Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-02
LONDON THEATER GOSSIP.



Special Correspondence of The Star
LONDON. June H. 1905.
Is Alfred Capus-that luckiest of modern
French playwrghts-on the of getting
popular in English? 1t looks rather like 1t.
Up to now. it is true, most attempts to
adapt NJ. Capus have had but Indifferent
results. Neither the English version of
La Chatelaine'' nor that produced in the
United States proved a great money maker,
and the transplanted Two Schools enjoy
ed only a short run.
There is no doubt however, about the
success just scored by George Alexander
with the translation, not adaptation, of the
French authors .'Adversaire' called in
English The Man of the Moment'-and
the American rights probably will have been
secured before these lines are printed.
Meanwhile other prominent. actor-managers
are getting ready to try their luck with
plays by Capus. Harry Melville, who trans
lated "L'Adversaire for Alexander is put
ting La Bourse GU la Vie into English for
Cyril Maude, and an Anglo-Saxon version of
'Piegois' is being made for E. S. Willard,
who intends to try it first in America. Both
of these Capus plays were big successes in
Paris. particularly the latter which is the
story of nobleman's marriage with a
woman whose great wealth does not make
up for the fact that she is far below him in
the social scale. There is talk, too, of an
English version of Capus' "Notre Jeunesse,"
in which. Coquelin has been appearing at
the London Shaftesbury
X
The London production Of "L'Adversaire,"
or 1.-The Man of the Moment" had an in
terest apart from the play itself-this being
the appearance with Alexander of Madame
Simone LIE Bargy, whom the manager of
the ST. James recently succeeded in per-
suading to cross the channel and to act in
English. This was made possible by the
fact that the famous star Of the Gym
nase" has for several years been fairly pro-
flcient in the Of our tongue She came
bravely through the ordeal of appearing be-
fore an English audience and gave a fine
performance.
THE Man of the Moment" however did
not have to depend on Madame LIE Bargy
for its success. 1t is a powerful play in
which conventional theme is handled with
great skill. Maurice Darlay lawyer Is a
rising man who has no great inclination to
rise; his wife, however, is ambitious for
his sake and would like to see him dis
tinguish himself He has made a mark in
a much-talked-of case, but since then has
been content to rest on his laurels. He Is
offered another opportunity, case in which
he is asked to defend politician accused of
fraud He refuses to take up the case and
recommends another young rising man, who
accepts the brief, secures an acquittal and
makes a great name by the affair.
1t Is the irony of fate that Madame OAR
lay should become infatuated with the new
Man of the Moment Finally her hus-
band suspects and determines to cross
examine his wife With this interrogation
the third act, the big act of the play, opens
The lawyer uses the hand Of steel in the
0f haf
the woman breaks down completely and
confesses everything. She pleads for for
giveness but receives little encouragement.
Her husband Is bent on a separation. There
is just chance of his relenting, however,
when his wife's mother Madame Grecourt,
appears on the scene, and, though endeav-
oring to mend matters, seals her daughters
fate.
Madame Grecourt has partially OWNED the
situation, but supposes it Is the man who
has proved unfaithful. So she urges her
daughter to forgive, observing that men and
women are not to be judged by the same
code. IF it were you, now, who had
sinned," she says to her daughter, there
could be no forgiveness. The only course
for such a woman is to follow her lover"
Don't you agree with me-" she asks OAR
lay. and he replies, Absolutely" From
that moment the man is iron and the cur
tain falls upon situation which nothing
can remedy.
At the st. James George Alexander Is the
Darlay. He gives a capable performance
while those who saw the French production
declare that Madame LIE Bargy's portrayal
of the wife is even more impressive than
that of Mile. Brandes. by whom the part
was created THE man of the Moment
will furnish some American players with
uncommon opportunities.
~.
It Is just possible that London, now slowly
recovering from the effect of Hamlet
epidemic, may ere long be face to face with
one of Richard III" When Irving, the
younger, who started the Hamlet boom.
ended his season at the Adelphi recently he
announced that his next Shakespearean
venture probably would be a revival of
Richard" And now Martin Harvey, who
also essayed the Dane, declares that he,
too, is anxious to appear as the hump
backed monarch. Tree has played the part
already and probably would want to be In
the swim, and so the thing might go on I'M
til eventually there were as many Richards
as there were Richmonds 'in the field"
Max Beerbohm has been protesting
against the stage American as known to
the British public, apropos of Lewis Wal
ler's recent appearance as Hawthorne,
u g. A." Says Max: "A ridiculous stock
figure has for many years done duty on the
English stage for American men-always
blatant always cool, always resourceful, al
ways ready with dreadful funniments In
the manner of Max Adeier. Thirty years
ago before the development of steamship
navigation 1t was natural enough that Eng
lsh playwrights should be content with this
figure. But nowadays, when London
throughout every summer Is overlooking
with real Americans. 1t certainly does seem
strange that our playwrights can give us
nothing better than this one old battered
simulacyum."