OCR Text |
Show :M$m (Wilumifiated i U I 1 W I 1 1 I I ill 1 . J By GEOEGE JEAN NATHAN. i TH, irutn cf the rumor going the ! rounds of the chess parlors to the effect that Otto Kahn ard j hid affiliated err.reprer.eurs of Wall street have withdrawn I their financial support from the i Washington Square Players in order to bestow that support upon the imported im-ported Copean players, would seem to be mirrored in the formers' latest programme of plays. For this latent till of plays amounts largely to an unashamed bid for pay customers by and iarg.-, as against the bid of previous pre-vious biiis for a possibly superior ar.d le.-s general brand of audience. , The present programme is. in the ; tr.alr.. less an effort to do good things for the sake of their we'l-domg than to do mediocre things for the welfare wel-fare of the box o::ice. And. us is often the case where the plan is "'Vvrar-kly for revenue only, the entr-' entr-' et this writing' would appear ; to '"between two stools. it ".b true that the Wall street gentlemen alluded to the same group ; of theatrical cherubs who angeled the 5 Metropolitan, the late New theater. the late Ziegfeld-Dillingham Cen-K Cen-K tury shows, etc. have actually '.vnhdrawn their patronage from these f Simencan players in favor of the r.-rer:ch players housed in the remod-i.' remod-i.' !ed Garrick theater, the maneuver is t not only singularly unfortunate from the best American dramatic point of view, but as well singularly illuminative illumi-native of the pretences and heroics of the parties in question. Have Done Good Work. The Washington Square Players ( nave done more for the American l theater In Jheir brief existence than ' was ever expected of them, even by f thir stanches t pew-holders. The nature na-ture of what they have in this brief existence accomplished need not be rehearsed, for it has already been Frequently exposed in the prints and '6 duly appreciated- The Copenu enterprise, en-terprise, on the other h;-.nd, even granting it the fulfilment of its excessively ex-cessively gaudy promises, can accomplish accom-plish no such measure of native fcood. But, and here we enerage what is nouDtlees the salient point, this Co-P-sau enterprise has about it all the speciously "smart" air that the Washington Square enterprise Licks: t has the imported Paris flavor that '8 ever regarded as "the th'nc" by our knee-ben-lers to empty externals: a,d it flauntn all that preciosity, ail JOt pseudo-intellectuality and all tat fancy embellishment that woots tne sort of person who admires a rt '-S8 for art's sake than 'art for show's sake. Thus, the Copeau enterprise, which jan do little lor the American thea-t,rf thea-t,rf and the American drama, but n'Ch is the fashionphl- foreign '';ir'?. is to be backed, while the ashington Square enterprise, which "n do much for the A mr-ric.-nn thea-1:5. thea-1:5. ,an American dr;im;i but hich is, alas, omy the home-marie unfashionable thing, is to be de- on l"e a 'tar. Ictiv-ities Reviewed. The whimsy, granting again the j JpJ'h of the run, or, is this: Th t 1 Peau. an rxceptionally cb-v.-r 1 -"rich man, h-.s Kti'---eed."i In p r- Jii; g hf; fcti eet jmiires..! i ;od tn take him at a value considerably in ex'.-;' oi his Paris theatrical dem-on'-ratior.s. For, thouErh he has done some very gcod y r.'-'i iiicr.ly praiseworthy tlie-a tlie-a tribal work in his Theater du Vieirc 1' mbior, lie is no more the grnt leader, the gr.?at jr.r. ivator and tte li i a mat if mes? ah ihat lie has announced an-nounced himself in his manifold cosily brochures than would be. say. Mau-riee Mau-riee Hrv.Tie vf the Chu-aeo Theater de Duml- i asse. did the latter invade Pai is in a r.ew suit oi evening vlothes. spread broadcast a number of expensive, self -congratulatory ranph.let? and so c;ain the rapt ear and unwrapped nurse -strings of certain cer-tain c ou.Vn t French gentlemen. I s to : e '-! a c t neither f rom M r. Erowne nor from Monsieur Coreau ; hat I lay to is rather the preposterously prepos-terously tcp-lofty claims of the monsieur mon-sieur and his intrinsically very modest mod-est uhieveinents. But, as I have observed, ob-served, the mon.-ieur is a sagacious fellow and. sav wliat you will against him. knew precisely the way in which to make of himself the smart thing ar.d so draw easiiy into v.s embrace the backing he required for his local exhibitions. And aqain to give him credit when credit is due. let it be said of Copeau that his latest offering, a dramatization dramatiza-tion ,f Dostoevski's "Karamazov Brothers." is not only a skilful piece' of work. but. to boot, a piece of work S'enica :Iy. if not histrionically, well presorted. But here, also again, have to a decree a mere futile posturing pos-turing after Stanislavsky. All is not so progressive, so exploring, as the monsieur's confidential brochures would have us believe. New Writers Helped. As reposed to the claims of Copeau, the Washington Square Players have modest! v and in u ridssuming manner gone :it" their job of discovering new Ame: ican piaywriters. giving neglected neglect-ed American plavwriter3 a hearing, sriviiiq respectable modern foreign dramatic literature the airing denied it upi-u E road way. presenting experiments experi-ments in scene painting and design- in-', and generally vouchsafing to wit, burner and ideas all the hospitality th;i t sreet wit. humor and ideas, but infrequently in the offices along Fort "-second st rcet west. But to good work, hard work, plodding, patient work, rarely attach the glamor and modishness that attach at-tach to the latest fod ; and so. again a!!owimr th gossip of the taverns to be true. the Wnshir.ston Square Plovers have been jilted for a new and more recherche thentrieal chicken, chick-en, a more saucy and a la mode Cheat Che-at i i'-al poulette. Kcause of this state of affairs oivc more and for the last time pj-antln the verity of the rumor and 1 c ause of the consequent neces-,itv neces-,itv for making money quickly or poinif under, the current expositions of the Washington Square stage are a sorrv let-down from the former Mrunkinl of that stage. The first of the nlavs presented is "Suppressed Desires.."" bv Susan Glaspeil and ;.-orue Crr.m Cook, while a moderate-Iv moderate-Iv umustnic burlesque of psycho-annlvsis. psycho-annlvsis. has for somt: time past been faiiulinr to the public. T;;e li t tie play was done last year b" thn Provhu etown players, and has t-in'-f been acted in little theaters fiLiii one end of the country to the other. Surely, the Washington S'iuare folk miht have found sume- thing frehher to do The heme nf Ihc t'lav li,.-. In lic Mi.-rtiici of u j tuiin l-d nm:ui w no h.i I .ten.' ; " 1 I'l'cd u in the l'i eud pronounce -ineiiti jnieiit di.-iiin. eotiq.l,-,, etc., ! who .mtIvn to order her liii.und'K it ml her ;-l:Uc''.s coiim'Ioii.' eoil'lie I ill to'-coidanro to'-coidanro witu Iheir hulicun-..iou Mr.-, wh, funis thai hci pi. in uoiU.h J no jidtnitiil'ly thnt her huM-und nod ;.lcr arc so 1 on.-., o y tompio-uilM-d. nnd m lm Is i hi'i eni'Mii onlv too kmd to Kh U1i 1'ieiid lor Uifli-v Uifli-v ashlni;. Wonder Is Expressed. Several epho.les n the hnrles, , no air hamlled v ili ;un hors with ti ' xnod broad comical hand. hut Ih" I I phiy. a.s a whole, has the imln of been jmduly cased ,ui forced. Mire . j t lar.i Tier Mator. the pi ece pt i cm.- ot the l'laer.V School of Aetttin. nuikeH her firM public appi:ir:uicf in this ciunpolt Ion anil a u.ts one to w on - i dtr how one w ho h ppuivnl ly known -o lit t If a out act in-; i a I'le to conduct con-duct Um teachhiK. "The Sandi'ar Qufen." hv t'.eoi i Ol on vii, the mvoivI of frrinn. a OlllqllUK elt'-ctle and at all llnieM tudlouslv tinreM-i-ved conu-dy melo-diania melo-diania setting toith the MihUallon 1 i c: a timid a ml lit uous 'Mt let nan 1 hh;ht, "Flat Scut Slim," bv n re. I - I headed ladv or lov. 'I he attempt to startle (lie hinds i,y Die lHn-ial em-plo em-plo uuMit of ha r room nut ami or-uate or-uate profanlt'. and by tbr pullitiK out of the 5e- ptop and punipnii; haid with both leet. Is so oh lorn (hat the result Is periodically the opposite of tli.it con I em plated bv t he uiitlior, Miss llenel Wetdlcyfvnd Arthur Hold, in (he eentr.il parts, do ood work. The third plav is -llahtr." y Frank Dare (u pseudonym, I mn k1v'' to understand i, and amounts to little more than an aninteiiri!i revamping of the theme of such plays as "The Delete." The net ton occurs on the roof of a hotel. Here ai e Kill he red two wive and their bus' -amis. The wife of llishaud No. 1 is guilty of ; covet mg t he huscand of tie No. I A tire hrealis oul and tin ea tens to I burn th quartette to death, In t Ti ci isis. Deal h himself con ! runt s each I of the persons in turn and to D.-ath t a tall Ik tire clad in h!.i k rue It in turn blubiurs his inmost secre's and passionately ecks i eprte e and promises i eform. Danger Vanishes. The- lights o up ntui the dancer Li found to have anlshed , And the good folk, t're.i thins deep M-hs of relief. ;o about their evil dee. lb tuiite calmly as before. M rs. Ci:. re Tree M t.ior nppears aain tn this play and ofters no testim. n- in re'-uttai of the 1 ni pre? si on Imparled by her appea r-anee r-anee in the tirst pl v. The last ite n is Tokev." a bur- , les.iue of lh l'ocahonias kc.-:i i. ",,v T'.ulip Moet!er. author of "Helena's 1 lusands." "The I load house t;1 Ar-den" Ar-den" and "Sisters of Susanna," similar historical lurleques offered bv t h Players in e. t her seasons. Tkey" is the least good of tne lot. It is h oollece-boy sort of dido, with little, orielntilttv and little- humor. The one bright notion ;s t!io idea nf inskmc cr;.iln of the Indians talk in trie rhythm of "Hla at l:.t. " Oth-erw;e. Oth-erw;e. the affair is ht a -c 'inti and tuesonie. Tiie scenerv for all the ' p'as lias been dc.sned by Kllo I'e-I I'e-I trs nnd sh.ow s not d tig at trac ive I ;'!) ro'hlnc novel. The em!te nluK, In the matier nf playf, mounting, mount-ing, actlm: and Maln, la lar l-el((v tin eeiiliiK''s show previously pio- ided by tliii oi ani..itlo:i. |