The Washington times., 1914-05-31


The play of the hustle and basque
eeriod of dramatic Literature has
Seen formally transferred from the
Gage to the library bookshelf.
New York tossed "A Scrap of Paper
rCnchalantly into the waste baske: OK
theatrical oblivion. where all good plays
60 when they have zerved their turn
IN the board. And Washington did
something Of the same thing in the
n'atter of The Charity Ball" CLASSICS
though both of these may be. tee
amusement seeking pUolic OF today has
It's mind on something else. rne aver
age theatergoer is an opportunist OF the
Tost intensive type and opportllnlsts
have a habit OF forgetting all about
yesterdays. Styles change more quick
y in everything. 1ne sty.c oi acting
for which these two plays wer" writ
zen has been almost completely cha nSed.
Tcday the public wants more direct
sEpeal. And this is not a new develop
ucnt of the drama either. NEON
Strunsky in an article In the current
number of the Atlantic Monthly points
put that the reason The Greeks SrlrSGd
into the the2ters lay largely in the lact
that the plays shown dealt with things
that everybody knew about. While hu-
man nature may Sherwin-WilliamS IL
self in different colors nowadays, II
still wants 10 see the things il knows
about. And it doesn't know anything
at all about the stage mannerisms of
thirty years ago. II the plays that
have been mentioned should be re-
Tamped TO suit present day methods or
put on as a person would put on q
play of that period written today. it
Is likely that it would receive the sup
port its dramatic worth demands
The passing of the old school of
play presentation has never been more
completely, demonstrated than in Frank
Keenan's sketch, "Vindication," pro-
1uced last week at Keith's. The very
.act that keenan, produced a sketch at
keith's is significant of this. keenan,
belongs to the type of artist who was
doomed to always get minor considera-
ion because the class of characters he
sXcelled in presenting cannot be made
me most important figure in a play of
regular length without stretching dra-
matte conventions to the breaking
point He is what is known as char
acter' actor-though why that name
standing as all parts in plays call for
he development of character. But
Eeenans art lay in sinking his fndl-
Tiduality into a character that lfteo q
star into big situations. Frequently ex-
ceiling the star in the art OF his in
.erpretation-he was nevertheless
doomed to always be an 'also ran"
IN the review of the play. In the minds
Of some of US casual theatergoers tne
development of characters as actors OF
heenans type develop them repre-
;ents the most complete realization OF
he actors art?
Modern vaudeville has made IL DOS
sibie for actors like Keenan, TO get their
pest work before the public and has
ma abled the public to concentrate It's
attention on actors like keenan,. They
IAN develop n single character con-
sistently by subordinating everything
Else TO its development, The fifteen
minutes of 'Eindication' gave the au-
iience a complete example of Keenan,
work for the simple reason that 1t was
lot compelled to divide interest among
4 cast full of people. And in that re-
gDect both the audience and the actor
we're gamers.
''Eindication' was a remarkable piece
# dramatic literature-if one might cali
that-because it contained at least
sne sharp departure from convention,
I was the story of an old Confederate
ioIdier who was q very simple, dlrect
nan. given TO fo-ceful utterance. And
N leaving nothing of the force OF nis
- atterance to the imagination. 1t de-
sarted most sharply from the usual and
,ave ground for discussion. The Old
loldier used a very profane oath In
he course of his plea for his son
ife There was not a person IN the
tudience who did not feel assured i man
II the type portrayed would have SAID
.ust what this man said on the occa-
lion he said it. But when he actuaIlE