RICHARD III.
THERE is a sad discovery to chronicle as the result of the Old Vic's production of Richard III. Miss Edith Evans is no tragedienne. While she -stood silent against a black curtain in the most shadowy part of the stage, looking old and grim and care-worn as Margaret, " widow to Henry VI.," she was good. But when she began to curse ! She raised her hands in the posture allotted on the stage to witches ; she Clawed the air and chanted her lines in a monotone--if it may be cal/01 a monotone, when actually it was a duet between her natural voice and a persistent, cultivated hoarseness or barking, a kind of bagpipe recitatif. The gallery tittered and subdued itself out of courtesy and a genuine admiration for Miss Evans in other parts. And, as a matter of fact, when Miss Evans finished the gallery applauded. I suppose a tragic actress is expected to hark, and - Miss Evans had done _very well to overtake tradition so _quickly. I have no . liking for this genre of acting -myielf ;-...but if it is to be tolerable, then" the' actress Must have a deeper and more vibrant natural voice than Miss Evans. The:other unfortunate dowagers were no better ; they said their lines and executed magnificently
heavy stampings to the wings as they made their exits. We hear of the impressiveness of the " sweeps " carried out by the famous tragic actresses of an older age. I hope they were nothing like these tantrums ; the movements reminded me more of a coal-barge than a galleon.
Mr. Balliol Holloway's Richard was quite satisfy.ing`: we could not hope for a better average performance. He his al little too much of the trick of chopping up his lines and saying the phrases with a rush and a pause, a rush and 'a pause. But _ his voice is deep and affecting and his gestures are excellent. I shall remember most from the whole evening his sudden; blankness when the young Duke of York imitates his limp; before the court, and the horrifying companionable, easy laugh! he gives a second or two later.
A chronicle play is more difficult to stage than an ordinary' drama : there are more characters needed, and the weight of. the play rests evenly on a number 'of actors. It is always hard to get efficient actors for the minor parts, and where the minor parts are many and important the trouble is accentu- , ated. On the whole the caste was adequate. Especial praise goes to Mr. John Wyse for his Lord Hastings, Mr. Neil Porter for his Duke of Buckingham, and to Mr. Charles Marford and Mr. John Garside, the first and second Murderers.
A. P.
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