Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-01
THE CAST
BY w. HERBERr BLAKE.

BY w. HERBERT BLAKE.
"The Second Mrs. Tanqueray," by
some accounted Pinero's masterpiece,
by others an exceedingly morose and
didactic specimen of good stagecraft
gone wrong, was the Nethersole We
hicle at the Mason last night. 1t is
the tragedy of wife'S failure to i've
down her past, and with all good IN
tentions one always comes away from
such a play wondering what useful or
beautiful or even moral purpose is sub
served by it's production. The salient
teaching as to the retributive power of
wrongdoing is evident, of course, but
so are a score OF blunders in judg-
ment, any one of which, rectified,
would have averted the final catas-
trophe of the heroine's suicide.
The blunt truth is that if a man
chooses to marry any woman of the
so-called ."artistic temperament" "
whether she have a past or merely a
suspected future, he needs the armor
of deal of shrewd common sense and
an uncommon sense of humOr. Tan
queray seems to have had neither. He
did have a daughter with a prying
curiosity and an almost priggish sense
of her own innocence. The rest fol-
lowed with the unerring certainty or
Druidic sacrifice or a Greek tragedy.
Only in the latter comparison there
is one difference: 1.-THE Second Mrs.
Tanqueray'' does not particularly pur-
ify us with the spirit of pity and terror.
It merely saddens and depreSses, which
are two quite different things.
Miss Nethersole invested the piteous-
ly capricious character of Paula with
much charm and plausibility, despite
an intrusive stammering mannerism
which she overdid at moments. In the
last two acts, when the struggle to
appease the furies of her past becomes
too much for the character, the actress
depicted her gradual relapse into the
apathy of defeat with fine sympathy
and restraint. I do not think her Tan
queray equals her Magda, but it evinces
the same delicate feeling for relative
values in acting which charmed us
in the Sudermann play. 1t is no bald
COPY from other models, but true i'm
personation. The affectations of the
woman seemed much overdone in the
first act, but even this defect had its
compensation in the contrast afforded
with the simple, sodden misery of the
finale. Disease was the visible mark of
this tragedy-disease of soul and mind
and one felt in the concluding scenes
that it was less a play than veritable
sickbed The suicide was anticipated.
The real death scene came just before
Mr.. Ross, as Cayley Drummle, fell
into the bad habit of mouth1ng his
lines, and did not eXtricate h1mself
until we'll along in the play. 1t was
with difficulty that we caught the drift
of his interesting chat in the first act.
The Tanqueray of Mr.. Hunter was
manly piece of work, although even his
excellent enunciation failed at few
intervals in accurate placement. Mr..
Perry assumed the role of the young
lover of the daughter-a part not very
we'll elaborated by the playwright-and
did it fair justice. The actor who
played the physician in the first act
should take note that "theory" has
three syllables and that ALLEVIATE is
accented on its first. 1t is a, pity to
spoil a good portrayal by careless pro-
nunciation. Miss Stafford took the very
difficult part of the daughter, and acted
intelligently and carefully, not hiding
the characters weaknesses, but making
them seem logical. Mr.. Mott as the
"bart" and Miss Tittell as his quite de-
lightful wife were the most interesting
specimens of English nobility nave
ever seen on the stage. If the real
article were half so grotesquely COM
ical. there would be no talk of abolish
ina. the house of lords Miss Gordon
lent opulence to the comedy part OF
Mrs. Cortelyou, although somewhat
audibly prompted from the wings IN
time of peril,
mThe Second Mrs. Tanqueray' is the
decentralization of a failure. with scarce
a ray of compensating mercy or nope.
Vet there are moments when one Is
thoroughly convinced that with all lts
brilliant talkiness it is really the fall-
ure of Sir Arthur Wing Pinero ana
not of our much maligned human ma
ture.
The last two performances Of ''The
Toymaker" will be given at the Grand
opera house this afternoon and tonight.
At the performance this afternoon Mr..
Hartman will entertain the boys of the
Whittier state school and following the
last performance of the piece tonight
a big dress and scenic rehearsal will
be held preparatory to the opening OF
"San Toy"
Nearly every playwright has hobby.
That of Mrs. Andrews, the author of
the Through Window now being
played at the Belasco, is characteristic.
She insists on all properties. such as
draperies, bric-a-brac, etc, being the
hest that can be obtained, and as a
result those used in the ranch house
scene in the third act represent an out
Law of more than $1,000. Through a
window" will enter its second week
at the Belasco Monday night
NO GAME AT CHUTEs