In a very large cast, whose identities were here and there a little
shadowy, the interest was so distributed that nobody except Miss LÖHR
had very much chance. But Mr. FISHER WHITE made a touching picture of
the weak old Austrian Emperor, torn between love of his grandchild and
fear of _Metternich_. _Metternich_ himself, in the person of Mr. HENRY
VIBART, seemed hardly sinister, enough for the part he had to play in
keeping the _Eaglet_ under the talons of the "two-headed fowl." But
it is perhaps difficult to look really sinister in the full official
uniform of a Chancellor.
Mr. LYN HARDING, as _Flambeau_, veteran of NAPOLEON'S Army, introduced
a faint suggestion of badly-needed humour, and relieved the general
atmosphere of Court artificiality by a touch of nature which almost
reconciled us to the improbable burst of eloquence that ROSTAND, with
his reckless prodigality, assigned to this rough soldier.
Miss LETTICE FAIRFAX gave a pleasant air of irresponsibility to the
shallow _Maria Louisa_, and made her bear very lightly her cross of
widowhood (with bar). The briefest possible vision of Miss BETTY FAIRE
as _Fanny Elssler_ made me want to see much more of her; but Mr. Louis
PARKER had been Napoleonically ruthless with the text. His translation
sounded well, though the delivery of it sometimes left me doubtful as to
what was prose and what was verse. As for his production of the play, it
showed the old skill of a Past-Master of Pageantry.
Altogether Miss MARIE LÖHR has been justified of her courage. In a happy
little speech from which we learnt that every one of the voices (off) in
the Wagram scene was a demobilised voice from the fighting fronts, she
told us that her revival of _L'Aiglon_ was intended as a tribute to Art
after all these years of War. We were not, I think, meant to take
this as a reflection upon the part played by the British Theatre in
sustaining the nation's soul during the War. Anyhow, I for one shall
read into her words just a brave promise--not, I hope, too sanguine--of
what we may expect from the new birth of the Arts of Peace.