WOMEN AND THE DRAMA.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 218, 8 June 1908, Page 5

WOMEN AND THE DRAMA.

■ A • writer; in a..contemporary gives an admirable piece of 1 advice to dramatists, old and new (says the." Ladies' Pictorial" . It practically comes to this, that if sucoess is to bo the portion of a play it must appeal directly to women, which means that it must be • about-women: _ Thoy may be good or bad, ■ as the case may. be,:;but it -is only l in. her own sex on tho stage" that, the woman playgoer is interested. This explains the success of " Letty," His Houso m Order," " Tho Thief," " Diana of Dobson's," and others that' one could" mention. .All these plays deal directly with one woman's .troubles, and that! is what we like. In old days the feminine section of playgoers used to say they liked ; going to the theatre to have " a good cry." Then, as. now, it was the woman before and behind the, footlights : who. made the play. , But nowadays ,we do not consider " a good cry" essential' to our enjoyment; what we do/expect, and regard as a sine qua non, is that the'central figuro in our drama shall j be placed in some position in which we know Bbo would, set'every tongue in her circle > wagging were she maid or matron, in society, in country; town or- or in a London subnrb. The more painful her position, tho more her character suffors, the more satisfied are those who watch, but she must be so circumstanced that _ one could-imagine her as ; ono whom we might' encounter any day in real life. The old-fashioned .heroine could / be shut up in a mill, left on a bridge which tho villain had partially, sawn away; she could be most outrageously insulted by her ' lover's people; she could'be kidnapped, but these tilings would leavo' us. unmoved, savo to . laughter, in theso days. We wear our rue with a-, difference. -We want to watch

' ourselves on the stage; and who among us T" would; ever..be harried liko this? Whereas i: it is possible we might b'o'Marise Chelfords; wo.-can conceive ono of.the "young ladies" in any typical Dobson's acting as Diana does; we have all known Nina Jessons and . Irene Wjcherlys. Truth is always stranger than fiction, sometimes stranger even than the drama, and it is the dramatists who take ordinary maids , arid ..matrons to fret their hour upon the stage who command the closo attention of the woman playgoer, and sccuro success' for their . works. • .This is the- fact which Mr. Pinero,'; above all writers; has borno iri mind. f

An expert , in; good, housekeeping has been giving some h'intg to women whose: household allowance is- small. Do not buy potatoes - recklessly, she :: isays, for one thing, alternate them withvboiled rice," especially when you have meat with gravy. Peel them very thin, .as the jvaste in peelings is very considerable. You cannot afford expensive vegetables, but turnips, onions, beets., and cabbages aro very good, provided you cook them in different,; ways, so that they don't grow monotonous. Carrots, for instance, should often be 'used as a main dish. They must bo cooked a long time, until they aro really soft, (and) then, scraped and heated in' a little whit'e>;talce orfbutter. Chopped fine, they are good - as a border round minced steak or stew, "and make a littlo meat go twice as far. ■ El I I*', • ■■»}■,s : " . o! .. ./CHe new Duchess of Devonshire is , the ot. 'idor of tlio two daughters of Lord , and u i.jdy Lansdowne, niece of the Duke of Aber,prn and the Duchess of Buccleuch, and con- ; r/je'ted.'closely with many of the greatest v . ;'<iduses in the kingdom she has grown up /"'ii? the atmosphere of regarding rank as a responsibility, and in the good, old-world way of doing her duty in the state of life to. which she has been called. She is simple • and charming in mariner, always courteous and kind, and in appearance graceful, handsome, and dignified. She was married in July, 1892, and has four daughters and two sons—the Marquis of ; Hartington,. who will bo thirteen in May, and Lord Charles Cavendish, who'.will be.three in August.

Dress and manners, wo aro assured, aro tho only qualifications now wanted in order to ensure social success. This, surely, shows a more encouraging simplification of one of the • puzzles. which, 'formerly, i baffled the ambitious woman. It, is not so very /long ago since : those who aspired to anything of tho kind 'were faced by a • painful doubt cs to ' whether-they possessed, good looks, breeding, tact, and influence; while this by no means: completed the catalogue of gifts which' might' secure admission within tho charmed circle. Of course, no woman has evor-doubted the power of dress, ■but the reinstatement of , '.'jnanners,j' ; as, having, any beafiiig, upon'the' problem'of social success, hardly . coincides with the. experiences of the ladies' Pictorial."-