"ENGLISHMAN'S HOME."

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 109, 4 June 1909, Page 4

"ENGLISHMAN'S HOME."

WAU I'T/AV JEEB'ED OFK STAKE IX (i Eli MANY. The inViiisiou drama, "An kngiisllnuin's Home,' 1 lias had a disastrous' receittion at tlie hands of liernura pla\Joel's. Produced at the New Theatre, Merlin, it was literally jeered off the stage after t'rto performances. (icrinaii playgoers did not pretend to detect in tile iplay any insult to their ■nation. They were plainly disgusted by what they considered the persistent idiocy of the drama from the point of view' of art. A perfect storm of contemptuous disorder interrupted tho .second act on the first night. Loud uliouts of "Drop the curtain!'' and "CiJt oil!" could lie distinguished above the prevailing din. but not a syllable of what was being said on the stage coulil reach the ears of the audience. Things got even worse when the volunteer olflcer unloaded the contents of his wallet. Shrill whistling oil latchkeys, laughter, cat-calls, and stamping raised the confusion by degrees' to a dissonant roar, of which no individual note could be distinguished. The audience presently commenced to disperse, as the dialogue on the stage was quite inaudible. There were similar scenes at the second performance. The Daily Telegraph explains the reception of the play by saying that every ridiculous feature of it had been exaggerated until the whole thing took on the air Of a farce.

''l'urthcr, it must -he remembered that no i]>lav of this type would under any circumstance:, have a chauce with serious German audiences. No one who has lived in this country can deny that its inhabitants have a much keener artistic conscience in matters dramatic than the British. What is demanded from a play j is that it should present dramatic art, I and by ifhis standard alone is it judged. I "Finally, the play had been denounced

in advance by practically the entire Prey's as artistically contemptible and politically nefarious, and the audience accordingly had no chance of receiving it into unbiassed minds. Coming in the Balaam mood, it was hardly surprising that they did not bless 'what they would have cursed in any case." The judgment of the professional critics as severe as it is unanimous'. One commentator savs: "i have in my "time been obliged to witness much rubbish, and shave often thought. 'That is final; nothing worse than that is possible.' But since Easter Sunday 1 have been cruelly disillusioned in this respect. It scenis that no absurdity can be so outrageous but some ingenious head ca:i come along and surpass it." The widely-cireultatcd Loknlanzeiger declines to be persuaded that "the home of an Englishman is a meeting-ground'' for a community of idiots and blocklunula such as even the mo>t wanton comic papers would not dare to iprese?it to a public accustomed to burlesque caricatures." Tt is generally conceded that the iplay contains nothing directly offensive to tiermanv. and one critic admits that in England, if judged as a political pamphlet, it might be permissible.