232 DRAMA 



England, versatile and ready in resource. Mr.' Henry Ainley is, perhaps, the best ro- 

 mantic actor; his recent performances as Leontes in " The Winter's Tale " and Malvolio 

 in " Twelfth Night " confirmed once more the judgment passed on him by many critics. 

 To this list of younger artists may be added the name of Mr. Robert Loraine. It need 

 hardly be added that both Sir Herbert Tree and Sir George Alexander have retained the 

 position which they have won by many years of conscientious work. Mr. Forbes Rob- 

 ertson, in some respects the most distinguished of English actors, has been absent from 

 London, and so too has Mr. H. B. Irving, both having had successful tours far from 

 home; while Mr. Frank Benson has continued his strenuous work at Stratford and in the 

 provinces. 



The American Stage. Turning to the American stage, we find that it still retains 

 some of those features which have marked it for some time past. In many respects it is 

 crude, immature and imitative, and, as before, depends largely on the successes of the 

 English stage. Nevertheless, it would be true to say that a" few authors of independence 

 and originality have arisen, and that the general level of American acting has decidedly 

 improved. There are a number of good character actors, although the supply of jeunes 

 premiers is decidedly scanty. Here we need only refer to some of the more conspicuous 

 events of the past two years. 



A good deal of interest was taken in the New Theatre, subsidized by wealthy private 

 guarantors, which was opened with a great flourish of trumpets in New York. Built 

 originally as an opera-house regardless of expense, it was found to be sadly deficient in 

 acoustic properties for the purpose of drama, and to be much too large for the presenta- 

 tion of comedies and domestic pieces. Under Mr. Ames as producer and Mr. E. Hamil- 

 ton Bell as art-manager, some excellent work was done in presenting and staging new 

 pieces which otherwise would hardly have had a chance in America; but the experiment 

 of providing continual novelty and avoiding " runs " gradually broke down, and the 

 enterprise came to an end in the summer of ion. The building was changed by the 

 Lieblers into the Century Theatre, and modifications of the original structure were made, 

 to adapt it for more ordinary requirements. Among other general events of theatrical 

 interest we may mention that the Old Bowery Theatre was sold at auction, and that 

 Miss Ellen Terry's lectures on Shakespearian heroines were everywhere received with 

 the greatest enthusiasm. 



Of new dramas produced perhaps the most original were " As a Man Thinks," by 

 Augustus Thomas, " The Woman," by William C. de Mille, " The Return of Peter 

 Grimm," by David Belasco, " The Price," by George Broadhurst, and " Bought and 

 Paid For," by the same author. The oddly named " Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford " 

 enjoyed much popularity at the Gaiety, and has since been given in London. " Every- 

 woman," originally produced at the Herald Square, a modern moralist play by Walter 

 Browne, has already successfully traversed the Atlantic, and perhaps the same good 

 fortune will attend Mr. Louis Parker's play " Disraeli," in which Mr. George Arliss has 

 won in New York such conspicuous success. " The Garden of Allah," by Robert 

 Hichens, gave a fine opportunity for Mr. Lewis Waller, who has also been seen in " The 

 Butterfly on the Wheel," " Discovering America " and " Henry V." " The .Piper," 

 Mr. F. R. Benson's Stratford prize play, by Josephine Preston Peabody, was produced 

 in the New Theatre and greatly praised as literature, though its dramatic value was less 

 evident. In " Thai's," founded on the novel of Anatole France, Miss Constance Collier 

 earned a considerable reputation, and Miss Ethel Barrymore won well-deserved praise 

 in a production of Mr. A. E. W. Mason's " The Witness for the Defence." " Kismet," 

 " Nobody's Daughter," " Passers-By," " A Single Man," " The Twelve Pound Look " 

 and " The Perplexed Husband," were other plays borrowed from the English stage; but 

 " The Master of the House " by Edgar James, which came out at the 3Qth Street Theatre, 

 revealed a good deal of native American talent. It may be added that, when the Irish 

 Players appeared in New York, Mr. Synge's piece " Playboy of the Western World " 

 aroused as much opposition in America as it had done in Ireland, especially from Irish 

 critics who denounced it as a libel on the Celtic character. Apart from this drama, 



