Identifier: playersplaysofla02strauoft (find matches)
Title: Players and plays of the last quarter century; an historical summary of causes and a critical review of conditions as existing in the American theatre at the close of the nineteenth century
Year: 1903 (1900s)
Authors: Strang, Lewis Clinton, 1869-1935
Subjects: Theater -- History Theater -- United States Acting and actors
Publisher: Boston, L.C. Page
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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t haveaverted the final catastrophe. For Ellean, ona visit to Paris, meets and loves and becomesbetrothed to one of Paulas former lovers. Thesituation is a horrible one, from which one canfigure no satisfactory escape, and probablyPineros method of forcing the issue is asgood as any other. Paula sends the youngman away. Ellean guesses why, after a stormyinterview with Paula, and then Paula herselfcommits suicide. Of course, this violenceends the play, though it is not in any sense asolution of the problem. The inevitable ques-tion therefore crops out, What, after all, hasit amounted to ? It should be understood that this questionis not one of morals. There never was a moremoral play written than The Second Mrs.Tanqueray. Nor is it a question of the tech-nique of play-writing. Pineros constructionis admirable in every way, a constant source ofthe keenest pleasure; and his faculty for secur-ing on the stage the effect, practically perfect,of the social life of modern times leaves little
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MRS. PATRICK CAMPBELLAs Paula Tanqueray in The Second Mrs. Tanqueray Pinero and Henry Arthur Jones 53 or nothing to cavil over. What could be morespontaneous or natural than the scene betweenthe four men that opens the play? And themen themselves — Tanqueray, nervous, uneasy,and wilfully blind to the foolishness of themarriage that he has resolved upon; the some-what cynical Doctor Jayne and the worldly-wiseFrank Misquith, bits, both of them, yet charac-ters absolutely distinct, and that, too, withoutbeing in the least eccentric; finally the gossipy,good-hearted, honestly friendly, and thoroughlysensible Cayley Drummle. Each character isso capably drawn as to be almost actor-proof,yet, in the hands of a skilled player, each issubmissive to infinite expansion. No, there is no quarrel with Pineros moralsor his technique; but his ethics and his judg-ment of what really constitutes a strong, in-tense, and inspiring drama do need correction.His vital mistake was made in the characterof E

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