An instructive contrast to _The Degenerates_ may be found in a nearly
contemporary play, _Mrs. Dane's Defence_, by Mr. Henry Arthur Jones. The
first three acts of this play may be cited as an excellent example of
dexterous preparation and development. Our interest in the sequence of
events is aroused, sustained, and worked up to a high tension with
consummate skill. There is no feverish overcrowding of incident, as is
so often the case in the great French story-plays--_Adrienne
Lecouvreur_, for example, or _Fedora_. The action moves onwards,
unhasting, unresting, and the finger-posts are placed just where they
are wanted.
The observance of a due proportion between preparation and result is a
matter of great moment. Even when the result achieved is in itself very
remarkable, it may be dearly purchased by a too long and too elaborate
process of preparation. A famous play which is justly chargeable with
this fault is _The Gay Lord Quex_. The third act is certainly one of the
most breathlessly absorbing scenes in modern drama; but by what long,
and serpentine, and gritty paths do we not approach it! The elaborate
series of trifling incidents by means of which Sophy Fullgarney is first
brought from New Bond Street to Fauncey Court, and then substituted for
the Duchess's maid, is at no point actually improbable; and yet we feel
that a vast effort has been made to attain an end which, owing to the
very length of the sequence of chances, at last assumes an air of
improbability.
Pages:
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301