The Washington times., 1913-03-18
"She Stoops to Conquer" Given
Before Cultured Audience by
High Class Company.

u cultured society Of Washington
last evening comfortably filled
the Belasco Theater where they
saw the heartiest ana most wholesome
Of Old English comedies played in an
intelligent manner by Annie Russell
and her company of players. When
ever that masterpiece Of Goldsmith s
'She Stoops to Conquer" is presented.
one marvels at its youthfulness which
never seems to wane, its mirth which
is as fresh today as though the comedy
were of this years model. Even the
old fashioned asides. and the decidedly
obvious exits and entrances were for
gotten last night Here and there eome
of the original lines. which might strike
the ear as being somewhat Elizabethan
We're left out, and the scenes as they
existed in the original have been
merged to obviate the unnecessary and
tiresome change Of sets.
Otherwise 1t Is played by this COM
pany as the author intended 1t should
be; as few of the younger generation
of playgoers have seen 1t played. and
by a company Of educated men and
women who speak with discretion,
bring out all Of the humor Of the piece.
and never descend to obvious methods
to obtain results
It is the best balanced company that
has visited Washington this winter,
with perhaps one or two exceptions,
the only other one 1 can recall just
now being the English company which
presented "Milestones'' some few weeks
ago. No one member of Miss Rus
sells company is more excellent than
the other; there is no attempt to ex'
plot a star. yet a good level is main
tanned.
Miss Russell. in gowns that remind
| me of a dim old Gainsborough painting
| hanging in some shadowy old-world
gallery, is as lovely as this artist might
have painted her. She is delight as
the playful and deceptive Kate Hard
ca stle, giving to this character an arch
ness that is daintily effective, and al
| ways charming. The audience liked he
best of all in the first act. where her
| meeting with Marlowe took place. Their
last scene, where he believes he is
speaking to the poor relative to whom
| he does not dare propose marriage. is
also full of whimsical humor. and is
daintily handled by Miss Russell and
Oswald Yorke, both of whom are con-
summate actors.
The audience was constantly in SYM
| pathy with Miss Russell last evening,
| whether as Kate in the character of the
| mistress Of the house, or as the sup
posed barmaid.
Next to these two, 1 liked the part
played by George Giddens, that OF
| Tony Lumpkin. Tony Is bad boy,
but in the hands of Mr.. Giddens. who
had played the role hundreds of times
| in England, he Is Just as delightful as
he IL mischievous. There's big wide
stretch from the work demanded by
| tho character of Sir Peter Antrobus In
! ..Pomander Walk" in which Mr.. Gid
dens was last seen in Washington. and
that of the naughty Tony. which he
played last evening. but his work did
not suffer BY comparison.
carefully drawn character study is
the Hardcastle Of Fred w. Permain,
and Murray Kinnell is particularly good
| I'm the role of young Hastings. Little
dale Power as Diggory. the stableman,
transformed for an emergency into
| b,Itler, manages to extract sufficient
| humor out OF his character to keep The
audience laughing throughout the en-
tire time he is on the stage, Folllot'
Paget is a perfect grand dame In the
| Mrs. Hardcastle role. and Henrietta
| Goodwin is sweet and winsome in the
| character OF Countess Neville. AS a
| rnattar Of fact one might name the en-
tire company. and say the same thins
of each one of then-all are excellent
even down to the minor characters.
| II would be impossible to close thu
| subject of "She Stoops to Conquer
| without mention of the beautiful ant
Invaluable antiques with which tht
| Uardca stle home is furnished. genuine
| antioues which Miss Russell and hel
| husband, Mr.. Yorke, spent many