BLUE BIRD ALTERED.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1049, 11 February 1911, Page 13

BLUE BIRD ALTERED.

DOES IT GAIN? <( Maeterlinck has written a a»,v act for lhe lihio Bird" in place of tho old lorest teenc, whether as a concession to tho grown-ups, who generally want tentiincnt, or to the children, who always want fun, it is difficult to say. In it iio K»es tho answer to the question of his own play, "\V| la t is Happiness:-" Ho shows, i U fad, -i< )K |> amco ot - ]r apl)i . "'"!!• '? , I,hic " u, ° children uro taken, with Light for their guide. Hero all tho happinesses dwell, next door to tho miscrics-a notion which has, of cour-e loiig been familiar. Tho "Daily Chronicle cntio thinks the new net has nothinjr liko either tho significance or the cleverness- or the charm of tho older I""? 1 ,* 3 . of j{"> Play-such, for instance, asthut really delightful surprise in the churchyard where the lilies grow. In it the children are introduced first to the -Luxuries, or falso happinesses, which, ultiTW y e ° 4 , t0 T llve wUh tlie Miseries. ?S,™ ibo Luxury of Being Rich, tho Luxury of Eating wncn Ono is Not TmISK a '!'i 0f T Driu ting when Ono is Not riursty, ho Luxury of Sleeping Too Much, and so on. These aro represented carousing at a perpetual banquet. Afterwards, the children find themselves in "firL\ ny T n ° f t! 10 , bappinesscs-the nJ^K , h f? cl<;d ty the Joy of all of which are of the "simple life" order, such as the joys of being well, of i 6 °P?", nlr - of sunny hours, of the blue fj! °. f «» fir «'"do. and of walking hareloot in the dew. Supreme, however HtH. M \ Kala - Xr of creat a nd h« i£ yS, t t ? rs ,n ? white silk "he on? fo J K of ir lrnternn w bieh turns out to-be Mummy Tyl, impersonated in .the London performance of the new verS,U § Miss - l H e « H'latwh. -A» to Si nw tlle a i cal Dai 'y Chronicle" critic observes.that anyone who asks the rent nl»nf£ aSant , hous V n the suburbs with Plenty of garden, a blue horizon, a suunv «Sf C '-'?i d faci,iti<!S for "alkng toefootJ.n .«"> dow, with, other healthful possibilities, "knows perfectly well that these joys should really be classed among tho. 'luxuries of being rich'-Tn-I fetCr' intollMtual and «5w Al. be