New-York tribune., 1910-01-09
BURTON HOLMES.
At Carnegie Hall and the lyeeunn
Theatre.

poisoned cup. In rewriting the play Shake
spear elevated Hamlet TO the proportions
OF a truly tragic character. so that In an
other sense and by far the truer sense the
catastrophe in Hamlet Is reached not by
the exchange Of rapiers and the poisoned
cup but because Of the inherent nature OF
the prince. Being what he is, he could
not in the situation given have arrived at
anything but a tragic end. Essentially, his
death is the result of the gentleness Of his
nature, which revolted at the task OF pre-
reditated revenge, and Of his philosophic
irresolution. which made impossible any
definite, clear cut line OF action. A similar
case could be made out for Othello and
LEARN fact, for most, If not all, OF the
great Shakespean7n tragedies.
ITO return TO The Niger II is. from
one point OF view. tragedy Of precisely
the same kind as "Gdipus Rex" Gdipus,
as you remember, made VOW TO right a
wrong to remove an evil which was bring
ing disaster to the life of the state. The
catastrophe Of the play is the discovery
that he himself committed the sin from
which the state is suffering. He himself
must be the victim of his own edict. This
IS precisely the case with the hero Of The
Niger" Philip Morrowe is graphing as
the negro determined to do his utmost to
solve IL He finds that he himself is tech
nically a negro. and that his own happiness
must be his first sacrifice to the cause.
There may be elements Of melodrama in
The Niger" The fact that Morrowe's
father was an octoroon changeling may be
regarded as accidental and not a character
istic or an essential feature of the situation
Of the negro in the South; but this is at the
worst, the only touch Of meiodramatic con-
triyance in the story, and it is far less i'm
pOrtant, TO my mind. than are the elements
of melodrana in any Of the great Shake
pearian tragedies. In point of fact, there
have been many cases in which Southerners
of high social and political position have
discovered that they had a trace of negro
blood and have been ruined thereby, as
Philip Morrowe was ruined. And is not the
great tragedy Of our people in the South
as a whole the fact that there exists
mongrel element? Far from being a melo-
dramatic contrivance, Morrowe's negro
blood is legitimate and artistic symbol
Of the whole theme Of the play. The incident
OF the lynching, certainly, and the fact that
revolver appears on the scene do not in
any sense argue the play melodrama. II
the revolver or the lynching stood for
merely arbitrary and accidental deeds Of
violence, as such incidents do on Third
avenue and the Bowery, they might argue
the play a melodrama: but as the play
stands they do not in any way affect the
development Of the essentially tragic theme
OF the whole. Precisely as the use of the
dagger is legitimate in the earlier tragedy
so is the use of the revolver in a modern
play tragic theme"
How did you come TO produce The Mig
ger'?"
I'VE asked Mr.. Sheldon for a play after
his Salvation Nell had been produced. He
had a play-'The Nigger'-which he sent
U.S." Right here Mr.. Corbin had visions of
'The Passing of the Third Floor Back"
Regarding it he said:
1.-The Passing of the Third Floor Back
came TO us before Mr.. Forbes Robertson
produced it; we liked it extremely, and
were eager .e do It. Mr.. Jerome very nat
urally --c--ed TO know who was going 10
play the part OF the Passerby II We had
been in a position TO say that Mr. Sothern
was 10 be a member of our company we
probably could have secured the play; but
the contract with Mr.. Scthern had not yet
been agreed upon and signed, so we lost
The Passing Of the Third Floor Back"
Not many OF tho playwrights would
have been so particular, / suspect"
No; but, you see, The New Theatre was
practically unknown then. There had been
failures Of one or two projects of this sort,
and ii was a very natural stipulation on
NJ art"