New-York tribune., 1909-03-07
LONDON DRAMA.
4 Series of ReUiUals ls-Mr. James's s
COmedg.

London, February 20.
Revivals Of old plays are ever in order when
managers are perplexed by the caprices OF pub
lie taste. Mr. Frederick Harrison having a
brilliant actress. with marked individuality Of
style. rcverts TO old English comedy and re-
spects the best traditions of the Haymarket-
Miss Ethel Irving divides with Miss Marie Tenn
pest the honor Of being the most popular com
edy actress in London. and she has been trained
in the same school Of musical comedy where
charm is even more important than power. As
Kate Hardcastle. in she Stoops to Conquer.
she gives a fresh and an original reading of the
delightful! text. dls the stage with her gracious
presence and acts with distinction and fine va
riety. II may not be a grand style of acting.
like Miss Ada Rehan's. but il Is her own method
OF dcnotirZ character and observing situation.
and behind it is interesting personality that
is felt across the footlights and causes pleasur-
able excitement. Miss Irving may not follow all
the cues Of this classic part but she is delight
ful in the comedy passages. The play is brill
iantly staged. as It always is at the Haymarkct
under Mr.. Harrison's management. and the cast
is excellent. Mr.. Robert Lorraine being particu-
larry good Young NARROW and Mr.. George
Giddens most comica as Tony II Is stage re-
vival OF a high artistic order. for which play
goers ought to be sincerely grateful
At His Majesty's there is a revival of one Of
Dancing Girl" which was extremely popular
eighteen years ago. when Miss Julia Nelson
was the pleasure loving Drusila Probably it
has been considered available because Miss
Maud Allan and Miss Isadora Duncan have
shown that classCa. dancing draws large audi
ences Mr.. Jones anticipated the modern fad
for entertainment with dancing when he wrote
this highly theatrical play, but his dancing girl
was a stage creation IN a melodrarIa of violent
contrasts between Purtanism and Paganisn
She was a passionate woman. commanding ad-
miration and love and rebcng against parental
authority and the duness of her island home;
and she did not do much dancing in the play.
Now that Miss Alice Crawford has taken the
part under new conditions. there is exhibi-
tion Of the dancing girls art at the Dukes town
house In St James's Park. and while her cos
tunes are gIittering and deColetSe. and her poses
and movements most graceful, il is not the
rhythmical Interpretation OF musical motives
which is considered classical to-day. The piece
does not receive adventitious aid from the ca
prices Of fashion. but challenges attention from
the strength of its cooring. the vividness OF the
play Of contrast and the power OF crude melo-
drama in the third The final act has been
recast So as 10 exclude the adventures of the
returning North Pole explorers and to denote
the death Of the penitent Drusla at Orleans
ardent village lover. and the dukes Indian sum-
mer when his suicidal hand has been stayed
Lv the grateful cripple Syhil Crake. The dead
ening effect Of anti-cmax has not been avoided.
although the playwrights art is now more dell
cate than it was when this strenuous play was
first produced. with unsatisfactory ending.
The old play has not entirely lost its grip
upon an audience. The third act. with the dukes
luxurious entertainment Of his fashionable
friends the interruption Of the dance by the
choIeric fathers reproaches and imprecations,
and the despafring hosts preparations for death
in a flood OF moonlight has the vigor Of broad,
emotional drama When the duke is imperson-'
ated bv Mr. Tree with a melancholy air and
with studied sef-restrant. and the white
gowned cripple creeping down the splendid
staircase to save his life is pretty Marie Lohr,
with her girlish figure and sweet voice, IL is not
without power. Perhaps 1t would be more ef-
fective If Miss Crawford and Mr. Tree were not
playing In different keys. one Overacting and the
other undertaking; but certainly there could not
be a more strenuous lover than Mr.. Basil Gill.
nor shallOwer drawing room idler than Mr..
Vane-Temrest, nor sterner, more sOnorous
Puritan than Mr. Louis, Calvert. II the play
seems old fashioned and artificial, the fault does
not lie either with the stage manager or with
the actors Public taste has changed, and real
ism is considered the Indispensable requirement.
of current dramatic art. The wicked duke,
bankrupting himself in fortune and reputation;
the heartless dancer and the Puritan islanders
are stage phantoms without the breath OF real
life The little that paygoers now insist upon
naying-and they may not want that little long
is character with flesh and blood behind it.
The vivid curtain raiser at His Majestys. Mr..
George PASSIONS 'Tildas New Hat" admirably
enacted is a little masterpiece of realism.
Mr. Charles Frohman, not content with restor-
ing Mr. Barrie's What Every Woman Knows
10 the Duke of York's for apparently inter-
n,inable run so complete and satisfactory Is the
nroduction in all details, has stocked the Hicks
Theatre with one of the brightest and liveliest
musical comedies produced for long time.
This is virtually a revival OF THE Court Scan
daI adapted from French sources and produced
st the Court Theatre years ago with Mr.. Sey
mour Hicks as a boy bridegroom flirting with
every girl in sight. receiving sugar plums from
a urincess and fighting a duel with saucy
s,vaerer He has now converted it into "a play
with music" provided 1t with a lovely stage
setting invented the title. "Dashins Little
-rule" and turned the principal part 10 his
wife Miss Ellaline Terriss. She Is merry
and volatile q duke as Mr.. Tree is sombre and
unhappy in his privileged state; and for over
three hours she dashes about the stage in rose.
mink or pale blue. smiling sweetly even when
abe is fencing gracefully, flirting with the maids