THE THEATRE.
TWO ELIZABETHAN PLAYS.
"EDWARD II.," BY CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE, AT THE REGENT THEATRE. " A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM," BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, AT THE KINGSWAY THEATRE.
MAnr.owE's Edward II. is a play which reminds the auditor very forcibly of the fact that in the chronicle play the Eliza- bethan audience made a demand upon their theatre which we have ceased to Fake. Here is Marlowe doing something or other very competently, he is clearly supplying a demand. Is it that we read our history now or is it that we do not want historical information at all ? Certain it is that in Edward II., whenever Marlowe—having gone off on a side track of psy- chology or poetry—pulled himself up with a jerk to go back io his history, we were sorry. We were interested in Mar- lowe's opinion of the effect upon character of the vices of which he makes Edward II. a practiser. We wanted to find out whether he means Gaveston to be a hard and lustful self-seeker, or a rather amiable sentimentalist. We wanted to Icnow how far Marlowe was prepared to carry his satire against the good old Tory county family as exemplified in " proud Mortimer." We wanted to see him work out the old theme of " Bell holds no fury like a woman scorned," which he began so promisingly with Isabella. But neither to the psychology of Mortimer's turbulent snobbery, Edward's and Gaveston's silken dalliance, Isabella's thwarted love, nor the ultimate degeneration of Edward's character, does he give his full attention. Something, either his own concept of the sort of play he had to set out to write, pressure from his manager or his patron or the public, constantly recalls him to the expo- sition, not of general psychological truths, but of particular facts of history. Poetry, too, must constantly give way to the necessity of explaining in a few hours historical perplexities which took years to unravel.
If, then, we judge Edward IL as we might Ibsen on the one side, or Mr. Yeats on the other, we shall find it brilliant, but unsatisfactory. If, however, we judge it by its success in what it set out to do, we cannot but admire it extremely, for all the features in it which make it pretty good Ibsen or pretty good Yeats, are really thrown in, while as a chronicle, the play is a triumphant success. The handling of incident is masterly, the complicated story is never allowed to become confused, extraordinary unity is given to the unfolding of the characters of the King, Queen and Mortimer, while ample opportunities for scenes of splendour and of stirring " alarums and excursions " are provided all through. I should say that Marlowe in this play has proved himself a better hand than Shakespeare at this particular business, and his competent, dogged success here, and the steady strength with which he has subdued his material to his medium throws a new light on the character of a man whom we have been accustomed to think of as an extravagant magnifico of the Elizabethan stage.
Mr. Ernest Thesiger was admirably cast for the part of Piers Gaveston, looked well, and gave an excellent performance. I thought it a pity that Mr. Lawrence Anderson as Hugh Spencer did not follow him and give us a little more of the effeminacy which alone made the part he played comprehen- sible. As Mortimer Mr. Edmund Willard gave a particularly intelligent and powerful performance, which did much to sustain the clear, definite atmosphere of the piece. Miss Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies looked exquisite as the Queen, and acted very well in the first part, though we were not quite given the transition from the neglected princess to the She- Wolf of France. Mr. Duncan Yarrow was labouring under difficulties as Edward, as a bronchial cold had prevented his rehearsing. All the rest of the cast were good.
The performance of this most instructive, but by no means showy play, ought to save the Phoenix from any accusation of sensation-mongering.
How different a play is A Midsummer Night's Dream, with its exquisite poetry, its stilted or freakish psychology and the rigid symmetry of its action ! It is a play which depends extraordinarily upon its performers, and perhaps sets pro- ducers, actors and decor artists a task more difficult than does any other current play. With talents in each department that might have performed an ordinarily difficult task effici- ently, in a Midsummer Night's Dream Mr. Donald Calthrop's team have not been able to produce a satisfactory whole. On the stage of to-day we do not get the vulgarity which too often in the past deformed Shakespearean acting, but in A Midsummer Night's Dream we may see a wonderful collection of the modern vices which have been substituted.
Miss Joyce Carey and Miss Viola Tree (Hermia and Helena) demonstrate between them inability to speak verse, monotonous diction, incomprehension of the meaning of lines, and with their " dancing partners," Mr. Bruce Belfragc and Mr. S. J. Warmington (Lysander and Demetrius) and Miss Joan Chard as Hippolyta, uncertainty of attitude and angu- larity of movement. I do not mean that they did not know where to stand so much as that these five never used movement or gestures and make no use whatever of the art of miming. They seem here quite to have forgotten the simple axiom taught to most students that every movement upon the stage is significant.
But to counterbalance this there is some charming acting. Miss Athene Seyler is a tiny, delicious Titania and speaks her lines in a crystal voice. Not less excellent a performance was given by Mr. Frank Cellier as Quince. This was one of the most admirable pieces of acting I have seen for a long time, and a revelation of what an actor can put into a part without bursting it or trespassing beyond the domain of the actor into that of the dramatist. As Oberon Mr. Nicholas Hannen gave a curious performance—monotonous, grim and sepulchral —it was not my idea of the fairy King, but was, nevertheless, interesting and a genuine attempt at an interpretation. Mr George Howe's Puck I liked very well.
As for Mr. Norman Wilkinson's decor, I thought it all a little ineffective, and the ensemble of the monochrome fairies, though individually attractive, rather dull. Perhaps the absurdly high rent of London theatres has left too small funds for a decor artist to show his skill. TARN
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