Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-05
Foreign Stage Gossip

Special Correspondents of The Star.
LONDON, July %. 1905
A RE American piaygoers unsophisti-
~ Gated? Do they delight, In other
words. in what English audiences
would regard as a-sentinientality."
and thrill over "situations' that would
arouse only amusement on this side of the
water?
This is question which has been raised
here q good many times in the past year.
and 1t occurs to one again in reading the
London critics opinions on The Prince
Chap which has just been produced at the
Criterion Theater. First of all, however.
let It be said with what apparent OPEN
inindedness and evident desire to be fair
the English reviewers one and all applied
themselves to the task of judging the new
attraction from the United States. Really
the situation was one of some deIicacy. for
this is the first transatlantic play to be
produced In London since the recent dis
cussion over the attitude of British critics
toward American pieces. and as a result
practically every reviewer seems to have
been on his best behavior, and prepared to
recognize any and all good qualities that
the Peple comedy might possess.
So IL is rather striking to notice with
what unanimity this play which, by all ac
counts. was an eighteen-carat success In
America, is described by the London news
papers as entirely too naive, old-fashioned
and artificial to please British audiences.
in America" says one writer where
ingenious sentimentality appears to be in
some demand. it has had considerable sue
cess
Another, after observing that perhaps 1t
is out fault; perhaps we are blaise, with the
well-springs of our humanity dried up
ADDS, If that be so, Ii is our misfortune,
TOO, Tor nation among whom The Prince
Chap was great success is to be envied.
1t is very, very young" And. for closing
instance. w. L. Courtney writes in the
Telegraph: 1T 1t is true that the piece has
achieved success in America, 1t speaks vol
umes for the righteousness of theatergoers
on the other side of the Atlantic
ALL you see, h tp on exactly the same
string, and so the question naturally arises.
Are Americans ingenious" as these critics
allege? Was 1t, in sooth, because Ameri-
cans are less critical than the English that
THE School for Husbands" THE Gilded
Fool. Shore Acres" and other pieces,
which had been successes at home were
mildly guyed and consigned to limbo when
produced in the metropolis recently? In
specific cases, 1t Is true even Americans
in London have failed to see what their
countrymen found in certain plays which
had apparently scored at home-''The
Climbers" for instance. and THE Sword
of the King''-both of which had short and
inglorious careers in London.
One could imagine, however, what a diff
ference British and American acting may
have made in the two plays last mentioned.
and to the charge of nervousness that
Is laid at our doors the answer is to be
found no farther away than the London
Comedy, or just around the corner from
Piccadilly circus itself. For here is Raj
fes." which was originally acclaimed by
the same Ingenious American audiences,
drawing the blase Britishers like veritabie
magnet, and breaking all records at the
theater which is it's London home.
And even if 1.-THE Prince Chap" should
fail there is no reason for regarding 1t
absolute proof that the American critical
faculty Is less keenly developed than the
British. There have been too many In
stances of ''theatricalism," in which Ameri-
cans may be said to have reyeled and
which have also proved highly to the taste
of the English for such a hasty verdict.
There was Sherlock Holiness for in
stance which was no classic, but which
could hardly be played often enough to sat
isfy Londoners. There is Monsieur Beau
caire." which like "Charley's Aunt Is
still running. not to recall many other ex-
amples of unanin1ity of opinion on the two
sides of the Atlantic.
No, just as it was no Indictment of Brit
ish humor that Beauty and the Barge
which had tickled audiences in the me-
tropolis. failed to amuse Americans, so
there is no call to hide our diminished
heads because one play or score of plays
that have hit American taste do not go in
this country. For righteousness ana
most other qualities audiences in the two
countries seem to be on par, and when
all is said and done 1t is just matter or
a given plays appeal on either side OF the
water, and about that, as Bernard Shaw
says: "You never can tell.