That I never could struggle through CHARLES KINGSLEY'S novel _Hypatia_, is,
as far as I am personally concerned, very much in favour of my pronouncing
an unbiassed opinion on the "_new classical play_" ("Historical," if you
like, but not "classical," and there is not the slightest chance of its
becoming a "classic") written by G. STUART OGILVIE, entitled _Hypatia_, and
"_founded on_ KINGSLEY'S _celebrated Novel_," which "celebrated Novel" is,
for me at least, not only "celebrated," but "remarkable," as being one of
the very few works of fiction (excepting always the majority of KINGSLEY'S
works) completely baffling my powers of endurance.
[Illustration: The Tip for the Alexandr(i)a Park Meeting. "_Heraclian_ must
win." Notice the _Rara Nativa Oysteriana Shrub_ in the background.]
[Illustration: Cyrillus Fernandez Gladstonius Episcopus.]
Mr. STUART OGILVIE'S Drama may be a clever adaptation of a story difficult
to adapt; but that his play is powerfully dramatic, even when it arrives at
what, as I conceive, was intended to be its strongest dramatic situation in
the Second Scene of the Third Act, no one but an _Umbra_ (to be
"classical"), a sycophant, a "creature," or a contentious noodle, could
possibly assert. Yet, as a series of _tableaux vivants_, illustrating
scenes in the public and private life of _Issachar_ the Jew,--and that
Jew Mr. BEERBOHM TREE, so artistically made up as to be absolutely
unrecognisable by those who know him best,--the action is decidedly
interesting up to the end of the Third Act. After that, all is tumult. The
gay and seductive _Orestes_, Prefect of Alexandria (carefully played by Mr.
LEWIS WALLER) is slain, anyhow, all higgledy-piggledy, by the Jew,
_Issachar_, whose seductive daughter _Ruth_ (sweetly and gently represented
by Miss OLGA BRANDON) this gay LOTHARIO of a Prefect has contrived, not,
apparently, with any great difficulty, to lead astray, or, to put it
"classically," to seduce from the narrow path of such virtue as is common
alike to Pagan, Jew, and Christian. As for handsome _Hypatia_ herself,
magnificent though Miss JULIA NEILSON be as a classic model for a painter,
she is nowhere, dramatically, in the piece, when contrasted with the
unhappy Jewish Family of two. It is the story of _Issachar_, his daughter
and _Orestes_, that absorbs the interest; and, as to what becomes of
_Cyril_ and his Merry Monks, of _Philammon_ (which, when pronounced, sounds
like a modern Cockney-rendering of PHILIP HAMMOND, with the aspirate
omitted and the final "d" dropped), of old _Theon_ (who never appears but
he is immediately sent away again, and therefore might be termed
"_The-on-and-off-'un_"), and, finally, of even that charming specimen of a
Girton Girl-Lecturer on Philosophy _Hypatia_ herself, well--to adopt HOOD'S
couplet about the Poor in London,--
"Where they goes, or how they fares, Nobody knows and nobody
cares."
The entire interest is centred in _Issachar_, and had the author devised
some strong dramatic climax (such as occurs in that play of SARDOU'S where
SARAH B. stabs PAUL BERTON) with which to finish the piece, when the
Prefect should have been killed either by _Issachar_ or by _Miriam_ (SARDOU
would have made _Issachar's_ daughter the heroine--the SARA BERNHARDT of
the piece) then, in the penultimate Act, anything tragic, or otherwise,
might picturesquely and appropriately have happened to the classic Girton
girl, _Hypatia_, and Master _Phil 'Ammon_, the good young Monk so inclined
to go wrong, to the great contentment of the audience.
Mr. TREE makes a thoroughly oriental type of _Issachar_, and it is within
an ace of being a grand impersonation. What that ace exactly is, it is
somewhat difficult to say, but what _is_ wanting is wanting in his great
scene with his daughter. If the dramatist had given him such another final
chance as I have already suggested, the character might have been
dramatically perfected in Mr. TREE'S hands. As it is, both by author and
actor it is left "to be finished in our next."
Mr. TERRY is good as the amatory Monk, and Miss JULIA NEILSON is
statuesquely graceful as _Hypatia_. If I say "she is making strides in her
profession," I must be taken to allude not to her vast improvement
histrionically, but to the long steps which she takes across the stage.
The costumes are admirable, especially that of _Issachar_, on whose attire
the Messrs. NATHAN as Israel-lights-and-leaders must be considered high
authorities.
[Illustration: From an Ancient Vase found in the Haymarket.]
Mr. ALMA TADEMA, R.A., is responsible for the designs of the scenery by
Messrs. JOHNSTONE, HANN, HALL, and HARKER. [Great chance for 'ARRY 'ere!
"Scenery by 'ANN--a lady artist of course--then 'ALL and then 'ARKER, from
designs by HALMA TADEMA." "I s'pose HALMA'S a artistic shemale," 'ARRY
would say: "cos I know as there's another HALMA on the stage, leastways on
the Music 'All stage, and she's HALMA STANLEY."] Whatever the designing
ALMA may have done, I cannot say much for the reproduction of his favourite
game of marbles. The "marble halls" lack polish; but the Market Place, The
Court of _Hypatia's_ House, _Issachar's_ snuggery, and a Street in
Alexandria, are highly effective pictures. But I should like to know if in
Mr. ALMA TADEMA'S design for the Monk's dress, Mr. FRED TERRY found a small
black and silver crucifix of very modern workmanship suspended from the
girdle, as this religious emblem did not come into use until a much later
date. By the way, ecclesiastical ornaments must have been cheap in those
days to warrant _Bishop Cyril_ (strongly rendered by Mr. FERNANDEZ)
flaunting about the streets of Alexandria in such rainbow robes as, in a
later age, would have led people to imagine that he had just broken out of
the stained glass window of a Gothic Cathedral. Two thousand years hence
the New Zealand dramatist may represent the Archbishop of CANTERBURY as
walking about London in his lawn sleeves with coronation cope and mitre, or
Cardinal HERBERT VAUGHAN as wearing his scarlet hat and robes, and riding
in a Hansom cab, having been unable to pick up his own Cardinal's train.
All this were hypercriticism, but that the name of ALMA TADEMA, R.A., is a
public guarantee for academical accuracy.
Anyhow, _Hypatia_, if not "a famous victory"--is at least a fine spectacle,
with some fine acting in it, but this is mainly confined to Mr. BEERBOHM
TREE. As the very heavy father, Mr. KEMBLE has not been allowed half a
chance. Why should he not alternate characters with Mr. FERNANDEZ, and for
three nights a week appear as _Cyril_ the Bishop, while FERNANDEZ would be
_Hypatia's_ parent who has to grovel on the steps while his highly educated
child is lecturing, who has to comfort her in her terror, and be turned out
neck and crop whenever nobody on the scene wants him, which by the way,
happens rather frequently.
The music to a Drama is generally a minor affair, but, in this instance, it
is both major and minor, and has been specially written for the piece by
Dr. HUBERT PARRY. As this play is not an "adaptation from the French," the
music of this Composer is the only _article de Parry_ about the piece, and,
being strikingly appropriate, it proves an attraction of itself. It is
conducted by the Wagnerian ARMBRUSTER, who, with his Merry Men, is hidden
away under the stage, much as was the Ghost of _Hamlet's_ father whom
_Hamlet_ irreverently styled "Old Truepenny." Altogether a notable piece.
_Prosit!_