Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-07-03
Conan Doyles New
D1a p1aa II -
London Dramatic Letter.

III tspecial correspondence)
n ONION, June 19.,Nfr. Lewis
Walters lucky star certainly has
not been in the ascendant late
". But at last tickle fortune
has consented to smile on him and he
Is able to congratulate himself on what
promises to be a substantial success.
Conan Doyle's new piece, 1.-THE Fires
OF rate Is not by any means an ideal
play: the author takes himself Just a
little too seriously: the result is that
only too often he succeeds merely In
boring his audience. But happily the
defects defect of his latest stage work are
more than coilnterbalanced by its mer-s
Its and at the Lyric last Tuesday eve
ming the spectators shouted themselves
hoarse over theE first performance. The.
piece is founded on Doyle S well known
story The Tragedy of the Korosko,''
and contains abundant matter to in-
3terest and excite the average man who
is simply out. for sentertatnment. The
scenery. too, is beautiful, showing,
among other things. the deck of a Nile
steamer, a picturesque plateau with
the Albousir Rock towering overhead
and a camping ground in the desert
with a long stretch of dazzling sand
extending far into the distance. The
play Is a blend Of ethics and of nelo-
drama, but luckily for its success,
mel odrama wins; the day.
: The second production Of the week is
THE World and His Wife, G. +. Nird-
fingers adaptation of Sci Gran Calico
to. AS the original play. is nearly 80
years old it is hardly surprising that
the English version struck us as a
.trifle old fashioned and cumbersome.
An ordinary London audience may also
he pardoned perhaps for failing to SYM
'pathiZe with the more violent and hot
FLOODED methods favored by the chil-
sdrsn of the sunny. south. The gloomy
nature Of }Echegaray $ story served fur
sther to cool the ardor OF those present
at the Adelnhi last Tuesday afternoon,
SO that. altogether, the event can
scarcely be considered d success. AS
Martin Harvey only put up the piece
for haIf-a-dozen Inatnees 1T may be
gathered that his faith in its drawing
capacities was not precisely unbounded.
But + dare say he will find 1T useful
to him in the provinces. where they
like their dramatic fare served up hot
and strong. @ XVI
Z The cry is "still they come Wher-
ever one goes one is, sure to- stumble
against some. popular American actor
or actress. Blanche Walsh has just arr
rived in London, and of course lost no
time in repairing to the Garrick to
see "The Woman In tho Case which
she herself played for SO long in Amer
lea. Nothing would please her better
than to take up her old part here for
q while. AS it happens Grace Lane is
compelled to resign the role of Mar
garet Rolfe shortly and Sheath Is look
ing round for someone to replace her, so h
had Blanche Walsh been free to stay,
matters could have been settled at once.
Unfortunately this she cannot do. Now
there is some talk of IItlda Spong. also
one of the latest arrivals from your
side, being offered the part. 1t is some
her reappearance would assured1y be
the signal for a particularly hearty
welcome. 4
AT Walters first night i happened on
William Brady whom nearly failed
to recognize owing to the disappear
ance OF his noustache. He and his
wife. Grace George. are here for ii
time, partly on business and partly on
pleasure. Like so many other Ameri-l
can managers he is in search of new
plays and eager, in particular, to Sc
cure one for his wife, who, he tells me,
is to revisit London professionally
next year. Frank Worthing came over
on the same steamer with them. I
am glad to say he Is looking much
better than he did on his last visit
to London just a year ago.
Charles Frohman has broken out in /,
a new place this week. Some little
time ago he impaired to me MS inten-
ton of devoting the Hicks theater TO
the exclusive production of dramas of
a powerful and serious character. As
the scheme Is now fairly nlatured de-
tails may be given. In the first place,
with the consent of Seymour Hicks, the
name OF the house is to be changed; in
the second FroflInan has induced Lena
Ashwell to give up management OIL
the Kingsway and come to him as
leading lady In the autumn he starts
operations with Alexander Bisson's La
Femme X" which achieved some sue
cess in Paris with Jane HadinE as the
lowed by "Thc Great Mrs. Alloway.''S5
written by a comparatively unknown
draInatist, Douglas Murray, and, /,
later, by Henri Bataille's The Scan
dal. There are also to be trial mat
inees of all sorts of new plays, with |
special afternoon performances by a
select number of Frohnaan's American
stars.
Lena Ashwell's REIMBURSEMENT of the
reins OF office at the Kingsway seems
rather in the nature of a confession
that she has been unable to make things |
pay there. AS q matter of fact this
comes pretty near the truth; with only |
one exception none of her productions
this season has shown 81 margin on the |
right side. No one has shown a kind |
lier disposition toward the unknown
than she, but her expert
ence goes to prove what most OF us |
realized long before, that to attempt |
to rur a theater continuously on such |
lines Is almost certain to lead to disas-
ter OF all arts, the dramatic is prob
ably the most difficult, because the !
by which it is governed are
so elusive and so tluctuating.
Even trained playwright cannot |
guard against all eventualities; tho
best he can hope for is to avoid the
more obvious pitfalls. In the circum-
stances what! chance is there for the |
tyro who has not even acquired an
knowledge of stage effect ::
-
AS I sat in Charles Frohman's room
the other day my eye was caught |
ny oplorpd r0star,fs{,fi5 the N III II