Translated from the French
by Frederic Whyte with
an Introduction by
Henry Arthur Jones
JOHN MILNE
12 NORFOLK STREET, STRAND, LONDON
NEW YORK
DODD, MEAD, & COMPANY
MDCCCXCVII
All Rights Reserved
CONTENTS
| PAGE | |
| Introduction by Mr. Henry Arthur Jones | [9] |
| Author’s Preface | [31] |
| [CHAPTER I] | |
| A Glance back—From 1820 to 1830—Kean and Macready—The Strolling Player—The Critics—SheridanKnowles and Virginius—Douglas Jerrold—His Comedies—The Rent Day—The Prisoner of War—Black-EyedSusan—Collapse of the Privileged Theatres—Men of Letters come to the Rescue of the Drama—BulwerLytton—The Lady of Lyons—Richelieu—Money | [39] |
| [CHAPTER II] | |
| Macready’s Withdrawal from the Stage—The Enemies of the Drama in 1850: Puritanism; the Opera; thePantomime; the “Hippodrama”—French Plays and French Players in England—Actors of the Period—TheCensorship—The Critics—The Historical Plays of Tom Taylor and the Irish Plays of Dion Boucicault | [73] |
| [CHAPTER III] | |
| The Vogue of Burlesque—Burnand’s Ixion—H. J. Byron—The Influence of Burlesque upon the Moral Tone ofthe Stage—Marie Wilton’s Début—A Letter from Dickens—Founding of the Prince of Wales’s—TomRobertson, his Life as Actor and Author—His Journalistic Career—London Bohemia in 1865—Sothern | [93] |
| [CHAPTER IV] | |
| First Performance of Society—Success of Ours, Caste, and School—How Robertson turned to account the Talentof his Actors, John Hare, Bancroft, and Mrs. Bancroft—Progress in the Matter of Scenery—Dialogue andCharacter-drawing—Robertson as a Humorist: a Scene from School—As a Realist: a Scene from Caste—TheComedian of the Upper Middle Classes—Robertson’s Marriage, Illness, and Death—The “Cup and Saucer”Comedy—The Improvement in Actors’ Salaries—The Bancrofts at the Haymarket—Farewell Performance—MyPilgrimage to Tottenham Street | [114] |
| [CHAPTER V] | |
| Gilbert: compared with Robertson—His First Literary Efforts—The Bab Ballads—Sweethearts—A Series ofExperiments—Gilbert’s Psychology and Methods of Work—Dan’l Druce, Engaged, The Palace of Truth,The Wicked World, Pygmalion and Galatea—The Gilbert and Sullivan Operas | [138] |
| [CHAPTER VI] | |
| Shakespeare again—From Macready to Irving; Phelps, Fechter, Ryder, Adelaide Neilson—Irving’s Début—HisCareer in the Provinces, and Visit to Paris—The rôle of Digby Grand—The rôle of Matthias—The Productionof Hamlet—Successive Triumphs—Irving as Stage Manager—as an Editor of Shakespeare—HisDefects as an Actor—Too great for some of his Parts—As a Writer and Lecturer; his Theory of Art—SirHenry Irving, Head of his Profession | [156] |
| [CHAPTER VII] | |
| Is it well to imitate Shakespeare?—The Death of the Classical Drama—Herman Merivale and the WhitePilgrim—Wills and his Plays: Charles the First,Claudian—Tennyson as a Dramatist; he comes too soon and too late—Tennyson and the Critics—TheFalcon, The Promise of May, The Cup, Becket, Queen Mary, Harold | [174] |
| [CHAPTER VIII] | |
| The Three Publics—The Disappearance of Burlesque and Decadence of Pantomime—Increasing Vogue of Farceand Melodrama—Improvement in Acting—The Influence of our French Actors—The “Old” Critics and the“New”—James Mortimer and his Two “Almavivas”—Mr. William Archer’s Ideas and Rôle—The Vicissitudesof Adaptation | [193] |
| [CHAPTER IX] | |
| The Three Principal Dramatists of To-day—Sydney Grundy; his First Efforts—Adaptations: The Snowball,In Honour Bound, A Pair of Spectacles, The Bunch of Violets—His Original Plays—His Style—HisHumour—His Ethical Ideal—An Old Jew—The NewWoman—A Talent which has not done growing | [212] |
| [CHAPTER X] | |
| Henry Arthur Jones; his First Works—His Melodramas—Saints and Sinners—The Puritans and the Theatre—TheTwo Deacons: the Character of Fletcher—Judah—The Crusaders: Character of Palsam; the Conclusionof the Piece—The Case of Rebellious Susan—The Masqueraders—Return to Melodrama—Theoriesexpounded by Mr. Jones in his Book: The Renascence of the Drama | [234] |
| [CHAPTER XI] | |
| Two Portraits—Mr. Pinero’s Career as an Actor—His Early Works—The Squire, Lords and Commons—ThePieces which followed, Half-Comedy, Half-Farce—The Profligate; its Success and Defects: Lady Bountiful—TheSecond Mrs. Tanqueray: Character of Paula—Mrs. Patrick Campbell—The Notorious Mrs. Ebbsmith | [254] |
| [CHAPTER XII] | |
| Ibsen made known to the English Public by Mr. Edmund Gosse—The First Translations—Ibsen acted in London—ThePerformers and the Public—Encounters between the Critics—Mr. Archer once more—Affinity betweenthe Norwegian Character and the English—Ibsen’s Realism suited to English Taste, his Characters adaptableto English Life—The Women in his Plays—Ibsen and Mr. Jones—Present and Future Influence of Ibsen—Objectionsand Obstacles | [277] |
| [CHAPTER XIII] | |
| G. R. Sims—R. C. Carton—Haddon Chambers—The Independent Theatre and Matinée Performance—TheDrama of To-morrow—A “Report of Progress”—The Public and the Actors—Actor-Managers—TheForces that have given Birth to the Contemporary English Drama—Disappearance of the Obstacles toits becoming Modern and National—Conclusion | [300] |