The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-03-20

she smiled with the laughing audience ana
her Self-posSession wasn't a whit disturbed
Was il Christian Science that. having COLI
WINGED her that nervousness is an error,
enabled her 10 be rid of il? That is as IL
may be; but Eddyism had not qualified Mr.
Barron to write an engrossing play, thoughi
ii was original and literary. Mrs. Ken
nedy to give a thrilling performance, though
it was clever as the achievement OF a
novice. Two girls who had grown up In
stageland we're minor members of her COM
pany. They were Davenport Seymour. niece
of Fanny Davenport, and Dorothy Russell.
daughter of Lillian Russell. pretty Begin
ners but not beauties like their aunt and
mother.
A comedy. MAN Proposes" made in Eng
land by Ernest Denny and imported for
Henry Miller. is another new play OF the
week. The merit of il is restricted TO the
role assumed by Miller. that of kind
hearted, good humored Dick who has chos-
en- to live incognito although heir to an EARL
dom, while his loafing. roguish brother Ken
impersonates him scandalously In some
wicked affairs. Miller is an Irishman in
this piece, with a tongue tipped with Irish
wit. a heart full of Irish impulse and 4
culture that softens his Irish accent ana
Irish audacity To my mind this actor IL
at his very best in positive characterization.
like his drunken hero In The Only way,
Wind but / think he is second best, and
enjoyable. too. in a light vein OF cherry
he does in the new comedy,
All the rest of Man Proposes" Is simple
and direct; also hackneyed and commons
place. The good Dick takes upon himself
unreasonably i think preposterously, the
onus of the bad Ken's sins. yielding up to
him the nice girl whom the stolen title has
allured into a betrothal and letting her be-
EeYe IL is he. not his brother, who consorts
with a naughty woman. Denny does not
excuse by any originality the use OF this
old, old theme Even the one Electrically
effective episode lacks sufficient motive.
The French husband of the woman with
whom Ken has a liaison in DICKS name
would like TO kill the libertine in duel.
Dick accepts the challenge, for no ade-
quate reason, and exposes himself to the
peril of death. But the dialogue between
the brothers, as spoken by Miller and Has
sard Short. Is impressive. and the nice girl
is a concealed listener TO what misleads her
to condemn Dick. whom she loves, for the
misdeeds of Ken.
Rash breaks into Broadway are made this
week by the Century Theater Company and
the Charley Opera Company That earnest,
but erratic, visionary, Sydney Rosenfeld.
has for year been melting with might
and main a demand for better things on
the stage than are being done there. and
industriously preparing TO satisfy IL.
We'll, his assembiage of players whose he
said-would demonstrate by contrasting ex-
cellence the mediOcrity or worse OF what
our audiences are accustomed TO. are per-
forming Much Ado About Nothing. He
has Jessie Mllward for a Beatrice ana
Theodore Roberts for Leonato. but no
one else in the cast bids winningly for dis
tinction. Ii is representation which
would be satisfactory and no more IL no
uncommon merits had been promised for IL.
But the progress in dramatic art is not
realized one jot little, and so there -
disappointment for those carpers who be-
lieve that whatever Is is wrong in theatrical
affairs Quite as good a display of Shak-
spearean intelligence and proficiency Is be-
ing made on the next block by Edith
Wynne Matthison and her English COM
rades in LAS You Like IT. and at the Har-
lem end OF the town by Viola Allen and her
American comrades in Twelfth Night"
The extra pretentiousness OF the Century
enterprise as an advance towards an ideal
theater subjects the outcome TO ridicule
which urder ordinary conditions IL would
not have TO bear.
Unfortunately for Resented. he carries
his forecast of superiority right up 10 the
lifting of the curtain on the failure to
make II good In his allegorical prologue
arts high aspirations are hindered by ig-
norant tradition and even held back by
sordid progress. but she wins them both to-
her aid and they kneel submissively at her
feet.
Distance in epace. as well as in time.
lends enchantment TO the hooting owls OF
stageland. They like to look wise and tell
us how much finer the far-off things are
than those near by. One OF the favorite
cries OF these silly fowls with solemn faces,