SOME SPRING PRODUCTIONS AT THE THEATRES.
At the Adelphi Theatre Mr. Otho Stuart is scoring heavily with his series of Shakesperian productions. Miss Lily Brayton and Mr. Oscar Asche are the aptest pupils of the Benson school, and the immortal Bard in their hands shows to very great advantage.
“The Taming of the Shrew” made a great hit, and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was delighting the town when it was withdrawn to make room for “Measure for Measure.” It seems rather a bold venture to put up this play, as the original text makes it a play to which every young girl might not like to take her mother. But as arranged and produced by Mr. Oscar Asche there is slight risk, and the comedy runs along through its ten scenes in the nicest way.
To Miss Lily Brayton belong the chief honours of the evening, and her study of Isabella, sister of the guilty Claudio, is as charming as is her appearance in the white uniform of the probationer. Mr. Oscar Asche is as virile as ever in the part of Angelo, the demoralised deputy, with a passion and beard happily reminiscent of Mr. Pinero’s Maldonato—who gave the cheque book to Iris and finally smashed the furniture of the flat. Who shall say that Maldonato was not a lineal descendant of the determined Deputy of Vienna?
Mr. Walter Hampden presents a Duke full of dignity, considering that the conduct of Vincentio in lurking about his city disguised as a friar, when he is supposed to be out of town, is as undignified an act for a potentate as one can well imagine.
Miss Frances Dillon makes the best of the ungrateful part of the slighted Mariana, who in the gloomy shades of the “Moated Grange” brings off a coup of which Monte Carlo might well be proud.
“Measure for Measure,” written by Shakespeare, is undoubtedly strong meat, as produced by Mr. Oscar Asche it is in every way a digestible, and better still, a most palatable dish.
“The Beauty of Bath” at the new Aldwych Theatre is probably the most successful show in London at the present time, and our thanks are due to Mr. Seymour Hicks for a most delightful entertainment.
It is all against the canons of so-called musical comedy that either the music or the comedy should be too fresh or original, and probably any adventurous spirit who attempted to deal in such dangerous goods as an entirely new and original comedy-opera would speedily find himself amongst the registrars and receivers in Carey Street, W.C.