The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-04-20
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far from the center of civilization, is,
that if we have any interest at all in
the theater, we read SO much about a
play before we ever have a chance to
see it, that when we do get that OPP
portunity it is a tale that is told
Take The Thief, presented by one of
Mr.. Charles Frohman's companies,
with Miss Margaret 'Wycherly and Mr.
Charles Dalton in the roles created in
this country by Margaret Ellington
and Kyrle Bellew, at the Grand last
night The play was written by a
Partisan dramatist, Henri Bernstein,
and produced in France and England
before it was seen in America where
it had a long run in New York and
an extended tour. Lots of Topeka
people have seen it in Chicago, New
York, Denver or on the Pacific coast
with the first company.
The magazines and newspapers
have been full of it-stories of the
plot, critiques of the technique, dis
cussions of the ethics, photographs of
the scenes. We know what the great
critics have said about it, and we
went to the theater last night with
set of preconceived notions about it
well instructed as to the emotions
it was supposed to arouse in any
seemly spectator.
The Thief didn't seem worth the
fuss that has been made about 1t.
Whether this was because one had
read too much about it beforehand
would be hard to say. 1t seemed
STACEY and artificial, and had false
ring, through and through. The crit
les have pronounced it the perfection
of construction and have declared
that it has not a superfluous word,
but last night it seemed all words and
ask you direct, can you imagine
man in the position of Raymond
Lagardes. explaining to his wife and
~, Of dot
Gondin. and the reason for his pres
ence in his house, and taking full fif-
teen minutes to a story which might
have been told in three? Monsieur
Lagardes is, of course a talky old boy,
pompous successful, selfsatisfied and
used to being listened to deferentially.
but surely his wife and friends would
hurry him up a little in that story of
the money that has been stolen from
his wife's writing desk. essential as
these explanations are to the develop
ment of the plot.
And then there is that tense and
trying second act with it's enormous
demands upon the two actors, who
unsupported, sustain its interest from
beginning to end. Although it has
been pronounced one of the greatest
scenes in contemporary drama, COM
pare it, for moment, to similar
situation in the hands of a craftsman
of the stage like Henrik Ibsen. How
much better he would have handled
it How much simpler more natural
and more powerful it could have
been. And yet they say there isn't
superfiuous word in Mr.. Bernstein's
play, Imagine a woman. a high
strung, nervous, product of modernity
like Marie Louise Voysin, crouching
on her knees, PROSTATE on the floor,
struggling, gasping, painting, stran-
Cling as Miss Wycherly conceived
her to be in the stress of her almost
unbearable emotions, and still ex-
planning, apologizing, talking. talking,
talking. Not even woman could do
that. Up to the moment of her con-
fession, Marie is natural and conv1nc-
ing She denies, she protests, she ca
joles. she assumes indignation, horror.
in her mad endeavor to save herself
from discovery, but when she is fin
ally overborne. and realizes that her
husband knows the truth about her
then she ceases to be a real woman
and becomes a Leading Lady-a play
actress intent upon Great Emotional
Scene bound to explain her motives
for the enlightenment of her audience,
and incidentally to elucidate the plays
philosophy and expound its ethics 1t
would take six months of harasSing
accusation, recrimination, suffering
and blame to drag that long story Of
temptation and fall from woman's
lips. yet, for the p1aywrights pur-
pose it must be told in one short act.
Ibsen would have suggested in a word.
an exclamation, what the author OF
The Thief has required that long, in
humanity painful, and still unconvinc-
ing, confession to bring out. The
second act is a frightful tax upon the
actress in the leading role of The
Thief and Miss Wycherly went
through the ordeal masterfully last
night. and yet one felt that the woman
never lived, unless she were indeed
acting a part. who in that desperate
position, with every possible avenue of
escape shut off. facing the frightful
certainty that she had lost all that she
valued in the world. who would have
that carefully rehearsed. dramatically
developed explanation ready for the
telling.
The Thief is a characteristic expo
sition of the moral conventions of our