"CARNIVAL."
Those who imagined that they were to be given a dramatic version of Mr.
COMPTON MACKENZIE'S romance must have been shocked to find that the
entertainment provided at the New Theatre was just a variation, from an
Italian source, of the general idea of _Pagliacci_. But it was the only
palpable shock they sustained, for never did a play run a more obvious
course from start to finish. When you have for your leading character an
actor-manager, who plays the part of _Othello_, with his wife as
_Desdemona_ (how well we know to our cost this conjugal form of nepotism),
and discusses in private life the character of the Moor--whether a man
would be likely to indulge his jealousy on grounds so inadequate--speaking
with the detached air of one who is absolutely confident of his own wife's
fidelity, you don't need much intelligence to foresee what the envy of the
gods is preparing for him. The remainder is only a matter of detail--what
particular excuse, for instance, the lady will find for a diversion, and to
what lengths she will go.
[Illustration: _Simonetta_ (_Miss HILDA BAYLEY_). "ARE YOU PLEASED WITH MY
FANCY DRESS? IT WAS TO BE A GREAT SURPRISE."
_Count Andrea_ (_Mr. NEILSON-TERRY_). "NOTHING SURPRISES ME IN THIS PLAY."]
In the present case her only excuse was the old one, that she was "treated
like a child." Certainly she deserved to be, for her behaviour was of the
most wilful and wayward; but she was the mother of a strapping boy, and a
woman who is thought old enough to play, in the premier Italian company,
the part of _Desdemona_ (with the accent, too, on the second syllable)
could hardly justify her complaint that she was regarded as a juvenile.
The choice of the Alfieri Theatre for the scene of the culmination of the
domestic drama seemed to touch the extreme of improbability. The actors
were not a poor travelling company of mummers, as in _Pagliacci_, with no
decent private accommodation for this kind of thing. The protagonist of
_Carnival_ was lodged in a perfectly good Venetian palace, where there was
every convenience for having the matter out with his wife and her lover.
For the rest the plot was commonplace to the verge of banality.
As _Silvio Steno_, in his home life, Mr. MATHESON LANG was excellently
natural, but as _Othello_ his make-up spoilt his nice face and tended to
alienate me. As _Simonetta_ (I got very sick of the name) Miss HILDA BAYLEY
had a difficult part, and failed, from no great fault of her own, to attach
our sympathies, till in the end she explained her rather inscrutable
conduct in a defence which gave us for the first time a sense of sincerity
in her character. There was too much play with her Carnival dress of a
Bacchante, which, perhaps, was less intriguing than we were given to
understand. Mr. DENNIS NEILSON-TERRY has a certain distinction, but he did
not make a very perfect military paramour. His intonation seemed to lack
control, and he has a curious habit of baring his upper teeth when he is
getting ready to make a forcible remark.
As for the scenes, they were alleged to be Venice (where the Doges wedded
the sea), but there was no visible sign of water. You called for a gondola,
which always sounds better than a taxi, but it never appeared. Perhaps,
however, for one has not always been very happy in one's experiences of
stage navigation, this was just as well.