230 DRAMA 



A characteristic feature of the London seasons of 1911 and 1912 was the success of 

 spectacular exhibitions, designed on oriental lines. Thus, for instance, we had " Kis- 

 met " at the Garrick Theatre, an eastern fantasy by Mr. E. Knoblauch which had a very 

 lengthy run, " Sumurun " and " The Miracle," due to the constructive imagination of 

 Max Reinhardt, while the Russian ballet not only introduced such artists in dancing as 

 Karsavina, Pavlova, Nijinsky and Novikoff, but revealed extraordinary cleverness on 

 the part of the producer, Bakst, in his handling, for example, of " Scheherazade." When 

 " King Oedipus " was enacted at Covent Garden, with Mr. Martin Harvey in the 

 principal part, it was a reproduction in most respects of the Max Reinhardt version in 

 Berlin, and especially struck English audiences by its bold and free manipulation of 

 large crowds, forming both chorus and populace in the arena. Other Greek plays pro- 

 duced were the " Iphigeneia in Tauris " at the Kingsway Theatre and at Bradfield 

 College, and the " Medea " at the Kingsway Theatre. To this list may be added " A 

 Venetian Night " produced by Max Reinhardt at the Palace Theatre. Some of these 

 productions were not a little exotic in character, which gave them a touch of the eccen- 

 tric and the bizarre. At all events they gave an opportunity for the " producer " of 

 the show, who is becoming a most important figure in all modern theatrical history. 



Theatrical Successes. We must return to plays of a more ordinary type. In this 

 department the outstanding successes have been undoubtedly " Bunty Pulls the Strings," 

 by Graham Moffat, " Fanny's First Play," by Bernard Shaw, and " Milestones," by 

 E. Knoblauch and Arnold Bennett. If " Fanny's First Play " revealed Bernard Shaw 

 at his best, it is also tiue to say that no single play in London has been more unanimously 

 praised by every class of theatregoers than " Milestones." The idea of the piece was to 

 take a single family through three distinct phases of its career, and exhibit the prejudices 

 inseparable from each stage in turn. The family in question was engaged on ship- 

 building enterprises, and we had presented to us in turn the obstinate belief of the grand- 

 father in wooden ships, succeeded by the faith of the father in iron ships, and followed in 

 due course by the son's acceptance of the value of steel in naval construction. The two 

 authors had woven a very interesting story round this framework, and as the figures were 

 well drawn, and typical in each case of their own period, the piece has enjoyed the largest 

 measure of popularity. A popular success has also attended the production at His 

 Majesty's Theatre of Louis N. Parker's " Drake." It is a version of the life of the great 

 Elizabethan seaman, and, although mainly spectacular in character, it yet has two acts 

 of strongly dramatic interest, which, quite apart from its general popularity, appeal on 

 the score of patriotism and national pride in the British navy. The St. James's Theatre 

 has been remarkable for three pieces, all more or less melodramatic in their nature. 

 " The Witness for the Defence," by A. E. W. Mason, was succeeded by " Bella Donna," 

 founded on a novel by Mr. Robert Hichens, and dramatised both by the author and Mr. 

 J. B. Fagan, in which both Mrs. Patrick Campbell and Sir George Alexander won an 

 undoubted triumph. The third piece at this theatre is entitled " The Turning Point," 

 based on " La Flambee " of M. Henry Kistemaeckers. We must pass more quick- 

 ly over other dramatic ventures. Mr. Arnold Bennett's " The Honeymoon " had, per- 

 haps, not as much success as it deserved, but Mr. Haddon Chambers' comedy " Passers- 

 by " ran for a long time, thanks to Mr. Gerald du Maurier, and " The Perplexed Hus- 

 band " of Mr. Alfred Sutro also kept the boards for many weeks. Sir Arthur Pinero has 

 been represented by three plays in the period under consideration " Preserving Mr. 

 Panmure," the oddly named " Mind the Paint Girl," and a short play "The Widow of 

 Wasdale Head," besides a successful revival of " The Amazons." Miss Marie Tempest, 

 thanks to a most engaging personality, managed to make a success both of Mr. Anthony 

 Wharton's " At the Barn " and Mr. Harold Chapin's " Art and Opportunity." Mr. 

 Henry Arthur Jones' " The Ogre " did not hit the popular taste, but Mr. Henry Hubert 

 Davies, the clever and ingenious author of " The Mollusc," seems once again to have 

 secured a popular verdict by his rather thin piece entitled " Doormats." The titles 

 of other plays may be rapidly run through, as, for instance, " The Easiest Way," by 

 Eugene Walter, in which Miss Sarah Brooke had a " star " part; " The Five Frank- 



