. Players and plays of the last quarter century; an historical summary of causes and a critical review of conditions as existing in the American theatre at the close of the nineteenth century. rited repu-tation as a literary drama. During the spring of 1902 The Lady ofLyons was utilised for a short tour of theUnited States. The play was bravely arrayedin the finest of trappings, and twin stars— MissMary Mannering and Mr. Kyrle Bellew — shedupon it the effulgence of their glory. Seeingit acted, however, was a curiously archaic ex-perience, which proved one fact most conclu-sively, — to wit, tha
. Players and plays of the last quarter century; an historical summary of causes and a critical review of conditions as existing in the American theatre at the close of the nineteenth century. rited repu-tation as a literary drama. During the spring of 1902 The Lady ofLyons was utilised for a short tour of theUnited States. The play was bravely arrayedin the finest of trappings, and twin stars— MissMary Mannering and Mr. Kyrle Bellew — shedupon it the effulgence of their glory. Seeingit acted, however, was a curiously archaic ex-perience, which proved one fact most conclu-sively, — to wit, that, regardless of how excellentthey may be in the drama of their day, modernactors are hopelessly at sea when it comes totranslating the high-flying Bulwer-Lytton lan-guage into anything at all resembling flesh andblood reality. The modern actor simply doesnot know what to do with the excess of wordsthat Bulwer-Lytton lavished on his play. Thelines frighten him ; he tries to make them sound natural; he tries to talk as he would talk ifhe met a friend on the street. As a result heis continually embarrassed by the incongruityof his position, and he establishes no sort of MARY MANNERIXGAs Pauline in The Lady of Lyons Robertson and the English Drama 21 A play like The Lady of Lyons no moreapproximates reality than does a comic opera,and therefore it cannot be acted as if it hadsome relation to reality. To act it realisticallyimmediately brings into the foreground pre-cisely the faults that must at any cost be glossedover; it means the deliberate uncovering of allthe falsity, all the stiltedness, and all the senti-mentality. To shy at Bulwer-Lyttons bun-combe simply makes all the plainer the factthat there is something to shy at. Bold ef-frontery is the actors only salvation. He mustsail right in. He must tackle the heroics as ifhe were thoroughly convinced that he was ahero. He must plunge straight into the senti-mentality with never a regard for sincerity andtrut
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