New-York tribune., 1919-05-18
BY Rcbecca Drucker

ny I\CDeCCa Trucker
There is something impending in the
theatre. Stealthily and warily there has
crept upon US in the last half of the
season "The Jest" with its rich na-
geantry; "The Honor Of the Family. .
with its swashbuckling vigor; "Moli-
erc,' with its pastel gentility and
now, last of all comes the announce.
ment that (. H. Sothorn and Julia Mar
lowe are about to return in Shake
spealan repertory.ls this the Romantic
Renaissance showing a shy face around
the corner? No one dares to say. The
romantic spirit is so fugitive g thinl, in
our theatre that to be aware of it is to
scare il off
AT the swish of its skirt in this latest
announcement | set off TO track down
what news could get Of it, The trail
led to Mr.. Sothern himself.
The spirit of impersonal inquiry in
which approached Mr.. Sothern and
MISS Marlowe was somewhat marred bv
the powerful memory of afternoons Of
enhancement in the old Academy Of
Music allery-incredib dibly hot Saturday
afternoons, when the heat of late June
settled under the roof in a thick cloud.
1t was memory Of violent contrasts
the long climb up many flights of dirty
| stairs, the sharp, sickly- sweet odor of
orange rind never absent from that
gallery, the hot, sticky audience that
tanned itself and shun1ed uneasily on
the straight wooden benches-and then
the grateful dimming of the lights and
FROM the gloom of rich settings Julia
Marlowc's voice, deep as a viol and cool
as sea wind welding an ancient en-
chantment.
Prose and romance of daily existence
that | should find myself sitting op-
posite Miss Marlowe. | felt mpelled to
tell her of those afternoons, and she
laughed little. "Yes, | remember the
ending of our seasons at the Academy.
late in June or early in July. How
hot it was and how the sense of that
huge audience crowded in on one. What
desperate hard work it was-playinp
forty-two weeks each season, always
travelling from coast to coast. And
the same sort of audiences in all sorts
Of places. all eager for illusion"
stated my quest to Mr.. Sothern.
But if he is in the secret he is pledged
to keep it. ~ don't know if there is
trend back to romantic drama. We are
coming back simply because Miss Mar
lowe has recovered her health and longs
to be at work again. AS for a revived
interest in Shakespeare, he needs no
transient vogue to reestablish him in
the theatre. There will be great audi
ences to hear him, as long as there are
those to play him.
AS long as there are those to play
him! All, there is point to consider.
| looked UP suddenly and saw Mr..
Sothern, an elderly, rather short, some
what precise-looking gentleman in
tweeds and Miss Marlowe, her richness
subdued in that daylit room, as the
final heirs Of tangible aristocracy.
1t was very like real aristocracy in
that it was built in an implicit faith
that it held the stewardship of all that
was heroic in the theatre. 1t had its
special culture and its boarded tradi-
tions, and it's effiorescence was the grand
manner without which, old-fashoned
people say, we cannot have Shake
spcare, or, indeed, any romantic drama.
And it. too, hourishcd on special privi-
leges. 1t did not scruple to give cmi-
ncnce to few richly individual fig
ures by dwarhng the Importance Of
lesser figures in a play, by risking
values or even sacrificing sense. Nearly
everything in the theatre Was sacrificed