"CYRANO" MOVES TO DRURY LANE.
SIR THOMAS BEECHAM, having been translated to another place, has made
way for _Cyrano_ and his nose, which now finds more room to turn round
in. I had not seen Mr. LORAINE on the more congested stage of the
Garrick. Indeed the last time that I assisted at M. ROSTAND'S play was
some twenty years ago in the South of France. It happened that there
had recently been a vogue of Musketeer plays in England. Behind my
seat was a British Baronet (a recent creation) for whom the French
language had little or no meaning. The first and only sign of
intelligence that he showed was well on in the performance, at the
words, "_Qui est ce monsieur?" "C'est D'Artagnan." (D'Artagnan_ then
disappears altogether).
"Another of these damned Musketeer plays," said the Bart.; "I'm off!"
And he went.
I am not sure that, even in English, it would have been just the play
for his taste; but that London has plenty of people who can appreciate
it may be seen by the way in which Mr. LORAINE can hold the great
auditorium under the spell of its romance. Without an effort he
endears to us the defects of his hero's Quixotic qualities, and makes
his very deformity contribute to the triumph of his heroic _panache_.
Even such of the poet's prolixities as survive a very careful pruning
of the text are made to seem essential to the self-expression of
character.
Mr. LORAINE is happy in his book, for the clever rendering made by
Miss GLADYS THOMAS and Miss MARY GUILLEMARD reproduces both the spirit
and the letter of the poem. And from his cast he gets all the support
that he needs. True, he needs very little. He fills the stage, and
the other characters--notably the colourless _Christian de
Neuvillette_--are little more than his foils. Miss STELLA CAMPBELL, as
_Roxane_, failed, at times, to convey a sense of overwhelming passion
either for the body of _Christian_ or the soul which she imagined it
to contain; but she was always a gracious figure and her voice was
gentle. Perhaps Mr. LORAINE owed most to his scenic artists, Messrs.
DULAC and JOHN BULL, who gave of their best. There was attraction too
in the very names of Arras and Bapaume, as well as in the thought of
the part that our _Cyrano_ of to-day has played against a ruder
foe than the Spaniard. And was I wrong in tracing a hint of other
experiences gained at the front, when Mr. LORAINE nearly turned up his
false nose at the mention of "military wit."
The part offers little scope for humour. _Cyrano_, with all his
generous impulses, is too self-conscious for that. But in each of his
moods and phases--bravado, sacrifice, acceptance of the inexorable
pathos of things--Mr. LORAINE had got at the heart of the man. A very
brave and inspiring performance.