Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-25
The Foreign Stage.
Special Correspondence of The Star.

LONDON. OCTOBER l4O6.
To perform the proverbially rare feat of
finding a contented man one at present
has only to make pilgrimage to 10 Adeiphi
terrace. London, and there gaze upon the
Ineaments of George Bernard Shaw. AL
ways equable, and never more so than when
one of the periodic squalls aroused by his
writings is raging tempestuously, &c. B.
s." Is positively glowing with satisfaction
at the moment. and the reason for this
state of mind on his part Is threefold.
To begin with. Mr.. Shaw is quite nat
urally elated over the way In which he
has just been "vindicated' by the city of
Vienna in the matter of his famous and
oft-slated play. Mrs. Warrens Profess
sion." AS Americans may have heard the
piece which the English censor refused to
license and which got Arnold DAILY and his
company into hot water when II was given
In New York has been lauded to the skies
In Vienna. where critics are describing 1t as
the best play of recent years. Moreover,
the Viennese nestors are eulogizng particu-
larry what they describe as the authors
artistic treatment of difficult subject. so
naturally Mr.. Shaw is pleased and dis
posed to believe that both wisdom and
discernment make their abiding place in the
Austrian capital. Perhaps he will see to
1T that marked copies of the "Zeit'' and the
rest of the Vienna journals are sent to
commissioner McAdoo of New York. not to
mention George BEDFORD, the official play
reader of the lord chamberlain's Office.
Evidently, however. Mr. Shaw has not
despaired altogether of the United States
(whatever his opinion of this country NAV
be-, for another thing which is causing
MIN lively satisfaction at present is the fact
that MS comedy. Caesar and Cleopatra"
Is being staged for the first time by Forbes
Robertson and Gertrude Elliott as the
feature OF their American tour 1t has Of
course never been seen in England though
copyright performance was given at
newcastle over seven years ago. when Mrs
Patrick Campbell read the part of Cleo
Patra and Nutcombe Gould that of Caesar
On that occasion, moreover 1t is reported
that some of the stage hands who heard
the performance were provoked to uproar-
lous mirth by the audacious humor of the
oIdiosue' ana 1t Will be highly interesting
10 see whether American audiences in
dorse the verdict of these unprecedented
spectators.
But his vindcation in Vienna and tha
Caesar and Cleopatra" production are not
the chief sources of Mr.. Shaw's present
iehclty From what he said when seen in
Adelphi Terrace yesterday, l Judge that
Ct b. s is most gratified at present over
the prospect of landing one of the most re-
sounding smacks that even he has ever
dealt on the Uranium of that parfjc,,Iar
bette noir of his. the common or garden M
~ AS readers may be aware the modern
physician Is only less execrated by the
author or candida" than the consumer of
what Shaw calls our fellow Creatures
and l hear that physicians generally are
going to get the dressing-down of their
hyes In the remarkable play about death
-Whlch mas been keeping the Celtic dramatIst
busy for so long, and which now is aInoost
ready for production.
Most people. even those who know their
Shaw' were electrified upon learning that
ne mad taken up leading London critics
testing challenge to put death upon the
stage. and had actually set to work unon q
play whose chief character" was CORPSE,
Granville Barker, by the way ia IN nlay
the cadaver when The Doctors Dilemma
as Shaw called his piece. is done at the
Court in November) 1t seems however
tnat the portentous. not to say terrifying
theme of his new play is by no means re.
estimation. ~
1T is a cheap job" he said. "Tbs tr,,th
is, William Archer has started me ON an
enterprise utterly unworthy of my powers
so 1ar from death being the supreme test
OF an authors ability, 1t is the crutch of
every dramatic cripple, the onion of every
actor VINO cannot pump up a real tear
why. baby In arms could have written
TINS play OF mine as far as the death part
'Pathos? Oh. yes, there will be lots of
pathos; the Court Theater will be damp
with tears and windy with shifts; the fourth
act will give London rheumatism"
But II is his attack on the doctors that
most matters in his new play according to
Mr. Shaw's ideas. For" he continued, "the
really interesting and difficult part is the
handling of that pressing modern problem.
the physician. That is what sensible peo-
pie will come to hear They will have to
bring their brains with them too for the
first act is like $50 pages out of Joyce's
Scientific Dialogues
OF course. however, Mr.. Shaw's bark is
worse than his bite. and whatever people,
sensible and otherwise. go to hear at the
Court. IL will probably not be this dra-
matists onslaughts on the great army of
M.Ds. By the way G. B. S. says that he
probably will have to abandon his original
title, The Doctors Dilemma as he finds
It already has been used in the case of
novel-a novel, moreover, by Miss Nesba
Stretton. the author of "Jessica's First
Prayer"
Have you ever been to the Grand Guig-
noP, In Paris? The odds are against it.
for this theater-which is not grand" at
all, but mere box of a piace-has yet to
be visited to any extent by foreign So
tourners In the gay city. Be il explained,
then, that the Grand Guignol' exists sim
ply and solely to supply thrills, piece
that Is not gruesome In one way another
being considered by the astute management.
Moreover. all such pieces are kept short
as possible, three four of these con-
densed tragedies being presented at the
Guignol in one evening. Thus one can be
narrowed to his hearts content in exchange
for five-franc piece. II was AZ thei SGdig.
nof' that "Au Telephone" the weird little
drama that was acted in English as Heard
at the Telephone" was originally DONE as
>also After the OPERA the thriller in
three scenes which Gladys Unger Is said
Such powerful little pieces. splendidly acted.
have speedily turned the "Guignol' into
one or the best paying houses In Paris,
but never In its history has II had a moro
popular bill" than the four extraordinary
playlets which are now being given, one
after another. and over which all Paris Is
excited. Especially the second. which Is
named AN Adventure In Chicago" and
which, might be Inferred is based on
the recent packing house disclosures 1t is
humorously treated, but, as If to compen-