New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-04-13
London TheatricaIs
TIE SLUMP THE REoENERATl ON, MR. BARKER
BERNARD SHAW, SHAKESPEARE AND RAeT,ME
Copyright. 1918. by C. W. smailey1

| '''Ni III SolelllH SdID ana OF SolNH''
speech who stalks past? The pro
grammc tells you it is Malvolio. Gut
it is not on record that Malvolio had
strayed from a Conventicle to Olivid's
house. Mr. Ainley, who plays him. IS
an actor of capacity. which / judge he
has subdued to the Barker standard.
Or is it that he means this austere Nal
volio to be a protest against the buff
foonery of Sir Herbert Trees imper-
sonation? Whatever the reason, he
played it as if under constraint of some
kind, with scarce a fash Of humor.
! Only at the end had we for one mo
ment glimpse of the real Ainley ami
the real Malvolio, with his tragic cry
of revenge.
The comedy, indeed. has become a
travcsty. The Duke of llyria has
reached the Savoy via Whitelcy@'
where he was fioorwalker. Sebastian,
Antonio, Sir Andrew Aguecheek-they
are all regenerating Shakespeare INTO
the Barker mould. Sir Toby Bclch was
the exception. Instead Of regeneration
/
he was bent on presenting 10 us the
real Sir Toby: such Sir Toby as
Shakespeare drew: Sir Toby who
really might have been OHvia's dins-
man; never too drunk nor too NOISY 10
be tolerated: a sound and intelligent
piece Of acting.
The Viola l had last seen before MISS
I.illah McCarthys was the Viola OF
| Miss Phyllis Ncilson-Tcrry; almost hcr
debut in comedy; a girl OF seventeen
Miss Nelson Terry played it with such
natural grace and sense. with such
true feeling for character with such
delcacy. with such ease in her modest
| boys clothes, as if she had always
worn them. and with such a percep-
| ton of poetic values as in novice
! were astonishing. and in an actress 81
experience would have been thought
admirable. Miss Mccarthy chose TO
present us with "A mature, distressfui
! Viola in green pyjamas; mature, yet
with the stamp of the nursery still on
her, or of the nursery maid. Olivia, TO
whom Shakespeare gave youth ana
beauty enough to cnthrall the DUKE,
now becomes a middlc-aged yet neu-
rasthenic dame. Maria, one of the
sprightiest figures I'm all Shakespeare,
is a serious. stolid Quaker lass.
! If the poet could he here. how he
] would rejoice that so much Of his en-
chanting comedy is in prose. For Of
the difference between prose and verse
no one Of these performers seems care
full to give us a notion; nor of metri-
cal values: nor Of rhythm; nor yet OF
gesture save in its experimental or ten
I tative form. Is then the stage to be
regenerated by dispensing with the art
of elocuton and Of delivery? At the
House of Moliere, in Paris. these arts
are still studied and practised as es-
sentia to the rendering of character.
Of which a just conception and COM
position are rcckoned the foundation
Of all dramatic art. They may be
studied at the Savoy. but YOU might
have sat through this Twelfth Night"
performance without discovering it.
am giving you purely personal i'm
preston. The opinion Of the majority
is the other way. Mr.. Bankers
Twelfth Night" has kept the Savoy
stage for more than hundred nights.
IL has been praised by the critics: or
by some of them. The friend who went
with me chose it as the one play in all
London she preferred The house, il is
true, was half empty and cold, but this
was doubtless an exceptional night.
Mr. Barker has made for himself in
times past a considerable name as man
ager and producer Of plays. Stimuli
taneously with Shakespeare he has
lately been presenting, as often before,
Mr. Bernard Shaw; whose superiority
10 Shakespeare we have Mr.. Shaws au-
thority for accepting. Mr.. Barker has
even risen 10 the height Of comic opera.
WHY should he not he content with
these achievements and leave Shake
speare alone?
There are other regenerators beside
Mr.. Barker and Mr.. Shaw. These are
the ragtime rcgenerators. Their sphere
is more the music halls than the thea
tres. but since almost all the leading
actors and actresses now make excur-
sions TO the halls that is no reproach.
The opportunities for ragtime are nat
urally greater in the halls than in the
regular theatres; In some of which
plays without music are still Der-
formed. This innovation must be an
other form Of regeneration, since IL
comes TO London from America.
We brought some of it with us the
other day on the Lusitania. There
were ragtime performers on that noble
ship: both colored and white. They
were fshed out from the second cabin
and steerage, and for two evenings de-
lighted and deafened the saloon pas
sengers in the lounge: Of whom the
American Ambassador to France was
onc.-indeed, he good naturedly presided
one evening over this entertainment,
for charity's sake. with Mr.. Haddon
Chambers as first lieutenant. An
American girl sat entranced on the
same bench with the piano ragtime
player. Sir Thomas Upton looked on
and listened, so did the captain.
That was two months ago. To-day
Ragtime and the Moving Picture Shows