eeneehene erenn enese
Fritz Lobheimer, an oflleer in an Austrian Dragoon
Fregimnent, has been carrving on an intrigue with a
married woman, and another at the same time with
Christine, the daughter of old Hans Weiring, a
violinist in a theatre orchestra, The husband of
Eche married woman challenges him and kills him:
and Christine, on learning the news, rushes out in
edespair, to commit, as we are led to believe, suieide.
That is the skeleton—simple, and strong enough 10
bear a body of genuine tragedy. Towards clothing
it with genuine tragedy tho author has gone a good
way. We learn very early in the play that Christine
#is not like her friend Mizi Schlager, a mere light¬
o·-love, despising all men, but equally rendy to take
any lover she can get and to bid him a cheerful
good-bye when she can keep him no longer. Christine
takes theaffair very serlously. She has in her a pretty
strong dose of the will to keep. Fritz is her first
lover—for hitherto she has been quite respectable—
and he will be her last. Fritz looks at the matter
ina totally different light. Even abthe merry supper¬
party in the first act his head is ab least as full of
the married woman as of Christine. And after that
party (Fritz is entertaining his friend Theodor Kaiser
and Theodor's“ friend Mizi, and Christine, and they
have been drinking Bruderschaff and doing all sorts
of amusing Austrian things) has been interrupted hy
the enraged husband with his challenge, he has, of
course, an additional reason for insisting to Christine
that this sort of thing is only temporary. It
is all no use. The will to keep in Christine is only
Vintensifled in the sccond act by Fritz's very charming
way of saving what he knows, but Christine docs not
know, to be probably a last farewell, vowing (what
was doubtless true atthe moment) that he really did
love her. And so it happens that in the third act,
when the news is brought to the girl that her lover is
Unot only dead, but has been shot in a duel about
Tanother woman, she is driven practically mad by her
lose.
Maduess, it has been said, is only exaggerated
selfishness. It may be so; in any case the
madness—that is, the character—of Christine is just
what, in our opinion, has prevented this play from
becoming a genuine tragedy. It has affected it in
two ways. The first, and least important, is this
Christine has been, all along, a negative person.
She appeared to have only one positive quality—
that pretty strong dose of the will to kcep. And so,
when this negative, inarticulate creature suddenly
Ubreaks into eloquence and pours out, disjointedly
but with acute point, rage and scorn and grief, we
feel that this is not Christine herself speaking, but
Tthe author. The girl herself—at any rate, as we saw
Ther yesterday—might feel these things dimly, but
she never could say them. It is the author who fecls
Uthem acutely for her, and uses her inappropriate
mouth for theexpression of them. A more important
Pmatter is this, that we sce in Christine no trace of
Tregret for the man who is dead. Nota single“ Poor
Fritz!“ passes her lips. It is herself she is thinking
Tof, the slight put upon her by the intrigue with ihe
Tother woman, the fact that Fritz on his wag to the
duel talked to Theodor of other people and things
besides herself; and these are the subject of her
Toutburst. So Christine sbrivels under our eyes.
Her sorrow is only an intensification of that
worriting to which we had scen her subject her
lover before; and tragedy is not made of women like
this.
Still, the play is a sincere, artfully-constructed,
and occasionally moving piece of work; and it js
admirably acted under the superintendence of Herr
Max Behrend. We suspect that Fritz was intended
by the author to be rather more of a“ gay dog
and rather less of a romantie hero than he was made
y Mr. Ainley; hut, granted his viewof the character,
Mr. Ainley acted it almost to perfection, Miss
Margaret Halstan, too, did well, though she failed to
find a way of reconciling the two Christines. The
part of her father, played by Mr. Hignett, was cily
saved from conventionality by the straightforward
views the old gentleman had to express on the ultimate
value of respectability in vouth, and to these Mr.
Hignett gave their full virtue. Mr. Charles Mande
and Miss Margaret Bussé romped delightfully as a
pair of light-o’-loves, and in serious moments the
former showed more than the promise off a very
capable actor. Mr. James Hearn made an intensely
vivid thing of his five minutes’ scene as the infuriated
husband, and Miss Sydney Fairbrother, as a sharp¬
tongued neighbour, showed an art and a finish cqual
Ito Mr. Hearn's. The play will be repeaied at His
Majesty's Theatre on the afternoons of Tucsday and
Thursday next.
91
7
Liebele
5.1 box 11/4
THEAHERNOON THEATRE
SLOTR-
It would be dillicult to conceive a tragedy more
simple or #counted with greater directness than
that set forth in“ Light o’ Love,“ a translation by
Mr. Vaientine Williams of Arthur Schnitzler’s
* Liebelei,“ produced yesterday at His Majesty’s by
che Afternoon Theatre. The story, althongh fraught
with tremendous consequences to the principal per¬
sons concerned in it, might almost be packed in a
nutshell, so closely narrowed are its limits in
representation. A young fellow named Frits Lob¬
heimner has fallen passionately in love with a married
woman. At the same time he is carrying on a toler¬
ably animated flirtation with a girl called Christine.
Tho first woman we are not permitted to see, but wo
learn that ahe is of the passionate, full-blooded, and
voluptuous order. Christine, on the other hand,
Prepresents all that is sweet, gentle, and devoted in
womanhood. Presently the injured husband appears
upon the scene. He has discovered his wife’s per¬
fidy, and nothing short of a duel to the death will
satisfy him. To the proposal Fritz, of course, is
bound to yield assent. Of the coming encounter he
tells Christine nothing however, although at the
inoment of their final adien his eyes are opened to
thetruth that it is she whom he really loves. So Fritz
goes forth to his death, and for the last act there
remains little tthe disclosure of the catastrophe
to the broken larted Christine, whose grief is ren¬
dered the more acute by the knowledge that there
was another woman in the case, and that Fritz had
played her false.
The little play wears a distinetly German air, while
the actions of the characters are, it must be confessed,
just a trifle kard of reconciliation with our own ideas
of the fitness of things. Consequently the work
succeeds ouly to a limited measure in arousing either
our interest or our sympathy. Fritz, the hero, is far
too neurotic and hysterical a person to make a deep
impressien upon our feelings, while Christine—fitly
deseribed by the French phrase,“ la femme col¬
lante’—only too frequently contrives to produce
upon the audience, as upon Fritz # 'mself, rathel an
irritating impression.“ Light o’ Love,! neverthe¬
less, contains one or two scenes of unquestionable
power; it possesses also the merit of finishing on a
high tragic note. The röle of Fritz is not altogether
a grateful one, but yesterday Mr. Henry Ainley
played it with a fervour and a convineing air of
sincerity that fairly carried the audience away.
From Miss Margaret Halstan, as Christine, was
also forthcoming an exceedingly clever performance,
the result, clearly, of much careful thought and
artistie intelligence. Technically, it would be diffi¬
cult to improve upon it, yet in her great scene in
the flnal act there secined somehow to be missing
Just that one little touch of pure pathos which brings
the lump into the throat and the tears to the eyes
of the spectator. In episodieal parts Mr. Charles
Maude, by his buoyant and breezy manner, and Miss
Margaret Drssé, by her piquant and engaging stylo,
sccured tho favour of the house; whille Mr. H. R.
Hignett—albeit rather more Welsh than German—
Mr. James Hearn, and Miss Sydney Fai“## other
heiped materially by their valuable assistance to
obtain a kindly reception for the piece.
—
Fritz Lobheimer, an oflleer in an Austrian Dragoon
Fregimnent, has been carrving on an intrigue with a
married woman, and another at the same time with
Christine, the daughter of old Hans Weiring, a
violinist in a theatre orchestra, The husband of
Eche married woman challenges him and kills him:
and Christine, on learning the news, rushes out in
edespair, to commit, as we are led to believe, suieide.
That is the skeleton—simple, and strong enough 10
bear a body of genuine tragedy. Towards clothing
it with genuine tragedy tho author has gone a good
way. We learn very early in the play that Christine
#is not like her friend Mizi Schlager, a mere light¬
o·-love, despising all men, but equally rendy to take
any lover she can get and to bid him a cheerful
good-bye when she can keep him no longer. Christine
takes theaffair very serlously. She has in her a pretty
strong dose of the will to keep. Fritz is her first
lover—for hitherto she has been quite respectable—
and he will be her last. Fritz looks at the matter
ina totally different light. Even abthe merry supper¬
party in the first act his head is ab least as full of
the married woman as of Christine. And after that
party (Fritz is entertaining his friend Theodor Kaiser
and Theodor's“ friend Mizi, and Christine, and they
have been drinking Bruderschaff and doing all sorts
of amusing Austrian things) has been interrupted hy
the enraged husband with his challenge, he has, of
course, an additional reason for insisting to Christine
that this sort of thing is only temporary. It
is all no use. The will to keep in Christine is only
Vintensifled in the sccond act by Fritz's very charming
way of saving what he knows, but Christine docs not
know, to be probably a last farewell, vowing (what
was doubtless true atthe moment) that he really did
love her. And so it happens that in the third act,
when the news is brought to the girl that her lover is
Unot only dead, but has been shot in a duel about
Tanother woman, she is driven practically mad by her
lose.
Maduess, it has been said, is only exaggerated
selfishness. It may be so; in any case the
madness—that is, the character—of Christine is just
what, in our opinion, has prevented this play from
becoming a genuine tragedy. It has affected it in
two ways. The first, and least important, is this
Christine has been, all along, a negative person.
She appeared to have only one positive quality—
that pretty strong dose of the will to kcep. And so,
when this negative, inarticulate creature suddenly
Ubreaks into eloquence and pours out, disjointedly
but with acute point, rage and scorn and grief, we
feel that this is not Christine herself speaking, but
Tthe author. The girl herself—at any rate, as we saw
Ther yesterday—might feel these things dimly, but
she never could say them. It is the author who fecls
Uthem acutely for her, and uses her inappropriate
mouth for theexpression of them. A more important
Pmatter is this, that we sce in Christine no trace of
Tregret for the man who is dead. Nota single“ Poor
Fritz!“ passes her lips. It is herself she is thinking
Tof, the slight put upon her by the intrigue with ihe
Tother woman, the fact that Fritz on his wag to the
duel talked to Theodor of other people and things
besides herself; and these are the subject of her
Toutburst. So Christine sbrivels under our eyes.
Her sorrow is only an intensification of that
worriting to which we had scen her subject her
lover before; and tragedy is not made of women like
this.
Still, the play is a sincere, artfully-constructed,
and occasionally moving piece of work; and it js
admirably acted under the superintendence of Herr
Max Behrend. We suspect that Fritz was intended
by the author to be rather more of a“ gay dog
and rather less of a romantie hero than he was made
y Mr. Ainley; hut, granted his viewof the character,
Mr. Ainley acted it almost to perfection, Miss
Margaret Halstan, too, did well, though she failed to
find a way of reconciling the two Christines. The
part of her father, played by Mr. Hignett, was cily
saved from conventionality by the straightforward
views the old gentleman had to express on the ultimate
value of respectability in vouth, and to these Mr.
Hignett gave their full virtue. Mr. Charles Mande
and Miss Margaret Bussé romped delightfully as a
pair of light-o’-loves, and in serious moments the
former showed more than the promise off a very
capable actor. Mr. James Hearn made an intensely
vivid thing of his five minutes’ scene as the infuriated
husband, and Miss Sydney Fairbrother, as a sharp¬
tongued neighbour, showed an art and a finish cqual
Ito Mr. Hearn's. The play will be repeaied at His
Majesty's Theatre on the afternoons of Tucsday and
Thursday next.
91
7
Liebele
5.1 box 11/4
THEAHERNOON THEATRE
SLOTR-
It would be dillicult to conceive a tragedy more
simple or #counted with greater directness than
that set forth in“ Light o’ Love,“ a translation by
Mr. Vaientine Williams of Arthur Schnitzler’s
* Liebelei,“ produced yesterday at His Majesty’s by
che Afternoon Theatre. The story, althongh fraught
with tremendous consequences to the principal per¬
sons concerned in it, might almost be packed in a
nutshell, so closely narrowed are its limits in
representation. A young fellow named Frits Lob¬
heimner has fallen passionately in love with a married
woman. At the same time he is carrying on a toler¬
ably animated flirtation with a girl called Christine.
Tho first woman we are not permitted to see, but wo
learn that ahe is of the passionate, full-blooded, and
voluptuous order. Christine, on the other hand,
Prepresents all that is sweet, gentle, and devoted in
womanhood. Presently the injured husband appears
upon the scene. He has discovered his wife’s per¬
fidy, and nothing short of a duel to the death will
satisfy him. To the proposal Fritz, of course, is
bound to yield assent. Of the coming encounter he
tells Christine nothing however, although at the
inoment of their final adien his eyes are opened to
thetruth that it is she whom he really loves. So Fritz
goes forth to his death, and for the last act there
remains little tthe disclosure of the catastrophe
to the broken larted Christine, whose grief is ren¬
dered the more acute by the knowledge that there
was another woman in the case, and that Fritz had
played her false.
The little play wears a distinetly German air, while
the actions of the characters are, it must be confessed,
just a trifle kard of reconciliation with our own ideas
of the fitness of things. Consequently the work
succeeds ouly to a limited measure in arousing either
our interest or our sympathy. Fritz, the hero, is far
too neurotic and hysterical a person to make a deep
impressien upon our feelings, while Christine—fitly
deseribed by the French phrase,“ la femme col¬
lante’—only too frequently contrives to produce
upon the audience, as upon Fritz # 'mself, rathel an
irritating impression.“ Light o’ Love,! neverthe¬
less, contains one or two scenes of unquestionable
power; it possesses also the merit of finishing on a
high tragic note. The röle of Fritz is not altogether
a grateful one, but yesterday Mr. Henry Ainley
played it with a fervour and a convineing air of
sincerity that fairly carried the audience away.
From Miss Margaret Halstan, as Christine, was
also forthcoming an exceedingly clever performance,
the result, clearly, of much careful thought and
artistie intelligence. Technically, it would be diffi¬
cult to improve upon it, yet in her great scene in
the flnal act there secined somehow to be missing
Just that one little touch of pure pathos which brings
the lump into the throat and the tears to the eyes
of the spectator. In episodieal parts Mr. Charles
Maude, by his buoyant and breezy manner, and Miss
Margaret Drssé, by her piquant and engaging stylo,
sccured tho favour of the house; whille Mr. H. R.
Hignett—albeit rather more Welsh than German—
Mr. James Hearn, and Miss Sydney Fai“## other
heiped materially by their valuable assistance to
obtain a kindly reception for the piece.
—