THE
- Light and Shade." At the Ambassadors.—" No Orchids for Miss Blandish." At the Prince or Wales.—" The Merry Wives of Windsor." At the New Theatre.
MR. HERBERT FARJEON'S new little revue is a true intimate revue, not a small "copy of a. big revue ; it offers therefore an intelligent and slightly satirical commentary on the times ; one of the most effective items, entitled " Progress, 1909," being an amusing skit on a Mayoral reception to Bleriot on the occasion of his historic flight across the Channel. Mr. Farjeon has assembled a small select company of efficient artistes who can both act and sing—there is no dancing and no beauty-chorus—and for the most part his own resources of wit and intelligence suffice to provide adequate material. What adds considerably to the pleasure given by his show, however, are the songs, in which Mr. Farjeon has a great ally in Mr. Geoffrey rush to see No Orchids for Miss Blandish as the Dunn, whose talents both in comedy as-a mime and also as a straight singer are very exceptional. The revue is extremely well produced by Reginald Beigh, and is perhaps the best of Mr. Farjeon's many excellent entertainments.
People will
latest thing of its kind from America. It is indeed fast and furious, but also vulgar and thrilling. In fact, it is the contemporary lequivalent of the blood-curdling melodramas which our Victorian grandparents or great grandparents found so exciting but which our fathers used to find excruciatingly funny when occasionally revived at the Lyceum. In twenty years from now No Orchids for Miss Blandish, and its like, if ever revived, may in its turn be greeted with howls of derision or uncontrollable laughter, but at present the average theatre-goer is likely to be both shocked and distressed by it. It is a stage-picture of that gangsterdom in American big cities which has been made so familiar to us in film and print. The chief villain is described as " vicious as a black mamba. a degenerate-homicidal- imbecile " and the heroine (if one may use such a word for the almost passive victim) as " debutante-daughter of a Mid-West millionaire—victim of the snatch racket." The sophisticated will know what to expect, the innocent should beware of being too horrified—the picture is only true of a very small section of American life and the viciousness it portrays has always existed, even if it has never before been so commercially profitable. The new production of The Merry Wives of Windsor is the best I have ever seen. The acting is uniformly good. The ingenious setting allows the play to be produced at its proper pace. Frank Petley's " Falstaff " has many admirable points ; but it is the general ensemble and, in particular, the handling of the famous basket scene which chiefly distinguish the present performance and make it well
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