THEATRE
" Cyrano de Bergerac." By Edmond Rostand. At the New Theatre.
Go and see Mr. Ralph Richardson's Nose and watch him jump out of the Moon in the third act of this famous play in which the spirit of Romanticism parodied itself and expired ; for there is nothing else to catch the attention of anyone but the most uncritical addict of stage illusion. The great French actor, Coquelin pore, created the part with tremendous effect in 1897, and if Mr. Richard- son does not equal that sensational success it will be partly because he has not gut the French language to help him put over the unparalleled nonsense of Rostand's rhetoric, and partly because there is not a grain of sense in this play. But since it is compiled of sentimentality and what passes commonly for poetry with a skill which only the French genius and the French language (which are not necessarily the same thing) can command, it is likely to repeat its original success, for Mr. Richardson is unfailingly brilliant and the producer, Mr. Tyrone Guthrie, has added his habitual chiaroscuro to darken and give mystery to the scene.
To make the swaggering and vital Cyrano, gifted with an extra- ordinary nose, a failure with women was an act of truth-defying bravura which only a Frenchman could have achieved, but this false sentimentality is carried off in four acts—of which the last two are the best—with an aplomb that defies criticism. So I strongly recommend readers to go and see Mr. Richardson's truly wonderful Nose and to watch him drop out of the Moon. They will help him
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