Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-01-21
Tree Cancels Washington ENGAGE

Tree Cancels Washington Engage
ment.-Unless another change in his ar
| rangements is made Sir Herbert Tree
! will not be able to fill the engagement
he had planned for this city. His in
tention is to close the tour in Philadel-
phia the second week in February, as
Sir Herbert feels that he must return
| to England next month His production
Of Henry VIII. in which Lynn Hardy
and Edith Wynne Matthison both figure
prominently. will play in Baltimore
| next week.
Dramatic Adaptation.-Qualif as
he is by experience to speak on the
on the methods and purpos~ Of ORA
matte adaptation are Interesting.
II read a play through with one idea
in mind-its humanity. When I come
to something that is distinctly national
rather than broadly human I ask my
self. Can this be bridged overT If II
cannot, I lay down the play right there
and start another one.
The continental point Of view toward
risque situations is different from ours.
In some ways. 1 think it considerably
more wholesome, but that is not the
point; the point is, that it is different.
The theater abroad is more for mature
people than it Is here. You seldom see
young girls in continental theater,
and you never see them unless accom-
panied by elder people. The jeune file
does not dictate the policy of the thea
adapter has to take that into considera-
ton.
"only a small number of good plays
have been made from books. To the
dramatist who knows his business the
novel offers no inducements-onlyd diff
ficulties. The novelist can jump from
the interior of cab or an inner con-
seriousness to the top Of the Hima-
layas. and never break a bone, but the
dramatist must tell his story in three
or four spots and in closely knit Sc
Quence of incident and motive. The
characters must be those which belong
to this limited environment and move
logically in and out of it, with fixed
laws of development and properly grad
ed relation to each other
1.-The ordinary play has to make its
audience. but a book play is supposed
to have a prepared audience. The pub
lie which has accepted and liked the
characters of book seems to have a
desire to see them realized in flesh and
blood. Here, too, the dramatist must
exercise great caution and far-seeing
Judgment. Frequently he must omit
the very characters in the play which
most appealed to him in the book. and
he must be prepared SATISFACTORILY TO
account for the omission to the book s
public.
"Under play limitations. too. he must
change some of the characters and con-
struct a new story that must bear q re-
semblance to tile book story. In fact.
his only chance to write play Is to
read the book carefully and then throw
it aside and forget as much Of 1t as he
possibly can. and then he must get out
side himself and be able to reject what
has impressed itself most upon him. The
dialogue Of the book. too, would seem
stilted and unreal in play-except in
the rarest instances. Things in the
book that pass by the reader and are
accepted by him because Of the beauties
of style or the cleverness Of the au-
thor's obscurity. or special pleading.
would be absolutely raw in the fixed
quantities seen and done on the stage.
ii such matters are fundamental. as
they frequently are. the dramatist must
supply something in their place or re-
construct them to bear scrutiny.
"That which is done, that which the
audience sees. Is the important thing
in q play and consequently the motive
thing to the dramatist. 1t means little
to the noyeliat: he can atone Tor null