When we have two original plays like PINERO'S _Second Mrs. Tanqueray_
and GRUNDY'S _Sowing the Wind_, we may congratulate ourselves that
they do _not_ "do these things better in France." _Mrs. Tanqueray_ is
a life-like tragedy, and _Sowing the Wind_ a life-like comedy. It was
a pleasure to congratulate Mr. ALEXANDER at the St. James's on his
choice of a piece, and of the company to suit it, especially on the
engagement of Mrs. PATRICK CAMPBELL for the heroine; and now it is
equally pleasant to congratulate a _confrere_ in literature, Mr.
COMYNS CARR, on having made so eminently successful a _debut_ in
theatrical management, as he has done in choice of the piece and of
the company to play it.
[Illustration: A Portrait from M-Emery. Emery Powder and polish'd
performance.]
It is a canon of comedy-construction that from the first, the audience
should be let into the secret of the _denouement_, but that they
should be puzzled as to the means by which that end is to be achieved.
This play is an excellent example of the rule. Everybody knows who the
heroine is from the moment of her appearance; but as to how she, the
illegitimate daughter, is to be recognised and acknowledged by her
father, this is the problem that no one except the dramatist, in
the course of four acts, can solve. It is a very clever piece of
workmanship. In these modern matter-of-fact realistic days, fancy
the awful danger to any play in which a father has to discover his
long-lost child! The strawberry mark on the left arm, the amulet,
the duplicate miniature of the mother--these ways and means, and many
others, must occur to the playgoer, and must have presented themselves
at the outset to the author, flattering himself on his originality, as
difficulties almost insuperable because so stagey, so worn threadbare,
so out of date.
Over these difficulties Mr. GRUNDY has triumphed, and with him triumph
the actors and the stage-manager; as, for the most part, except when
there is a needless conventional "taking the centre" for supposed
effect, the stage management is as admirable as the acting and the
dialogue, which is saying a great deal, but not a bit too much.
[Illustration: BRANDON AND MONKEY BRAND-ON.
_Mr. Brandon Thomas Brabazon_ (_to Cyril Maude Watkin_). "I know that
face. I've seen it on the hoardings."
_Watkin_ (_faintly_). "It won't wash!"
[_Collapses._
]
Mr. BRANDON THOMAS and Miss EMERY have never done anything better. The
former with his peculiar north-country "burr," and with his collars
and general make up reminding many of the G. O. M., whilst Mr. IAN
ROBERTSON as the wicked old Lord is not unlike the pictures of the
Iron Duke when Lord DOURO. Mr. EDMUND MAURICE, as representing the
slangy, sporting, about-town Baronet of the Tom-and-Jerry day, is
a kind of _Goldfinch_ in _The Road to Ruin_, with a similar kind of
catchword, which I suppose, on Mr. GRUNDY'S authority [though I do not
remember the expression nor the use of the word "chuck" in _Tom and
Jerry_--the authority for Georgian era slang] was one of the slang
phrases of that period. For my part (a very small part), I am inclined
to credit Mr. GRUNDY with the invention of "smash my topper," and of
the introduction of "chuck it" into eighteenth century London slang.
Admirable are the quaint sketches of character given by Miss ROSE
LECLERCQ and Miss ANNIE HUGHES. Manly and lover-like is Mr. SYDNEY
BROUGH. In the dramatic unfolding of the plot, faultlessly acted as
it is, the audience from first to last are thoroughly interested.
Here and there, speeches and scenes would be all the better for some
judicious excision. When you are convinced, further argument weakens
the case, and I confess I should like to hear that ten minutes' worth
of dialogue had been taken out of the parts played by Mr. BRANDON
THOMAS and Miss WINIFRED EMERY. But this is a small matter--a very
small matter. To sum up, it is good work and good play, and so the new
manager and lessee is at this present moment a Triumphal CARR.
* * * * *
[Illustration: Portrait of the Great Duke of Wellington, when Marquis
of Douro, by Mr. Ian Robertson.]
* * * * *
_Q._ Why was there at one time a chance of the _Times_, which has
always been up to date, ever being behind time?--_A._ Because formerly
there was so much _Delayin!!_
* * * * *
MOTTO FOR LADIES WHO "GRUB SHORT" TO AVOID OBESITY.--Grace before
Meat!
* * * * *
Nulli Secundus.
(_By a Lover of the Links._)
Lyttleton asks--great cricketer, for shame!--
If Golf--Great Scot!!!--is quite "a first-class game."
Well, if first-class it cannot quite be reckoned,
'Tis that it stands alone, and hath no second!
* * * * *
[Illustration: A PROTEST.
"AND PRAY, AM I _NEVER_ TO BE NAUGHTY, MISS GRIMM?"]
* * * * *
"L'UNION FAIT LA--FARCE!"
["France turns from her abandoned friends afresh And soothes
the Bear that prowls for patriot flesh."
--CAMPBELL.]
Yes, history here doth repeat itself verily!
Fancy fair France, in Republican rig,
"Soothing the Bear" again; footing it merrily
In--well now, what _is_ the name of this jig?
_Cancan_, or _Carmagnole_? Blend of the two?
Anyhow, 'tis a most strange "_Pas de Deux_"!
Policy makes pride and principles plastic,
And 'tis most true that extremes often meet;
Yet as a sample of joint "Light Fantastic"
_This_ dual dance must be baddish to beat.
Beauty and Beast _vis-a-vis_ in the dance,
Were scarce funnier partners than Russia and France.
Autocrat Bruin, can he really relish
The larkish high-kick, the tempestuous twirl,
That risky Republican dances embellish?
And she--a political "Wallflower," poor girl!--
Can she truly like the strange partner that fate
Apportions her, lumpish, unlovely, and late?
Like 'Arry and 'Arriet out for a frolic,
They've interchanged head-gear, by curious hap!
Of what is this strange substitution symbolic?
The Autocrat crown and the Phrygian cap
They've "swopped," but they both most uneasily sit,
And each for the other appears a poor fit.
That Liberty cap upon Bruin's brown noddle!
That crown--much awry--on the Beauty's fair head!
Absurd! And the Bear's heavy lumbering waddle
Sorts oddly enough with the lady's light tread.
He won't get _her_ step! Will she try to catch _his_?
As soon shall small beer take the sparkle of fizz.
Is she "soothing the Bear"--with a show of lip-honey?
Is he flattering the Bee--with an eye on the hive?
Sting hidden, claws sheathed--for how long? Well, 'tis funny,
This queer little game, whilst they keep it alive!
Dance-partnership is not "for better for worse,"
And "union of hearts" sometimes smacks of--the purse.
"Twos and Threes" is a game to the playground familiar!
"Two's Company!" Yes, so, in this case, are Three!
Alliances frequently made willy-nilly are
Dual _or_ Triple. The Eagles we see
Foregather; so may they not meet--in the dance--
The Big Northern Beast and the Beauty of France?
* * * * *