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Page 16
It is a considerable tribute to both author and adapter (the late JOHN
RAPHAEL) that their work should, at the height of the barking season, hold
an audience silent and apparently enthralled, in spite of the handicap
that, in order to make the story in any degree intelligible, much time had
to be given to more or less tedious explanations.
I will not pretend that the motives of the characters were clear or that
(for me) the phantasy quite passed the test of being translated from the
medium of the written word into that of canvas, gauze and costumed players,
with those scufflings of dim figures in the semi-darkness and that furtive
and by no means noiseless zeal of scene-shifters; or, again, that I was
much attracted by a picture of the life after death, in which opera-going
(please _cf._ Mr. VALE OWEN) figured so prominently. Indeed I think that
the play would be better if it ended with the death of the dreamers and did
not attempt that hazardous last passage.
But certainly there were quite admirable tableaux and some very intelligent
individual playing--in contrast with the team-work of (particularly) the
First Act, which was ragged and amateurish.
Mr. BASIL RATHBONE'S _Peter_ was an effective study, avoiding Scylla of the
commonplace and Charybdis of the mawkish--no mean feat. A young man with a
future, I dare hazard; with a gift of clear utterance, and sensibility and
a useful figure.
It is a good deal to say that Miss CONSTANCE COLLIER so contrived her
_Duchess of Towers_ as to make us understand _Peter's_ worship.
Miss JESSIE BATEMAN'S _Mrs. Deane_ seemed to me an exceedingly competent
piece of work, and Mr. GILBERT HARE thoroughly enjoyed every mouthful of
_Colonel Ibbetson's_ wickedness, and made us share his appreciation. And
you couldn't accuse him of over-playing, though he certainly looked too bad
to be true.
Mr. WILLIAM BURCHILL'S little sketch of an old French officer was almost
too poignant.
Why the landlord of the _T�te Noir_ was got up to resemble Mr. WILL EVANS
so closely is a deep matter I could not fathom, and, if ever I kill my
uncle, may Fate send me a less rhetorical chaplain than Mr. CYRIL SWORDER!
T.
* * * * *
[Illustration: THE INTRUDER.]
* * * * *
THE ORDER OF THE B.S.O.
One of the oldest of Mr. Punch's young men thought he would like to hear
some orchestral music on Monday week last, so he dropped in at the Queen's
Hall to assist at a concert of the new British Symphony Orchestra. The name
of the founder and conductor, Mr. RAYMOND ROZE, was already familiar, for
Mr. Punch's young man was old enough to remember Mr. ROZE'S mother, MARIE
ROZE, in her brilliant prime as _prima donna_ of the Carl Rosa Company; and
he is glad to know that she is still living in her beloved Paris, where she
was decorated by M. THIERS for her gallant conduct during the siege of
1870. So it is pleasant to find her son so actively associated in the good
work of finding permanent musical engagements for demobilised soldiers in
the British Symphony Orchestra.
The B.S.O. men are not home-keeping soldiers. Every one of them has served
over-seas, and it was a pity that their names and the record of their
services were not printed in the programme, for it is a fine and
inspiriting list, and a striking disproof of the old tradition that
musicians must needs be long-haired, sallow and unathletic. Alert and young
and vigorous they appealed to the eye as well as to the ear, and they
played, as they fought, gloriously, these minstrel boys who had all gone to
the War. Strings and woodwind, brass and percussion, all are up to the best
professional level.
There is no movement which has a stronger claim on all men and women of
goodwill than that for providing employment for demobilized soldiers, and
the British Symphony Orchestra is a first-rate contribution to that
desirable end. The _personnel_ of the orchestra is all that can be desired.
It was bad luck that Mr. RAYMOND ROZE was prevented by illness from
conducting last week, but the band was fortunate in securing an admirable
substitute in Mr. FRANK BRIDGE. Mr. Punch gives the scheme his blessing
without reserve, but with a word of advice. To win for the B.S.O. the
success it deserves will need good judgment as well as energy and
efficiency. The art of programme-framing has to be studied with especial
care in view of the powerful but, we believe, perfectly friendly
competition of other established organizations. Last week's programme had
its _beaux moments_, but it had also at least two _mauvais quarts d'heure_.
The men, however, were splendid.
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