emotional
power. has compelled a revision OF the final
scene. and won for the heroine an Irresistible
claim upon life and sympathy.
Miss Youngs drama does not lack action. In
the prologue there is the Hungarian revolution
Of 1878; and in the three acts there is the SepOy
rebellion. The combination is not a happy
for English spectators. for the patriots Of Kos
suths era must be identified with the Indian
mutineers; but the analogies do not relate to
politics. but TO dramatic stir and movement.
There is much going on in the first scene, when
a band OF Hungarian revOlutionists fances that
II has captured Metternich. the arch-enemy OF
Magyar nationality. and IS finally convinced
that its prisoner is an English adventurer.
gentle maiden. daughter of the leader Of the
band. rescues him from death when his
masquerade is discovered; but while she is con-
Quoting him 10 the highroad OF safety, her father
falls upon him with a knife and is slain The
refugee escapes under the impression that no
has been struck at by the cousin, not the father,
and that nobody is much the worse for tho
struggle in the dark The girl returns TO and
TT, 81. ,N~faf1 vars
cut blood stained. and her father dead. When
the revolutionists come in she accuses herself q
having killed her father, and after she has taken
a VOW OF vengeance against the crafty English
man. she has an attack OF fever and forges
What has happened. In the first act she mas
been dragged 70 India by her cousin Ferenz anu
his sister in a vendetta OF revenge. The Two
corsn'rators after failing IN their attempts 20
murder the Englishman. who has become the
master of a sugar plantation near French SET
tIement by knife and cold poison. plan a ven
geance as subtle as II is fendish and unnatural
They, resolve 10 leave the maiden behind them
she IS now sixteen plus nine-and when 'n'
Englishman has fallen in love with her and
married her. 10 tell her that her husband Is her
fathers murderer and that she must avenge the
wrongs OF the Magyar patriots. The plan IS
carried out and after the marriage there IS an
exciting scene between husband and wife. ne
does not attempt 10 defend himself apart rom
reuarkinr casually that he had not suppoSeu
that anybody was hurt nine years before; anu
she remembers what happened. but rams ih''
his arms instead of killing him. Ferenz hFes
the pistol and shoots her instead Of the husoana,
and the two shots bring Up French IeNs-
party and save the garrison OF the plantations
house when the SepOys attack 1t. Fefeh1
killed. the crafty sister IS carried on WIN
fever. and the devoted wife revives from nsf
stunor and the vendetta drama ends happily
All this comes on in a prologue and three ac'7'
with a fantastic tumble OF Magyar patriotism.
Netternich intrigue. Sepoy unrest and creased
cartridges; and in the course of single evenlhs
the e.Rakoczy March," God Save the King anu
the "Nfarsellaise' are heard in turn.
Mr. Forbes Robertson. with his ntellectHai
face and fine voice. seems out OF place IN 'thea'-
ricaI n,eIodrama OF this kind. He plays the part
OF the English adventurer and sugar planter
with fine variety. and succeeds in making u -
teresting, If not convincing AS MetVerni'N
double he is at once COOL self-posSesSeU Sn-
whimsical: and when he has been seized oS ~,
revolutionists, bound with cords and conueHln'-
10 death. he is a picturesque figure, appe"''Hs
to the hearts of pit and gallery. AS the plan..
receiving his guests with gracious hospi'~A"
and battling the intrgues OF the Hungarian
sasslns. he displays versatility and charm @p'
in the final act he throws himself into tue ~
fence Of the plantation house against the sePO's
with fiery energy and earnestness. only III VH
scene-that between husband and wfe-S ~
really dramatic: and this is his single chan-~
Of using his brain and playing with keen us-
cernment and poetic feeling Mr.. Titherauss
supports him well as the Magyar CHIEF IN .i-
prologue; and Mr. Frank Mills. IS the ls''o
OF the vendetta OF vengeance. who makes '"D
atterrnts To assassinate the Englishman. SHOWS