II, Theaterstücke 4, (Anatol, 8), Anatol, Seite 519

4.9. Anatol - Zyklus
box 9/3
Mlle
1
THE
At the Play.
Everyman.
THE PEDARS
BASKET.
(Derted by NOVAN MADEMOTT.)
It was an excellent idea of Mr. Maler¬
motte, at the conclusion of his Shaw season,
to devise a programme that should have some
of the characteristics of a triple bill and some
of those of a revue. What he has done has
been to provide a frame work of songs and
dances for three or four one-act play; and at
the present moment there is only one, the
Molière force at the end, that does not justify
ita inclusion quite apply. An operette by
Mr. A. A. Mine and Mr. Clive Carey was
also to have been given on the first night, but
owing to Mr. Cureys sudden illness it had to
be abandoned. As without it the bill last¬
nearly three hours (in spite of efficient first
night stage management), when the operetta
appears something else will probably have
to go
The two most interesting things that the
Pelar produced were "A Farewell Supper
and the one perfect one play
Mr. Granville Barkers version of one
Schnitzlers Anatole sketches, and a very
sou play by an American author, Mr.
Eugene Nill. A Farewelt Supper, has
all the advantages a ole-act play can have,
and something else in dition. It is one of
a series (the third or fourth), and we know
Anatoi personally before the curtain goes
up. It last twelve minutes, and in that time
two complete ve histories are unfolded, with
their curious reaction upon one another. It
proved even a little to quick for those who
did not know Anatol before, but how delicious
to those who did. This idiom into which Mr.
Barker las translated the dialogue, so col¬
loquial and yet so unexpected, seemingly so
naturel and easy and yet packed with more
points that normal conversation ever attain to¬
is it not a model for all modern comedy dia
logue What did you talk to him about,
... things
says Anatol, angrily,
answers Mimi vaguely with a shrug. Exactly
what she would have said; but how few authors
dere even if they have the skill) to write such
dialogue. It was very well played by Mr.
Nicholas Hannen as Anatol and Mr. Douglas
Jefferies as Max, and Miss Muriel Pratt,
wickedly and flauntingly beautiful as Mimi
revealed herself-rather unusually as an
accomplished comédienne.
In the Zone provided the best piece of
oncerted acting that the Everyman company
nas yet shown us. The incident takes place in
those of an ammunition carrying trap
steamer entering the war zone and on the
lock-out for torpedo attack. There is general
nore strain on the part of the mongre crow,
the watch below in the fosse consisting of
ei men of different nationalities. One of
them comes to be suspected by the rest of
being a spy; he is seized upon savagely, bound
and sugged, and a jalously guarded box of
his, rifted to discover bombis found only to
contain a packet of love letters. The play
has one slight fault. One guesses that, if the
box does not contain bombe, it contains a
sentimental relie of some kind. The atmos¬
phere of suspense, the close, crowded atmos¬
phere of the rose, the imminence of danger,
are all brought most convincingly on to the
tage; one is deeply interested in the different
reaction of each member of the crew towards
them; but when once the suspense of the box
is over the curtain is with a few moments
too long in explaining the relie. It is a small
point in an admirably written play, perfectly
acted by Mr. Brember Wills, Mr. Joseph
Dodd, Mr. George Carr, Mr. Douglas Jefferet.