Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-07
wisdom of the proverbs which
advise the selection OF good COM
pany was never more abundantly
demonstrated than the case OF

advise the selection Of good COM
pany was never more abundantly
demonstrated than the case OF
the play "Cymbeline," one OF
whose inevitable periodical revivals occurred
at the New National Theater this week.
great actress seems to feel that her career
cannot be complete unless she has por-
trayed the gentle graces Of Imogen. Incl
dentally the play absorbs an amount OF
scenery which rejoices the soul Of the pro-
Queer whose ambition 1t is to attract at
tention by his gorgeous profligacy in mat
tiers of sheer establishment. Too often
realizing sense sweeps across the manage
ment Immediately after the scenery and
properties are arranged for, and spirit Of
economy manifests itself precisely at the
critical moment when the cast is being
selected. 1t must be said for Miss Aliens
company that many Of the players are OF
notable efficiency. 1t Is unusual to see Mr..
j. II. Gilmour dsporting himself pink-tight-
ed and panopled in the guise Of Roman
warrior. Even the luxurious drapery or
the citizen which he wears in the early
part Of the play was unfamiliar to the eyes
of most of his admirers. but he acGuits
himself with dignity in both ordeals The
eminently successful engagement which
"Cymbeline" has enjoyed must be credited
to Miss Aliens personality rather than to
the attractiveness of the play itself. To
speak otherwise than reverently of
Shakespearean play sounds like vandalism,
and yet the ostrch-like acceptance OF ev-
erything produced under his long-ago su-
pervision as the work of a master poet Is |
no less an affectation than the attitude of
some OF the later-day dramatists and crit |
les who assume a cynical superiority In dis |
Almost candid
stage manager will declare that If Gym |
bene" could be brought into "a modern !
managers office as new and untried man |
uscript it would be rejected without sec |
ond reading.
There is some satisfaction in discussing |
a production of a play like "Cymbe-
line whose character and quality are per-
manent. An opinion formed to it's mer-
its on first night can be depended on to
stand at least throughout the week. The
custom now so common of rewriting play |
after a first performance cannot be fol-
lowed In a work of standard quality The
most that the stage manager can do
is to reach for a battle and add more
to the many lines that have been chopped
out in order to reduce it in necessary time
limitation. The frequency with which COM
ment on play differs In different cities
cannot be entirely accounted for on the
ground of varying taste. 1.-THE Great d.
vide" which was so generally dsapproved |
of in Washington. met with similar con-
domination in Pttsburg, in spite OF the
work done upon 1t here. The efforts to rem
der 1t more plausible and wholesome were
evidently more successful as conducted in
Pittsburg, for the New York comment has
been enthusiastically favorable. 1t is i'm
Irli mi U
so deficient in taste and perverse in
moral sense as to accept the play in the |
form under which it was made known here
X X x
1.-THE Strength of the Weak" presented
many unexpected points of merit, coming
10 this city as it did entirely unknown.
Miss Florence Roberts offers renewed as
surances that good actresses do not neces-
sarily come from Broadway The general
public has learned to look to New York for
its theatrical productions as unvaryingly as
It looks to Scranton for correspondence
schools or Battle Creek for breakfast food
But every now and then reat merit asserts
itself outside the accepted market, which, 1t
must be confessed, has grown more or less |
perfunctory and methodical in It's manner
of supplying the trade. Not only is Miss
Roberts own performance good but the |
scenes of chatty social life were prettily |
and naturally done, although the perform |
ance as a whole is by means what could !
be called a finished one. The play is one
of the numerous progeny Of that stalwart
drama, Camille" whose robustness and
longevity are in such marked contrast to
the fragility of its heroine. The central sit
uation, however, departs from Camille"
and introduces the chief motive of Sow
ing the Wind" and thereby is the an
nouncement on the bills that 1t is prob
lem play indicated