Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-24
The Foreign Stage.

LONDON, March II. l~f-
With the exception of Mr. Sutro's piece
every hrst-night of the week Of March
was more or less American. two OF the
playwrghts having come from home
Madeleine Lucette Ryley and Gladys
I-nger-two of the plays having been pre-
sented" by Frohman. and Seymour Hicks
having borrowed a good many of the ideas
for his play. as usual, from the United
States.
The first night at the Duke of York
Theater enabled London to see John Hare
as Napoleon in Mrs. Ryley's adaptation
from the French of Pierre Berton's The
Great Conspiracy with the viyacious and
quick-wtted Irene Yanbrugh as the wife
of one of the conspirators. and afterward
as the wife of one of the Little Corporal
aid-de-Camps. wonderful company nau
been gathered for this play including at
least four actors. Aubrey Smith and Henry
Ainley. besides Hare and Miss Nanbrugh,
who are of star rank. 1t was produced,
too. by Dion Boucicault. No money or
pains had been spared on scenery, on cos
tunes or on salaries for minor members or
the company; yet an ungratefui gallery
did not altogether succeed In restraining
itself from "boOs.
The trouble was that THE Great Con-
spiracy' started out as a fine, strong
up In mild comedy. with the drama mostly
evaporated. The first act was uncomnonly
good. II took place in an inn. where the
rOyalist conspirators Matched their plot, and
ended in an explosion vainly intended to
blow Napoleon into kingdom come 1t was
an explosion worth going miles to see ana
hear-a triumph of stage ingenuity. The
inn was wrecked utterly, and the dust ana
smell of gunpowder We're almost too real
istic. The chief plotter against Napoleon
was the Marquis de Taillemont. huspand
of charming young wife. Inc MARQUIS uis
was supposed TO have been Killed py ms
own bomb, but his wife knew he was not
dead Napoleon came in time. also: 10
suspect that his arch enemy was stlH awe,
but failing otherwise TO extract the secret
from the young widow he made her
marry his aid-de-camp. with whom she
was confessedly in love. In spite of this,
she saved Bonaparte's life from another
of her husbands plots, and all came out
right in the end. The play was full or IN
genious situations and other manifesto
tons of technique, but without much real
life
Miss Gladys Unger. an American girl who
has lived in London for several years. is
the author of Sheridan, the four-act COM
edy produced by Arthur Bourchier at his
Garrick Theater this week. 1t is witty,
agreeable and fairly effective play. and was
so we'll received that the young author had
10 he conducted twice to the stage by Mr..
Rourchier after the final curtain to respond
To the demands of the audience 1t Is a
pleasure to say that boo-ers Tor boors) were
conspicuous by their absence from their
haunts in the gallery.
Miss I-nger has based her play on the
historic fact of Richard Brinsley Sheridan's
runaway marriage, four years after his
first wlfes death. to the young daughter
of the Bishop of Winchester. In the first
act we find the dramatist, wit and orator
beset by creditors, but as gay and happy
go-lucky as If he hadn't care In the
world He has arranged a marriage for
his priggish son Tom with the fascinating
and rich Esther Ogle. but the girl and
Tom do not take to each other, whereas
the girl and Toms dashing father fail in
love with each other instantly. JealousieS,
money troubles a duel over a scrape into
which Master Tom has got himself, make
many a lively incident until Sheridan and
the bishops daughter elope and. lodging
the sheriff's officers. are happily welded
In the last act. Sober history records that
the match didn't turn out so well as pic
worse for the sober history of genius
who was not always sober.
The Richard Brinsley Sheridan of Arthur
Bourchier gives furtehr testimony of the
fact that this actor. however unpopular
and i'll advised some of his off-stage pro-
ceedings may have been, is a genuine artist.
The heroine of the play is Alexandra Car
Isle who is delightfully."- pretty and lively.
Charles Frohman's latest presentation in
musical comedy is Seymour Hicks MY
Darling at the newly built and luxurious
Hicks Theater. The great merit OF the
piece from the box office viewpoint, is
that it is exactly like every other Hicks
musical comedy, and therefore contains
nothing of which the Hicks public IS not
absolutely certain to approve with all its
might.