New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1909-10-24
LONDON DRAMA
Il Modern Don Quirote at tie
Haymarket.
London. October "a

market King Lear" artisticau,
staged with the help OF Mr. Ricks,,,
and enacted with varied resources -
stagecraft. was noble beginning OF III.
enterprise. The second venture. whi,,
has been tried this week. Is plav h,
Mr. Rudolf Besier. the promising artho-
Of 1.-The Virgin Goddess" and Oliver
Latimers Husband" There is zood
idea in Don" the adaptation OF errati.
quixotic chivalry to modern middle cIss,
life: but 1t is carried out with unnscsz-
sary coarseness through a disazreeabl.
situation. albeit with considerable dr,-
matte artistry and much comic byplav
Canon Bonington's son Stephen. uoat
and idealist. with a passion for helping
his fellow creatures without regard for
conventions. has befriended a IOndo,
waitress from the purest sltruistic mo-
tives. and after her marriage with a
fanaticaI religious zealot has delivsrs5
her from the husbands cruelties and
carried her off 10 his fathers recto-v
under the most compromising conditions
With few judicious changes and omis-
sions similar to those by which the text
of Smith has been eleansed and in
proved at the Comedy Theatre thu
coarseness could be taken out OF Don
but even il there We're less indelicacv
and more reserve there would be shear
Cheatricalism in the plot. with a hero
utterly lacking in FEASIBILITY. Possibly
he is intended as type of uncouver-
tional Christianity. His bIunderiux
chivalry is so irrational that he seems "a
much of a mailman as the faustisaI
Plymouth Brother. whose home he Ia.
broken up.
In the first two acts. passing in RI.
drawing room of a country rectory ara
disclosed the effects of unconventional
Christianity on the hero's conventionaI
friends. The third, which is staged for
the rector's study. reveals the changes
wrought in the estranged husband and
wife by the purity and unselhshness OF
Christian motive At the outset tina
canon and his wife. with their visitors.
the Sinclairs, husband. wife and daugh-
ter. are awaiting the arrival OF Don. and
are startled by a letter from Albert
Thompsett, the fanatic. stating that his
wife has run away from home with her
lover and that they are heading for tia
rectory. Before the first scene ends Don
enters with the fainting. demorzlizsd
Mrs. Thompsett. assumes that no ark-
ward questions will be asked. either BY
his f1ancee- Ann Sinclair OF by the mid
die aged Boningtons and SincIairz. and
himself restores the infatuated invalid
TO consciousness and takes care Of her
in her room
In the second act there is a scatter
brain explanation of his eccentric and
ingenious conduct. with a dramatic close
when the arrival of the injured husband
is announced. Up to this point there hs.
been entertaining comedy with a farricar
trend. and character has been disclosed
with artistic skill in the natural disIoxus
and IN attitudes of mind toward the r,,n.
away couple The High Church canon
is shocked by indefensibIe scandal under
his roof; Mrs. Bennington, with rotberIv
affection, becomes an unrefeCtinr on
portunist bent upon getting her bow ont
of bad scrape; General Sinclair i.
angry and uncharitable, Mrs. Sinclair
sees the humor of the situation. and Ann
Sinclair remains a silent spectator. m
willing 10 abandon her faith IN her
cratic lover.
In the third act comes the touch OF
real drama with the entrance Of Albert
ThompSett, impersonated with 5srcs
earnestness and splendid intensity BY
Mr. Norman McKinnei Hardly has he
spoken ten words before the hardness
and narrowness Of the religious bigot
and the resentment Of the passionate
husband are revealed After sternl,-
demanding the return OF his wife and
brushing aside the platitudes of the
canon, he points revolver at Don. who
does not finch. but rebukes him for
brutality in tormenting the helpless wife
with the terrors of religion Mrs Thomp-
sett. impersonated with touching sin
cerity and true sense of character by
Miss Christine Silver. confesses her own
love for Don, acquits him of dishonor-
able conduct. and agrees submissively
10 go home with her husband This ia
after the irate and morose Thompsett.
overcome by the spirit Of Christian
altruiSm, has become a changed man
and forgotten both his jealousy and his
thirst for blood. With hearty shake Of
the hand he takes leave OF his wifes
protector. and peace reigns in the rec
tory, Don and his fancee embracing each
other as the curtain falls.
There are so many ideas in Mr.. Be-
sier's play and the duel between the
illiterate Plymouth brother and tire
quiXotic idealist in the third act is 50
dramatic that Mr.. Trench's choice Of
the piece is perhaps justified. although
pains ought 10 have been taken TO re-
move several offensive. pIainspoken
passages. There is clever construction.
by which the characters are allowed 10
explain themselves by natural develop
ment and there is continuous increase
of interest in orderly climax as one act
follows another. With a little more au-
thority and greater gift Of personality
Mr.. Charles Quarternlaine might have
intensified the character of the hero. lie
suggested the impuIsive creature of ir-
responsible caprice. who with the higA-
est motives could act with incredible
folly. without thought 0f the conSe-