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ROBERT WILLIAMS BUCHANAN (1841-1901) |
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THEATRE REVIEWS 19. Fascination (1887)
Fascination (Harriett Jay played the dual role of Lady Madge Slashton and Charles Marlowe.)
The New York Times (11 January, 1885) Mr. Robert Buchanan has just finished a new piece which he calls “Fascination, or, The Way We Live Now.” The piece is in the line of comedy, and negotiations are in progress for its production in New-York during the present season. Mr. Buchanan on Wednesday sent a pleasant letter to Miss Cora Tanner, the handsome young actress who played Lady Clare during the week at Niblo’s, thanking her for the care and skill she bestowed upon the work. Miss Tanner had not been previously seen in New-York for some time. Elsewhere she has a fine reputation for the accomplishment of earnest and effective work upon the stage. ___
New-York Daily Tribune (6 June, 1886 - p.11) Walter Sinn, the business manager of Colonel Sinn’s theatre and the son of that doughty warrior, will sail for England shortly to complete the arrangements for the purchase by his father of a new play by Robert Buchanan. Part of the $6,000 demanded for the American rights has already been paid, and the prospective owner is satisfied that he has a right good property. The play is a high comedy of the same order as “The Jilt” and deals with modern society. The principal woman’s part will be played by Mrs. Sinn and an exceptionally strong company will be needed for the rest of the cast. The play is the result of collaboration between Mr. Buchanan and his sister-in-law, Miss Harriet Jay. When received it will be carefully laid away in Mr. Sinn’s safe and will probably not be produced until September of next year, when it will be put on at a New-York theatre for a run. ___
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (6 August, 1886 - p.4) MR. WALTER SINN’S TRIP TO EUROPE. A New Play by Robert Buchanan to be Mr. Walter L. Sinn, son and business partner of Colonel Sinn, of the Park Theater, was seen by an EAGLE reporter to-day in regard to his recent trip to Europe. Mr. Sinn, who reached Brooklyn on Sunday last from England on the steamer Adriatic, looks bronzed and hearty, and expressed himself as being in the best of health and much pleased with his experiences while abroad. He said: “Beside visiting England and France I made a three weeks’ tour of Ireland, and enjoyed myself immensely. I combined business with pleasure while away, and made arrangements with Robert Buchanan for the production of a play from his pen, entitled ‘Fascination.’ It is a high comedy on the order of the ‘Jilt’ and ‘School for Scandal.’ The play will be produced at the Park in September, 1887, with the strongest cast that can be procured, and I am convinced that it will cause a genuine sensation. I do not think the theaters of Europe can compare in point of completeness with ours, with the exception of the Grand Opera House in Paris. Wilson Barrett, the great English actor, compares favorably with henry Irving, and his theater is crowded from pit to dome at each performance. His strongest play is ‘Claudian,’ which he will produce at the Star Theater in September. It is one of the most powerful classical plays ever produced, and the stage mounting is perfect. ‘Adonis’ Dixey when I left was playing to crowded houses and is a big success, I might say an immense success socially. The reports regarding the non payment of salaries of his company are false, and before I left the engagement of the company had been extended two weeks. No dramatic company, either European or American, has ever met with the success that has attended Daly’s Fifth Avenue Company, of which Edith Kingdon, of Brooklyn, is a member. Each member of the company is a great favorite, especially Miss Ada Rehan and Miss Kingdon. Mr. Daly is to take his company to Paris in September for a week and before I left every seat had been sold for the entire engagement. The play of ‘Sophia,’ by Robert Buchanan, which will be produced at Wallack’s in October, I think will prove a great success.” ___
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (31 May, 1887 - p.2) BUCHANAN’S “FASCINATION.” The new play, “Fascination,” written by Robert Buchanan for Cora Tanner is a swallow tail comedy—this as distinct from work of such rude manfulness as his “Storm Beaten,” and such sensational matter as his “Alone in London.” A certain manager said the other day: “I shall have no more plays in my house except such as will enable me to show elegant interiors and to dress my company in swallow tails and Worth costumes.” A large contingent of support in this resolution has exerted an influence on the stage of late, for fine passions and frank deeds have been smothered under broadcloth and millinery, and people who used to act have become drawling fops and dressmakers’ advertisements. Buchanan has not proceeded to extremes in this respect, but in going into society he has gone out of his element, and in spite of his facility and cleverness he has shown a good deal or hack work in “Fascination.” There is but a slender motive and there is a need of concentration. The people engage in dialogue that delays, rather than urges the action of the play; incidents like that of the barber’s interview with Rosa Delamere are wholly irrelevant, and there is a good half hour too much of talk. As played at the Park Theater last night it moved with a fair speed until the third act was reached, when Misses Tanner and Conway became involved in a series of repetitions that would have grown tedious but for the timely and audible interference of the prompter. The idea of “Fascination” is this: Lady Madge Slashton learning that her affianced, an officer in the guards, is carrying on a desperate and expensive flirtation with Rosa Delamere, a professional beauty, dresses in man’s clothes, represents herself as one Charles Marlowe, goes to the beauty’s house, gambles and drinks champagne, discovers that her lover is fascinated by the beauty, but that no harm has been done, secures the notes with which he pays his gambling debts, giving a worthless check in exchange and accepts him again when the disguise is off to quick music and a rapid curtain. On this easy theme are rung variations and accompaniments, and the inevitable comedy is furnished by the Duke of Hurlingham, an attenuated reprobate, who goes to the professional beauty’s picnics and champagne suppers unknown to his wife, and a most innocent little country curate—a bold crib from “The Private Secretary”—whose simperings and embarrassments, and whose catch phrase, “I like it so much,” were very taking upstairs. There is also a young swell who is a fairly exact copy of the detective in “Jim, the Penman,” but whose vocabulary consists in a parrot like “How do you do?” This gentleman was also entertaining. Miss Tanner eked out the interest of her part by numerous changes of costume and as the young man about town she closely resembled the “old chappie,” of London lobbies—a handsome “chappie” she made. In emotional scenes she was earnest; in the rollicking introduction, where she gives an account of a boat race in the same manner that Lady Gay Spanker tells of her steeple chase, the similarity of intent was so marked that the auditor at once deplored the lack of nervous force and of vivacity that makes Lady Gay’s narrative so telling. Minnie Conway was received with a welcome not less cordial than Miss Tanner’s and she played the professional beauty well, though, as in Miss Tanner’s case, the want of dash and brilliancy was felt. Virginia Buchanan imparted the needful severity to the Duchess of Hurlingham, and Carrie Coote made a simple and engaging Arabella. Lionel Bland, in make up and action as the duke, proved himself a careful actor with a sense of humor not too coarse, and Charles Coote, who has played comedy curates so long that he assumes them as easily as white neckties, was always welcome on the stage, for he made the part amusing without being offensive or ridiculous. P. A. Anderson, mauger his straddling gait and perks of the head, was a boding villain who brought his badness with him on his first entrance as who should say: “Behold, I am a dark, designing person. Watch me and I will prove it.” Hal Clarendon as the lover was conventional; Augustus Cooke, as Lady Madge’s brother, was robustious and deep lunged, and the other folks, of whom there was a needless number, were ordinary. Robert Edeson, son of the well known comedian, made his debut in a small part which he carried off with the coolness of a veteran. There was a better setting to the piece than is commonly afforded to plays at this house, and the string force in the orchestra was increased to advantage. ___
The Era (18 June, 1887) THE DRAMA IN AMERICA. NEW YORK, JUNE 3.—The week has been devoid of novelty in the metropolis, although two other cities—one only across the river, and the other over 400 miles away—have witnessed the production of two new plays. Mr Robert Buchanan’s three-act comedy of Fascination was given its first production in this country at the New Park Theatre, Brooklyn, on Monday night, May 30th, and on the same evening Mr Steele Mackaye’s five-act melodrama Anarchy, which was presented for copyright purposes at the Elephant and Castle Theatre, London, on Wednesday afternoon, May 27th, was given its first production here at the Academy of Music, Buffalo. Of the latter representation, which was by far the most important, I shall speak first. MR ROBERT BUCHANAN has not given us anything remarkably strong in Fascination, although, as in other of his plays, he has shifted upon us a cast of a score of people. It stated on the bills of the play that Fascination had been written expressly for Miss Cora Tanner, who played the leading rôle—a dual one. Miss Tanner is the wife of the manager of the Park Theatre, Brooklyn, where the play was produced, and made a hit several seasons ago in Alone in London. Whether she will be as successful in Fascination I doubt. Her character—Lady Madge Slashton—is that of a young girl who wishes to convince herself either of the truth or the falsity of reports that she has heard which reflect on the character of the young man, Lord Islay, who is seeking her hand in marriage. To this end she dons male habiliments and another name—that of Charles Marlowe. As Mr Marlowe Lady Madge follows her recreant lover to the home of Rosa Delamere, an adventuress. Once there, she makes love to her rival and quarrels with and insults her lover. There are a number of other incidents, the final curtain falling on the reclaimed lover and his happy bride, the adventuress confounded, vice crushed, and virtue given a new lease of life. Miss Tanner did about as well with her part as could have been expected. As the young girl she was charming, and as the man she was fairly good. The fault of the comedy lies in its emotion, or rather its attempt at it. The comedy portions are good. The part of the Rev. Mr Colley, an English clergyman of the private Secretary type, was excellently portrayed by Mr Charles Coote; while Miss Minnie Conway was very effective as the adventuress, Mrs Delamere. Mr Lionel Brand gave a clever portraiture of an old and senile Duke; while as the recreant lover, Lord Islay, Mr Hal Clarendon looked well and acted fairly. The rest of the cast were given abundant opportunity for good work, and in the main played well their parts. |
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[Advert for Fascination from The New York Mirror (18 June, 1887 - p.12).
The Daily News (7 October, 1887 - Issue 12947) NOVELTY THEATRE. The audience at the Novelty Theatre yesterday afternoon seemed to be well satisfied with the new comedy entitled “Fascination”; nor did the cunningly-contrived appeals to their sympathy in the rhymed tag spoken by Miss Harriett Jay, Mr. Henry Neville, Mr. Righton, and other members of the company appear to be at all needed to secure a very favourable verdict. Candid criticism, however, compels us once more to warn the playgoer that the vociferous applause of afternoon audiences is not to be trusted. The piece to which Mr. Robert Buchanan and Miss Jay have appended their names is officially described as “an improbable comedy,” and “improbable” it undoubtedly is; but its gravest fault is that, while we are supposed to be presented with a love story of serious interest, the characters and the treatment in general belong very decidedly to the domain of caricature. Miss Jay, who is called upon to play a young lady of noble birth who disguises herself in coat and trousers in order to spy the proceedings of her lover in the house of a woman of profligate habits and associates, undoubtedly played very cleverly; and Mr. Righton as a clergyman who somehow finds himself in the same questionable society, and is generally not very solicitous to sustain the dignity of his calling, entered into the farcical spirit of the scene with great success in provoking merriment among the spectators. An outrageously silly and frivolous nobleman, described in the bill as the Duke of Hurlingham, was impersonated by Mr. Eardly Turner with not less decided success. Beyond this it would not be easy to say much in praise either of the play or the acting. ___
The Morning Post (7 October, 1887 - p.5) NOVELTY THEATRE. The “new and improbable” comedy of “Fascination,” produced yesterday afternoon at the Novelty, merits, in a measure, the description applied to it by the authors, Miss Harriett Jay and Robert Buchanan. Criticism is disarmed with respect to certain incidents by this frank confession of improbability. In the main, however, the play is unquestionably clever, and, with but slight modification, should prove attractive. If there be any lady on the London stage who can masquerade in male attire without appearing ridiculous, Miss Jay is she. To play the spy upon a lover by assuming the garb of a man, and mixing in the society of questionable beauties, is a course which even such a high-spirited girl as Lady Madge Slashton might well hesitate to adopt. With no further facial disguise than is effected by a pince-nez, discovery would, in real life, be instantaneous. This initial weakness once condoned, all other minor defects in the way of unlikely incidents are passed over by the greater act of clemency, and “Fascination” remains a play full of genuine interest and exhilarating situations. Lord Islay sails rather close to the wind in his relationship with Mrs. Delamere, a fashionable beauty of more than doubtful character, but happily he disentangles himself from the mesh before it is too late. Lady Madge sees more of “fast society” during the evening spent at Mrs. Delamere’s house than most innocent women meet with in a life time; and were it not for the spirit and tact with which Miss Jay carried out her impersonation of a rich young spendthrift, the unpleasantness of the spectacle presented by a pure-minded girl associating with the companions of profligates would assert itself somewhat strongly. As it is, the brighter side of the picture prevails, and every one is glad that Mr. Henry Neville does not entirely forfeit the respect of the audience, so genial and frank a fellow does he make of the easily-influenced Lord Islay. It is to be wished that “Fascination” will be repeated, if only to afford another opportunity of witnessing Mr. Edward Righton’s quaint creation of the Rev. Mr. Colley, a curate who is laughed at and liked by everyone. The harmless good-natured little cleric is drawn by force of circumstances into the presence of Ms. Delamere and her companion syrens, the beaming bashfulness and not altogether displeased perplexity he exhibits in their society being intensely diverting. Miss Alice Yorke made an imposing and handsome Mrs. Delamere, and acted with commendable moderation, if without much power. The play has been carefully rehearsed, and is strongly cast. Mr. Eardley Turner, Mr. Scott Buist, Mr. George Canninge, and Miss Adah Barton appearing to advantage in effectively drawn characters of lesser importance. The reception of the comedy was deservedly favourable. ___
The Times (8 October, 1887 - p.4) THE NOVELTY THEATRE. Fascination is the title of a three-act piece, written by Harriett Jay and Robert Buchanan, which was produced on Thursday for the first time in London at a matinée at the Novelty Theatre. It is described as “a new and improbable comedy,” and although unquestionably possessing considerable merit, it cannot be denied that the piece certainly deserves the latter epithet. Briefly told the story is that of two lovers, Lord Islay and Lady Madge Slashton, who tread the uneven paths proverbially pursued by true affection. Lady Madge, a charming but rather “slangy” girl, is devoted to her lover; but her jealousy is aroused by a foreign gentleman masquerading in society under the title of the Comte de la Grange. This gentleman persuades her that her lover, Lord Islay, has fallen a victim to the fascinations of a beautiful widow of doubtful reputation and antecedents, named Mrs. Delamere. Maddened by her suspicions, Lady Madge decides to play a bold and dangerous part, in which she is aided by her brother. Attired in male costume she obtains an introduction to Mrs. Delamere, at whose house she meets Lord Islay, and is a witness of his flirtations. Determined to find out the truth concerning his relations with the widow, Lady Madge makes desperate love to Mrs. Delamere, who is quickly smitten by the rich young gentleman “from Jamaica.” Mrs. Delamere is the creature of the Comte de la Grange, who, in his turn, aspires to the hand of Lady Madge. In order to further his suit he insists that Mrs. Delamere shall obtain from Lord Islay a signet ring given to him by Lady Madge. A dinner party takes place at the house of the widow, and after dinner the gentlemen play cards in the drawing-room. While they are playing Lord Islay takes advantage of the opportunity for a tête-à-tête with Mrs. Delamere, who borrows his signet ring, and when he redemands it declares that he had given it to her. High words ensue, and Lady Madge, who had witnessed the incident from the card-table, declares that she saw Lord Islay give the ring, accuses him of cowardice, and strikes him, having previously bought from the Comte Lord Islay’s “paper” for the money lost to the former at play. This closes the second act with a powerful tableau. During all this time the secret of Lady Madge’s disguise has been safely kept, and the third act, which takes place in a morning-room in Berkeley-square, is one of explanation. For the rest it is sufficient to say that Lord Islay is forgiven when it transpires that he has been guilty of nothing worse than folly and indiscretion. The rascality of the Comte de la Grange, who is a swindler and a card-sharper, is duly demonstrated, and all ends happily. Fascination is a well-written piece, but the first act, the scene of which is laid at Hurlingham-lodge, Sunbury-on-Thames, is inferior to the second and third acts, both of which go smartly and well. Miss Harriett Jay, as Lady Madge Slashton, had a difficult rôle to sustain, and one which in less competent hands might easily have degenerated into vulgarity. Fortunately, however, it was played with intelligence and spirit and was a clever piece of acting. The part of Lord Islay was Played by Mr. Henry Neville, that of Mrs. Delamere by Miss Alice Yorke, and that of the Comte de la Grange by Mr. George Canninge. Mr. Edward Righton was amusing as the Rev. Mr. Colley, a curate, but on the whole the cast was not a strong one. The piece was very favourably received. ___
The Era (8 October, 1887 - Issue 2559) “FASCINATION.” A New and Improbable Comedy, in Three Acts, by Harriett Jay Lord Islay ... Mr HENRY NEVILLE Mr Buchanan and Miss Jay are making a plucky effort to raise the reputation of the unlucky Novelty Theatre; and it would only be a fair reward for their perseverance and courage if their last experiment should “turn up trumps.” Plays with less “good stuff” in them than Fascination have become successes; and if certain weak places in its cast be strengthened, we see no reason why the drama should not prove attractive to the public. It is certainly bright, interesting, and ingeniously contrived. ___
Lloyd’s Weekly London Newspaper (9 October, 1887 - p.5) PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. NOVELTY THEATRE. Miss Harriett Jay and Mr. Robert Buchanan overcame in very ingenious fashion a vital objection to Fascination, when they described it as “a new and improbable comedy,” and the audience at Thursday’s matinée, thus prepared for an eccentric kind of work, were enabled to enjoy its vagaries and be well entertained. All the same the play is not a farce, and has even a serious interest; but modern playgoers would not accept with readiness in a professed serious work the idea of the good young lady donning male attire and in the flimsy disguise of a pair of pince-nez glasses watching over her weak lover. This in a few words is the plot of Fascination, but it cannot suggest the fun and clever situations that the authors contrive from the masquerade. The characterisation of the comedy is particularly good. Lady Madge Slashton, the wilful heroine, is a capital picture of a high-spirited girl, which Miss Jay in the acting skilfully carries out, and thereby scores considerably. The unappreciative and reckless lover, for ever extravagant because “everybody does it,” is a modern type of the Charles Surface that always proves attractive on the stage; and the dangerous, bewitching siren whose influence the heroine is chiefly engaged in battling against may be somewhat familiar just now, but is none the less to one’s liking. Mr. Henry Neville—unrivalled stage lover that he is—unfortunately is rendered by time somewhat too robust for the representative of the extravagant boy, but his excellent judgment of opportunities and perfect self-possession are invaluable in every scene. The handsome adventuress of Miss Alice Yorke, and Mr. Edward Righton’s “admirable fooling” as a comic clergyman, did much for the comedy on Thursday, and contributed largely to the warmth of its reception. Fascination is destined to be seen again. ___
The Era (15 October, 1887 - Issue 2560) WITHIN a few hours after the falling of the curtain Miss Harriett Jay and Mr Buchanan received half a dozen distinct offers for the country rights of Fascination, and accepted the most favourable, that made by Messrs Miller and Elliston. Miss Jay will play in the comedy during its London run, and afterwards tour with it in the chief provincial towns, previous to which, however, she will appear at the Grand Theatre, Islington, with Mr Henry Neville, in The Blue Bells of Scotland. ___
The Stage (28 October, 1887 - p.13) It was rumoured at the time of its production that Fascination had been bid for by Mr. Thomas Thorne. This may account for the published statements that the comedy will shortly be produced at the Vaudeville. I don’t think anything has been settled with regard to the future of the Novelty play, but I do know that Heart of Hearts is down for presentation at Mr. Thorne’s theatre. Nothing, however, is so certain as the unexpected; so, after all, Fascination may find a home in the Strand. If so, Miss Harriett Jay will sustain her original character that she played so admirably at the matinée in Great Queen-street. ___
The Theatre (1 November, 1887) “FASCINATION.” A New and Improbable Comedy, in three acts, written by HARRIETT JAY and ROBERT BUCHANAN. |
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“Fascination” has been noticed by some writers on its merits as an impossible play; without going quite as far as this (for women have so frequently passed as males for a considerable time without detection that Lady Madge’s assumption of a masculine garb and in it mixing in men’s society in men’s haunts may be excused) the authors have described it as an improbable one. The fault that may be found with it seems to me to be that one of the most beautiful ideas, that of a pure woman, risking everything, including her good name, to discover her lover’s perfidy or truth, and to endeavour to win him back to a right path, has been treated in a great measure in a farcical manner, while containing the elements of the most exquisite comedy. Lord Islay, belonging to a crack regiment, lives the life of many of his order, and has become entangled with a Mrs. Delamere, who is at least an adventuress. His better nature is stifled by her wiles of fascination, and he forgets the duty he owes to Lady Madge Slashton, to whom he is engaged. She is something of a flirt, but yet true-hearted and brave, and hearing the scandal connected with her lover’s name, she persuades her brother to take her to Mrs. Delamere’s, where as a rich young West Indian gentleman, and under the name of Marlow, she almost makes the hostess fall in love with her, plays cards and wins, buys up Lord Islay’s acceptances from a creditor of his, and eventually insults Lord Islay publicly most grossly. She is almost led to believe in her lover’s faithlessness through his having parted with the engagement ring which she gave him, to Mrs. Delamere, but this has been obtained from him by fraud at the instigation of the captivating widow’s fellow adventurer and tyrant, Count de la Grange, who wishes to part the lovers that he may prefer his suit with success to Lady Madge. But Mrs. Delamere is not all bad, and she confesses how she has endeavoured to lure Lord Islay on, but has never succeeded in touching his heart, and so Lady Madge forgives him, puts all his escapades down to the “fascination” exercised over him by the syren, and accepts the plea that “everybody does it” as the excuse for his other misdemeanours of gambling, &c. Miss Harriett Jay played with such consummate tact and judgment as Lady Madge Slashton as to secure the success of her character. Never for one moment did she lose sight of the fact that she was a high-born lady, and her assumption of the male impersonation was original and highly finished, whilst every now and then, when she fancied she had wasted her deepest affection on a worthless object, her uncontrollable bursts of womanly feeling were powerful yet full of tenderness. Mr. Henry Neville did his best to portray in a favourable light the weak and almost despicable Lord Islay, but did not thoroughly succeed in his thankless task. Miss Alice Yorke as Mrs. Delamere played with considerable point, but was not refined enough in her conception of her part. Mr. Edward Righton as the obliging, simple curate, the Rev. Mr. Colley, was entertaining, and Mr. W. Scott Buist again distinguished himself as a manly young English nobleman, devoted to his sister. And even as “Fascination” stands at present I should not be much surprised if it took its place in a regular evening bill, and secure a considerable measure of success. QUASIMODO. ___
The Morning Post (16 January, 1888 - p.2) On Thursday Mr. Robert Buchanan’s eccentric comedy, “Fascination,” will be substituted at the Vaudeville for “Heart of Hearts.” Miss Harriet Jay, who is part author of the piece, has been engaged for her original character of Lady Madge Slashton. Mr. H. B. Conway will be the new Lord Islay, and Mr. Thomas Thorne is to impersonate the Rev. Mr. Colley, a cleric with whom the name of Mr. Righton is pleasantly associated. Miss Vane, Miss Gertrude Warden, Miss Giffard, Mrs. Canninge, Mr. Fred. Thorne, and Mr. Royce Carleton are included in the cast. ___
The Times (20 January, 1888 - p.9) VAUDEVILLE THEATRE. Miss Harriett Jay and Mr. Robert Buchanan’s comedy of Fascination, which was produced at a matinée at the Novelty Theatre a few months ago, was transferred last night to the Vaudeville, where, despite its avowedly “improbable” character, for so it is described by the authors, it met with a generally favourable reception. The improbability of Fascination is supposed to lie in the fact that a young lady of society, Lady Madge Slashton, believing her lover, Lord Islay, to be faithless, puts on male attire and follows him into certain haunts of dissipation in Mayfair without being recognized. Such a motive is frequently employed in old comedy, to say nothing of As You Like It, with excellent effect, but in applying it to the conditions of modern society Miss Jay and Mr. Buchanan have rightly assumed that they trench upon the limits of the acceptable. Modern audiences, encouraged by the realistic stage manager, who assures them that every button on his costumes is correct, and that every article of stage furniture is guaranteed by some eminent cabinet maker, scrutinize very closely the proceedings of the dramatis personæ, and are apt to condemn anything that does not happen to be reconcilable with the experience of everyday life. It is true that there is nothing more inherently improbable than a love story which, beginning, say, at 9 p.m., culminates in marriage long before midnight, and is moreover repeated nightly for an entire season; but if this is to be objected to, upon logical grounds, there is of course an end of the drama altogether. The public, somewhat illogically, direct their attention to smaller matters. To bring forward a third party to overhear some important conversation on the assumption that while visible to the house he is invisible to his fellow characters, is a device which the boldest dramatic author now hesitates to resort to. “Asides,” another time-honoured conventionality, are all but banished from modern dialogue, the prosaic auditor being of opinion that they are as likely to be heard by the characters on the stage as by the public; and, generally speaking, an actor is expected to demean himself pretty much as he would in the street or in a private house. ___
The Morning Post (20 January, 1888 - p.5) VAUDEVILLE THEATRE. Some months ago an eccentric play was produced at a matinée at the Novelty Theatre which caused no little discussion. Mr. Robert Buchanan and Miss Harriett Jay presented a comedy called “Fascination,” which they boldly and honestly described as “improbable” as well as new, and it was an opinion generally expressed by those who witnessed the performance, that the piece was not destined to share the fate of the majority of morning-born dramas. In spite of its manifest incongruities, its glaring improbabilities, and its exaggerated situations, it was felt that if played by an equally strong company as that by which it was first enacted, it would probably prove successful by virtue of the many undoubtedly good points it possessed. That judgment was upheld last night when “Fascination” was submitted to the verdict of a Vaudeville audience as the staple attraction of the regular evening bill. But whatever merits the madcap masque may possess, it must rely almost entirely upon the efforts of the actors for any claims it may make on popular favour. From the first line to the last there is an ever-present danger of fiasco in the spectacle of a girl defying the rules of decorum by appearing in male attire, and if Miss Harriett Jay contrives, as she certainly does, to render her escapade in a man’s dress in most dubious society endurable and even interesting, it is by her ability as an actress rather than by her discrimination as part author of the play. Of the original cast, she and Mr. Scott Buist are the only prominent members remaining, and one misses the drolleries of Mr. Edward Righton, who as the demure-looking but somewhat naughtily-inclined curate, the Rev. Mr. Colley, set the house in a roar. Fortunately, in Mr. Thomas Thorne an admirable substitute has been found. So experienced a comedian could hardly fail to make the points in the most amusing character in the piece, and Mr. Thorne did full justice to the absurd situations in which the good-hearted cleric found himself when surrounded by sirens whose personal attractions were more evident than their refinement of character. Mr. Conway is hardly well suited as Lord Islay, the worldly lover upon whose actions in fast town life Lady Madge Slashton plays the spy in the guise of a rich young rake from Jamaica. Herein is the central motive of the plot, and it can hardly be deemed other than a dangerous and unpleasant one. There is something eminently unlovely in the spectacle of a pure, high-spirited girl mixing with demi-mondaines, smoking, gambling, and swaggering as a merry Jack with more money than brains. Desperate diseases require desperate remedies, but there is hardly the remotest probability that any right-minded woman would indulge in such a trick as that by which Lady Madge obtained the entrée of Mrs. Delamere’s house, or that having once involved herself in so risky a course she could avoid discovery. When so simple minded a person as the curate penetrates her disguise, it is inconceivable that Lord Islay and the Count de Lagrange, the men who the same afternoon have been paying their addresses should fail to recognise her. But inasmuch as the authors openly confess the improbability of the idea upon which the play is founded it would be ungracious to condemn too severely a fault which they contrive in a great measure to atone. The best lines in the comedy are allotted to the Rev. Mr. Colley, and Mr. Thorne represents him as a most diverting, if unconventional ecclesiastic. The irresistible humour he throws into the part causes laughter which does not stop to question the utter absurdity of his proceedings, and it is chiefly due to his art and that of Miss Jay that the play tides safely over the dangers which surround it, and reaches a successful termination. The plot of “Fascination” has so recently been described in these columns, that it is not necessary to refer more particularly to it at present. The difficult and thankless part of the adventuress, Mrs. Delamere, to whose wiles Lord Islay so nearly fell a victim, was played with a tact much to be commended by Miss Vane, who kept the unpleasant aspect of the character well within bounds. Mr. H. B. Conway lacked intensity and romance as the erring lover, and he failed to convince the audience of the earnestness of his protestations or the depth of his affections. Mr. Royce Carleton hardly realised the breadth of style associated with such a man of the world as the intriguing Count de Lagrange. The quiet, ill-natured youth, with his faultless frock-coat and meaningless scowl, was surely not the desperate roué, full of resource, keen in encounter and polished in manner and conversation that could hold so accomplished a woman as Mrs. Delamere under his influence and at the same time appear at ease in society of a totally different stamp. The Duke of Hurlingham is among the most improbable of the authors’ characters, but as rendered by Mr. Fred Thorne, he resembled rather a retired member of the petite bourgeoisie than the head of a noble house. Mrs. Canninge was a satisfactory Duchess, and the Lord Jack Slashton of Mr. Scott Buist was a bright and vigorous impersonation. A clever little sketch was given by Mr. F. Grove of a Jew financier, Mr. Isaacson. The audience seemed much diverted by the piece, judging from the continuous laughter and applause with which they greeted it. The inevitable first night hooter made his unwelcome voice heard at the fall of the curtain, but the judgment of the majority was unquestionably favourable. ___
The Pall Mall Gazette (20 January, 1888 - Issue 7128) A HEROINE IN BREECHES. We have read somewhere the confessions of Miss Harriet Jay. She wished to appear in breeches, and studied the art of wearing them assiduously. Slang she acquired from an Eton boy, if we remember rightly. In the comedy which was produced at the Vaudeville last night, after a preliminary canter at a matinée, Miss Jay plays the part of a young lady who masquerades as a young gentleman in order to satisfy herself as to her lover’s fidelity. Although this lover is in the Guards and is a conspicuous figure among men about town, he is at heart a very good young man, who might easily develop into a light of Exeter Hall, for even in his raffish days he sermonizes dreadfully. His fiancée, Miss Jay in petticoats, hears of a dashing adventuress of Curzon-street who has inveigled him, and is naturally jealous. With the courage of despair she determines to learn the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and induces her brother to introduce her to this Mrs. Delamere as a young sheep from Jamaica all ready to be fleeced. Off go the petticoats and on come the breeches, evening ones. To be candid Miss Jay was a little overcome by man’s attire. If Mrs. Delamere’s drawing-room had been filled with blind men and women she might have passed muster, though even with the blind her voice might have betrayed her. This modern Rosalind, as presented by Miss Jay, is of course an impossible person. In the play she learns the truth, foils the villain, brings the erring Delamere to repentance, and carries off her lover. Mr. Buchanan may, indeed, be able to give a practical demonstration that a roomfull of men and women have really been deceived by Miss Jay’s assumption of man’s attire; he may be able to quote cases to the point, and he may add that men have deceived the world as to their sex within recent years. All we can say is, that Miss Jay’s forte does not lie in these sartorial [vagaries], for which she has such a predilection. Accepting Miss Jay as an ideal representative of a young blood, whether from Jamaica or elsewhere, “Fascination” is fairly interesting. The second act is stirring, and the dialogue is well written. Mr. Buchanan has evidently sketched from life his part as a dog-like and bland curate, who [acts] like a trooper, sings comic songs about the “good young man who died,” smokes cigarettes behind his wideawake, admires photographs of burlesque beauties, and gets his friend and patron, the Duke, out of his [innocent] escapades. The breeches seem to us to be fatal to the slight [... drama] of human interest which this play possesses. The last act is rather chaotic, and the rhymed tag is ludicrous. ___
Birmingham Daily Post (20 January, 1888 - Issue 9225) “Fascination,” which was given a trial trip at a matinée at the Novelty early last October, took the place at the Vaudeville to-night of Mr. H. A. Jones’s “Heart of Hearts,” which has had an unexpectedly short run. Mr. Robert Buchanan describes his comedy as “improbable,” and no one who saw its first representation will dispute the accuracy of the epithet. He appears to have written it largely with view to displaying that phase of her acting talent of which Miss Harriet Jay—sister-in-law of the author, and herself a novelist, as “The Queen of Connaught” lives to testify—is obviously most proud. For in the second act the heroine has to don male attire, and it in “trouser parts” that Miss Jay loves to appear. When Mr. Buchanan freely adapted “Le Maitre de Forges” as “Lady Clare” he introduced the part of an Eton boy, so as to give Miss Jay her opportunity; and when he wrote a rhyming introduction for the old Adelphi drama, “The Flowers of the Forest,” it was in order to give a chance to the revival in which the lady played the gipsy boy Lemuel. The change from the sentimental “Heart of Hearts” to the improbable “Fascination” was a very striking one for the habitués of the Vaudeville. Notwithstanding this, the piece was received until the third act, when it became distinctly weaker, with much applause, amid which there would have been no dissentient voices had it not been for the persistent efforts of a claque which justified opposition by such absurdities as shouting for the author at the end of the first act, and again in the middle of the piece. The acting on the whole sustained the Vaudeville traditions. Miss Jay, when masquerading as the boy, was at her best; and Mr. Conway, as the somewhat fickle lover, though not possessed of as good a part as usual, filled it well. Mr. Thomas Thorne played a preternaturally mild clergyman of a type of which we have lately been having a surfeit, but dexterously avoided comparison with similar characters in other pieces; but Miss Vane was unduly artificial as Mrs. Delamere, the woman about town, who causes all the mischief. A rhymed “tag” of an exceedingly old-fashioned sort provoked much derision; and though all the performers were loudly cheered, determined cries of about half a dozen for the author met with such hisses and cat-calls that Mr Buchanan did not appear, and his absence was unexplained. ___
The Era (21 January, 1888 - Issue 2574) THE VAUDEVILLE. Lord Islay ... ... ... Mr H. B. CONWAY Heart of Hearts does not seem to have turned out a very valuable jewel, and, Mr. Thorne having put it on the shelf, on Thursday evening revived Mr Robert Buchanan’s and Miss Harriett Jay’s bright, interesting, ingeniously contrived, but very improbable comedy Fascination, which had so cordial a reception when, in October last, it was tentatively brought out at the Novelty Theatre, then under the direction of the lady who is partly responsible for the work. The story has already been given in detail in these columns. The heroine is a healthy English girl, with a taste for athletics, and no objection to a cigarette. We make her acquaintance at Hurlingham Lodge, Sunbury, and quickly learn that she is engaged to Lord Islay, who is something of a roué, and who gives more attention to Mrs Delamere, a fascinating widow of doubtful reputation, than to the lady who is to be his wife. The faith of Madge in his lordship is somewhat disturbed by the Comte de la Grange, a visitor at Hurlingham Lodge, who is smitten by Lady Madge, and endeavours thus to advance himself in her favour; and her suspicions are confirmed by the appearance in the neighbourhood of the widow, who passes down the river on her way to a picnic. Lady Madge, therefore, resolves to assume a masculine disguise, and to put Lord Islay’s fidelity to the proof. This plan is put into practice in the second act at Mrs Delamere’s house in Mayfair, where a merry party, including Lord Islay, the Duke of Hurlingham, and the Comte de la Grange, is assembled. Madge enters, disguised as “Young Mr Marlow from Jamaica,” and proceeds to make love to Mrs Delamere in order to carry out her scheme. Islay not only does not recognise his fiancée, but is even jealous of “Mr Marlow’s” progress in the good graces of Mrs Delamere, to whom he (Islay) has just before announced his desire to sever the relations between them, confessing that his love for his cousin is the reason. Mrs Delamere gratifies her vanity by telling “Mr Marlow” that Islay has proposed marriage to her, and she has rejected him; and this statement is apparently corroborated by what follows. The siren is induced by La Grange to obtain from Islay Madge’s engagement ring, and borrows it on pretence of wanting to seal a letter, then retains it, telling her friends that the ring was Islay’s free gift to her, and that he is now mean enough to ask for it back again. Madge, who has seen the ring given, but not heard the conversation which would have explained Islay’s parting with it, denounces him as “no gentleman,” and adds injury to insult by throwing a glass of champagne in his face. In the last act Mrs Delamere presents herself at the Duke of Hurlingham’s house in Berkeley-square, where, in an interview with Madge, who is still disguised, she confesses the whole truth, and adds the information that La Grange is a criminal who is “wanted” by the French police. Madge, still in male attire, meets Lord Islay, and extracts from him a lecture on the perils of fascination and the excellence of pure love, and a confession of his affection for herself. La Grange is exposed and handed over to the police; Islay is pardoned, and the lovers are united.
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