21.
12
Fa
Kontesseoderdeientag
Scen
THE DAILY T
STAGE SOCIETT.
AFTERNOON WITH SCHNITZLER.
To the ordinary English playgoer the name of
Arthur Schnitzler is mainly familiar by rcason of
his Anatol sketches, translated and produced by
Mr. Granvilie Barker. Testerday, at a particularly
interesting matinée given at the Aldwych by the
Incorpomtei Stage Society, we had the privilege of
making his better acquaintance. The two one-act
pieccs presented serred admirably to emphasise the
scope of his peculiar talent. Comtesse Mizzi“' is
quite in the vein of Anatol.“ It is heavily
charged—overcharged, some might insist—with
cynicism; it provides, with a light-heartedness that
almost appals, an extraordinary study of the bacer
aspecis of social life. The characters are more or
less tarred with tho same brush; they are entirely
unmoral and frankly boastful of the fact. One might
speak of them as degenerates, were it not that they
take such a healthy pride in their own misdoings.
You have, for instanco, Prince Ravenstein, who has
seduced the daughter of his friend, Count Pazmandy,
the Countess Mizzi. The result of their intrigue is a
son. Philip whom his mother has not even cared to
recognase, and who, although little more than a youth,
has developed tastes very much on a par with those
indulged in by his father. Count Pazmandy is him¬
self a viveur of the first order. For many years he
has livod on a basis of intimacy with a notorious
dancer called Lolo, who in the end calmly throws
him over in order to marry a well-to-do livery-stable
proprietor.
The play is little more than a series of conversa¬
tions, carried on with a most perfect and unblushing
candour by these and other charncters, and would
be intolerable were it handled in a less witty fashion.
When the serious things of life are presented in so
Ifrivolous a spimt they scem, however, to lose some¬
thing of their importance, and Schnitzler plays the
Jester so airily that he well-nigh tempts us to forget
the gravity of the enormities he unmasks. It is,
of course, essential to the well-being of such a piece
that theoriginal atmosphereand surroundings should
bepreserved. Norcanitbeexpectedthat Englishartists
should quite succeed in giving the requisite form
and substance to ideas so entirely beyond their ken.
Mr. Athol Stowart, nevertheless, is to be congratu¬
lated on his clever rendering of the part of Prince
Ravenstein; while Mr. Robert Horton as Count
Pazmandy, Miss Katherine Polo as Mizzi, and Miss
Margaret Busse as Lolo gavc a very fair acconnt of
thomselves. Although merely a thumbnail sketch,
Mr. Rupert Lumley’'s performance of Wasner, the
livery-stable keeper, was thoroughly in the picture.
THE GREEN COCKATOO.“
The Green Cockatoo is a work of very diffe¬
rent üibre. It is hardly an exaggeration to describe
it as a masterpiece of its kind. The elements of
humour, observation, dramatic effoct, and sensation¬
alism are blended in it with the happiest results.
At one moment you are thrilled to the marrow; an
instant later responsive laughter greets the grotesque¬
ness of the situation. It is the period of the Terror
in Paris. To the Green Cockatoo, an undergwund
tavern kept by Prosper, formerly a theatrical
manager, aristocrats are flocking to enjoy a new
experience. Prosper has engaged a company of
ncedy actors and actresses. Their business is to
relate to his wealthy but dissolute clientele incidents
which may or may not have occurred. The place,
for example, is suddenly invaded by a weird figure.
who tells with intense realism how he is flying from
Justice because ho has taken his rival’s life; a man
scizes his wife by the throat and endeavours to
strangle her because she has been unfaithful. The
situation ends in a laugh or a taunt bythe host that
it is not a bit like the real thing.
That comes later in an episode which stirs the
audienco both on the stage and in front of the cur¬
tain to a manifestation of unusual excitement.
Henri, a young actor, has just married Leocadie, an
box 26//4
12
Fa
Kontesseoderdeientag
Scen
THE DAILY T
STAGE SOCIETT.
AFTERNOON WITH SCHNITZLER.
To the ordinary English playgoer the name of
Arthur Schnitzler is mainly familiar by rcason of
his Anatol sketches, translated and produced by
Mr. Granvilie Barker. Testerday, at a particularly
interesting matinée given at the Aldwych by the
Incorpomtei Stage Society, we had the privilege of
making his better acquaintance. The two one-act
pieccs presented serred admirably to emphasise the
scope of his peculiar talent. Comtesse Mizzi“' is
quite in the vein of Anatol.“ It is heavily
charged—overcharged, some might insist—with
cynicism; it provides, with a light-heartedness that
almost appals, an extraordinary study of the bacer
aspecis of social life. The characters are more or
less tarred with tho same brush; they are entirely
unmoral and frankly boastful of the fact. One might
speak of them as degenerates, were it not that they
take such a healthy pride in their own misdoings.
You have, for instanco, Prince Ravenstein, who has
seduced the daughter of his friend, Count Pazmandy,
the Countess Mizzi. The result of their intrigue is a
son. Philip whom his mother has not even cared to
recognase, and who, although little more than a youth,
has developed tastes very much on a par with those
indulged in by his father. Count Pazmandy is him¬
self a viveur of the first order. For many years he
has livod on a basis of intimacy with a notorious
dancer called Lolo, who in the end calmly throws
him over in order to marry a well-to-do livery-stable
proprietor.
The play is little more than a series of conversa¬
tions, carried on with a most perfect and unblushing
candour by these and other charncters, and would
be intolerable were it handled in a less witty fashion.
When the serious things of life are presented in so
Ifrivolous a spimt they scem, however, to lose some¬
thing of their importance, and Schnitzler plays the
Jester so airily that he well-nigh tempts us to forget
the gravity of the enormities he unmasks. It is,
of course, essential to the well-being of such a piece
that theoriginal atmosphereand surroundings should
bepreserved. Norcanitbeexpectedthat Englishartists
should quite succeed in giving the requisite form
and substance to ideas so entirely beyond their ken.
Mr. Athol Stowart, nevertheless, is to be congratu¬
lated on his clever rendering of the part of Prince
Ravenstein; while Mr. Robert Horton as Count
Pazmandy, Miss Katherine Polo as Mizzi, and Miss
Margaret Busse as Lolo gavc a very fair acconnt of
thomselves. Although merely a thumbnail sketch,
Mr. Rupert Lumley’'s performance of Wasner, the
livery-stable keeper, was thoroughly in the picture.
THE GREEN COCKATOO.“
The Green Cockatoo is a work of very diffe¬
rent üibre. It is hardly an exaggeration to describe
it as a masterpiece of its kind. The elements of
humour, observation, dramatic effoct, and sensation¬
alism are blended in it with the happiest results.
At one moment you are thrilled to the marrow; an
instant later responsive laughter greets the grotesque¬
ness of the situation. It is the period of the Terror
in Paris. To the Green Cockatoo, an undergwund
tavern kept by Prosper, formerly a theatrical
manager, aristocrats are flocking to enjoy a new
experience. Prosper has engaged a company of
ncedy actors and actresses. Their business is to
relate to his wealthy but dissolute clientele incidents
which may or may not have occurred. The place,
for example, is suddenly invaded by a weird figure.
who tells with intense realism how he is flying from
Justice because ho has taken his rival’s life; a man
scizes his wife by the throat and endeavours to
strangle her because she has been unfaithful. The
situation ends in a laugh or a taunt bythe host that
it is not a bit like the real thing.
That comes later in an episode which stirs the
audienco both on the stage and in front of the cur¬
tain to a manifestation of unusual excitement.
Henri, a young actor, has just married Leocadie, an
box 26//4