Los Angeles herald., 1908-04-12
NEW PLAYS AND
A BAG OF TRICKS

"OLY WEEK, the most dreaded
I'll seven days of the theatrical year,
IL promises only one novelty of par
ticular interest, the appearance of
James ]. Corbett at the Mason in THE
Burglar and the Lady" The Corbett
engagement, by the way, is only for the
latter half of the week. The Los An
geles continues dark, though rehearsals
are in progress at that house Of The
Whirlpool" which Miss Mary Shaw
will present there for the first time on
any stage a week from tomorrow night.
At the BeIasco 1.-The Girl of the Gold
en- West" will continue its run; and at
the Auditorium the Edgar Temple sing
ers will continue their comic opera fill
clustering Both 1.-THE Girl" and THE
Filibuster" have proved their worth.
The Belasco was completely sold out
for every performance last week; and
while this was not true of the Audi
forum, more theater-goers heard the
opera than saw the play, the discrep-
ancy being due to the greater capacity
of the Fifth street house.
The Burbank will offer Harry Cot
trells I'm South Car'liney," seen at the
house several times before, and the
Grand will present The Card King of
the Coast"
Much interest naturally centers in the
forthcoming premiere of The Whlrl-
pool" at the Los Angeles. The play is
an adaptation from the French of Maui
rice Donnay, made by Mary Shaw, who
is herself experimenting the production.
Miss Shaw, by the way, is the only wo-
man player in this country who has
succeeded as a stage director. during
one season she was engaged as director
of a prominent eastern stock company
and for several years past she mas
served as director of her own companies.
In staging THE Whirlpool" she Will
be assisted, so far as the stage settings
are concerned, by Sedley Brown, FOR
merly stage director of the Ferris stock
company.
"The Whirlpool" will be the second
play to have it's first production on the
stage Of the Los Angeles theater this
season. The first was "Sham," So
ciety comedy written by Geraldine Bon
ner and Elmer B. Harris, which Miss
Florence Roberts presented at that
house Christmas week, subsequently re-
turning for a supplementary season.
sham" was lightsome affair." good
natured satire on New York society, in
the commonly accepted, restricted sense
of the word.
1.-THE Whirlpool is a serious attempt
to present a serious subject. In its
original form it was used in Paris by
Rejane and proved big success. The
play depicts a certain phase of married
life in France. 1t shows US a husband
who, In the legal sense, remains true"
TO his wife, though he has ceased to
love her; and 1t shows us the Wife's at
titude toward that condition.
Donnay is said to have constructed a
powerful drama about this theme; and
there is little doubt that Miss Shaw's |
translation will prove tremendously in
teresting. Very few women have the |
keen appreciation of dramatic values, |
the dramatic insight evidenced by this |
artistic.
Proof of this is found in the fact that |
when she decided to present Mrs. War |
ren'S Profession" on tour she made GER
tain changes in the script. These
changes were submitted to George Ber-
nard Shaw and were approved by him.
They were not radical, of course, but
the very fact that they were approved
by man who is, perhaps, foremost of
living dramatists, is no small complt-
ment.
The season now drawing to it's close
witnessed the first production of still
another play upon a local stage AT
the Auditorium Dick Ferris gave us the
first view of Mrs. Gertrude Andrews
Kate Shannon" soon to be presented
in the east by Virginia Harmed
Thought 1t is not generally known
Kate Shannon" was written by Mrs.
Andrews for Miss Shaw and was first
submitted to her something more than
two years ago. Miss Shaw read it, and
after some consideration decided
against its use, returning the script to
the author. Subsequently the story was