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"H the next generation be like? Certes,
One of Jack Bi Yeats’s Plays for the Miniature Stage .
‘R to JAMES FLAUNTY: ,
OR, THE TERROR OF THE WESTERN SEAS.
is. net; or,‘Coloured by the Author, 55. net.
“ A ‘ Mi-:MoRY ‘ of R. L. Stevenson comcs seldom amiss, and now especially, when
the romancer's name and fame are as a shuttlecock between wholly adoring and
still discriminating friends, may be considered apt and seasonable. So it won't
hurt to read this: -
“ There stands, I fanc , to this da (but now how fallen !) a certain stationer’s
shop at a corner of the wi e thorough are that joins the city of m childhood with
the sea. When upon an Saturday we made a party to beho d the ships, we
passed that corner; an since in those days I loved a ship as a man loves
Burgundy or daybreak, this of itself had been enough to hallow it. But there
was more than that. In that window, all the year round, there stood displa ed a
theatre in working order, with a ‘ forest set,’ ' a combat,’ and a few ‘ robbers
carousing ' in the slides; and below and about-dearer tenfold to me !-tlie plays
themselves, those budgets of romance, lay tumbled, one upon another.”-A Penny
Plain and Twopmce Coloured. ’
“ Here. palpably, was a hint for somebody, who has turned out to be Mr. jack
B. Yeats. The first of his ‘plays in the old manner ’-‘James Flaunty ; or, The
Terror of Ilie..Westem Seas '-lies before me, and it is a study in grotes ue. The
most notable point in this production is the fact that the interest tliereo attaches
not only to the dialogue--you will, however, relish that--but to the setting, the
close reproduction of old-world lettering‘ and art, which is a vast deal more
than an ordinary publisher's advertisement, and cunning enough to deceive the
very elect. The ferocious woodcuts, the jaunty humour of the speeches, the fore-
and-aft and down-the-hatchway plot, the bizarre characters, harmonize perfectly,
and well they may; for .
characters, contrived the plot, fashioned the speeches, and designed the
illustrations. .
Debauched by sixpenny and even threepenny editions, some may rail at this
as a dear shilling's worth. (For superior copies the charge is a crown.) For all
such niggards this lean butprecious pamphlet-it is no more-will be caviare.
But drat economy, say I, when a paltry subscription will land you straight into
the arms of a real toy pirate. Never again will you have so good a chance of
seeing one, of hanging on his talk, of 5
mean, apart from the resent showmen, w
Stevenson, you mark, ad two sources of enjoyment-play and puppet-show-and
Mr. Mathews announces his intention of producing the plays, with scenes and
characters, on sheets, to be cut out and played on miniature stages. What will
'tis a bold experiment, and, to say:tliIe igvorst,
0, however, promise yet better things.
a queer revival."--Speaker, 7l2l02.
" Ara time when the palmy days of the drama are a melanchol remembrance, we
welcome the publication of times Flmmty; or, The Terror of t 2: Western Seas, by
Jack B. Yeats (Elkin Mat ews), which, in its awakening of romance, may be
dimly associated with the Celtic revival. The spirit of the publication may be
indicated by'a quotation on the cover from Stevenson’s.“A Penny Plain and
Twopence Coloured.". It is announced that copies of the play coloured by the
author may be had for five shillings, but it is ditiicult to be ieve that colour can
add materially to the excellence of these designs. Stlllfa judicious use of
“crimson lake (“ Hark to the sound of it, reader," as Stevenson says) might add
something to the glories of Captain Gig and the rest. We may particularly coxn<
mend the reticence of effect in the pictures, which aim at no vul arity of face-
tiousness, and there is an ex uisite moderation in the dialogue. ‘ t is intended
later to produce the plays wit scenes and characters on sheets, to be cut out and
placed on miniature stages.’ We should like to be there to sce.j'.
' Manchester Guanlum, I0[I2[0I. .
Mr. Yeats, all by himself, has invented those‘same ’
gimpathising with his peril. Never, I R