THEATRE ROYAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7609, 20 January 1903, Page 1

THEATRE ROYAL.

"IF I WERE KING."

It is a cheap thing to say, .perhaps, that the attendanco at the Theatre Royal last night was not commensurate- with the merits of the piece, but when the curtain fell upon the last act of "If I Were -King" this stock piece of journalese for once justified itself. In justice to a critical management it may be stated. that this reflection is not meant to imply that there was not a good house, but simply that the attendance suffered; Bomewhat in comparison with the palmiest days of "Sherlock Holmes." Mr j Justin M'Carthy 's a clever counterfeiter. His play, historically considered, is a piece of impertinence, for his Francois Villon is as much like the vagabond French poet as he is like Julius Ct_sar or Uncle Remus. But his mutilated story is dressed -with cunning shredl. of a realism whicQ. lend lo it quite a seeming air of accuracy. References to "La Grosse Margot," to " La Belle Heaulmiere," to the pseudo-Villon under hi- possibly real patron3*mic of Montcarbier, to his well-authenticate-i love of hi. mother (nn affection which ho has. placed upon record in one of his most beautiful ballads), and* in a dozen, other slight directions .are -cleverly., .directed at leiiding "an. air of verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative." Not that the comparative quotation quite fits, for stripped of these ulterior aids to historical impres-rivenef*. it remains a finely-constructed romantic play, spiritedly conceived, spiritedly written and spiritedly played. As 'history, to quote Huck Finn, it "don't amount to shucks," but ! as drama it is a veritable reaping of the -whirlwind. The play has the fault — and an irritating fault at that — of a tendency to relapse into the vernacular oi to-day- with a j quite undue lack (ft respect foi* the entities lof its apparent age. This is a form df anachronistic, turpitude which Mr Cuyler Hastings, as Francois Villon, especially favours. It is a mixing of David Hnrum with the Count of Monte Cristo which is inartistic, and whicli serves to spoil the con- [ tinuity of impression which the play otherwise carries to both the mind and the eye. This may ibe the fault of the' text, but be it actor or author who is to blame, it makes ,a somewhat uneven -mosaic for the audi/ence. The piece plays well and brightly; the interest is instant arid wcll-su-stained, and' though Villon, is never Villon after the first act, the fact may well be forgotten in the splendid 1 idealisation of the man whom Mr M'Carthy has created and crowned with dramatic virtues whi-h z if- conventional, are [in this instance particularly happy in their presentation. Some of the I lives of the piece, are, ih their I literary quality, well worthy of an isola-kti-n which, it is to be feared, the cphemeralness of the drama will never afford them. Some of the situations, too,, and equally some of the touches, nre unqualifiedly>beautiful, and ind-ed almost splendid. Mr Cuyler Haitln-Ts sustained the part of Francois Villon, and if his characterisation was more uneven than his presentation of Sher-* lock Holmes, it was because it reached 'both •higher and lower altitudes. In the stronger and more strenuous moments of his part he waa excellent, in tho intenser interludes of his love-making he was f-üb-lime. Here he was fifteenth-century. But when, his lines Jay in the pleasant places of camedv, or in the quieter grooves of colourlessness, he was modern American. Ho satisfied only to dissatisfy and he dissatisfied only to' satisfy. At that he may 'be safely left, for his larger opportunity certainly found him not wanting. Mr Atholwood's King Louis XI. was another tribute to his talents. Its -marked consistency was as excellent as its thoughtful and realistic conception. Mr Hamilton Stewart's Tristan THermito was a nice subdued characterisation admirably sustained, and Mr Staveley's Olivier de Dam was also w,ell .'thought • out. ' Mr- • Frank Hollins was a ' singularly satisfying Noel le Joleys, and a special word of praise i. due to Mir Edmund Gwenn for his hideously impressive sketch of Room Turgis, the innkeeper. The rank and file of villainy, were qui(;e shudderingly presented. • Miss May Chevalier, as Katherine de Vaucelles, showed quiteunexpeoted power. She added to the charm of her stage- presence a quality of tender reserve, which, made her performance a markedly good one. It was a piece of delicate characterisation, which was praiseworthy in the extreme. Miss Mabel Lane played the poor wanton Huguette dvt Hamel with a fine appreciation of the mr finite wickedness' and infinite pathos of a part which was still always womanly, and perhaps the niceness of her distinctions did not always reach an audience which was at times -singularly callous. The play -is one to see -undoubtedly, and from an artistic point of view is infinitely the superior of' its predecessor. The staging and mountintr are, of course, quite beyond criticism. "If I Were King" will be repeated to t night and to-mor-rov** night, when the season will definitely close. '