The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-05-02

THE text wants some reVamp>ng'
| said Mr.. Rclasop to Charles Frohman
the night these managers fixed upon
"A Celebrated Case" as the piece
on which they should unite resources
and experiment on a large scale with
star players. AS you know MIR.
Belasco continued. taken as whole.
| A Celebrated Case reads as vlvidly
as II il had to do with the prosen.
war in France instead Of war OF the
eighteenth century. At least In "A
| Celebrated Case the France We see
is again France in the throes OF
national crisis. just as she Is to-da-,
So we could not select more timely
play--nor yet one more free Of pain
full associations with the war now go
| ing on abroad"
, Eve been rereadinC it," Mr.. Froh-
man replied. IT'S a wonderfully hui
] man piece of work. What a wealth
, Of plot those French writer's packed
p
in a Celebrated Case would he re-
Garded by most modern playwrights
as enough material for an entire three
act play. And have you noticed
again, how the authors Of q Cele-
brated Case conform perfectly to tina.
one eternal law in playwriting-kecp
ing the audience. not in suspense in
the sense of impatientlv waiting To
see how the plot Is going 10 turn nut.
hut in suspense in the sense Of know
ing in the beginning more than the
characters on the stage know and
wondering how those characters are
going to eXtricatc themselves from
their difficulties? Who committed the
murder. how II was done and how i;
became a mystery is established in
the first ten minutes OF "A Celebrated
Case Every man. woman and child
in the audience knows all about IL.
The remaining four acts are given
up 10 the characters in the play so'v-
ing the mystery Of which the audience
already knows the solution. Madeline
RcH1nd is forced by Lo.drr. the
thievish camp follower. as no clutches
her by the throat, to call out To a little
child in the next room. 1T L. all right
I am with your father And when
Ndd"iirc Rcnnud il stabbed to death
by IdsGTc. who promptly escapes. and
tho ncighhors rush in to discover the
murder naturally the littl" child can
only say that her mothers dying
words were that she was with her
father. That was Nddclinc RCnnud'S
tragic hlundcr.
"liut have yuu ever realized that
every play that * written is only the
solution IL some perfectly human
hlunder" Look AZ II any way You
like; queer aS i may sound, truth
is not the interesting thing IN the
theatre; il is the ISOLATION Of error.
or the calculation of error in relation
to truth, that Yields the material out
o. which great plays are made.
"A Celebrated Case is perfect
example of a play wherein the appeal
- entirely To the heart. Every line
that Is spoken in 1t is just the thing
that would be said by any deeply
moved person under those circum-
stances, That is one of my tests of
Good dialogue in any play-would |
have said just that or something very
like that under those conditions" But
| am always suspicious Of stage di1-
lOguc when the manner of saying
thing is of more prominence taan the
thing sad ,r the feeling expressed,
\ celebrated Case Diplomacy and
TT" Two orphans are II superb tril-
ogy of plays that had long lives and
We're epoch making in their days he
cause they made playgocrs act over
again the emotions depicted by the
characters ON the stage. And every
time y-u make actors ont of your au-
dicnCes YOU achieve the very cSsenC"
Of powerful drama. That is because
the theatre at its finest is place
in witch you feel first and think at
tcrward. Your heart mus, he touched
before Your mind is stimulated You
must he shaken to the core wrung
with pity, alarmed with fear, thrilled
with tender sentiment just as emo
tons by themselves, before your mind
Is touched and can reason out these
emotions, or register them as pleas
ures worth remembering. There;
that's more talking than I've Zone al
one sitting in over year. but. M you
see, I'm az enthusiastic about this |