Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-16
The CAST
BY w. HERBERT BLAKE

Footman. Observation-Disclosures Norman Heap
! Walters and Guests
BY w. HERBERT BLAKE
1t may be a wise commercial maneu-
yer, but it Is scarcely fair to the mem
bers of a conscientious and hard
worked stock company to put on such
a play as Jack Straw so soon after
its presentation by the original cast
In this city. Comparisons may be in
vidious, but they are inescapable, and
in the drawing room type of comedy
it is difficult to rid ones mind of the
impression made by a premiere. The
characters have a cameolike precise
ness of outline to the reminiscent mind,
which all but precludes variation Mr..
Drew walked thus, one recalls, and
grinned after this fashion. This and
that in Miss Coughlan's impersonation
recur to the mind and inhibit any due
allowance for newer and sometimes
possibly a better Interpretation in some
detail. Six months hence the general
outline of the original portrayal will
be hazy and remote and one might be
! fair to a stock production. Under the
| circumstances, it is difficult to be so to
the performance which opened the
Burbank's new week yesterday.
! The English comedy of manners, be-
sides is the most relentless and exact
manner, a certain way of carrying one
self, often unspeakably absurd when
not unconscious, must be adopted. Any
thing short of this leadens the atmos-
phere, and the atmosphere is the play,
or nearly all of it. OF last nights cast
only one member, Mr.. Mestayer,
played consistently in character ana
the character was really little beyond
a type which made the matter rather
easy to an experienced actor. But to
snare the Englishman, or the Pome-
ranian, for the matter of that, minus
the monocle and the mannerisms one
always expects in stage nobility is
about as perilous and precarious pur-
suit as a rash actor could choose OF
have chosen for him.
All these things debited, Mr.. Beasley
made a fairly entertaining masquerad-
ing archduke, especially In the quick
enine comedy of the last two acts. IL
would be absurd to say tnat ne iookeu
any more like an archduke tnan ne oiu
a waiter, but he acted throughout Win
that Celtic facility of his and nov
of spirits which kept our thoughts from
straying to John Drew's crooked s1nlle
with any traitorous consecutiveness.
His costume in the second act was
rather too al fresco for drawing
room-even for Jack Straw. But ne
made the most of the few serious mo-
ments the play gives him and MI.
ReasIev Is at his best in strong, tense
drama not the comedy of manners.
That one fact, as his honest admlrer.
7 must crv aloud, with the memory OF
"Secret Service" unforgotten and the
vision Of "The Morals of Marcus" just
ahead. ,.A
Miss Beatty played her part with
rather too much pressure on tne iouu
medal of farce, which made IT dinicuit
dNypnn1thiZ6 with
the character when the house of caros
falls tumbling about her in the gro
tesoue climax of the second act. Ihat
evnpathy Miss Coghlan won, ana sne
aid il by the merest hint of restraint
in those scenes which MISS BeaIty
somewhat overplayed last night For
us TO hate the Parker-Jennlngs snoD-
bishness one must believe them hu-
man. And to pity them in their mer-
tied shame and discontinue, as the
wainwright assuredly meant we shoulo,
we must keep their reality 1alrly III
mind. Miss Beatty's impersonatlon
would have been excellent In farce OF
musical comedy. for 1T was ludlcrous
enough. in all conscience. But 1t was
NOT p woman she played. 1t might
have been a gryphon or a centaur;
am sure it was some outiandish ami
NAL whose like is not to be found even
in the ranks of the most bourgeois OF
the sometimes ineffable British middle
class matron. 49,
The other parts, except MISS HAN
simple and sincere, but rather thin i'm
nersonatlon of Ethel. are largely in
different to the principal action of the
nlay. and in the main were rather IN
differently played last night. Wills
Marks was perhaps the best of them
as Jennings, giving to the role
an adequate coarseness OF texture ana
utter banality of utterance which ex-
actly fitted its requirements, and in
this respect excelling the actor who
played the role in the Drew company.
Mr.. Stockbridge is too good an Amer
lean to play the lordlY snob with any
success. He was truly English, but by
no means snobbishly so. He acted last
night as if he didn't have much use for
his role, in which conclusion one agrees
with him, although 1t doesn't parttcu-
larly aid the clarity and fidelity of his
impersonation.
Mr.. Yerance was far from pleasing as
Ambrose Holland. The part requires
an impression of volatility and what
l may call gray-haired youthfulness,
which were utterly lacking last night.
Miss Taylor was mildly pleasing as
Lady Wanley. She had the bored air
of the type, and also it's swift reaction
into superficial merriment. Miss Hay
ward received a royal welcome from
her old admirers and assumed her mod
est part fairly acceptably. Mr.. Gilbert
would make a better vicar If he would
adopt the simple expedient of throwing
his shoulders back and sitting erect.
Mr.. Duffield and Miss Duffet present
effective pictorial figures, although the
former recited his lines at times with
rather unnecessary deliberation. The
supernumeraries ate and drank in a
way to make one thirsty.
A welcome that would not be denied
compelled Mr. Beasley to step out of
character long enough to make a mod
est and well-phrased speech. 1t was
deplorable dramatically, but what
would you have? A word of praise
should be said for the staging and
scenery. The first act set was beau
tiful and the second depicting the
garish interior of the Parker-Jennings
home, fairly sereeched with appropriate
vulgarity and an unroariously discor-
dant color scheme.
The story of Jack Straw is toler-
ably familiar to most local theater-
eoers and 1 have not attempted to re-
produce it, 1t enforces a most salu
tary lesson to snobs of any race or ma