"THE SHOW SHOP."
The drama is almost the only religion I know that can expose the
mysteries of its ritual to the vulgar gaze and yet retain the devotion
of its worshippers. There is nothing a British audience so loves as to
be taken behind the scenes and shown how it is done--or not done; and
then it will attend the next play and go on adoring with the blindest
infatuation. Were it not for this astounding gift of resilience one
might deplore the prurient curiosity that wants to peep into the
hollow image of Isis and get at the machinery of the priesthood.
More human and wholesome is the satisfaction derived from the
revelation of amateur foibles, for here we are laughing at ourselves,
as in _A Pantomime Rehearsal_. In _The Show Shop_ this element was
supplied by a young plutocrat who took a small part with a travelling
company in order to be near his _fiancee_, the leading lady; and
continued in it as _jeune premier_ because she refused to be made love
to on the stage by anybody else. In assuming a _role_ for which he was
incredibly ill-qualified he seemed likely to facilitate the
achievement of his purpose, namely to make the play a hopeless failure
and so secure the deliverance of his lady from the thraldom of her
mother's ambitions and set her free to marry him.
However, the failure failed to come off, and although he forgot to
remove his overcoat (containing the stolen bonds) at a critical
juncture on which the Great Situation turned--the error was so deadly
that the mother, who had stage-managed the thing and was witnessing
the first performance from a box, actually rose in her seat to correct
it--the play was a roaring success; and there was nothing for it but a
secret marriage, marred by the prospect of a two years' run "on
Broadway."
Mr. A. E. MATTHEWS, as the amateur, made extraordinarily good fun for
us; and there was something fresh in the idea of following up the
dress rehearsal with a first night. It not only gave the amateur his
chance of making the big mistake against which he had been thoroughly
warned, but our own applause allowed the company to put into practice
the lessons they had learned in those sacred conventions which
regulate the taking of a call.
There are those who say that Transatlantic humour should be
interpreted exclusively by a native cast, and that an Anglo-American
alliance is a mistake. I trust President WILSON'S recent policy will
not be affected by this view. Certainly, though the combination was
responsible for the noisiest fun of the farce, the purely American
performance of Miss MARGARET MOFFATT at the opening of the First Act
was as good as anything in the play. But happily this is not one of
those imported creations that overwhelm my uninstructed intelligence
with exotic colour and exotic slang.
Mr. EDMUND GWENN, as _Max Rosenbaum_, impresario, was in irresistible
form. Miss MARIE LOeHR, in the part of the leading lady, was at her
lightest and therefore her best; but Lady TREE (her designing mother),
though she played very hard and incisively, could scarcely have
satisfied her own very nice sense of humour with what was to be got
out of a character that resembled nothing on earth (or the Eastern
hemisphere anyhow).
In the midst of all the mirth there was a pathetic passage between a
couple of impecunious players, _Johnny Brinkley_ (played by Mr. GEORGE
ELTON, who had many good things to say and said them well) and
_Effie_, his wife, on the theme of the precariousness of their career.
It must have melted the cynical heart of many a critic in the
audience, and I for one was almost persuaded to confine myself for the
future to encomium in these columns.
However, there is no flattery in the compliments I beg to offer to Mr.
JAMES FORBES for a very diverting evening. Perhaps the last Act
dragged a little, but in any case after the orgy he had given us we
were ripe for reaction. With most imported plays one is apt to doubt
whether the humour is novel in its essence or merely a matter of
unfamiliar form, common enough in its place of origin. But the humour
of Mr. FORBES, or at least the best of it, is something more than
American.
O. S.
* * * * *
"She heard him blowing his nose on the hall mat, and
she understood the major sufficiently to know that this
portended something."--_Home Chat._
We have always regarded this behaviour as ominous, even in the case
of civilians.
* * * * *
"Once you have a wife and are tied down to the world, she
creates the necessity of a house and saves you from being a
wanderer on the face of the earth. No wife, no house. Hence,
say our Shastras, it is not the building called the house
that is the wife, it is the wife who is the house. And even
now, both among the high and the low, it is usual for a Hindu
to speak of his wife as his house."
N. G. CHANDAVARKARIN "_The Times of India._"
We foresee domestic trouble when the Flat system reaches India.
* * * * *