The evening world., 1911-01-09
I h e. N e w PLAY S

VvYITH another song or two. Miss MarieT Tempest might have made "yanuv
w Fair auhe like comic opera at the New Theatre on Saturday night.
W Mrs. Fiske probably doesn't reanze how much fur she is nnsnpb nv
following the road to art She should nave been in tow on this menor,bo
Saturday night. If only for IN sake of her sense of humor. for She would have
taking Becky serouAy-not she! She took her for what she ws voruhi in Eve.
pound notes and nothing more. You could rave cashed this Becky at your bank
with the customary exchange" or whatever it is called, ad been aute sure
tn q you acted the part of a gentleman and a scholar. She suggested a greedy
little sparrow feeding OF crisp. new currency.
Therew were also a fw more or lessn negotiable notes circulated by Miss Tenn
pest In the Interests of her oncece celebrated singing voice. II fact here was n
n specially written TO 70 with Thackerays story 1t recaled that incident
that occurred when Thackeray me- took % lecurng nd some wg in the
audience. as Shaw has remembered. called out. Have a piano. Thack?'
But The never got down to playing Becky In real earnest Her husband. Co~no
Gordon-Iennox, together with Robert Kitchens, had written. sane ten years q
she ad every right In tho world to seize upon It, 1t probably occurred to her
that she had enough devntry yin hr 10 d. he right thing by Becky. but-and
here Is where's e made her fatal error-she didn't take the subuety of Becky
intoc consideration. As a result her Becky was as comm as honey 1t vas a
financial proposition. subuety didn't appear as IN item o the books II vas
all in your eye or in you vivid recollection of Becky Fkke. In her methods and
in q almost ridicuiousy unbecoming Vatican costume, Miss Tempest was rem.
nisent, most OF ALL, of her comic opera days,
Not until the Anal Gene. in which Rawdon Cawley breaks W that little
supper party on which Becky Steyne have staked so much, was there any
eve of Waterloo had left out OF the dramah2aton. and so the play had
moved along by jerks without n dramatic thrill Only the Brussels flower
market stood out as a charming stage setting. The last act. therefore. promised
everything. but thu promise vas only partially fulfilled.
That thrill which Mrs. Fkke sent through us with the one word "RaWdonu"
failed to vbrate in Miss Tempests voce. This Becky, caught with the wicked
stsyne, seemed to say" Ah, Rawdon. HON SC soon!" But nere. al least, Miss
Brown did a fairly decent bit of acting. But why this little actor should have
been dragged in to play the big guarhsman was only ne OF the things that
and he was never able to suggest anything more than tn card sharp
Among the other mistakes "a Albert Bruning as the Marquis of Steyne
Mr. Brunng is 100 god IN actort to do anything hat is downright bad, but
distinction Is his weak point n he quite naturally was Unable to rise above II
40 styne. 1t was bad enough to have Becky. Rawdon M Steyne in strange
haods, but 1T vas even worse to see Miss Rse Coshlan as Mrs. oDowd. She
appeared to se suffering the tortures of tn damned, poor soul with her emd
Irish dialect ut she struggled through II wItha smile hat seemed to say God
help mv'
Hs greatest charm from the stage settings, We had to be thankful for pretty
favors