THE THEATRE
THE " MAID'S TRAGEDY" AT THE SCALA.
THE careful and scholarly production of The Maid's Tragedy at the Scala, on Sunday and Monday, could not alter the fact that great poetry will not alone make a great drama. It proved, however, that great acting may very largely redeem a play- wright's errors in construction. Miss Edith Evans delighted the admirers of her high dramatic gift by a superb piece of acting. She had done what others who play great parts in the drama too often forget to do—she had studied the character created by the poet and had formed a distinct conception of the brutal, lying, sensual Woman whom she held up to our eyes.
To a treacherous, tyrannical, torturing creature such as Evadne it came natural to show cowardice when anyone dared to take her by the neck, as her brother did. By insisting upon the essential cravenness of her nature, Miss Evans ex- plained the otherwise inexplicable suddenness 'of Evadne's conversion. She who could bully so many good men and weak men could also be bullied. The brutal note in her came out fully in the killing of the king: That was tfirOUghinit a very fine piece of acting, though one could not help feeling that the regal bed should not have been sideways, as it was at the Scala, but facing the audience as in the reproduction of 1711.
I have Only one criticism of Miss Evans's memorable per- formance. I think she should have given a little more melody to her enunciation of Fletcher's blank verse. She did not remind us quite as strongly as she should that she was inter- preting poetry, not prose.
When will Miss Evans play Lady Macbeth ? Very soon, I hope. When she does, she must not forget the mystic element in the super-murderess. She would also play Portia well ; for it would be a crime to confine her to tragical and villainous parts.
IGNOTITS.
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