THEATRE REVIEWS

11. Lady Clare (1883)

Lady Clare
by Robert Buchanan (adapted from the novel, Le Maître de Forges by Georges Ohnet).
London: Globe Theatre. 11 April to 29 June, 1883.
New York: Wallack’s Theatre. 13 February to 12 April, 1884.
Other notable performances:
Bristol: New Royal Theatre. 3 September, 1883. (First date of provincial tour).
London: Pavilion Theatre. 1 October, 1883.
New York: Niblo’s Garden. 5 January, 1885. (Featuring Harriett Jay).

Buchanan had adapted Ohnet’s novel without permission which, following the appearance of Ohnet’s own theatrical adaptation, led to an exchange of letters in The Era in December, 1883.
(Harriett Jay played the role of the Hon. Cecil Brookfield.)
 

The Scotsman (12 April, 1883 - p. 6)

NEW DRAMA BY MR BUCHANAN

     LONDON, Wednesday night.—A new five-act drama by Mr Robert Buchanan was produced for the first time at the Globe Theatre this evening. The piece which is entitled “Lady Clare,” is acknowledged in the programme to be founded on a French romance; but Mr Buchanan might have gone further, for the drama runs so substantially on the lines of Adolphe Belot’s “Le Maistre de Forges” that the adapter can claim but little originality for it. At the same time it must be conceded that Mr Buchanan has very successfully Anglicised his French original, while the last act is, as far as our memory serves us, substantially his own. The plot concerns itself with the fortunes of John Middleton, a wealthy manufacturer, who marries a haughty beauty, Lady Clare Brookfield, the lady being in love with her cousin, Lord Ambermere. Though they are married, Lady Clare denies her husband all marital rights, and they agree to live apart. They go abroad, and she is followed by Lord Ambermere, who has himself married an American heiress, the result being that Middleton and his Lordship fight a duel, which is interrupted by the former’s wife, who falls apparently dead. In the end, however, she recovers, and though her lover pursues her, her heart turns at last to her husband, and all ends in the orthodox fashion.
     Lady Clare is a well-written and interesting play, though the earlier scenes would be much improved by compression, and it will certainly add to Mr Buchanan’s reputation as a dramatist. If it failed to make its mark to-night, it was owing to the weakness of the representatives of the chief male characters. Mr Bucklaw as Middleton and Mr Beck as Lord Ambermere were overweighted with what the author had given them to do, and scenes which would have created a great impression failed to touch the audience by reason of the histrionic shortcomings of these gentlemen. In the ladies who acted for him Mr Buchanan was more fortunate. Miss Ada Cavendish, although she has not got rid of a certain hardness of manner, played with skill and welcome intelligence as the heroine, Lady Clare; and Miss Lydia Cowell played very cleverly and naturally as Mary Middleton. Miss Carlotta Leclerq’s experience was of much value in a minor part, and Miss Harriet Jay played a lad with infinite truth and many pleasant touches of humour. This lady has, indeed, rarely been seen in a part which showed her to so much advantage. Mrs Digby Willoughby and Mr Horace Wigan must also be commended, the former being much applauded. A word must be said for the music played during the piece, which was of exceptional merit, the orchestra being conducted by that popular young composer, Mr Walter Slaughter. “Lady Clare” was warmly received by a large and attentive audience, and at the conclusion the author and the principal actors and actresses were called before the curtain amid loud applause. With due curtailment, the drama should have a successful career before it.

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The Times (13 April, 1883 - p.4)

THE GLOBE THEATRE.

     It is not to the pages of a French novelist that one would readily turn for trustworthy sketches of “society” as it is known in England. Such, however, would seem to be the source, though the extent to which it has been drawn upon is not very candidly avowed, of both the types of character and the motives animating them in Mr. Robert Buchanan’s new drama of “modern (and presumably English) society” presented at this theatre. It must unhesitatingly be stated that Lady Clare is not what it professes to be—a reflex of English society at the present day. It is a reflex, if anything at all, of the disordered fancy of a Parisian feuilletoniste. The people to whom it introduces us are English indeed by name, but otherwise unrecognizable as such, and the author is certainly a little too sanguine in assuming that they are to be taken at his word as representative English types, or that the sickly sentimentality inherent to such a set of characters is to be carried off by a Tennysonian quotation in the playbill. The kernel of the story of Lady Clare is a loveless marriage between a high-born lady and a wealthy manufacturer, into which a certain amount of dramatic interest is imported by the presence of an unscrupulous tempter of female virtue of the lady’s own rank. It is easy to see how such a subject, which will be recognized as that of M. Georges Ohnet’s novel Le Maître de Forges, must be treated. The reconciliation of man and wife is a foregone conclusion, and the wearisome process of bringing about this result must be relieved by such exciting incidents as the author can contrive.
    That a play constructed upon such lines should fail to awaken the sympathy of the audience is almost a matter of course. The faults of Lady Clare arising from this cause need not, therefore, be insisted upon. There is the less occasion for surprise at the weakness of the play from the fact that the incidents upon which the author relies for dramatic effect have been largely borrowed from such familiar and incongruous sources as The Lady of Lyons, Octave Feuillet’s Tentation, and Victor Hugo’s Marion de Lorme; what is surprising, indeed, is that a sense of the ridiculous should not have deterred Mr. Robert Buchanan from attempting to adjust such romantic material to the conditions of English society at the present day. It is not easy to repress a smile when Lord Lytton’s romantic cottage scene is reproduced in a modern drawing-room. But admitting the possibility of a Manchester cotton-spinner entertaining the same delicate scruples with regard to the modesty of his bride as Claude Melnotte displayed towards Pauline, what are we to say when, at a subsequent period, the author resorts to the grotesque expedient of transporting the whole of his characters bodily to French soil—namely, to the Casino at Dieppe—to allow of the duel being fought which constitutes the turning point of the story? No one need quarrel with Mr. Robert Buchanan for confessing himself unable to adapt the duel into anything English, fisticuffs or horse-whipping being impracticable, owing to the heroine being required to throw herself between the combatants and receive in her shoulder a shot intended for her husband’s heart. But it is not clear why a story so essentially French should have been decked out in English garb at all. Apart from its incongruity in an English play, however, the duel scene, it must be confessed, is a powerful one, and will doubtless contribute largely to what success the play may achieve. The hostile meeting arranged between her husband and her aristocratic persecutor no sooner comes to Lady Clare’s knowledge than she resolves to prevent it, for in the course of the play her indifference to the wealthy manufacturer is supposed to give place to a warmer feeling. But the parties reach the spot; the preliminaries are arranged; the pistols taken out of their cases and examined. Then the combatants are placed back to back; the signal is given; they measure their paces, turn round to face each other, and it is as they are in the very act of firing that the lady interposes her body as a shield to her husband, thus adding to the impressiveness of the duel in La Tentation a touch of the womanly devotion of Marion de Lorme.
     The period of the heroine’s convalescence in the last act brings with it naturally enough her reconciliation with her husband. Long foreseen, this produces, however, little satisfaction to a wearied audience. What is more to the point, as being the only genuine bit of English character in the play, is that the husband threatens to kick his wife’s persecutor downstairs on his again turning up to renew his detestable suit. Miss Ada Cavendish, as Lady Clare, does much to redeem the play by her refined and graceful acting and by her perfect command of “business” down to her sensational fall in the duel scene. But sympathy is beyond her reach. The character, as it has been shaped by the author, is too inconsequent and too superficial to move, or even to interest, deeply. Insolence and vacillation, both of which Lady Clare displays freely, are hopelessly inconsistent with the tenderness essential to a sentimental heroine. Mr. Bucklaw plays the husband with as much manliness and dignity as is compatible with the air of ridicule unwittingly thrown over this character by its author. As a disreputable member of the aristocracy Mr. Beck is wanting in persuasiveness, but he invests the character with some outward distinction. The lighter business of the play is refreshingly supplied by Miss Lydia Cowell and Miss Harriett Jay, at the cost of the latter lady being allowed to masquerade in boy’s clothing, and a picturesque but unpleasant element is introduced by Mr. Horace Wigan and Mrs. Digby Willoughby as an American millionaire and his daughter—”Yanks” of an ultra-vulgar type.

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The Guardian (13 April, 1883 - p.5)

     Mr. Robert Buchanan’s persistent attempts to win a leading position as a dramatist will probably some day be crowned with success, for in each new play from his pen the fruits of the experience he has acquired of stage work are more and more apparent. “Lady Clare,” performed last night at the Globe Theatre, would have been given under Mrs. Bernard Beere’s management had she not suddenly given up the direction of this house. It is a drama possessing many good and striking qualities. The author acknowledges indebtedness for his story to “a celebrated French romance,” no doubt meaning “Le Maitre de Forges” by M. G. Ohnet, but the piece really owes its chief situations rather to “The Lady of Lyons,” “The old Love and the New,” “Impulse,” “Led Astray,” and several other well-known plays. Miss Ada Cavendish acts very finely as the Lady Clare, united to a man she has married in a fit of pique when jilted by her cousin, a heartless and dissolute young lord. The performance was, indeed, rendered remarkable by the great dramatic power she displayed, her graceful diction, and refinement of bearing. Miss Cavendish gave thrilling effect to the most exciting and novel incident in the piece, when, to prevent a duel between her husband and her former lover, Lady Clare rushes between the combatants and receives the bullet that would have struck her husband. Miss Lydia Cowell played an ingenue part most charmingly, and in some very sprightly love scenes with her boyish admirer (cleverly interpreted by Miss Harriett Jay) did much to enliven the action.

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The Stage (13 April, 1883 - p.8)

GLOBE

     On Wednesday, April 11, 1883, was produced here a new drama of modern society, in five acts, written by Robert Buchanan, entitled:—

Lady Clare.

The Countess of Broadmeads   ...   Miss Carlotta Leclercq
Lady Clare Brookfield   ..............   Miss Ada Cavendish
Hon. Cecil Brookfield    ..............   Miss Harriett Jay
Lord Ambermere           ..............   Mr. Philip Beck
John Middleton              ..............   Mr. Alfred Bucklaw
Mary Middleton             ..............   Miss Lydia Cowell
Mr. Gould Smale            ..............   Mr. Horace Wigan
Melissa Smale                ..............   Mrs. Digby Willoughby
Count Legrange              ..............   Mr. E. Hamilton Bell
Major O’Connor            ..............   Mr. Lawrence Grey
Woosnam                       ..............   Mr. L. Cannam
Mrs. Forster                   ..............   Miss Clifton Delmar
Montgomery                   ..............   Mr. Norton
Grimes                            ..............   Mr. H. Jones

     Lady Clare, the new play written by Mr. Robert Buchanan and produced at the Globe Theatre on Wednesday evening, is a charming story ineffectively treated. It is very ill-constructed and not too much pains has been bestowed upon the dialogue. Lest some of our readers may detect a resemblance between this play and certain scenes in well-known dramas, it may be as well to state that its origin, although not acknowledged by Mr. Buchanan, who simply announces that he has founded his piece upon a French romance, is the novel entitled “Le Maitre de Forges,” written by M. Adolphe Belôt, which appeared in the pages of the Paris Figaro. The story is really pretty, but the palpable want of constructive power on the part of the adaptor must be evident even to those who are not well-versed in stage matters. The first of the five acts into which the play is divided takes place at the house of Lady Clare Brookfield. Lady Clare is in love with Lord Ambermere, and her affection is returned. She is also loved by a wealthy manufacturer, John Middleton, who asks her to be his wife. She refuses his suit, but on hearing that Lord Ambermere is ruined, and that, in order to retrieve his fortunes, he is about to marry a rich American girl, and also to recoup her own shattered fortune, Lady Clare agrees to marry Mr. Middleton. In the second act we hear that the heroine is married, but still, not loving her husband, she resolves to fly from him. Middleton will not allow her to thus desert him, and he and his wife determine to live together husband and wife in name only. The third act takes place at Dieppe. Lord Ambermere has followed thither Lady Clare, and, through an opportunity provided by his wife, who is jealous of his old love, he makes an avowal of his passion for her. He is interrupted by the arrival of Middleton, and the two men quarrel. A duel is therefore arranged. The fourth act shows in its first scene how Lady Clare discovers that her husband is going to fight Lord Ambermere. The second scene of this act takes place in a forest glade. The two men arrive to fight, and just as they fire—the duel being with pistols—Lady Clare rushes on and falls apparently lifeless. The last act depicts the recovery of Lady Clare, who has only been shot in the shoulder by the bullet intended for her husband. At last she has learnt to love her husband, and she recognises the value of his noble nature. She is debating in her mind as to the expediency of telling him that she loves him, when the intrepid, shameless Lord Ambermere enters and again protests his love. He is vain enough to think that in her endeavour to stop the duel Lady Clare had been concerned in his safety instead of that of her husband. But for once he is mistaken, and the lady turns upon him and tells him that she loves her husband. Middleton has heard her repulse the scoundrel, and he orders Lord Ambermere off the premises. The villain slinks off, and at length husband and wife are united. It must be confessed that there is some poetry in such a story as this, but Mr. Buchanan’s play cannot succeed. It is too weak and undramatic, and he is much at fault in his female characters. he has made his heroine unnecessarily guilty, and he has provided her with a singularly mercenary mother—a character played with her accustomed art by Miss Carlotta Leclercq. Then in the American girl he has shown a very heartless, jealous type of woman. These characters, or rather similar ones, are no doubt common enough in the world, but they are not the most edifying pictures of woman. Lady Clare is pourtrayed with admirable finish and artistic feeling by Miss Ada Cavendish, but the actress has very little chance for the display of her well-known ability. Her talents have very little scope, but all the same Miss Cavendish throws all her resources into the part and acts it with all the success that can possibly be extracted from it. Her delivery of the one strong speech in the play—that in the last act, where Lady Clare renounces her lover—was marked on Wednesday night by all her fire and passion. John Middleton is played by Mr. Alfred Bucklaw, who is earnest, but not strong enough for the character. Mr. Philip beck has improved somewhat in his style as Lord Ambermere, but he has yet to learn how to move with ease, and to be less stilted in his acting. Mr. Horace Wigan plays the small part of a Yankee millionaire. Mr. Wigan distinguishes himself by the most extraordinary make-up that has ever been presented in a serious manner, and by a tendency to keep all his speeches to himself. Indeed, most of the actors at the Globe seem to labour under the disadvantage of having no voices, for it was only with the greatest difficulty that some of them could be heard. Miss Harriett Jay appears as a schoolboy, and gives a very pleasing presentation. Miss Lydia Cowell is also bright and vivacious as an ingenuous girl. Mrs. Digby Willoughby plays the American girl and is successful, but she may be asked for the sake of decorum to remedy the rather startling evening dress which she wears in the third act. The other characters are not remarkably well acted. The scenery, most of which is old, serves the purpose.

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The Era (14 April, 1883 - Issue 2325)

THE GLOBE.
On Wednesday, April 11th, a New Drama, in Five Acts,
Founded on a Celebrated French Romance,
and Written by Robert Buchanan, entitled
“LADY CLARE.”

Lord Ambermere           ..............   Mr PHILIP BECK
John Middleton              ..............   Mr ALFRED BUCKLAW
Mr. Gould Smale            ..............   Mr HORACE WIGAN
Count Legrange              ..............   Mr E. HAMILTON BELL
Major O’Connor            ..............   Mr LAWRENCE GREY
Woosnam                       ..............   Mr L. CANNAM
Montgomery                   ..............   Mr NORTON
Grimes                            ..............   Mr H. JONES
Countess of Broadmeads   ...........   Miss CARLOTTA LECLERCQ
Hon. Cecil Brookfield     ..............   Miss HARRIETT JAY
Mary Middleton             ..............   Miss LYDIA COWELL
Melissa Smale                ..............   Mrs DIGBY WILLOUGHBY
Mrs Forster                    ..............   Miss CLIFTON DELMAR
Lady Clare Brookfield    ..............   Miss ADA CAVENDISH

     The title of Mr Buchanan’s new play, produced at the Globe Theatre on Wednesday evening, and the quotation from Tennyson’s “Idylls of the King,” may have led to the supposition that Lady Clare owed more to the Poet Laureate than it really does. Beyond a few lines introduced at the close, which could be omitted without any detriment to the piece, there is little to recall Mr Tennyson’s poem, and the “celebrated romance” referred to by Mr Buchanan is evidently “Le Maitre de Forge,” by M. Georges Ohnet, author of the novel and play Serge Panine. The romance appeared as a story in the Paris Figaro, but this only supplies the leading outline of Lady Clare, which professes to be a play of modern life and society. Mr Buchanan has been indebted to other pieces for hints and suggestions, which he has made use of to build up a play of a popular and attractive kind, likely to enjoy a considerable run. The piece opens in the grounds of the Countess of Broadmeads, whose daughter, Lady Clare, makes no secret of her attachment to her cousin, Lord Ambermere. She is represented as excessively proud of her social position, yet as having a generous and passionate nature. Her beauty and grace have attracted a wealthy manufacturer, John Middleton, who, although aware beforehand that he will be rejected with disdain, cannot resist his infatuation, and makes the proud beauty an offer. Lady Clare dismisses the manufacturer with freezing disdain, but he has hardly quitted the spot when the family solicitor arrives, and communicates to Lady Broadmeads some very disagreeable intelligence. He informs her ladyship of some serious difficulties of a pecuniary kind, and also startles her with the news that Lord Ambermere, who is believed by Lady Clare to be a perfectly chivalrous and high-minded hero, is simply a ruined gambler, and that his whole career has been one of vice and profligacy; while, in order to get out of his embarrassments, he has become engaged to the daughter of an American millionaire. Lady Clare overhears this with incredulity; but soon all is confirmed, as the American beauty herself appears, and speaks of her engagement. Lady Clare’s resolve is instantly taken. The manufacturer returns, she apologises for her rudeness, and, to the astonishment of all, accepts him, the curtain falling upon this incident amidst hearty applause. The second act is occupied with the first scenes in the married life of the ill-assorted pair. Lady Clare’s pride has kept her from wavering until she actually finds herself in her new home. Then comes the bitter trial, and she fully realises her position. She has not one spark of love, not one bond of sympathy to bind her to this manufacturer, but he is her husband, and appears disposed to claim a husband’s rights. But Lady Clare shrinks with horror from the man she has sworn to love, honour, and obey. John Middleton, deeply moved by her agitation, and still regarding her with the tenderest affection, yields to her entreaties, and Lady Clare retires to her room alone—a situation vividly recalling the famous scene in The Lady of Lyons. After a time, while the husband sits reflecting upon his strange position, he is astonished to see Lady Clare stealing down the stairs. Her object is to escape from the house, and to quit her husband’s roof for ever. But John Middleton’s forbearance stops short at this point. He has consented to be a husband merely in name, but he will not submit to be an object of ridicule and contemptuous pity. With gentleness, but with absolute firmness, he insists upon Lady Clare remaining under his roof. In the third act we find the indulgent husband striving by foreign travel to cheer and console his aristocratic wife, but the baseness of Lord Ambermere becomes every day more apparent. Although married to the millionaire’s daughter, he follows Lady Clare from place to place until at last the patience of the manufacturer is quite exhausted, and the men quarrel and agree to fight a duel at Dieppe. Lady Clare learns the object of this meeting, and, influenced by the dignity and tenderness of her husband as contrasted with the worthlessness of her old lover, makes an earnest effort to avert the catastrophe, but without avail. Driven to despair, she at length resolves to present herself at the spot where the duel is to be fought, but just as she arrives the men are facing each other, and about to fire. Lord Ambermere is a practised duellist, and fires straight at John Middleton’s heart, but Lady Clare, breaking upon them at the critical moment, received the shot in her shoulder. The fourth act ends with this exciting situation, which brought down the curtain amidst vociferous applause. In the fifth act we see Lady Clare once more in her husband’s home. She has at length learned to value the true character of the man she has married, but, fearful of a repulse, she dares not as yet confess that her feelings have changed towards him, and that she now really loves him. But a better understanding is soon brought about, for the contemptible Lord Ambermere again appears, and Lady Clare, although hardly recovered from her wound, is roused to such passionate indignation against him, and utters such tender sentiments of devotion and admiration respecting her husband, that John Middleton, who has heard the concluding sentences, rushes forward to clasp her in his arms, and the reconciliation is complete, the sympathies of the audience being strongly evoked as the curtain falls and the wretched Lord Ambermere is driven from the house by the manly and much-enduring husband. Such are the main outlines of a play not wanting in strong elements of popular attraction, and we believe that, when the inevitable difficulties of a first representation are surmounted, Lady Clare will enjoy a long and prosperous career and prove an acceptable piece with the general public. The strongest claim to this result was unquestionably put forth by Miss Ada Cavendish, who has rarely, if ever, played with greater passion, sentiment, and intensity. She had grasped the character so firmly that we do not see how it was possible to realise it more completely. There were great difficulties for the actress, because there was the risk of the audience regarding Lady Clare as unsympathetic, but it was the greatest proof that could be given of the intelligence and spontaneous force Miss Cavendish possesses that she carried the audience with her from first to last. There was no hesitation, no indecision in her style, and the scene with Lady Clare and John Middleton after the marriage was a most powerful example of the electrical impulse which Miss Cavendish has at her command when she has to represent a really strong situation. In the hands of an inferior artiste this difficult incident might have utterly ruined the piece. But with the striking power Miss Cavendish displayed it became one of the strongest and most exciting scenes of the play. Another very admirable feature must be noted with the greatest commendation. This was the suppressed emotion with which Lady Clare, still influenced by her pride, gradually finds herself drawn nearer and nearer to the man whose very presence at the beginning had so repelled her. There was more than conventional acting in this. There was something like an approach to histrionic genius, and there was a ready impulse on the part of the audience to appreciate the admirable skill displayed. The scene of the duel, although, of course, of a sensational kind, again revealed the quick resource and intelligence of the actress. But even better was the concluding act, when the wife, awakened at last to the rightful claims of the man she has married, and the detestable baseness of her old lover, flashes upon him with words of scorn and contempt, making even his callous nature writhe as every sentence strikes him like a sword. The passionate fury of the insulted lady and the deep sense that she has all along done injustice to the noble nature of her husband were conveyed with splendid power, directness, and passion, while the facial expression harmonised with the sentiments expressed in the most perfect and artistic manner. We must again repeat that Miss Ada Cavendish has not been seen to such advantage for years. Her reputation will gain largely from this striking and impressive rendering of a difficult and exacting character. Her position as an actress never stood higher than when the curtain fell upon the closing scene of Lady Clare. A hint may be given to the author here that an allusion to Tennyson’s poem would answer the purpose perhaps even better than reading the lines. Miss Harriet Jay, we must confess, surprised us in her very clever rendering of Cecil, brother to lady Clare. Miss Jay as the gay, light-hearted boy looked the part perfectly, and played it with animation, intelligence, and buoyancy quite delightful to witness. Her clearly-marked features enabled her to make up well for the character, which pleased the audience immensely. The clever lady had thoroughly caught the spirit of the part. Her manner was light and mercurial, but there were touches of true feeling intermingled in the happiest manner, making the impersonation thoroughly natural, easy, and interesting. It was quite a rarity to see a boy’s part rendered in such a satisfactory manner. Miss Jay has done nothing on any previous occasion so likely as her impersonation of this boy lover to give a good impression of her histrionic skill. We have seldom seen anything of its kind so perfectly attractive, genial, and amusing. Miss Jay had an extremely clever companion in Miss Lydia Cowell as Mary Middleton, the manufacturer’s youthful sister, who falls in love speedily with Cecil. Miss Lydia Cowell was so natural, fresh, and engaging in her style as to make this little character particularly interesting. The boy and girl flirtation carried on between the more serious scenes of the play furnished a lively and pleasant contrast, and in her appearance and manner Miss Cowell supplied not a little attraction to the play. Always bright, cheerful, sparkling, and animated, her presence was not merely welcome, but was looked for with eagerness. Mrs Digby Willoughby has made a considerable advance as an actress of late. She appeared in quite a startling costume—a skirt of flaming crimson and a train of black, covered with gigantic tulips with other floral embellishments, almost making the spectator wink to gaze at them, so dazzling was the effect. Mrs Willoughby’s character was that of the American millionaire’s daughter, and she played it with decided success. The contrast of the fast American, with her blazing costume and pronounced manners, with the quiet refinement of the aristocratic heroine was well kept up throughout, and merited cordial commendation. Miss Carlotta Leclercq was an efficient representative of the Countess; and Miss Clifton Delmar appeared as a housekeeper. Mr Alfred Bucklaw has not had great experience of the metropolitan stage, but he played the character of the manufacturer with much feeling and dignity, and as the play proceeded and his style became more decided his acting was so satisfactory and natural that we may fairly look forward to his taking a good position upon the stage. It may be said to be the first time that Mr Bucklaw has had a chance of distinguishing himself, and he certainly did not disappoint the expectations of his friends. His stage presence is decidedly good, and he gave the right impression of the character from first to last, the latter scenes of the play being excellent. Mr Horace Wigan was but indifferently made up as the American millionaire; and Mr Hamilton Bell did not make much of Count Legrange, and Mr Cannam as the solicitor must not indulge in stage whispers when he relates a story of aristocratic difficulties. Mr Philip Beck as Lord Ambermere had to act all through the play against the sympathies of the audience, but he acquitted himself fairly. Some pleasing scenes added to the attraction of Lady Clare, which was received with great cordiality throughout, the author being called for at the close. We believe there are popular elements in Mr Buchanan’s new play which will secure for it a long run. The action is rapid, the characters varied, and the situations strong, and the author has wisely refrained from overburdening his personages with diffuse dialogue; thus the entire five acts can be played in less than two hours and half, while the interest is well sustained from beginning to end.

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Reynolds’s Newspaper (15 April, 1883 - Issue 1705)

GLOBE THEATRE.

     Although in “Lady Clare,” the new drama of modern society, written by Mr. Robert Buchanan, and produced on Wednesday last, the leading characters may fail to enlist the sympathies of an audience, and although the plot may bring reminiscences now of Bélôt, now of Ohnet, now of Lord Lytton, and now of Bronson Howard, yet there is sufficient interest in the story and the characters are sufficiently strongly drawn to merit the play being stamped as one well worth seeing and deserving more than the stereotyped success usually accorded on a first night to a play that is not absolutely bad. Lady Clare, the heroine, loves her cousin, Lord Ambermere, and although both are  poor, yet an engagement exists between them, and is approved of by the Countess of Broadmeads, Lady Clare’s mother, a lady who is by no means blind to the advantages of wealth. Lady Clare has an admirer in John Middleton, a wealthy manufacturer, whom she rejects with—and in all due deference to Mr. Buchanan we think with unnecessary—scorn. Suddenly she learns that her cousin has proposed to an old school-fellow of hers, Melissa Smale, the daughter of an American millionaire, with whom she has always been at heart an enemy. At first she discredits this, but learning from Melissa’s own lips that it is true, she discounts her rival’s triumph by accepting John Middleton’s offer, and introducing him as her affianced husband when the American girl introduces Lord Ambermere as hers. This effective episode terminates the first act. In the second, John Middleton brings home his bride, who now, for the first time, realizes the fact that she has wedded a man with whom she has no sympathy. The thought drives her so nearly to madness, that she reveals the true state of things to her unhappy husband, who, in a scene strongly resembling one in the “Lady of Lyons,” resolves that in name only shall they be husband and wife; he, however, insisting that Lady Clare shall respect his honour. Act III. passes at the ante-room of the Casino, at Dieppe, where the principal personages of the story meet. Melissa, now Lady Ambermere, not content with having carried off her rival’s fiancé, tries to win Lady Clare’s husband from her, and succeeds in provoking a duel between the two men, which comes off in Act IV., Lady Clare arriving in time to receive the bullet that would have struck her husband. In Act V. it is clear that the heroine has got to love and esteem honest John Middleton; and when Lord Ambermere, whose wife has eloped with his intimate friend, appears, and once more utters his protestations of love, she crushes him with the scorn which the admirable acting of Miss Ada Cavendish made truly grand. The husband overhears the duologue, and expelling with ignominy the contemptible cousin from his house, takes his repentant and now loving wife to his bosom. To tell this in many respects dramatic story, Mr. Buchanan may be congratulated on having secured an exceptionally satisfactory cast for all his female, and more than one of his male characters. As the heroine, Miss Ada Cavendish gave a stage picture of haughty beauty, simulated indifference, and eventually of womanly tenderness, that would be difficult to match; and the loud and frequent expressions of approval she evoked from her audience were indeed well deserved. The Countess of Broadmeads, in the hands of Miss Carlotta Leclercq, was a natural and thoroughly praiseworthy impersonation; Miss Harriett Jay, as the Hon. Cecil Brookfield, had a part which fitted her, so to speak, like a glove, and she played it with a light-heartedness and charm that made it a performance altogether sui generis. To Miss Lydia Cowell, the very best ingénue on the London boards, was allotted the role of Mary, John Middleton’s sister, and rarely has even this charming actress played with more delightful freshness. The repulsive part of Melissa Smale, a sort of female “cynic,” was undertaken by Mrs. Digby Willoughby, who did it full justice, and appeared to far better advantage than in other parts she has essayed. Mr. Philip Beck did all that was to be done with the unsympathetic role of Lord Ambermere; Mr. Alfred Bucklaw—tame at first as John Middleton—improved as the piece progressed; Mr. Horace Wigan was certainly not up to his usual standard of excellence, and “made up” ridiculously as Mr. Gould Smale, an American millionaire; and Mr. Lawrence Gray, a rising young actor, was satisfactory as Major O’Connor, an Irishman, who, mirabile dictu, does not want a duel to come off. Some very effective incidental music has been written for the piece by Mr. Walter Slaughter, the composer of “An Adamless Eden.” The scenery was very good; Mesdames Cavendish, Leclercq, and Willoughby’s dresses superb, and Miss Cowell’s very dainty and charming. Performers and author at the close of the performance received hearty calls from a crowded house.

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The Graphic (21 April, 1883 - Issue 699)

     Mr. Robert Buchanan’s new comedy, entitled Lady Clare, at the GLOBE Theatre, presents a curiously incongruous combination of well-known incidents in popular plays. For this, however, not the author, but the French novelist, M. Ohnet, is mainly responsible, for Lady Clare follows pretty closely the incidents and situations of a novel by this writer, entitled “Le Maître de Forge,” which has enjoyed considerable popularity in France. The dramatist’s theme, as is indicatedby the quotation from the “Idyls of the King” which furnishes the motto of the playbill, is that of a wife who undervalues a good and worthy husband, but lives to acknowledge her mistake with bitter remorse. All ends happily in this instance, but unfortunately the self-willed and capricious heroine secures but little sympathy, her contemptuous treatment of Mr. John MiddIeton, the wealthy manufacturer, whom in a pique she has condescended to marry, being absolutely without excuse or palliative. Miss Ada Cavendish, though she plays the part with some power and fascination, certainly does little to mitigate this defect. Nor does Mr. Bucklaw’s rather stiff and formal portrait of the ill-used husband arouse any great commiseration for his long suffering. This lack of interest in the main course of the story would certainly have been more perilous if it had not been for the efficient aid lent by Miss Harriett Jay’s excellent performance of the part of a lively-spirited Eton boy, who makes love in a boyish fashion to a sister of the slighted husband, a part also very naturally and effectively played by Miss Lydia Cowell.The play is well put upon the stage, and on the whole it was very favourably received.

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The Theatre (1 May, 1883)

“LADY CLARE.”

A New Drama of Modern Society, in Five Acts, by ROBERT BUCHANAN. Produced at the
Globe Theatre on Wednesday, April 11, 1883.

“LADY CLARE” contains the germs of a charming and dramatic story, but Mr. Robert Buchanan has displayed very little constructive power in his latest work, and he has contrived to spoil what might, under abler hands, have been made into a good drama. The play does not even possess that literary finish which might have been expected from its author. The dialogue is neither forcible nor polished. Each act recalls scenes from other plays, and it must be admitted that the drama is a crude, unsatisfactory work. The story is this; The first of the five acts into which the play is divided takes place at the home of Lady Clare Brookfield. Lady Clare is in love with Lord Ambermere, and her affection is returned. She is also loved by a wealthy manufacturer, John Middleton, who asks her to be his wife. She refuses his suit, but on hearing that Lord Ambermere is ruined, and that, in order to retrieve his fortunes, he is about to marry a rich American girl, and also to recoup her own shattered estate, Lady Clare agrees to marry Mr. Middleton. In the second act we hear that the heroine is married, but still, not loving her husband, she resolves to fly from him. Middleton will not allow her to thus desert him, and he and his wife determine to live together husband and wife in name only. The third act takes place at Dieppe. Lord Ambermere has followed Lady Clare and her husband, and, through an opportunity provided by his wife, who is jealous of his old love, he makes an avowal of his passion for his proud cousin. He is interrupted by the arrival of Middleton, and the two men quarrel, with the result of a duel being arranged. The fourth act shows in its first scene how Lady Clare discovers that her husband is going to fight Lord Ambermere. The second scene of this act takes place in a forest glade. The two men arrive to fight, and just as they fire—the duel being with pistols—Lady Clare rushes on and falls apparently lifeless. The last act depicts the recovery of Lady Clare, who has only been shot in the shoulder by the bullet intended for her husband. At last she has learnt to love her husband, and to recognize the value of his noble nature. She is debating in her mind as to the expediency of telling him that she loves him, when the intrepid, shameless Lord Ambermere enters and again avows his passion. He is vain enough to think that in her endeavour to stop the duel Lady Clare had been concerned in his safety instead of that of her husband. But for once he is mistaken, and the lady turns upon him and tells him that she loves her husband. Middleton has heard her repulse the scoundrel, and he orders Lord Ambermere off the premises, husband and wife being at last united. The burden of the acting falls upon Miss Ada Cavendish, who plays with much art and true passion, although the character of Lady Clare is unworthy of the actress. Mr. Alfred Bucklaw is too inexperienced and not sufficiently interesting for the part of Middleton, and Mr. Philip Beck is somewhat stagey as Lord Ambermere. Miss Harriett Jay gives a fresh, bright, and unconventional rendering of a boy, and Miss Lydia Cowell is charming in a small role. Mr. Horace Wigan appears as a wealthy American, and distinguishes himself by a hideous and uncharacteristic disguise. The entire “new drama” is an exact paraphrase of a story by Georges Ohnet, called “Le Maitre de Forges,” scene for scene and situation for situation.

[Cover of the programme for the original Globe Theatre production.]

The Stage (7 September, 1883 - p.2)

     BRISTOL—NEW ROYAL (Managers, Messrs. G. and J. M. Chute).—The first provincial representation of Mr. Robert Buchanan’s Lady Clare took place at this theatre on Monday. The treatment the piece received from Miss de Grey’s very efficient Co. was extremely good. In Lady Clare Miss de Grey has a character just suited to her peculiar and pleasing style. Occasionally her acting was really fine, but it is in the quieter portions that Miss de Grey is most effective. Another point for congratulation is having one so well suited to John Middleton as is Mr. Felix Pitt; throughout, his acting was veritably a lesson. Mr. Fred Terry, as Lord Ambermere, was telling, and so was Mr. E. Underhill as Count Legrange; Mr. G. W. Farren, jun., was much appreciated as the bragging Yankee, and other of the male parts were competently filled by Messrs. F. Mouillot, J. W. Piggott, F. Webster, J. Forsyth, and Lawrence. Mrs. Digby Willoughby, as the designing Amalia, evidently carried out the author’s ideas, and excited the indignation of the denizens of the theatrical Olympia; Mrs. E. Clifton was sufficiently dignified as the Countess; Miss Deby was scarcely at home as Cecil; and Miss A. Calvert, as Mary, was lively and interesting; Miss B. Huntley, as the Housekeeper, was prominent through being so unassuming. Altogether the play was a great success.

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The Stage (5 October, 1883 - p.15)

PAVILION.

     Lady Clare was revived on Monday evening before an audience of such vast proportions as to suggest the likelihood of an excellent fortnight’s business. As our readers are probably aware, Mr. Robert Buchanan’s drama was originally produced at the Globe Theatre on April 11th of the present year. The story founded on “Le Maître de Forges” possesses many characteristics not foreign to other tales. While the story is an effective one, the drama built upon it is at times made weak by faulty construction; yet, taken all in all, there is a genuine interest deducible from the play which careless adaptation or preachy dialogue can only obscure at intervals. Mr. Robert Buchanan, the author, who was present on Monday night, must have been greatly pleased with the reception given by an East-end audience—a reception, however, which was to a great extent evoked by excellent acting and superbly-dressed scenes. Foremost in the capable cast was Miss Kate Pattison, whose rendition of Clare was marked both by refinement and passionate intensity; a more ladylike impersonation we have seldom witnessed. Her antithesis Melissa Smale was made antithetical by Miss May Howard; and emphatic make-up, an extravagant improver, and an evidently affected assumption of Americanism, made the contrast between the ladies painfully glaring. Melissa may have been vulgar, but if we mistake not, she has had the benefits of a decent education. Miss Lizzie Claremont brought experience to bear on her dignified portrayal of the Countess of Broadmeads, and Miss Daisy England, as the “hereditary legislator” Cecil, played with both finish and go. Miss Carmen Barker made a pleasant and lovable little Mary, and Miss Jeannette Thompson did what little she had to do as Mrs. Foster fairly well. Mr. W. R. Sutherland’s John Middleton was both powerful and impressive, and Mr. Augustus Cook played Lord Ambermere with a quiet dash of expressive villainy which suited the part well. Mr. Harry Parker, always efficient in whatever he takes in hand, was sufficiently Yankeeish as Smale, and Mr. Edmund Lyons was a useful Legrange.

[Programme for Lady Clare at the Pavilion Theatre, October, 1883.]

The New York Times (14 February, 1884)

AMUSEMENTS.

“LADY CLARE.”

     This play—which is described on the bills as Mr. Robert Buchanan’s exquisite drama in five acts—was given last night at Wallack’s Theatre. The house was full, there was generous applause, and the new play was undoubtedly successful. Mr. Buchanan’s “Lady Clare” had been acted previously in England, and with encouraging effect. Mr. Buchanan—who, at his best, is a strong poet—has not been known here overmuch as a dramatist. His plays have seemed, for the most part, useless and uninteresting. “Storm Beaten,” as an example, was in no way a sound or true work, though it was one of the few tolerably popular plays elucidated for the public mind by Mr. Buchanan. Fortunately, “Storm Beaten” was considerably changed, not to say repressed, before it was launched upon the troublesome seas of the American stage. As to “Lady Clare”—what shall be said of that? M. Georges Ohnet, a bright and inventive French novelist, declared not long ago that Mr. Buchanan had stolen, for the benefit of his drama, a novel written by M. Ohnet and called “Le Maître de Forges.” Mr. Buchanan replied that he had not adapted “Maître de Forges,” he had merely made use of the motive in M. Ohnet’s novel. The distinction is remarkably lucid, especially for a poet. It may be explained that an American arrangement of “Le Maître de Forges” has been prepared already, and that other adaptations of the same work are to be set forward. M. Ohnet’s dramatization of his own novel has been a brilliant success in Paris.
     The French novel is written with thought and spirit. It is sympathetic without being unpleasantly sentimental. It is certainly dramatic. The story which is presented by it is this: Claire de Beaulieu loves her cousin, the young Duc de Bligny. This lively fellow goes to Russia, forgets his fiancé, and returns to Paris at a moment when he learns that Claire is betrothed to M. Darblay, who is the “maître de forges,” the person without family and with a good amount of culture. Darblay is not loved by his wife at first, and Claire is still inclined to adore M. de Bligny. In the end, however, after the usual vicissitudes of human passion, Claire discovers that her feeling for Darblay is love, and that her feeling for M. de Bligny is contempt. This is, naturally, a very slight sketch of M. Ohnet’s complex and carefully elaborated novel.
     Mr. Buchanan has declared that his play “Lady Clare” is not an adaptation of “Le Maître de Forges.” The story of “Lady Clare” informs us that Lord Ambermere loves Lady Clare Brookfield. Then, in his youthful enthusiasm, he deserts her and flies to pastures new. That is to say, he takes up another woman. Thereupon Lady Clare engages herself to John Middleton, a “self-made man.” But Lady Clare is not devoted to her self-made man. He finds himself tied to a loveless wife. After a while, however, she begins to have an agreeable opinion upon the merits of poor Middleton. Then Ambermere turns up again. He professes deep and Stygian devotion for Clare. There is a duel between the two men. Clare is shot in the shoulder. She rises from her ashes, a passionate Phśnix, and throws her arms about the neck of Middleton, who, having discovered, by judicious eavesdropping, that Clare is in love with her husband, not with Ambermere, rushes to her with theatrical celerity.
     The play is told with a fair amount of ability, and is entertaining. It was, as we have said, successful last night. Yet it is somewhat doubtful—the reader is asked to consider the subject in his own judgment —whether Mr. Buchanan’s drama is not a frank adaptation of “Le Maître de Forges.”
     Some excellent acting was done by Mr. Tearle, Miss Coghlan, Mr. Glenney, Mr. Buckstone, and Miss Measor. But Mr. Glenney might be less explosive in his speech.

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Brooklyn Eagle (17 February, 1884 - p.3)

     MR. WALLACK’S son Arthur and Mr. Wallack’s treasurer, Mr. Theodore Moss, resolved when “the Governor” went South that they would show him he had been mistaken in the policy he was pursuing at Wallack’s Theater, and that they could produce a success there. They have done so. “Lady Claire” is the solitary success at Wallack’s this year. It has caught the public fancy and is doing an immense business. It is a powerful melodrama by Robert Buchanan, and portrays the life of some members of the British aristocracy whose characters are cleanly drawn, well defined and in two instances quite original. Both Miss Coghlan and Mr. Tearle have at least been thoroughly suited. Tearle is doing the best work that he has done since he has been in America, but Miss Coghlan is after all the star of the cast. The story is a simple one, so far as the plot is concerned, but in the delineation of the character of Lady Claire, Miss Coghlan displays extraordinary intelligence and an amount of finesse and care in her work which places the character far above any other that she has essayed of recent years. She marries the man she does not love through pique, and then gradually shows on the stage how the kindness, delicacy and love of her husband in time win her over to him and destroy a foolish passion that she had for a profligate nobleman. The play is well mounted and carefully acted, and it all serves merely to enhance the value and beauty of Miss Coghlan’s performance.

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The Stage (22 February, 1884 - p.13)

     Robert Buchanan has sold Lady Clare to Wallack, and Eric Bayley has bought the rights of Le Maître de Forges from Ohnet for the American Continent. Wallack in his innocence has only just discovered that Lady Clare is taken from Ohnet’s story. At this exact moment Wallack does not precisely love Robert Buchanan—indeed, he desires to “get at him.”

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The Theatre (1 March, 1884)

Our Omnibus-Box.
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The moral vision of Mr. Robert Buchanan is temporarily obscured. He defends the indefensible action of helping himself to the story of Georges Ohnet for dramatic purposes on the plea that he did not know that the author of “Le Maitre de Forges” wanted his own property, and was not anxious to make it a present to Mr. Robert Buchanan. He did not know it, because he did not apparently want to be enlightened to the contrary. The expenditure of twopence-halfpenny on a postage stamp for France would have cleared up any doubt on the matter, and assured Mr. Buchanan whether the reports in the Parisian papers were true or false. On the very night that “Lady Clare” was produced at the Globe Theatre it was as well known in London as it was known in Paris that the dramatic version of “Le Maitre de Forges” by Ohnet was not only written but accepted and in rehearsal at the Gymnase Theatre. If there were dramatic critics present who were ignorant of the origin of “Lady Clare,” and ascribed it to Belot and not to Ohnet, the fault rested with Mr. Robert Buchanan, who was bound by every principle of courtesy and good taste to declare where the play came from, and not compel the critics to ferret it out for themselves and lay a bill of indictment against the borrower. The very next morning all London knew that “Lady Clare” was not an original play. The very next morning Mr. Buchanan was challenged to say whether “Lady Clare” was or was not the story of “Le Maitre de Forges,” taken with or without authority but without acknowledgment. It will be for Messrs. Hare and Kendal, in England, and for Mr. Wallack, in America, to say how far they have suffered from the prior production of “Lady Clare.” My own opinion is that they will not suffer in the least, because Ohnet has treated his work like a dramatist. What Ohnet thinks of Mr. Buchanan and his works will be found in The Era, the organ to which Mr. Robert Buchanan is in the habit of appealing when he desires to impeach the honour of his contemporaries. If I were to turn to one of the many excellent novels of Mr. Robert Buchanan and to help myself to one of his plots in order to make a play out of it, as I should have a perfect right to do according to our iniquitous law, I should consider that I had done Mr. Buchanan a great wrong, and so would he! I hold that a man’s literary invention is a man’s absolute property, and the borrowing does not become less shabby because it is perpetrated on a Frenchman whose dramatic work in this country has a marketable value.

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The Stage (28 March, 1884 - p.13)

     At about a week after Easter the public will be summoned to the St. James’s Theatre to see Ohnet’s version of his play Le Maitre de Forges, which has obtained an enormous success at the Gymnase Theatre in Paris. Prior to the production of the authorised play a dramatic version of Ohnet’s story was given at the Globe by Robert Buchanan, called Lady Clare. But this fact will scarcely interfere with the success of A Midnight Marriage, in which the locale, character, and incidents of a story essentially French are faithfully preserved. The cast will be as follows:—Claire, Mrs. Kendal; La Marquise de Beaupré, Mrs. Gaston Murray; Athenaïs, Miss Vane; La Baronne, Miss Linda Dietz; Le Duc de Bligny, Mr. Henley; Le Marquis de Beaupré, Mr. George Alexander; Moulenet, Mr. J. F. Young; Bechelin, Mr. Maclean; Le Baron de Préfont, Mr. Waring; Philippe Darblay, Mr. W. H. Kendal.

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The Stage (25 July, 1884 - p.13)

PRINCE’S.

     On Thursday afternoon, July 11, 1884, Mrs. Digby Willoughby gave a matinée at this house. The principal piece presented was Lady Clare, Mr. Robert Buchanan’s adaptation of Mr. George Ohnet’s Le Maître de Forges, originally acted at the Globe Theatre on April 11 last. Mrs. Willoughby elected to appear as the heroine of the drama, a part not nearly so well suited to her personalities as that of Melissa Smale, the American heiress, which she pourtrayed in the Globe production. Her interpretation presented the character in a hard, cold, crude, and unsympathetic manner. There was little pathos in her acting, and the soft, womanly touches so necessary to enlist sympathy and arouse interest were entirely absent. Mrs. Willoughby was at her best in the more vigorous portions of the play, and her entrance in the duel scene was particularly dramatic. It was a dangerous experiment for a lady of Mrs. Willoughby’s standing in her profession, and of such limited experience, to follow so practised an artiste as Miss Ada Cavendish in a leading part, for in such a case comparisons are inevitable, and obviously must be a disadvantage to the least successful actress. On this occasion Mr. Alfred Bucklaw, as John Middleton, and Miss Carlotta Leclercq, as the Countess of Broadsmeads, resumed their original characters. Mr. Bucklaw, although suffering from a severe sprain to his ankle, played well, and gave a manly, earnest performance. Mr. Gould Smale, the American millionaire, was acted by Mr. W. Farren, jun., who gave a capital, well-considered sketch of character. Melissa Smale was represented by Miss Gladys Homfrey, who was scarcely successful in hitting off the peculiarities of the part. Mr. Fred Terry displayed considerable skill and rescource as Lord Ambermere. The two young people, the Hon. Cecil Brookfield and Mary Middleton, were represented by Miss J. Deby and Miss Carmen Barker respectively. Miss Deby was slow, dull, and monotonous when she should have been quick, bright, and animated, and she drawled her words in a most irritating manner. On the other hand, Miss Carmen Barker was singularly spirited as Mary Middleton, and she acted the part with a freshness and ingenuousness that were delightful. The minor parts were adequately filled. The drama was preceded by a new one-act comic opera, written by Mr. E. H. Gomm, with music by Mr. W. Fullerton. It was entitled The Miser, and, it was stated on the programmes, was produced under the direction of Mr. George Grossmith. It proved a weak and uninteresting piece of work. It related how a pair of lovers, being separated by a miserly father, are united by the aid of a good-natured aunt, who dresses as a ghost, and so frightens the old man into consenting to his daughter’s marriage. The piece does not excite much laughter, and the dialogue is by no means witty. Some of the music is pretty, and we noticed in particular a charming melody to the words “Storms may come and go,” sung by the daughter, who was pleasantly interpreted by Miss Victoria La Coste. Mr. W. Gregory appeared as the lover, and sang well, but his acting was indifferent. Mr. Fred Cape was the miser, and Miss Gladys Homfrey the aunt. Madame Sarah Bernhardt, together with her sister Jeanne and Mrs. Bernard-Beere, occupied a private box on the occasion, but the house presented an almost empty appearance.

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The New York Times (6 January, 1885)

A company of competent actors and actresses appeared at Niblo’s Garden last night in “Lady Clare,” Robert Buchanan’s version of “Le Maitre des Forges.” Miss Cora Tanner, as Lady Clare, acted with grace, dignity, and earnestness. Mr. H. M. Pitt, as John Middleton, proved that, while he was not as much at home in a serious rôle as in a “character” part, he had sufficient power to hold the interest of the audience and in some scenes to awaken their hearty admiration. Lord Ambermere was played by Mr. Henry Aveling, an actor well qualified for the part. Miss Harriet Jay appeared as the Hon. Cecil Brookfield, originally played by her in London, and gave a charming performance. Mr. Max Freeman displayed his eccentric humor as Mr. Gould Smale, and Miss Louise Dillon was a petite and piquant Mary Middleton. The other parts were in good hands and the play moved with smoothness and good effect. The audience was large and the applause frequent. On Wednesday afternoon what is known as a “professional” matinée of “Lady Clare” will be given, to which all the members of the dramatic profession in town will be invited that they may witness Miss Jay’s performance of the Eton boy.

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New-York Daily Tribune (6 January, 1885 - p.5)

     Mr. Robert Buchanan’s play of “Lady Clare,” which the public received with considerable favor last season at Wallack’s Theatre, was revived last evening at Niblo’s Garden, and there represented with a good cast and good scenery—the principal characters being represented by Cora Tanner, Louisa Dillon, Flora Livingston, Kate Desin, Ellen Blaisdell, Harriet Jay, H. M. Pitt, Max Freeman, Robert Frazer, Henry Aveling and Frederick Cobett. Miss Harriet Jay played a boy, Hon. Cecil Brookfield. She was the original of this part when “Lady Clare” was first acted in London, and on account of much alleged professional interest in her performance of it the managers of Niblo’s Garden have invited the members of the dramatic profession to attend the matinée at their theatre on Wednesday.

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The Era (24 January, 1885 - Issue 2418)

     MR BUCHANAN’S Lady Clare was played at Niblo’s Garden this week, and his sister-in-law, Miss Harriet Jay, has been assuming the rôle of the Hon. Cecil Brookfield. Miss Jay is a few inches taller and considerably heavier than Lord Ambermere, and when she cries defiantly “Hit one of ‘your size’” she brings down the house.

[Advert for a revival of Lady Clare (with Harriett Jay) from The Stage (28 August, 1885 - p.12)]

The Stage (15 June, 1888 - p.4)

     DUBLIN—GAIETY (Patentee, proprietor, and Director, Mr. Michael Gunn; General Manager, Mr. J. Doyle).—Miss Janetta Steer, supported by Mr. Frederick Mouillot and Co., appeared here on Monday evening in Robert Buchanan’s drama, Lady Clare, and received a generous reception. To the representation of the title rôle Miss Steer lent all that personal attractions and a genuine capacity for portraying emotion could bestow on it, while Mr. Frederick Mouillot, albeit at times inaudible, owing to a peculiar habit of lowering his voice at the termination of a sentence, gave a careful rendering of the character of John Middleton, and in the second act especially may be credited with a really capable piece of playing in his scene with Lady Clare. The Lord Ambermere of Mr. R. T. Lingham was a somewhat spasmodic performance of the part, and Mr. Charles Herberte was only fairly good as Mr. Gould Smale. The small part of Count Legrange was successfully played by Mr. Wilton Heriot, and Mr. J. Edward Wolf, who, under other names, appeared to double some other minor parts, caused some merriment to the gallery by his exposition of the character of Major O’Connor. The brighter side of the story was depicted humorously and cleverly by Miss Dolly Harmer and Miss Dora Goddard, who appeared as Hon. Cecil Brookfield and Mary Middleton respectively, and Miss Leslie Lester rendered the part of Melissa Smale with no inconsiderable amount of success. Mrs. Ernest Clifton represented the Countess of Broadmeads. The drama was fairly well mounted, and the incidental music, which is pretty and was tastefully executed, is by Lady Arthur Hill. The comedietta, A Case for Eviction, preceded the drama, and was capably performed.

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The Stage (24 August, 1888 - p.4)

     BELFAST—ROYAL (Proprietor and Manager, Mr. J. F. Warden; Secretary and Business Manager, Mr. Fred Jarman).—We are fortunate in having Robert Buchanan’s Lady Clare on its first production here, rendered by such a capable young actress as Miss Janette Steer and the capable Co. supporting her. Miss Steer’s portrayal of the haughty Lady Clare is a finished performance, the subtle changes of the character are firmly grasped, and nowhere is there a straining for effect. Mr. F. Mouillot as John Middleton gives a masterly interpretation in keeping with the character. Mr. Charles Herbert is a thorough Yankee, and Mr. F. Seale Lingham as Lord Amblemere gets the villain’s praise—plenty of hisses. The humours of juvenile courtship are well delineated by Miss Naomi Hope as Melissa Smale and Mr. Raymond Capp as Cecil Brookfield. On Thursday Pygmalion and Galatea was to be played with Miss Steer as Galatea. Next week, Mr. and Mrs. Hubert O’Grady and Co. in Emigration.

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The Theatre (1 May, 1894)

[From the section ‘Some Amateur Performances.’]

“LADY CLARE,” BY THE ROMANY CLUB.

     Buchanan’s version of “The Ironmaster” has never stood high in favour amongst amateurs, and in steering wide of it they have shown their good sense. Tackling the leading parts means, for the majority of amateurs, courting disaster. There are just three or four I could lay my hand upon who might be trusted to render a fair account of Middleton, and Miss Olive Kennett, I fancy, could reveal to us something of the tragedy of that second act; but save and excepting these it were best to leave the play on the shelf, “in the odour of camphor.” It’s too tough a nut for them. Mr. and Mrs. Hallward have stronger teeth than most, and even they do not get to the kernel of their characters, though the actress (at her best in the first and last acts) comes uncommonly near it—so near, indeed, that with a stronger note of pathos it would be actually within her grasp. As it stands, however, it is a performance to be equalled by few amateurs, and beaten only by the one exception I have named. Compared with the difficulties with which the principals are compassed about, the path of the remainder seems singularly free from obstacle, and such trifling ones as present themselves are dismissed with enviable ease by the capable cast the Romany put forward. Mrs. Sim, alone amongst amateurs in her capacity for character of a boldly-marked kind, was exactly the actress required for Melissa Smale; Mr. Auckland Bramwell’s realistic Ambermere aroused the strongst interest in a new actor; Mrs. Coplestone, with the merest corner to fill, filled it to perfection; Mr. Tulloh gave a graphic sketch of the American millionaire; Mr. Birch Reynardson exercised marked discretion as the Count; a couple of minutes sufficed Mr. Montgomerie for an excellent bit of work; Mr. Jeaffreson’s boyish spirits enlivened the wearisome comic relief; Miss Annesley was lively if somewhat self-conscious as Mary—curiously enough, in little Miss Allen, the dainty little actress who made her début at the last Romany performance, the Club had the very actress to their hand.

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Next: Robert Buchanan’s production of J. B. Buckstone’s The Flowers of the Forest (1883)

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