New-York tribune., 1907-11-24
LONDON STAGE NOTES.
A Ne7c OthelJo-4nother Maryiage
Playa Water Color Exhibition.
London. November 9.


when he was acting with Miss Fay Davis in
Iris" and displaying a frenzy of murderous
rage in turning a helpless woman out of doors
and in smashing the furniture and ornaments
critics suggested that he would one day be the
infuriated Moor: and the forecast has been fuI
filed this week at His Majesty's Theatre Tail
massive and deep lunged. he has the physical
requirements for the impersonation: and with a
darker stain il hands. neck and face than stage
tradition warrants and with flashing ewes
cleaning teeth. gaudy jewelry and Oriental
spendors Of costume. he is a more picturesque
Othello than either Mr. Forbes Robertson or Mr.
Lewis Waller He does not need to save his
voice and vital force for the storm and stress of
the closing acts. for his bodily resources
inexllaustiblc. The nobility and simplicity of the
straightforward soldier and the tenderness Of
his feeling for Desdemona are revealed in the
earliest scenes; and then he lets himself go with
sll the volume and intensity of barbaric melo
drama. auivering with jealous frenzy under
lagos goading like an infuriated bull pricked
by poisoned dart, believing with ferocity
almost savage when in quest of vengeance and
agonized with grief when he knows that the
murdered Desdemona has been innocent. There
is much of the terrific force of Salvin and less
Of the human majesty with which John McCul-
lough used to dignity the part. The finest mo-
ments are in the speech of vindcation in the
voice convu1sed with emotion and tears stream
ing from his eyes Othello stabs himself and falls
heavily the stage. 1t is performance that
requires self-restraint in the stormy passages
and refining processes at manY points; but IL
has elemental force, dramatic consistency and
Oriental splendor.
The Iago of Mr Alfred Brydone brusque.
cynical soldier. who inspired Othelo's conf
dence and easily made a dupe OF him. The
IL
note sinister hatred and fendish depravity
lacking: and consequently while his success In
deceiving every intelligibe. the
malignity Of his designs was unaccountabe.
Mr. Brydone has firm voice and many talents,
but amount of practice and study will enable
him to impersonate Iago adequately. He lacks
face figure. imagna on and sardonic humor
for impartng to that prodigy of evil on the stage
the vitality possessed by the Iago of the Shake
spearian text. There is much artificial and
theatrical byplay such as the purloining of
Roderigos purse. triumphant pose over Othel-
los senseless body in the third act and spiteful
splitting at him when he is dead: but these
feeble devices for denoting the lurid and hideous
power of sinister, invincible intellect. The
Desdemona of Miss Lily Brayton is wellnigh
faultless in beauty simplicity. gentleness and
nobility of nature. Her voice is resonant and
melodious and the realism of her acting in
siveness helps to impart pathos as well as grim
horror to the tragedy. The entire production by
the closeness with which the text is followed
and the excellence of the acting ARRANGEMENTS
IS one that deserves warm commentator. There
is an excess of byplay-much of It inane and
some Of il downright ignorant: but the grand
style Of the tragedy triumphs in spite of silly
inventions. 1t is fine performance which
proves that the day for great things on the
81 aCoh has NOT vet al
The marriage question continues TO engross
the attention Of playwrights new and old Mr.
Rowan Orme in Mrs. Ellison's Answer" is so
intent upon illustrating it that he congresses
three domestic experiences within the bounds
If A. many acts. There is the marriage of Mrs
Ellison which has terminated so disastrously be-
fore the play opens that she is a grass widow
in quest Of a fresh affinity and irresolute when
she finds one. There is the marriage of Oswald
Mivain. maginative youth in the habit of
talking about his ideals. with Patricia. the hand
some but vulgar daughter of a most offensive
American art dealer; and this turns out unhap-
PLY. for the wife runs away with odious ad-
mrer named Sozzenheinl, for whom she has
tanned sentimental attachment. There is final
y the marriage of Richard Milvain with Sylvia
Gadband, which is followed by an estrangement
of temporary duration and finally by a reconcile
alton. In the course of the estrangement the
disappointed husband reverts to Mrs. Ellison
promising affinity and asks her to elope with
him. While she is thinking it over he meets
with a shooting accident and loses his sight, and
as his wife proves to be a devoted nurse he
falls deeply in love with her. Accordingly, when
Mrs Ellison makes up her mind and tells him
that she will run away with him. her answer
comes too late to break up the marriage. 1t is
his answer that is decisive in spite Of the title.
and she IA kes il easily enough by agreeing to "A
platonic friendship with an occasional meeting
for the sake Of pleasurable reminiscence. There
is plot enough for a long novel and altogether
TOO much story for single play The Ellison
marriage is superfuous, since single woman
would be equally serviceable the temporary
affinity and more eligible candidate for a
platonic friend than the divorced wife of an
aborinable brute. The marriage of the younger
brother, Oscar, with the untrustworthy Patricia
Is also unnecessary since her elopement with
the horrible Sozzenheim has no bearing on the
main situation The elder brother is in the way
Of being another Sozzenheim, but changes his
mind when he is blind and bis wife takes good
Of him.
With players as competent As Miss Granville
and Mr. Robert Shaw to enact the principal
parts everything is done at the New Theatre 10
encourage the young dramatist The actors do
their work so well that the characters seem to
he real human beings; and there at least
two dramatic nornents-one when the romantic
Oswald learns that his brothers marriage has
turned out as badly as his own, and the other
when Mrs Ellison hears that her lover is
wounded and that she cannot go 10 him because
his wife must not be displaced. MI Orme VIII
write better plays than MRS. Ellisons Answer
when he finds out how different is the effect of
purely literary line or library epigram when