G. R. Sims--R. C. Carton--Haddon Chambers--The Independent Theatre and Matinée Performance--The Drama of To-morrow--A "Report of Progress"--The Public and the Actors-- Actor-Managers--The Forces that have given Birth to the Contemporary English Drama--Disappearance of the Obstacles to its becoming Modern and National--Conclusion 300
I have rarely had a more welcome task than that of saying a few words of introduction to the following essays, and of heartily commending them to the English reading public. I am not called upon, nor would it become me, to recriticise the criticism of the English drama they contain, to reargue any of the issues raised, or to vent my own opinions of the persons and plays hereafter dealt with. My business is to thank M. Filon for bringing us before the notice of the French public, to speak of his work as a whole rather than to discuss it in detail, and to define his position in relation to the recent dramatic movement in our country.
But before addressing myself to these main ends, I may perhaps be allowed to call attention to one or two striking passages and individual judgments. The picture in the first chapter of the old actor's life on circuit is capitally done. I do not know where to look for so animated and succinct a rendering of that phase of past theatrical life. And the pilgrimage to the deserted Prince of Wales's Theatre also left a vivid impression on me, perhaps quickened by my own early memories. In all that relates to the early Victorian drama M. Filon seems to me a sure and penetrating guide. All lovers of the English drama, as distinguished from that totally different and in many ways antagonistic institution, the English theatre, must be pleased to see M. Filon stripping the spangles from Bulwer Lytton. To this day Lytton remains an idol of English playgoers and actors, a lasting proof of their inability to distinguish what is dramatic truth. _The Lady of Lyons_ and _Richelieu_ still rank in many theatrical circles with _Hamlet_ as masterpieces of the "legitimate," and _Money_ is still bracketed with _The School for Scandal_. It is benevolent of M. Filon to write dramatic criticism about a nation where such notions have prevailed for half a century.