New-York tribune., 1913-06-22
Hauptmann's Centennial
Play" TheSecondMrs.
Tanqueray" Twenty
Years After.

Mr. Walkley Sir Arthur PiHero has kept
his play 10 its proper Victorian date. and
thereby shows true artistic scrupe. Il
is a too frequent practice with our au-
thors Of to-day. when rcpr.nt.ng. % touch
up their original text: Sir Arthur faith
fully gives us his work Of twenty years
ago-a preudre on la.sser. This course
was all the more incumbent upon him in
what is not merely q play. but an histori-
cal document The younger generation
will probably have some difficulty in IN.
derstandms why the playgoers Of the
early SOS were so enthusiastic as they
are known 10 have been over this piece.
That is because the Younger generation
does not know the condition OF the Eng
lish stage In those days. condition which
The Second Mrs Tanqucray helped to
break up and revoiutisri-e. OF course,
since then We have known. like Brown
ing's ecclesidstic four and twenty leaders
Of revolt the world has changed outside
as well as inside the playhouse. in short
the play of 1898 is bound 20 be- seen under
a very different angle in 1913.
Most Of US. the English critic goes
on. Thought of IL perhaps in 1879 as a
thesis play. hacaus, people then talked
good deal about thesis plays and may
even have believed In them. The thesis,
no doubt. would have been the failure OF
marriage as a means OF rehabilitation for
a woman with a past To-day We may
forget all about that, and take the play
less solemnly. as just a story about GER
tain individuals with given temperament'
and how these acted and reacted upon
one another. We see that the Ianqueray
second marriage comes % grief not ue-
cause OF Paula's past Uor the hush
Ardaie motif which gives it rs dea'n
stroke Is really rather "a stretch OF Wha'
used 10 be called the long arm Of colncI-
deuce) but because Paula is a woman =.
a certain temperament (Which "oua
have fitted equally We'll % iechnicaIR
blameless pasU and Aubrey man oi an
other temperament. and that these t"O
temperaments could never for long keep
house together. At one moment Pau'@
thanks Aubrey sarcastca.ly for his ser
mon But the word is literally true
a schoolmaster and always prig. Nor'e
still. he is a real Victorian prude. Nheh
Paula uses blunt word he physician
squirms His views about youns sl'"
and their lily white purity are quite mon,
strous. The fact Is he Is not hV''@'
being; he Is a redcmptorist, out 70 s"'S
always resicnedly. indulgenty eonp4T
al. n n-l
woman, with or without q past 'ou''
stand such a husband as that And' ",
fortunately, one has the uneasy suSp'
cion that the author does not qu!Ie
how impossible Aubrey is. lie seems v
invite our sympathy for HIM aI 60
point even when every instinct win"
is crying I'm revolt against him. hs y,
thetic belief in the hea.ins influence
calling of the happiness OF two huina'
beings dependent upon social Ee0os','s,t q
This again is eminently Victorian -,
Is also characteristically Plpefouo'
thinks. with a little shiver, oi those "a a.
panlon plays 10 this one, where az -.
brought right in the end by the Aiiu
cial offices of a bishop. or at leas. .,.
dean. And SO you set TOO muVn Gle
fetch In the play and TOO H',' yrs
interleure. Anyhow, The secohu a,,.
Tanqueray' remains a first rate 'n'as ans
play. rich in study Of temperamenS a an.
telling a moving story in Fap''' "
phatic, effective way
NJ. Antoine's production at tne ne
OF a new play Of French poli'l1a, b..
Paul Zahorrs "Reussir" t'success ,bst
served to draw attention TO the is'' ,asu
all French dramatists since sardou 'co cor.
TO have slavishly copied the type =. biu
rupt. unprincipled politician draw" n3anis =,
in "Rabagas" and again IN tvo
Rochat" The influence OF 'a''t ,r,eed
stage figures, it is claimed, may pe ''. nces'
in CASTOR Devore's Les Compass rqers
Inmaitre's "Depute Leyeau' " aIour.
and Caillavets lie Roi,' BarreS sr,rgrs-
nee Parlementaire." Brieuxs paul
mage" and in more than one ~ i,,dssd,
Bourget's dramas This may De- nd Il
mere copying. but, on the other ',a sort Of
is far from impossible that Inv sac ur.
French politician whom sardo' sasr sen s1.
der the Third Empire has ho' ,nl,e
tinguished yet by the Third i'eP'