The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-29

or in his methods. The Scotchman is the
more nearly normal Of the two; but who
could imagine him approaching life with
the large romantic sympathy OF Shakespeare
or Menander, with Molij res well poised
outlook upon the human comedy, or with
Goldsmith's broad and mellow spirit OF
laughter? Barrie is clearly as individual as
any Of these great people; in fact, his in
dividuality is much more salient and per-
s.s.ent; but it is in this hat l find the
chief cause for misgiving. With the Irish
man Shaw individuality proceeds to the
extent of a perversity-a deliberate intep-
ton to provoke, and even shock. One
cannot imagine either OF them writing what
is summarily but conveniently described as
straight comedy or straight drama. They
belong too much to themselves to belong
wholly to the public, even Of their W time
In all popular art, most of all in the drama,
such individuality is a weakness, tending
always toward the formation Of cliques.
If Barrie and Shaw were greater there would
be no Barrieites, nc Shawites-or rather the
whole intelligent public would acknowledge
them.
Yet all the moro Y find it to the credit
Of the American public that 1t has recog-
nized them as 1t has. Either Of them ia
a rather stiff proposition for any audience.
That both should have been welcomed is
little short OF a triumph, for their indi-
vidualities are as different as they are pro-
nounced. Nowhere has this been more
evident than in Peter Pan" and Man and
Superman.'
Barrie's attitude toward the human
relationships is of adoring, Of doting ten
derness and comprehension. He knows
children and childhood-he Is himself a
child; but there are two lobes in his brain,
and they do not work as a unit, His moment
of utmost divination, of the most round
eyed wonder, is presided over by a gnome
of the earth as it is, who sees through it
all, scouts it, flouts it-but does not rout it.
In order TO follow his play, If you are more
than seven or eight, you also must for
the time being have the two lobes of your
brain work independently, be under the
divided dominance of the spirits of belief
! and of satire. Many who love fairy stories
do not love Peter Pan, and many who do
| not love them delight in it. In the first
days of its run it was an oren question
whether it would hold the stage, and it
may still be doubted whether it would
| have had any extraordinary recognition
if it had not been for the genius and
the popularity of Miss Maude Adams. Per-
haps I seem to be disparaging Peter
Pan" Nothing could be further from my
intention. Personally it has given me
more pleasure than any other piece Of
the season. And though believe that it
| falls short Of the very highest dramatic
or poetic genius. l gladly p~araphrase the
verdict of Prince Hal on Fdlst1G-we
| could better srare a better play.
MAN and Superman' is addressed to the
intellectual adult. Shaw has little knowl-
| edge of life as it is, and less love for it. In
| his mind the gnome of perception has quite
| driven out the fairy of belief. The result is
| not life, and, in any true sense of the word,
| not art. The first condition of getting the
best there is in him is that one shall never
quite believe in him. That granted, he acts
on the mind like a tonic-a substance alien
to the state of man that yet shakes it up
to Its benefit, a poison that rouses n out
of lethargy and into a beneicent intoxi-
cation. The life of Shaw's people Is not
real life; but, by an artfully contrived con-
| trast with outworn ideals, it for the no.
ment impresses us with q sense Of reality,
| and thus kills forever our acceptance of
1dlseDOOu, OF, " 10 III dItuld'C' VI Ntou
truth. Solemn moralists find it pernicious,
and sentimentalists find it sorcid; but
people who are able and willing to play with
ideas-and they are the people OF real men
tality-weloome t for the Qualification which
its fermeut brings.
Here again the question is not Of alb
solute intelli genoe, for many worthy people
find Shaw abhorrent: and 1t generally hap
pens that Barrieites are not Shawites, nor
I Shawites Barrieites. 1t is all the more re-
markable, then, that in one and the same
! season both plays have run for long peri
DDS to large audiences. This can mean
only one ~thing-that the public has learned
to think for itself in the playhouse, that
it has become not -the public" but an
| assemblage of rational human beings,
who select their intellectual enjoyments
! with at least as much discrimination as
| thew bestow upon their dinners. And if
| they are able to find out two plays which,
| however different, have this in common,
| that they are both delicate and rare. they
will probably not prove wanting when it
| is a question of the more staple and nour-
| it is a question of the more staple and nour-
| ishing foods-as indeed has been made evil
dent in the more normal II less distinguished
American dramas of the season.
BY a most fortunate coincidence the sea-
Hsaau KhiGAu uhasz cd IL o SReitn aeIesaR-
ment of public taste in the theatre has
/ seen also the foundation of the New Theatre.
That the time was ripening for such an in-
stitution has long been apparent. With
the data before us, it may confidently
be said that it is no longer ripening, but ripe.
1t would take nothing short Of laundering
to render the project abortive, and there
is every reason to believe that it will be man.
aged with as much ability as Gberality.
The production Of Gilbert's "Pygmalion
and Galatea" las. week at Carnegie Lyceum
was cs 'er sibly in benefit of the library of
the National Arts Club; but it served to
introduce to the public an amateur actress
who gives much promise Of professional
excellence.
As Gdlated Mrs. Charles de Kay revealed
a voice which, though not strong, was ex-
ccptionally pure in tone and sympathetic.
and a countenance unusually adapted to
the ex ession of fresh and gracious woman
hood. Her frs moments of infantile
wonder at the world she was born into
and of childlike abandonment to affection
were full Of appeal, even allurement, and
her technique was here firm and SIS aimed.
Later when the tragedy of her situation