Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-02-27
THE RIVALS" At
SHUBERT THEATRE
Miss Annie Russell's Company
Gives Unsurpassed Rendition
of Sheridan's Masterpiece.

That THE Rivals" by Sheridan, is
an amazingly fine comedy is a truism
a century and quarter or more old,
that Annie Russell and her Old Eng
fish Comedy Company produced it at
the Shubert Theatre last night in
manner that would have warmed
the very cookies of the heart of Rich
ard Brinsley Sheridan himself also
goes without saying. But the wonder
of the thing is that so big and opu-
lent city as Newark should have
failed so utterly to fill the house at
last nights performance
Those who did witness the play.
however. were generous in their be-
stowal of the "coniagration" which
Mrs. Malaprop requested, and
throughout the play there were fire.
quent bursts of applause which com
pensated by their evident sincerity
for what they lacked in volume.
Miss RUSSELL as Lydia Languish,
the witty. sentimental niece of Mrs.
Maiaprop. was quite as charming as
the fervid description given of her
by the fiery Sir Anthony Absolute to
his son. Captain Jack, whom he does
not suspect of already being in love
with her.
Sir Anthony, portrayed by Fred ".
Permain. kept the audience convuIsed
with laughter by his outbursts of IN
reasonable wrath, while his son, Jac,.
Oswald Yorke), won appreciation by
his assumption of penitence and ex-
quisitely feigned modesty of de-
meanor.
Sir Lucius O'Trigger, that quintes-
sence Of beau ideal Irish gentle
man of the period of the Georges, was
most capably played by Thomas F.
Fallon. His touch of brogue was,
perhaps, a bit too broad at times, but
not to such an extent as to mar the
excellent portraiture of the char
-acter.
What shall be said of Ffolliott
Paget's Mrs. Malaprop? It was fun
ny beyond description. How the dig
nified t1irtatious old dowager did roll
out the big words in the wrong
places! 1t must require no small
effort of the memory and control of
other mental faculties to recall the
preposterous malappellatives with
such promptitude and without the
least seeming effort.
But with the splendid acting of
those already mentioned the figure of
Bob Acres doomed up conspicuous
above all others, and George Giddens,
who played the part, well deserved
the round after round of applause
with which the audience rewarded
him.
was there ever a more genial, rip
roaring hilarious, devil-may-care
gentlemanly sort of ck-heroic
poltrooon than Giddens's Bob Acres
He was perfection itself, and, as he
danced and pranced around the stage,
or, in the famous duel scene, COM
ported himself with the detection of
one who fears to show his fear OF
being sent home picked" he was
as funny as well could be imagined.
1t would be unjust to omit men
ton of the acting of Murray KinneI
as Falkland, the love-sick younl
man who takes it to heart Il
hear that his Julia is melancholy anC
i'll over his absence, and that she
is the life and spirit of every dance
and festivity. Although the role is
inconspieuous, he makes the most oil
it, as do also, in regard to their
parts, Harold Meltzer as Fag, Bot
Across valet, and David, the valet
of Jack Absolute.
Such criticism as might be made
should be directed rather at the play
than the players. Despite it's classic
beauty and the inimitable brilliancy
of its witty dialogue, the play savors
a trifle of a past with which the
present is not fully in attune. And
although, as Mrs. Malaprop would
say, comparisons are odorous," il
may not be altogether uncalled-for to
say that modern playwrights surpass
even so great a master of play-writ-
ing as Sheridan. The soliloquies
which moderns have come to regard
as needless and unnatural abound in
1.-The Rivals" But for all that and
any other shortcomings, it will prob
ably be a long time before any mod
ern comedy will be written that will
hold it's own in times swirl as well as
sheridan's masterpiece.