| Duke of York’s Theatre, | ||||
| ST. MARTIN’S LANE, W.C. | ||||
| Proprietors | Mr. & Mrs. Frank Wyatt. | |||
| Sole Lessee and Manager | CHARLES FROHMAN. | |||
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| EVERY EVENING at a Quarter to Eight | ||||
| CHARLES FROHMAN | ||||
| Presents | ||||
| A Drama, in Four Acts and an Epilogue, entitled | ||||
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| By ARTHUR W. PINERO. | ||||
| Nevill Letchmere | Mr. H. B. Irving | |||
| Ivor Crosbie | Mr. Ivo Dawson | |||
| Coppinger Drake | Mr. Dorrington Grimston | |||
| Bernard Mandeville | Mr. Fred Kerr | |||
| Richard Perry | Mr. Dion Boucicault | |||
| Neale | (A Commercial Traveller)Mr. Charles Troode | |||
| Ordish | (Agent for an Insurance Company)Mr. Jerrold Robertshaw | |||
| Rugg | (Mr. Letchmere’s Servant) Mr. Clayton Greene | |||
| Frédéric | (A Maître d’Hôtel) M. Edouard Garceau | |||
| Waiters | Mr. W. H. Haigh & Mr. Walter Hack | |||
| Mrs. Ivor Crosbie | Miss Sarah Brooke | |||
| Letty Shell | } | Clerks at | { | Miss Irene Vanbrugh |
| Marion Allardyce | Dugdale’s | Miss Beatrice Forbes Robertson | ||
| Hilda Gunning | { | An Assistant at Madame | } | Miss Nancy Price |
| Watkins’s | ||||
| A Lady’s-maid | Miss May Onslow | |||
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| The Scene is laid in London:—the First and Fourth Acts at Mr. Letchmere’s Flat inGrafton Street, New Bond Street; the Second at a house in Langham Street; theThird in a private room at the Café Régence; and the Epilogue at a photographer’sin Baker Street. The events of the four acts of the drama, commencing on a Saturdayin June, take place within the space of a few hours. Between the Fourth Act and theEpilogue two years and six months are supposed to elapse. | ||||
| THE PLAY PRODUCED UNDER THE PERSONAL DIRECTIONOF THE AUTHOR. | ||||
| The Scenery Painted by Mr. W. Hann. | ||||
| FIRST MATINÉE SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17th, at 2. | ||||
| General Manager | (for Charles Frohman) | W. LESTOCQ. | ||
For once the famous dramatist descended from dukes and duchesses to a typewriter girl and a Bond Street swell. For once he left those high-class folk he finds so full of interest, moods, whims, ideas, self-analysis, and the rest of it, and cajoled a lower stratum of life to his pen.
Almost the first actor to appear was H. B. Irving—what a reception he received, and, brilliant cynic-actor though he be, his nervousness overpowered him to the point of ashen paleness and unrestrained twitching of the fingers. His methods, his tact, his cynicism were wonderful, and as Nevill Letchmere his resemblance to his father was remarkable.
What strikes one most in a Pinero play is the harmony of the whole. Every character is a living being. One remembers them all. The limelight is turned on each in turn, and not as at so many theatres on the actor-manager only. The play is a complete picture—not a frame with the actor-manager as the dominant person. He is so often the only figure on the canvas, his colleagues mere side-show puppets, that it is a real joy to see a play in England where every one is given a chance. Mr. Pinero does that. He not only creates living breathing studies of humanity, but he sees that they are played in a lifelike way. What is the result? A perfect whole. A fine piece of mosaic work well fitted together. We may not altogether care for the design or the colour, but we all admire its aims, its completeness, and feel the touch of genius that permeates the whole.
No more discriminating audience than that at the first night of Letty could possibly have been brought together. Every critic of worth was there. William Archer sat in the stalls immediately behind me, W. L. Courtney and Malcolm Watson beyond, J. Knight, A. B. Walkley, and A. E. T. Watson near by. Actors and actresses, artists, writers, men and women of note in every walk of life were there, and the enthusiasm was intense. Mr. Pinero was not in the house, no call of “author” brought him before the footlights, but his handsome wife—a prey to nervousness—was hidden behind the curtains in the stage box.