New-York tribune., 1905-01-08

,,s- ''e audience is appealed TO 70 saxa ,.r
w os promising to believe in fair,er A...Le-
- moro successful. for when tha T,sr,,,
.s remembering their forlorn u,otbAr ,n
tne nursery. obtain permission fro r,4s ~
nome the red Indians are overpowerad o,,ars.es "a
Ds pirates and the entire troop of voung.,a~. =,
carried of to sea. Is
Inc third act is staged for the forecastla and
uech OF the pirate ship, of which Mr. c.eraId
aurier is the captain bold and tragic. He
0ohoehns the children to death bv v,alt,,,o ~.
plank and when he has strfven In 81
reprieve two of them, under the Impossible oo-
oi'on or disoyalty to King Edward tba~a 4,
fautiny; and Peter Pan comes TO tho frx.
arms the children and throws the pirates ,nto
lhe sea after fierce combat. There is an intar-
luoe In the redskins camp, where q hupa cro
Gle is lulled to sleep and loud calls ara r,adA
iof the captain, who is suspected of having
CSIalhed temporary quarters in the interior of
me reptile; and finally there is a return to the
Darling nursery. where the mother is distrac+a1
wlsh grief the repentant father is living in the
dogs kennel, and Mana has gained comp,at.
mastery Of the household. While the mother
Is paying Home, Sweet Home in the adjoining
room the children come back to the en,ptv
nursery and crawl into their beds and when
sLe enters the room and cannot believe that
she has regained her loved ones thew fling
themselves into her arms. So the lovely little
play ends with final frolic of the overioved
oog and with Peter Pans pathetic face looking
In at the window. After the fall of the curtain
on the opening night little girl named Liza In
the programme and credited with the authorship
or the play came forward to thank the delighted
audience and to explain that her friend Mr.
carrie. was not in the house. She had given the
signal at the outset to the orchestra to start
the music. and she had appeared here and there
throughout the piece with confident smile
bringing the dog on one occasion to make sure
that there We're intruders in the nursery. and
strolling by wendy's house in the wood with a
conscious air of having arranged everything
very nicely.
Such is Mr.. Barrie's play for children. old
ana young; and so full Of tenderness is it, so
free is the flight OF whimsical fancy that
there does not seem ever to have been a real
drama for the little people before. He takes
their story books about fairies redskins, pirates
and grotesaue animals and weaves a. simple
fantasy out of the substance of their dreams:
and when 1T is done the middle aged spinsters
and the veterans with gray hair enjoy it
as much the children themselves He is
helped out effectively at the Duke of York's by
the scene painters and the actors The cross
section Of the home under ground. with the red
skins crouching above in the dark wood, is most
spirited throughout Miss Nina Boueicault is
most agile and quaint as Peter Pan, and Miss
Hllda Trevelyan as Wendy and Mr.. Bascomb
as Slightly are most effective in the children's
parts, while Mr.. Gerald du Maurier, as the
mischievous father and desperate pirate and
Miss Dorothea Baird. the mother Darling, act
with exceptional cleverness and sweetness 1t
is a simple little masque in which children
pirates and Indians, dog and crocodile ostrich
and eagle, wolves and cat unite with mock
earnestness in fantastic symphony of joyous
sport; but well the parts are played it is
tators with the freshness and spontaneity of
his art 1t is not much another holiday play
when there are scores Of conventional panto-
MINIS, adapted to perverted music hall taste as
il is new method Of turning the child's world
topsy-turvy for the amusement of everybody:
and when the pirates are drowned and the
crocodile has been questioned in vain about the
disappearance Of the captain, when the red
SKINS have vanished, the fairy lights have faded
and the children tucked safely into the
nursery beds with the weird little face peering
into the window, nothing has been burlesqued.
There has not been a trace of vulgarity or
buffoonery, and the spectators are better men
and women for having looked at this beautiful
and tender little fantasy through the eyes Of
children. There is new type of holiday play
which makes the world sweeter and more whole
some; but alack! there is only one man who