to
4.9. An
Zykl
box 8/7
or con que no me de
Mr. Granville Barker, his English sponsor, has been
playing portions of him at the Palace. The mira¬
tion to the pretty little house in the Adelphi is at
once an advantage and a disadvantage. The smal
stage and the small auditorium are exactly what
Anatole needs; but five acts of him in succession
are not live times as amusing as one.
It is not now necessary to describe Anatole
scheme of existence in detail. We have already
assisted this affairs with Hilda and Mimi and Lona.
Nothing new was revealed to us by Gabrielle and
Bianca, who made their curties on Saturday, though
the episode with Bianca is as good as the best.
Anatol, in fact, is one of those very numerous people
who are most amusing when you do not see much
of them. He is certainly real enough. The senti¬
mentalist cynic man about town, who mingles the
temperament of l'homme moyen sensuel with some¬
thing of Blanche Amory's il me faut des émotions
is cleverly caught by Herr Schnitzler. There is plenty
of it in the study, though Mr. Granville Barker
paraphrase makes the wit a matter of substance
rather than style. Yet five acte of it leave us with
that faint feeling of indigestion. The cynicism of
the dialogues is altogether harmless. Of course
Anatol belongs to a world which disdains morals.
But only an insane desire for edification will quarrel
with that. It is not the cynicism that makes you
uneasy, but the dilution of the cynicism. Where the
cynical flavour is strongest, Anatol is very good
souff. When Herr Schnitzler sentimentalises, how
ever cynically, uncomfortable sensations obtrude.
Unfortunately, the sentimentality of the cynicism
is emphasised by Mr. Granville Barke's handling
of the part. The result is much like the French
novels of the later eighteenth century, or a blend
of Ovid and Rousseau. Ovid is much more ausing
by himself.
The first of the two now dialogues given on Saturday
night, A Christmas Present," had a large dose of
sentimentality. Gabrielle, respectable and married.
meets Anatol out in the rain, and learns that his
affair of the moment is with a poor girl in a humble
room, who is happy to have her Anatol so. Whereat
Gabrielle sende the poor girl a bouquet with the
message that it is from one who might have been
happy 100 if she had not been such a coward. The
sickliest sentiment of the most sentimental goody-
goody story could, as you observe, be no nastier. The
second new dialogue was as delightful as this first
was disageable. Anatol brings to his friend, the
plump and admirable Max, a parcel containing his
past letters, momentos, and so forth and the two
sort them out, with commenta, in an excellently
witty scene. There was an envelope containing the
dust of a rosebud worn by Bianca, Bianca who had
sat at Anatols feet, kissing his hand, while he played
the piano with the other and felt like a demi-god.
Enter Bianca, who is a circus-girl and has com¬
pletely forgotten the existence and even the face of
Anatol. Conceive the tragic disgust of Anatol and
his whirwind departure, and then conceive Bianca
sitting down cosily with Max to tell him of her last
admirer's charms.
The two best things in the performance are already
familiar, Mr. Nigel Playfaire fat friend Max,
and Miss Lillah McCarthy's Mimi. Mr. Playfair has
the harder task, in giving variety and humour to
Max's repetitions of protest and amazement at
Anatol's not very variegated behavior. Ho suo
ceeds admirably. His changes of tone are quite a
masterpiece in the art of making the same thing
sound new. Every flash of it and Max has most
of the best things is the brighter for his work.
Miss Carthy's ballet-girl is a piece of character
richly coloured and alive, yet with a host of clever,
minute touches of studied realism. Mr. Granville
Barker himself, though he plays cleverly enough, is
not much more than half an Anatol. The senti¬
mentality of the character obscures the rest. You
try vainly to believe in his champagne suppers and
his ballet-girls. He remind you of an undergraduate
posing after dinner as the very devil of a fellow,
No doubt there is something of this in Herr Schnitz¬
ler's Anatol, but after all we are to assume that
his affairs were not altogether talk. We believed in
the emotions of Mr. Barkers Anatol easily, but to
associate him with champagne and masked balls was
a desperate effort. Two skilful performances by Miss
Dorothy Minto and Miss Alice Crawford deserve
record. Miss Crawford's hysteries were most con¬
vincing, and there was a delectable savagery in her
smashing of china, Miss Minto made a neat cha¬
racter sketch of the circusgiri. A word must be
given to the delightful scenes designed by Mr. Nouan
Wilkinson. Anatolis post-impressionist flat and the
Victorian quarters of Max were a pure joy. The per¬
formance was received with a good deal of applause.
4.9. An
Zykl
box 8/7
or con que no me de
Mr. Granville Barker, his English sponsor, has been
playing portions of him at the Palace. The mira¬
tion to the pretty little house in the Adelphi is at
once an advantage and a disadvantage. The smal
stage and the small auditorium are exactly what
Anatole needs; but five acts of him in succession
are not live times as amusing as one.
It is not now necessary to describe Anatole
scheme of existence in detail. We have already
assisted this affairs with Hilda and Mimi and Lona.
Nothing new was revealed to us by Gabrielle and
Bianca, who made their curties on Saturday, though
the episode with Bianca is as good as the best.
Anatol, in fact, is one of those very numerous people
who are most amusing when you do not see much
of them. He is certainly real enough. The senti¬
mentalist cynic man about town, who mingles the
temperament of l'homme moyen sensuel with some¬
thing of Blanche Amory's il me faut des émotions
is cleverly caught by Herr Schnitzler. There is plenty
of it in the study, though Mr. Granville Barker
paraphrase makes the wit a matter of substance
rather than style. Yet five acte of it leave us with
that faint feeling of indigestion. The cynicism of
the dialogues is altogether harmless. Of course
Anatol belongs to a world which disdains morals.
But only an insane desire for edification will quarrel
with that. It is not the cynicism that makes you
uneasy, but the dilution of the cynicism. Where the
cynical flavour is strongest, Anatol is very good
souff. When Herr Schnitzler sentimentalises, how
ever cynically, uncomfortable sensations obtrude.
Unfortunately, the sentimentality of the cynicism
is emphasised by Mr. Granville Barke's handling
of the part. The result is much like the French
novels of the later eighteenth century, or a blend
of Ovid and Rousseau. Ovid is much more ausing
by himself.
The first of the two now dialogues given on Saturday
night, A Christmas Present," had a large dose of
sentimentality. Gabrielle, respectable and married.
meets Anatol out in the rain, and learns that his
affair of the moment is with a poor girl in a humble
room, who is happy to have her Anatol so. Whereat
Gabrielle sende the poor girl a bouquet with the
message that it is from one who might have been
happy 100 if she had not been such a coward. The
sickliest sentiment of the most sentimental goody-
goody story could, as you observe, be no nastier. The
second new dialogue was as delightful as this first
was disageable. Anatol brings to his friend, the
plump and admirable Max, a parcel containing his
past letters, momentos, and so forth and the two
sort them out, with commenta, in an excellently
witty scene. There was an envelope containing the
dust of a rosebud worn by Bianca, Bianca who had
sat at Anatols feet, kissing his hand, while he played
the piano with the other and felt like a demi-god.
Enter Bianca, who is a circus-girl and has com¬
pletely forgotten the existence and even the face of
Anatol. Conceive the tragic disgust of Anatol and
his whirwind departure, and then conceive Bianca
sitting down cosily with Max to tell him of her last
admirer's charms.
The two best things in the performance are already
familiar, Mr. Nigel Playfaire fat friend Max,
and Miss Lillah McCarthy's Mimi. Mr. Playfair has
the harder task, in giving variety and humour to
Max's repetitions of protest and amazement at
Anatol's not very variegated behavior. Ho suo
ceeds admirably. His changes of tone are quite a
masterpiece in the art of making the same thing
sound new. Every flash of it and Max has most
of the best things is the brighter for his work.
Miss Carthy's ballet-girl is a piece of character
richly coloured and alive, yet with a host of clever,
minute touches of studied realism. Mr. Granville
Barker himself, though he plays cleverly enough, is
not much more than half an Anatol. The senti¬
mentality of the character obscures the rest. You
try vainly to believe in his champagne suppers and
his ballet-girls. He remind you of an undergraduate
posing after dinner as the very devil of a fellow,
No doubt there is something of this in Herr Schnitz¬
ler's Anatol, but after all we are to assume that
his affairs were not altogether talk. We believed in
the emotions of Mr. Barkers Anatol easily, but to
associate him with champagne and masked balls was
a desperate effort. Two skilful performances by Miss
Dorothy Minto and Miss Alice Crawford deserve
record. Miss Crawford's hysteries were most con¬
vincing, and there was a delectable savagery in her
smashing of china, Miss Minto made a neat cha¬
racter sketch of the circusgiri. A word must be
given to the delightful scenes designed by Mr. Nouan
Wilkinson. Anatolis post-impressionist flat and the
Victorian quarters of Max were a pure joy. The per¬
formance was received with a good deal of applause.