e. THE THEATRE
IC
BARRIE was forty-two when The Admirable Crichton was written and produced, and he already had been successful in the theatre. with Quality Street (1902) and the earlier The Professor's Love Story. in It is doubtful if he ever reached the level of The Admirable " Crichton again, although certainly in Dear Brutus and perhaps in in the underrated The Boy David he rose superior to all his contem- poraries save Shaw and Synge at their best. Barrie's dramatic wizardry has damaged his reputation, for it enabled him to succeed often with very slight and sentimental work which has stood in the way of due appraisement of his more ambitious efforts. His sense of the theatre was far more native than acquired, as may be seen from his fascinating novel Sentimental Tommy, a masterly analysis of self-dramatisation. When to his dramatic genius he adds his remarkable powers of observation and the logic of a lucid, in realistic brain, as in Dear Brutus and The Admirable Crichton, the in effect is quite startling. Barrie's characters, however, are two-
dimensional, and this gives them that edge and clarity which is so powerful in the theatre.
While in the audience we accept the butler Crichton absolutely,
he is so firmly outlined by the dramatist ; but he is an idea, not a Is human being, as we realise the moment we have left the theatre and had time to reflect. Nevertheless, the soundness of Barrie's general conception that we are all the creatures' of circumstance is undeniable, and never has this thesis been so wittily, forcibly and ingeniously presented as in this brilliant play. It is a pity that I a- cannot give corresponding praise to the present production. Mr. Barry K. Barnes has the calm efficiency and the imperturbable of deportment of a perfect butler, but there is something too wooden and mechanical about his acting to make him an " Admirable Crichton." As Lady Mary, Diana Churchill gave us the jerky self-assurance of a spoilt film-star rather than the pride and breeding of Barrie's heroine, who is more convincing as a creation than Crichton. On the other hand, Michael Whittaker was excellent as the Hon. Ernest, and his scene with Mollie Maureen, who played the part of Tweeny to perfection, was one of the best moments of the play. Other good performances were by James Harcourt (as Lord Loam) and by Margaret Halstan as the Countess of Brockle- hurst—a vicious but convincing thumbnail sketch by Barrie. I cannot leave this play without saying that it is beautifully written and so superior to anything we see by contemporary dramatists today (unless Mr. Shaw were to oblige once again) as to make one long for the discovery of some new and ambitious dramatists.
JAMES REDFERN.
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