New Britain herald., 1915-03-09
All Star Dialogue.
(New York Sun. )

The all start cast which used to be as inevitable in April and May as the unreasonable cold and other incidents of the spring nights, has been less affected by the theater en- trepreneurs of late. Only one of ;he old plays will be acted this year and there will be more of the celebrities in it than the usual allowance makes place for. It is rather to be regretted that the revivals of the old plays are less numerous than they were.
 It is of course true that the num- Der available is limited. Tn looking up an old play for reproduction with the famous artists of the day only the great successes of a former genera ton are sought It has never yet been announced that an enterprising imam ager is going to give once more what was regarded as the finest play of it's kind a score or more of years before although it did not attract the public What he seeks is the drama that ran for so many months that it's fame spread through the land
 Thus we have of course had "Jim the Penman," "The Lights of Lon don, The Two Orphans" and Rose dale" and this year it is to be "A
 
 of the old Union Square theater repertory, which will delight the hearts of theatergoers Not only did the play draw large audiences for long time at the Union Square thea ter but it was acted from one end of the country 10 the other. Yet it will be new to the present generation. Just what the theatergoers Of todny will think of a play that thrilled their grandfathers remains to be seen.
 These specimens of d dramatury:y of score or more years ago are dif- fercnt in form from the plays that succeed nowadays. They are. more over different in their method of ex- preSslcn, which is perhaps their most striking variation from our present standards. Tn the Lights of London revival serious scenes were frankly taken as the inspiration to uproarious laughter, whereas they had in the past sent chills of suspense down the spines of the audience. So it was settled by the manr2rirs that the old plays were not for today.
 As a matter of fact it ig the verbal form in which the emotions cf tine characters are expressed that makes these dramas less interesting to the present generation. The artificia1lv and conventionality of the speeches are the result of the style of their period. If it were possible to pre- pare new versions of them for pro- duction at the present time or to de- lete that which is most remote from human nature it would probably be found that much of the old time thrill would remain. But the turgid yer bosity the melodramatic stencil i'll which most of the speeches are writ ten will not do for this day.
 What arouses or interests the public the manner in which this should be presented to the world, the emotions that appeal to the theatcr audiences: these do not change with the march of tune. But the language in which they are expressed docs alter swiftly. Will lalns no longer speak their thoughts out loud, because stages are well lighted nowadays that the facial ex- pression of Inc actor may indicate his intention. So his melodramatic mouthings are unnecessary.
 If there were different texts for | the old plays, more genuine actors Of real e1ninence to appear in them, and | acting as good as they used to have. there would be still greater demand |