New-York tribune., 1906-10-31
THE DRAMA.
ANOTHER SHAW PLAY.
Mr.. Forbes-Robertson.

Mr.. J. Forbes Robertson cordially welcomed by
numerous and friendly audience. appeared as the
New Amsterdam Theatre last night. acting IN a
play by Mr. G. B. Shaw. called Cesar ana Cleo
patra This actors conspicuous and varied pro-
fessional talents have long been recognized on noth
sides of the Atlantic This play is published and,
10 persons who have patience TO READ MI
Shaw's labortous concoctions of pert paradox
and shallow cynicism. it is well known Inc
purpose of It Is the deliverance CT satilicai
gi5es from behind a stalkiI g-horse Of farci-
cal history. 1t to be the conviction OF
this author that everything existent including
human nature. Is wrong. and that all things oushe
to be made and newly fashioned. according to
Shaw. Let us. he exclaims destroy the Past ana
all records of IT. and upon their ruins build Future
The value OF that deliverance can readily be esu-
mated There are many kindred pautuoes' uio
most conspicuous of them. perhaps, being an OUT
burst on the folly of War-a passage in the deiiVery
of which the elocution of Mr.. Robertson was very
beautiful The piece is not one be classined IL
contains. in a fragmentary form COMEDY iafee'
melodrama, and buresque; and murder twice conn
mitted. Is of its incidents. To form II makes
pretence. The structure is wholly capricious'
The coloquy purls along diffuse. prolific nternna-
BILE; and but for the splendid scenery, the rich
dresses, and. the part Of Mr.. Robertson the
remarkably fine acting, 1t would be insuheraoiy
tedious. Pungent lines occur at intervals: he VINO
has nsver hoped never despair is one OF them:
and there occasional touch of pleasing droll-
ery-such for example as the scene between Cesar
and Cleopatra between the paws OF the sphinx
But, whole. the piece Is heavy AT the saiie
time It affords the spectator be-
comes solicitous to know what particular kind OF
nonsense will come Mr.. Robertson, of course,
acted Caesar. His makeup Is work of art, ana
it was a luxury to listen TO his vocalsm--which
not even extreme weariness. though obvious. could
mar. In play OF such various texture the style
of the acting must necessarily become diverse and
inharmonious. At moments Mr. Robertson
acted in the true vein of buresque-mai intainng
exquisite gravity. delicately suffused with
hunor At other moments he evinced the author
ity of intellectual impersonation and presented
dstinctively regal character-fsr transcendng the
part; and several times he stirred the house to
citement with fine outbursts of feeling and strokes
of spirited action Miss Gertrude Elliott went on
for Cleopatra, and made her a pretty prattler, or
the conventional ingenue pattern. A very clever
skit the formal, priggish Briton emphatical-
ly made by Mr. Ian Robertson In the part of Bril-
lanas Coesars secretary. Everything has been
done that could be done to make the play a sue
cess and spectacle 1t may capture public favor;
but 1t is very thin stuff. The stage has indeed
fallen upon evil days, when the apotheosis of
drunken ruffian is hailed the Great American
Play: when Richard Mansfield becomes the apostle
of Ibsen: when the intellectual John Forbes Rob-
when Julia Marlowe. almost the only poetic and
romantic of the time. devotes her ripe and
splendid ability to the service of Sudermann,
Maeterlinck and Mr.. Gabriel Rapagnetta), OF the
Annunciation and the charnel house. W. W.