“ THE FREEDOM OF SUZANNE.”

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIII, Issue 775, 12 January 1905, Page 21

“ THE FREEDOM OF SUZANNE.”

Miss Marie Tempest was the first among the moderns to abandon the lyric stage for straight comedy, and she is still easily the first an ong the several who have since followed ler example. Commensing with the impersonation of historic or quasihistoric characters —could one desire a more I ewitching and frolicsome Nell Gwynne, or a mo e subtly captivating Becky Sharpe ?—-she made herself mistress of (applied) French comedy in “I he Marriage of Kitty.” The humour of her husband s adaptation of “ La Passerelle,” arid even ir ore her own humour in the part of Kitty, naturally induced her to seek further successes in the same field. Jhe result is Mr Cosmo Gordon Lennox s The Freedom of Suzanne ” and the Suzanne Trevor of Miss Tempest—a qualified success for the playwright and a triumph for the player. The words qualified success have reference to the first

night audience’s reception of the piece at the Criterion Theatre—l Tarn (says the critic of the London “L.V. Gazette’ ) that subsequent audiences have proved so en.husiastic and the would-be audiences so numerous and insistent that the management has had to hold an extra matinee in order to meet the public’s demands for seats. “ The i reedom of Suzanne” is not an adaptation, but an original light co i edy, inspired in a certain degree by a novel by the Comtesse de Martel, whose pen-name is Gyp. It is not a very good play, but it has a really excellent first act/and it will be remembered for all ti e as the piece in which Mr Allan Aynesworth pulls off Mi>s Tempest’s stool-irnjs. Mr Ayncsworth is, of course, the lady’s husband in the play, but their relations are such that, although the operation is conducted w’th the utmost delicacy and reserve by the gentleman ai d just that touch of demure protestation by the lady that lends piquancy to the situation, the King’s Proctor would have objected to it tntirely. For Mr ar.d Mrs Trevor are at the decree nisi stage of their divorce business when the event occurs, and the officers of the law—especially this particular officer —are almost unduly suspicious. The difference between French and English comedy, roughly described, is that u hereas in the former the smoke of matrimonial differences proceeds from a palpable fire, in the other it arises from the damp fusee of innoct nt misunderstanding. Suzanne Trevor is not really naughty, on 7 y wilful end very giddy, and the restr. int cf domesticity sits uneasily upon h r buoyant, independent nature. When i he turns up at her house in Curzonsfront some time after midnight her husband naturally -wants an explanation, and this, to give the young wife her due, she is in no wise loth to give. .As a matter of fact, she has been having a high old evening, during which she nas supped at a smart restaurant, done a music hall, had a row in Piccadilly and a* ride in a hansom with a young man about town to the young man’s flat, another supper, with a few kisses by way of grace before meat, and —another row when she reaches home. The indignant husband gives her what is called a good shaking, and the frivolous wife immediately petitions for a divorce. She obtains her decree nisi, and proceeds to a fashionable watering-place to recuperate

and sober down. The young man about town before mentioned invites her to become his mistress, which has a soberising effect upon her spirits, and when she discovers that her husband is paying his attentions to her bete noir . she becomes cold sober. Her sundry admirers bore her to distraction, and the sight of her husband and the hateful Mrs Tunstall leaving for town together completes her discomforture.

Suzanne follows her semi-detached lord and master to London in a motor car, and arrives at his flat wet and amenable to rea on. Then he proceeds to relieve her of her damp stockings, after which he informs her that if she requires an absolute divorce she will have to go through the proceedings all over again, as an officer attached to the King s Proctor’s department is on watch outside, and the K.P., being of a highly suspicious temperament, . will put the worst possible construction upon hr visit. But Suzanne, having tired of h<r freedom, rejoices in the denouement, and the curtain falls upon a re-united pair. In the title part Miss Marie Tempest was aboundingly merry, and if the play fell a bit flat at the end of the first night the fault could not be laid at the doors, or the bare feet, of the leading, lady. Excellent also was Mr Allan Aynesworth as the husband. Mr G. S. Titheradge was very much, at home m a part exactly suited to his methods, and Mr Charles Sugden as an elderly rake was quite admirable. A splendid cast included Miss Ada Ferrar, Mr Holman Clark, Mr C.< M. Hallard, Miss Florence Sinclair,. and Mr A.. E. Matthews, all of whom did their clever best in the service of the author. As I have said, the piece has already settled down into an assured success.