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Show THE NEW DAYS AND THE ODD. I Alfred Capus Tolls What the Drama Artisto Find. 1 Thtae uro Iho diiyn of small and subdivided ft thlngn In life, Alfred Capus wus smylnK not B lonj; ago, .and, therefore In plnya that trr to E deal with It. Onco humun bcln(p foil convu- 9 nleiitly for tho playwright into a few large 9 cincaos. rnero wero lovers, ror oxampio; ne- & role ROldlore, ambitious father, and so forth. 9. Tho playwright could pick as mriny of theso K types as ho chose, and net thorn In contrast H and- conlllct In. hl play. Each typo, more- P ovor. looked at llfo and llvod It In a certain1 1 vp.y at .leant on tho hUirc and woh subject to certain lurue . emotions. In these, acaln. 1 was broad maturlal for tho playwrlcht If E thoro was power In him, ho could mako tho Kj struEElo of thfcso emotions doop and BUrrlnE' E In a word, his plays dealt In a larco way L with human beings, passions nnd conditions. 1 In tho present complication und subdivision I of llfo, ari;uca Capus, whero thero u&ud to bo ton types, thoro aro now a hundred Individ- I oals. Whero thcro UBCd to bo n few olcmontol S passions, thero aro many varieties and nhados K of feeling Oncu thero wero comparatively a stablo conditions of llfo for each type. Now 9 theso conditions arc as chanceablo' und as V complex as tho moving bits of colortd class I In a kaleidoscope Therefore, tho playwrlKhfH job has becomo a hundred times' moro dlffl- P cult. Unions ho havo a muster mind that cun S iwtnctrato to tho heurt of things, ho can no g longer deal with his largo types and lnrgo emotions, in broad outline on a broad can- vm. , 1 Tho avcrago playwright can now only choose 1 his llttlo cornor of llfo nnd a few Individuals I In it, nnd Hot them nnd it on tho state as t truthfully and ns interestingly ns he may b Tho chances go ten to ono that thoy will not F havo any largo emotions only Individual and E often fitful, moods that express themselves In I comparatively small incidents Yet ho must H not forgot that theso moods aro real and theso E Incidents Inrgo to the dwollors In lhat particular partic-ular corner They will not tnlk with high elevation, ele-vation, broad humor or subtlo wltr Amln, tho chances go" that at best their conversation will bo pnly prosaic or playful Their, nets will seem almost as commonplaco; for wo of tho twentieth century, oven when we aro under un-der tho stress of omptton, try to tako it sanely and. to kcop as placid or even cay an exterior , ns wo may. ' In short, tho plnywrlght'a treatment treat-ment of his characters nnd his subjret must bo light, but It must also ho precise enough to mako tlio pcrsonacca Individual, and the story allvo. The Sword in Plays. Th'o sworti Is probably the oldest of all theatrical the-atrical properties, except, perhaps, tho torch. You can trust a good bit of sword play If It lu well done-L-to hoist oven a mediocre lrama Into popular succew. Unfortunately, for that reason, tho trusty blado is frequently overworked. over-worked. Somo wrltora of romnntlc drama art? Inclined to u.10 fencing as a iort of stop gap whenovor their ideas run dry or their plots becorao complicated beyond their wits In the matter of solution. That reminds mo of a story that I hays never sen In print ot Ned Duntllne and Duf-fulo Duf-fulo Bill, when they first engaged in theatrical theatri-cal cntcrprlso togcthor. Duntllno wroto a nluv short notice, entitled "Tho Scouts ot tho Plains," In which Buffalo Bill waa to 1 mm his debut aa a star. Tho play wm written In two days' tlmo, and was. naturally, not a maotorpleco of dramatic construction uj-llno uj-llno roalfzcd its dellclencleH and I so ho ordered Buffalo Bill to stnnd ready in tho wings throueh the cntlro performance, and whenever , ho ncUou lagged in tho least to "across tho Btnro und llro his rovnlvcrs In tho air. -Tho Scouts of tho Plains" profiled greatly by this arrangement. ,...,, n Shakespcaro was fond of the svNOrd w 1 a theatrical property and ho ulJ?l0ca bo to the vorv best advantage- And ucjona 10 lramaVc 'aluo. In rK)Snf of situation of ds sword encounters you will no"00..1"?' Shakespeare was beyond doubt nn excellent Poor Emma Nevada. Tho Amiens, France, correspondent of tho Londbn Globe, sends to his paper an Cresting account of a recent appearance appear-ance "n that town of Mmo. Kmma Nevada welf known here, and her total failure in thn nm.ra "Lakmo." Before the performance perform-ance parted, and as bo was taking 1th, seat the writer says, a nowspupcr CUPS' CUP-S' containing ti announcement that Mme Nevada had left her voice in Amei -lw was bclne passed from hand to hand. Many read I it? and it created considerable excitement, especially as its source waa unknot Tho overture and the opening s of tho oiera wore received with annlauBO. then Lakmo appeared at tho tempi" door "There was a dead sllonco u the auditorium." says the correspondent correspond-ent "Sho began to sing. The sllonco was broken bv an aggressive burst of laugh-to laugh-to - Sho reachci hor 13-Ilat. It Is truo but her volco was like tho scraping of steel auTng a ru.sly surface; like a fiddle In tho hands of an amateur. Suddenly her note ?A echoed by fifty jnon's voices, all cracking hi an unucoifstomcd falsetto on S tone. N6V,ttd,aJ l 'ft'Sed her song, accompanied by this lu-prcu and cruol chorus. As she left .tho stngo ?rles of 'Bis. bls!'-for where wo employ a French word the French fall back upon the Latin-broke out all over tho theater Needless lo say tho dem.uid for a repetition repeti-tion of thosolo wns Ironical. The curtain was lowered In the midst of noise. Following this demonstration the audience audi-ence began to clamor for the manager, who appeared. Tho people demanded a singer or the return of their money. Tho manager replied that a singer who did not pleaa.o them could not bo roplnccd at .moment's notice, but that If they would rather have their money returned than listen to Mme Nevada, thoy were welcome wel-come to do so. So tho performanco camo to an end. and the disappointed auditors wero reimbursed at tho box off Icc.-Tho Argonaut. |
