The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1908-03-04

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'The Boston Tsan y most ez
acting critic 81 ne wrote as8
follows 81 me Ben Greet players
presentation Of GoIdsmiths She
fstoops TO Conquer IN Boston week be7l
fore last.
+To watch the Ben Greet PERFORM
anee Of She Stops to conqueF3ts to-
realize the vitality OF Goldsmith's
sprghtly comedy. The snap and spir-
1t may have been due partly to the
careful and elaborate stage manas..-
ment, the cunning with which lines
were touched up with coscical Or IL
Eliminating action; it may also have
lbeen partly in the exceIlen ensemole
work Of the company. but lie charm,
when all was said and dorr, wr; in
the kindly satire of some one who
wrote like an angel, AMI taiIied like
poor 'Noll POLL z
Mr.. Greet himself makes rather n
mature Tony Lumpkin, b"t his siIo
does not interfere with the iliaSun OF
boyishness. If anything. n,er9 hulk
adds to the character Of tu% uversrown
yeoman. and with every srmace, ev-
cry freak of malice and mischief the
idea was elaborated. In the scenes
with Constance, teasing. pInchtng.
kicking her shins surrertitiously I'M
der the table. and finally dashlng on
with u flip of his pigtail wig, he was
surely doing everything in his power
to discourage the tender passion.
The care and discrimination with
which the whole performance was
worked out was as evident in the
minor details as in the acting of the
principles. The tavern scene sound
ed new note; stupid without berg
dull, noisy without being unlntelliei-
bile, and vulger without coarsrness--
1t expressed exactly what 1t was writ
ten to express, poverty of Intellect
and abundance of animal spirits. I'm
like other tavern scenes OF old ENG
lish comedy, there is intended to BE-
less wit and more noise. This pre-
pounded a difficult problem in pesen-
tatlon, one solved by Mr.. Greet In siv-
ing his audience half dozen figures
which might, in costume. darcrtmcnt
and countenance have steIpet! out Of
the frames OF old engravings Of the
period. They rejoiced, they made mrr-
~, they were glad. They spilled ale
all over themselves and each other.
They sang gloriously out of tune an.
danced to nothing in particular.
Again. in Squire Sardcastlc's III
structions to his servants usually a
minor scene. II not cur). care. insight
and a fine intelligence made the cpl
sode one of the most realistic and the
most comical. Mr.. Greet, or somebody,
had succeeded in differentiatins four
separate idiocies. Each yokel WIS abb
surA in highly Individual way, not
with hands or with feet alone, but III
the utter imbeclllty of look and pos
ture After the famous speech Of the
grouse in the gun room" given with
an amiable vacuity which was irrestl-
BILE, the house broke OUT into round
of applause-all the more unusual Tor
being evoked by the combination of a
literary allusion and n piece OF cOnnc-
tent character acting. The stage
bumpkin has become such Il cnnven-
ton that to differentiate him into four
highly individualiaed figures is in it
self something Of a triumph. especially
when one of the four (the one OH the
left who affected knock knees can,
with the use of eyes and mouth alone,
express the whole range of mental va
cancy.
The virtues of the performance were
apparent. as well, in the clean ennncia
ton often deliberate, of Goldsmth's
finely rounded periods and his Tonr-
syllable nouns. We are out OF the way
of thinking that such words will carry
on the stage; our chatter is staccatc
Of monosyllables, The long speech
es were last night given with q g.ace
of dction, a sense u' thriT rhythm.
pauce even mel9iy, which convinced
the imagination that something Of the
style OF the elder acting had been
caught. They sounded artificial at
times, but because we are not in the
habit of hearing people talk slch 600!
English. the more The pity.
Ben Greet has male his greatest hit
since Everyman IN this comedy. 1t
will be given in Fairnlont Saturday
evening. March {.