Partners2


	Heinrich Borgfeldt ... Mr. H. Beerbohm-Tree Charles Derwentwate ... Mr. Laurence Cautley Mr. Parr ... Mr. H. Kemble Mr. Algernon Bellair ... Mr. Chas. Brookfield Mrs. Harkaway’s Husband Mr. Eric Lewis Dr. Somerville ... Mr. Stewart Dawson Smith ... Mr. Robb Harwood


	Boker ... Mr. Stratton Rodney Dickinson ... Mr. C. Allan Claire ... Miss Marion Terry Alice Bellair ... Miss Achurch Gretchen ... Miss Minnie Terry Mary ... Miss Emilie Grattan Lady Silverdale Miss Le Thiere Mrs. Harkaway Miss Gertrude Kingston

If Mr. Buchanan had done no more than fit Mr. Beerbohm-Tree with a character which was peculiarly suited to him, the play-going public would have had cause to feel some gratitude, for this young actor so identifies himself with whatever part he undertakes that, though the result may not in all cases be completely satisfactory, it cannot fail to be an interesting study to an audience. But in “Partners” the author has done more than this: he has given us a play with much interest in it, and at least one incident that is thoroughly human, the salvation of a mother from perhaps the greatest sin a woman can commit, through the timely remembrance of the duty she owes to her little child, and, through her, to her husband. Mr. Buchanan tells us in the playbill that his principal character has been partly founded on that of Risler in Daudet’s “Fromont Jeune et Risler Ainé.” He owes somewhat more than this to the work. Henrich Borgfeldt [(the Risler in “Partners”), an elderly man, has risen from being a mere counting-house drudge to become the head of a large mercantile firm. His gratitude to the deceased head of the establishment is unbounded; so great is it that he admits Charles Derwentwater, the husband of his late chief’s daughter Mary, to be a partner solely because he is her husband. Borgfeldt’s whole existence is wrapped up in two objects—the one the welfare and “honour of the house” over which he watches, the other his love for his young wife Claire. His almost over-anxiety and attention to business lays his wife open to the attentions and fascination of the partner, Charles, who, with the basest ingratitude, does his best to betray his benefactor’s honour, neglects a wife who loves him, and by his reckless extravagance, in the satisfying of which he even acts criminally, nearly brings the “house” to ruin. When Borgfeldt discovers his wife’s infamy, as he supposes, he drives her from him as an outcast, but with almost too magnanimous a feeling with regard to his duty towards the “honour of the house,” he abrogates his position as partner, gives up all the wealth he has accumulated, becomes once more a clerk in the counting-house, and keeps Charles’s wife in ignorance of her husband’s misdeeds of every kind. Fortunately for the old man’s ultimate happiness, his own wife Claire is able to prove that she may have been weak and wicked, but not criminal, as, at the time that she was on the brink of falling and yielding to her lover’s solicitations to fly with him, her little girl Gretchen comes for her usual good-night kiss, and saves her not only then, but for always, for it opens her eyes to the evil she is committing, an evil in which she has been encouraged and which has been almost suggested by a Mrs. Harkaway, who is jealous of her former suitor Charles’s admiration for Claire. The reconciliation between husband and wife is supposed to take place at Christmas time in the humble lodging in which Borgfeldt, his little girl Gretchen, and Alice Bellair, his wife’s sister, are living, and is brought about through the medium of the child. Had Mr. Buchanan confined the action of his play to three acts, instead of prolonging it to five, he might have achieved a success; as it is, the interest dwindled away on the first night until his audience became weary, and the excessive elaboration of the character of Borgfeldt by Mr. Beerbohm-Tree, excellent as it would have been had he not always occupied the stage, from the fact of its being but seldom relieved by any bursts of feeling, naturally, after a time, became slightly monotonous. Perfect as Mr. Tree’s broken English is, it is doubtful whether anyone after so long a residence in this country would have retained so much of his mother tongue, and a nature that could keep its passion so completely under control and behave with such an excess of magnanimity is almost ideal. Miss Marion Terry, I think, did as much as she could with a character that was inconsistent, and certainly showed much feeling when saved by her child Gretchen, a part that was very naturally filled by little Miss Minnie Terry. One of the most sterling performances was that of Mr. H. Kemble as the faithful and honest- speaking head clerk, Mr. Parr. Miss Achurch was graceful and sympathetic as Alice Bellair. Mr. Lawrence Cautley made a showy but rather stagy lover as Charles Derwentwater. The introduction of Algernon Bellair, an impecunious actor of the old school, was often sadly out of place, and jarred upon the feelings, though through no fault of Mr. Brookfield’s. Mr. Eric Lewis, with scarcely a word to say, was amusing as Mrs. Harkaway’s husband, and Mr. C. Allan was excellent as a pompous butler. Miss Gertrude Kingston with more experience will be a valuable addition to the company, judging from the way in which she filled the role of the heartless woman of fashion, Mrs. Harkaway; and Miss Le Thiere showed considerable dry humour as Lady Silverdale. Since the first performance such alterations have been introduced into “Partners” as cause it to play much closer and with manifest advantage.

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Birmingham Daily Post (6 February, 1888)

LONDON CORRESPONDENCE.
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LONDON, Sunday Night.

. . .

An interesting debut will be made at the Haymarket in the coming week. “Partners,” which is being played nightly to crowded houses, will be preceded by Mr. A. C. Calmour’s poetical one-act piece “Cupid’s Messengers” in which Miss Kate Rorke was accustomed to play so charmingly at the Vaudeville a couple of years since, and her original part—that of a high-spirited young damsel who disguises herself as a page in the cause of love—will be taken by a daughter of Lady Freake. Miss Freake will then make her first appearance on the regular stage, but she is known to be an accomplished amateur actress, and she played this same character at a semi-private performance at Cromwell House three weeks ago with much success.

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The Western Times (20 February, 1888 - p.3)

MR. BUCHANAN’S “PARTNERS.”

We have to apologise to Mr. Robert Buchanan for an injustice which we have unintentionally done him in publishing some dramatic gossip on his new play, “Partners,” lately brought out at the Haymarket. The notice appeared on Saturday, February 11th, in a paragraph in our London Weekly Letter of that date. The paragraph stated among other things that the play was a failure, although it was an extremely pretty play, right well acted; that Mr. Buchanan would listen to no counsels of pruning; and that in consequence of the failure “Pompadour” was being rehearsed. We are informed on behalf of Mr. Buchanan that these statements are unfounded in fact, that, on the contrary, never before has so much money been taken at the Haymarket as on the occasion of the production of “Partners”; that Mr. Beerbohm Tree has stated that Mr. Buchanan is the most amenable of authors, and that the “Pompadour” is not being rehearsed. Under these circumstances we take the earliest opportunity afforded us to correct the mis-statements of the paragraph, and to assure Mr. Buchanan of our sincere regret to have done him the injury of publishing them.

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The Stage (2 March, 1888 - p.13)

Buchanan’s Partners was played at the Haymarket Theatre on Saturday evening last for the fiftieth time. The cutting the play has received has made it much more acceptable than it at first was. I am pleased to notice that most of the blots in the piece which were pointed out in The Stage have been wiped out, much to the advantage of the story. By-the-bye, Miss Netta Aylward has been playing Mrs. Harkaway in Partners during the last week in place of Miss Kingston, who had through domestic trouble to give up her part. Miss Aylward succeeded well enough to gain the managerial smile and congratulatory shake of the hand.

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The New York Times (1 April, 1888)

Mr. Alexander Salvini will have the character sustained in London by Mr. Beerbohm Tree in “Partners” at the Madison-Square Theatre tomorrow night. The man is an elderly German, Henry Borgfeldt, a wealthy manufacturer, the husband of a young, vain wife, and the partner in business of a vain and foolish young man. The character is founded on Daudet’s Risler in “Fromont Jeune et Risler Aine,” and Mr. Robert Buchanan’s play is merely a new stage version of that famous romance which had already been put on the stage—in France with notable success—before Mr. Buchanan took up the subject. A dramatic version of Daudet’s story under the title of “Sidonie” was tried at the Fifth-Avenue Theatre in this city during the Winter of 1877-8. Mr. Buchanan has changed the scene from Paris to London, given new names to the people, and modified the story so as to avoid the tragic but entirely natural ending of the original. But many of the essential components of “Fromont jeune et Risler aine” will be recognized in “Partners.” The faithful bookkeeper of the firm has a counterpart in Parr, the character intrusted to Mr. J. H. Stoddart and the retired comedian is reproduced in Algernon Bellair, to be acted by Mr. E. M. Holland. The cast, otherwise, will be as follows: Charles Derwentwater, Walden Ramsey; Mrs. Harkaway’s husband, Herbert Ayling; Dr. Somerville, William Davidge; Dickinson, C. P. Flockton; Boker, John Findlay; Smith, W. H. Pope; Servant, George S. Stevens; Claire, Marie Burroughs; Alice Bellair, May Robson; Gretchen, Gertie Homan; Mary Derwentwater, Kate Malony; Lady Silverdale, Mrs. Phillips, and Mrs. Harkaway, Mathilde Madison.

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The New York Times (3 April, 1888)

“PARTNERS:” MR. SALVINI’S NEW CHARACTER.

   It was a night of triumph at the Madison-Square Theatre. Robert Buchanan’s play, a palpable imitation of “Fromont jeune et Risler aine,” though it cannot be strictly called a dramatization of Daudet’s romance, was well received from the beginning. The acting of Mr. Alexander Salvini was uncommonly moving and forcible; his associates were generally efficient, and two of them at least, Mr. Stoddart and Mr. E. M. Holland, achieved distinguished success. The audience was large, friendly, and demonstrative. As the evening wore on the demonstrations increased in vigor and effusiveness. The fourth act of the drama ends with a passage of words between a husband and wife touching their social relation in its most serious point and involving a strong display of emotion and passion. When the curtain had fallen upon this scene the actors were thrice recalled, and the tumult did not subside until Mr. A. M. Palmer had appeared on the stage to acknowledge the tribute bestowed upon his theatre and his company.
   “Partners” is in five acts, and it pleases Mr. Buchanan to describe it as a comedy-drama. The story of the play resembles Daudet’s famous romance except in one important particular. The character of Sidonie is displaced by a weak-minded, vain woman, who does not wholly succumb to temptation, and whose love for her child helps her to maintain her wifely honor. In the height of the domestic tempest, when Henry Borgfeldt sees commercial ruin and personal disgrace before him, when he casts his wife from him and sacrifices all to preserve the honor of his firm, the spectator knows that the storm clouds will pass away and Borgfeldt’s romance will have a happy ending. To be sure, the character of Claire Borgfeldt is not to be compared, as a study of human nature with Daudet’s Sidonie, that strong, repellant, yet fascinating, study of total depravity. Claire is merely a pretty, ill-bred simpleton, who loves her child, and will be very fond of her husband after a little sad experience. Mr. Buchanan has kept close to Daudet in choosing other essential materials for his play; in the viciousness of the young partner, in the sagacity and faithfulness of the old bookkeeper, and in the harmless pretentiousness of the retired actor, the story of “Fromont jeune et Risler aine” is strictly adhered to. The rest of the play is Buchanan’s own, and a very fair amount of skill is displayed in the development of the plot and in the employment of theatrical device.
   Henry Borgfeldt, a German, was a workman employed by a firm of manufacturers. The head of the firm encouraged him and in time he became a partner. When the play begins Borgfeldt is the senior partner and Charles Derwentwater, husband of his old employer’s daughter, is the junior partner. Borgfeldt regards Mr. Charles and Mr. Charles’s wife almost with reverence; his 5-year-old daughter he simply worships; his wife, Claire, he blindly adores. He is rough, lusty, frank, unsuspicious, and affectionate. The splendor of his new home worries him somewhat, and the dignified butler, who always addresses him as “me lud” from force of “’abit” makes him very uncomfortable, but he bears it all for the sake of Claire. Charles Derwentwater loves Claire; a fashionable coquette whom he has piqued endeavors to cause his ruin and Claire’s by way of revenge. Parr, Borgfeldt’s head clerk, warns him from impending ruin, but he will not heed the warning. Returning from a business trip abroad, however, he finds that Parr’s predictions are verified. Derwentwater is a defaulter; the firm is on the verge of bankruptcy, and his wife’s guilt seems to be plain. He tears her diamonds from her neck to increase the assets of the firm and drives her from the house. He compels Charles to return to his own wife, his old master’s daughter, who must be protected from disgrace, and, giving up all his property, retires from the partnership and returns to his old place as a workman. In time his wife’s innocence is manifested and the unusual virtue of Borgfeldt gets its reward.
   It will be seen that Borgfeldt is not quite so reasonable a person as Risler. His blind adoration of Claire is changed to brutal hate too quickly; he does not wait for proofs of his wife’s guilt before he accuses her. His fierce passion after the disclosures is as unreasonable as his complacency and contentment before he knows the truth. But if such men as Borgfeldt are not common, yet the character can scarcely be called an impossible one. In the person of Mr. Salvini last evening the identity of the man was clearly established. A more potent and effective example of acting has not lately been seen on our stage. His strong individuality dominated the whole play, and the ardor and vehemence with which the character was endowed by the actor carried the sympathies of the spectators as with the force of a whirlwind. A gentler touch of some passages, a bit of delicate shading here and there would have improved the performance, but there is no ground for cavil. The wholesome vigor of Mr. Salvéni is not to be lightly regarded in these days of theatrical feebleness. His strong dramatic instinct, his sense of the picturesque were denoted in everything he did. His make-up was a remarkable disguise, and he looked the character to the life.
   Of the others we must speak very briefly. Mr. Stoddart had a congenial rôle as Parr. This was an admirable study, full of dignity and pathos. In the scene of the revelation Parr seems to be playing Iago to his employer’s Othello, and the honest contempt the old clerk feels for Borgfeldt’s sentimental weakness gives a twist to his utterances that makes the likeness stronger. A droll bit of quiet caricature was contributed by Mr. E. M. Holland, as Algernon Bellair, a retired actor with a profound regard for himself, Claire’s father, and a pensioner of Borgfeldt. Miss May Robson gave just the right tone to the few words spoken by Alice Bellair, Claire’s sister, a character remotely suggested by the lame girl of Daudet. Miss Robson’s acting had the effect of absolute sincerity. Miss Marie Burroughs was sweet and pretty as Claire, but lacking in force. Mr. Flockton was the dreadfully dignified butler; Miss Mathilde Madison, in gorgeous robes, the tiresome, intriguing woman of fashion; Mrs. Phillips, a good old lady with plenty of common sense, and Gertie Homan, a cunning little girl, appeared as Gretchen, Borgfeldt’s child.

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The Stage (20 April, 1888 - p.9)

Robert Buchanan’s Partners has “caught on” at Madison Square Theatre, New York, where it was produced with the following cast:—Henry Borgfeldt, Alexander Salvini; Charles Derwentwater, Walden Ramsay; Mr. Parr, J. H. Stoddard; Mr. Algernon Bellair, E. M. Holland; Mrs. Harkaway’s Husband, Herbert Ayling; Dr. Somerville, William Davidge; Dickinson, C. P. Flockton; Boker, John Findlay; Smith, W. H. Pope; Servant, George S, Stevens; Claire, Marie Burroughs; Alice Bellair, May Robson; Gretchen, Gertie Homan; Mary, Kate Malony; Lady Silverdale, Mrs. E. J. Phillips; Mrs. Harkaway, Mathilde Madison. In mentioning the first performance of the play in America the New York Mirror says:—“Partners will run this season out at the Madison Square, and we should not be surprised if its career continued there for at least some part of the next season.”

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The Era (21 April, 1888 - p.16)

MR ROBERT BUCHANAN’S five-act comedy-drama Partners, which was produced at the Madison-square Theatre on last Monday night, can safely be said to have made the hit of the season there. While the strength of the play is acknowledged, it is also true that the excellent representation of the piece which the company gave it had much to do with the favour with which it was received. In the rôle of Borgfeldt, Mr Alexander Salvini gave an impersonation that not even his most sanguine friends believed him capable of. In make-up, in speech, in dress, and in manner he was the noble, rugged, unconventional German to the life. His strong individuality pervaded the part, and his performance, while not lacking in artistic finish, was full of vigour and life. Next to Mr Salvini’s Borgfeldt in artistic worth was Mr J. H. Stoddard’s Mr Parr. His impersonation of the old clerk would have done credit to the Comédie Française. Miss Marie Burroughs was sweet and effective as the heroine, and Mr E. M. Holland’s portraiture of the retired actor was droll and grotesque. Gertie Homen was as much a revelation as little Gretchen as Mr Salvini had been as Borgfeldt. Partners will end the season at the Madison-square.

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From the chapter, ‘Mr. Palmer’s Productions. [Madison Square Theatre, 1887-88.]’ by George Edgar Montgomery in The Dramatic Year 1887-1888, edited by Edward Fuller (Boston: Ticknor and Company, 1889 - p. 75-78).

   It seems to be without question that Mr. Palmer looked to Mr. Buchanan’s play, “Partners,” as about the most serious production of his season. This play had been received with decided favour in London, and it was known to be based, in a measure, upon one of the famous novels of recent literature. Moreover, Mr. Buchanan is himself a writer of reputation—too prolific and versatile a writer for the highest kind of reputation—yet a man of brilliant endowment. Mr. Buchanan has succeeded rather well in building a play, so to speak, out of one of Fielding’s novels; it was felt, when the announcement was made that he had built one out of Daudet’s “Fromont Jeune et Risler Ainé,” that he might be successful at this second and not less hazardous venture. But I fancy, on the whole, that those who are acquainted with Mr. Buchanan’s “Partners,” prefer not to think of it in association with such a potent and original book as “Fromont Jeune et Risler Ainé.”
   The popularity of plays appears to depend measurably upon the skilful manner in which they approach the commonplace. The material which goes to make what we often speak of as a strong play would make a feeble novel. And the subtle distinction which lifts a novel into literature is quite as often the thing we do not expect to find nor care to find in a play. The beauty, the power, the courage and character of Daudet’s novel are not reproduced, indeed, barely suggested, in Mr. Buchanan’s “Partners.” This piece is really a dexterous bit of commonplace, a threadbare touching upon a great theme, a feeble dallying with actual life. It is a good illustration of the stage in its attitude towards society and morals. The heroine—she who takes the part of the living and imperishable Sidonie—is a silly wife of the average kind, small-minded enough to be tempted, not bold enough to commit herself to any positive thought or action. The hero, on the other hand, is a man of the most positive character. He is the woman’s husband; a German of plebeian birth, Henry Borgfeldt. Borgfeldt’s honesty, ingenuousness, manliness, and simple passion, are certainly worth all the rest of Mr. Buchanan’s play. Yet there are minor characters that are neatly sketched, several taking situations, and at least one scene of really tragic interest.
   Among those who had places in the cast of “Partners” were Mr. Alexander Salvini as Borgfeldt, Miss Marie Burroughs as Claire, Miss Mathilde Madison as Mrs. Harkaway, Mr. Walden Ramsay as Charles Derwentwater, Mr. C. P. Flockton as Dickinson, Miss May Robson as Alice, and Mr. E. M. Holland as Algernon Bellair—a very even and excellent distribution of characters.
   One might believe that Mr. Buchanan had written “Partners”—shutting his eyes to all its improbabilities and conventionalities— for the single purpose of giving Mr. Salvini a rare opportunity to display copious natural talent. Mr. Salvini had, of course, revealed his talent previously. Even in “Elaine” he did some fine things; though his acting in “Elaine” was, in the main, merely bearish. In a certain play, acted on a recent afternoon, at the Madison Square Theatre, his acting brought back to memory the glow and the strength—and much of the intelligence—of his father. In “Partners,” however, he was called upon to perform what is technically described as a “character part,” the part of a middle-aged German, brought up in a hard school of life, tender at heart, though rough in manner, gentle as a child or stern as a judge. Mr. Salvini treated this character with absolute ease and sincerity, and by it he demonstrated both his versatility and his native genius. But, then, he can be quite as uninteresting as he can be interesting; he may accept this hint for what it is worth. His future on the stage, it seems to me, is assured.

GEORGE EDGAR MONTGOMERY.

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The Referee (6 May, 1888 - p.3)

A Refereader who abides in Tokio, Japan, having read in my notice of “Partners” at the Haymarket about the little child Gretchen coming down stairs in her nightdress and recalling her mamma to a sense of wifely duty, says he wonders if Mr. Buchanan ever read “Entre le Bal et le Berceau,” by Achard, before he wrote “Partners.” I’m sorry I cannot satisfy my Japanese friend’s curiosity, but perhaps Buchanan will oblige.

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Brooklyn Eagle (15 January, 1889 - p.4)

“PARTNERS.”
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Presentation of Robert Buchanan’s Comedy.

The story of the comedy of “partners has already been sketched and the performance noted in these columns. Suffice it to repeat that it shows the financial ruin of a wealthy manufacturer, Henry Borgfeldt, by his junior partner, a gay, unthinking young fellow, who squanders the money of the firm in pleasure and who is also brought into bad repute before the audience by attempting to dishonor the frivolous wife of his friend. Dramatic suspense is held by the supposition that he has accomplished his purpose, but all is made happy by Borgfeldt’s discovery, at the last, that his wife had resisted temptation and that her better nature had been awakened through sympathy with his misfortunes. The sinning partner absents himself, in expiation, resigns his personal fortune to retrieve the losses of the firm, and husband and wife are reunited. Robert Buchanan, who adapted the comedy from something of Alphonse Daudet’s, is not a first class dramatist, and he allows too much of his work to go before the public without revision. “Partners,” in spite of its inherent interest, its deft handling of incident and the force with which the principal situations are developed, needs a little kindly editing. There are so many redundancies and repetitions of speech that two hours of work are stretched along through a space of three hours and more. It is not the time that makes a play tedious, but the unwise employment of it. With condensation “Partners” would be bettered, and among the things cut out should be most of Borgfeldt’s “My Gods!” and the frequent assurances of his old clerk that he “foresaw it all from the first.” A strong or meaning phrase quickly loses its effect when it is dinned into the ears. Of the acting of the play by Mr. Palmer’s well picked company—actors who are not cast in the piece now running at his own house—little can or should be said except in praise. Whatever the play, it is delightful to find a troupe working together so neatly, so harmoniously, and so justifying the assignment of players to parts. It recalls the good and not very old days of stock companies and makes one wish that such performances might be seen oftener. Alexander Salvini appears as Borgfeldt and his assumption of the character is a surprise. Instead of the graceful actor of Romeos and Launcelots we see a heavy, hearty German of middle age, with bristling hair, shuffling step, awkward in movement and. most remarkable of all, speaking with a tongue that trips in its English, quite as a German’s tongue is apt to do. Considering Mr. Salvini’s Italian birth and training the acquisition of this dialect must have involved an amount of study little less than heroic. Aside from the completeness of these technical details, too, his personation has artistic amplitude and robust physical power and the exhibitions of mental suffering perceptibly moved the audience. Contrasted with him is the well clothed, vain, light minded junior partner whom Louis Massen depicted without great effort. Mr. Massen is an interesting actor when he has real work to do, but in a wax figure part like this he does not show to advantage. His strongest emotion does not uncurl his mustache, unslick his hair or wrinkle his clawhammer coat. C. P. Flockton, as the old clerk, was a striking portraiture; he looked as if he might have stepped out of a page of Dickens. Frederick Corbett, too, as a relic of the palmy days, though he had little to do but maunder about and borrow money, contrived to be amusing and at times recalled the elder Sothern in “The Crushed Tragedian.” Another cleverly acted bit was C. H. Taylor’s Mr. Harkaway, a society idiot. The ladies of the cast showed a comparative lack of the energy and the color that was seen in the work of the men, but they were graceful, handsomely dressed and played with a pretty appreciation of what was expected of them. Maud Harrison was the erring wife, Nannie Craddock, was her sensible sister; Kate Malony was the neglected spouse of the junior partner. Virginia Buchanan was a fine and sensible old lady who tried to keep Mrs. Borgfeldt from running to her ruin, though impelled to do so by a female Mephistopholes that Katharine Rogers presented. The play was set in a satisfactory manner. Next week, the London Gaiety Company will appear in “Miss Esmeralda.”

[Note: The E. J. Phillips website provides some information regarding the American reception of “Partners”.]

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The Liverpool Mercury (21 August, 1891 - p.5)

COURT THEATRE.
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Out of a novel of M. Alphonse Daudet Mr. Robert Buchanan has contrived a drama which is not without merit, but which one would not like to see acted by inferior players. The title of the novel is “Fromant jeune et risler aine,” and that of the piece is “Partners.” It is a somewhat painful story that is conveyed in “Partners.” and the reconciliation in the closing act, with its strong suggestion of Dickens, comes as a relief. Most industrious of littérateurs, Mr. Buchanan is clever in the craftsmanship of the stage, but even this skill of his does not remove “Partners” from conventional limits. As already has been proposed, it is not the play, but the acting, that is the thing. Caricatures of actors are common enough, as witness Mr. Crummles, Mr. Folair, and Mr. Lenville in “Nicholas Nickleby”; Mortimer Fitzclarence and Mr. Gummidge in Mr. Labouchare’s “Temple of Vesta”; and Mr. Blenkinsop, the old retired and respectable “heavy father,” in “The Newcomes”; and in his treatment of Mr. Algernon Bellair, the counterpart in Daudet’s invention, Mr. Buchanan is singularly happy, and no less felicitous is Mr. Fernandez’ performance of this character. See, as portrayed by Mr. Fernandez, the stately swagger of the great Bellair; note the mechanical gestures which he mistakes for grace; hear his sighing lament that the good old days have gone, and you will have laugh consumedly. This impersonation is in every respect a masterly study, and it is apparent that Mr. Fernandez enjoys the putting of it before the public. Mr. Tree may have made a managerial mistake in limiting the representations of “The Dancing Girl” to four, but they who were in the Court Theatre profited by the change, for they then had the opportunity, which they availed themselves of to the full, of following Mr. Tree’s strikingly powerful and pathetic impersonation of Heinrich Borgfeldt. His embodiment of this touching conception, in which so much love, and manliness, and honour are harmoniously blent, is a rare achievement in the art of acting. Mark the infinitude of expository details, such as the eloquently forceful movements of the hands, the varied shades of facial expression, and the rising and falling of the voice as its cadences tell the alternations of sorrow, of hope, and of joy. Miss Neilson’s Claire is another exemplification of the amplitude of her promise as an emotional actress. Other characters of more or less importance are held by Miss Rose Le Clerq, Miss Aylward, Miss Adelaide Gunn, Mr. Fred Terry, Mr. H. Kemble, and Mr. Allan, the last-named giving an assumption, replete with comic distinction, of a pompous butler. Miss Annie Shipley, a little girl who belongs to this city, reveals, in the part of Gretchen, true aptitude. Ordinarily the stage child is to be avoided, but here we have intelligence rather than parrot-like precocity. It should be added that the excellent scenic surroundings of “Partners” are of the working “stock” of the Court. “The Ballad-monger” succeeds “Partners,” and we renew our praise of the Besant-Pollock version of De Banville’s “Gringoire,” and of the quality of the acting of the piece, notably in the cases of Mr. Tree’s Gringoire and Mr. Fernandez’ Louis XI. Mrs. Tree now appears as Loyse, and plays this with tenderness and refinement. “Partners” and “The Ballad-monger” are to be repeated to-night, when the curtain will rise at a quarter-past seven. Last evening, on the termination of the fourth act of “Partners,” Mr. Tree and his chief colleagues were called before the curtain to receive the cordial congratulations of the audience. Mr. Fernandez could not respond owing to his preparation for Louis XI., and Mr. Tree, with the grace which becomes him so well, apologised for the absence of his brother artist, and acknowledged the plaudits of the people on behalf of Mr. Fernandez.

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The Stage (3 September, 1891 - p.11)

BIRMINGHAM.

PRINCE OF WALES’S (Proprietors, Messrs. James Rodgers and Son; General Manager, Mr. C. M. Appleby; Acting-Manager, Mr. T. R. Foster).—Mr. H. Beerbohm-Tree’s engagement finished on Saturday. The visit has been a remunerative one. On Friday he presented, for the first time in this city, Robert Buchanan’s play, Partners, and achieved a great success. Nearly three years have elapsed since this drama was produced in London, but the present is the first opportunity we have had of noticing it as presented in the provinces. On this occasion it was received with marks of sincere approval. Although Mr. Buchanan in his adaptation of one of the popular French novels has not introduced anything very original into his work, he has very cleverly woven the incidents together, and the interest is kept running right through the telling of the story. For the representation of this play no better combination of talent than the Haymarket Co. could be got together. As Heinrich Borgenfeldt Mr. Tree has special opportunities, and, needless to say, the character is portrayed in a most effective manner. In his delivery of the “broken English” he is perfect, and in the scene where he first hears the rumours respecting his wife, his acting is masterly. Mr. Fred Terry as Charles Derwentwater was exceedingly good, and Mr. H. Kemble gave a faithful representation of the old clerk, Mr. Parr. One of the best bits of character-study was that of Mr. Fernandez as the retired actor, Algernon Bellair, and this performance was repeatedly applauded. Mr. Allan made a dignified butler, and Mr. Harkaway was humorously depicted by Mr. Goring. As Claire, Miss Julia Neilson scored a success, especially in the last two scenes, and here she had the sympathy of the whole of her audience with her. The part is a very heavy one, but Miss Neilson proved most efficient. Miss Aylward acted well in the small part of Alice, and Miss Adelaide Gunn made an effective Mrs. Harkaway. Miss Rose Leclercq as the good-hearted Lady Silverdale was admirable, and Miss Annie Sheply was a clever little Gretchen. The drama was most tastefully dressed and exceedingly well staged.

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From Herbert Beerbohm Tree: Some Memories of Him and of His Art collected by Max Beerbohm (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1920), from the section, ‘Herbert and I’ by Maud Tree, p.32-33:

“When at last the run of The Red Lamp and The Ballad-Monger came to an end, Partners, an adaptation by Robert Buchanan of “Fromont Jeune et Risler Ainé” (immortal book!) was put on. Shall I record our first memorable quarrel? Why not, since this is called “Herbert and I”? Spoilt by my undeserved uplifting to a leading part, I considered it my right to claim all leading parts (alas! we wives of actors, how many of us fall not into this foolish mistake!). But Marion Terry was rightly and naturally chosen by all concerned for the wife in Partners. One night at supper (Herbert and I were alone) I put forward my grievance. “Why Marion Terry? Why not me?” Herbert answered, with the utmost gentleness and consideration, that there could not be a question as to Marion’s superior suitability, personality and appearance; and I accepted this rebuke meekly enough. (I know she will not mind my confessing all this.) But, unluckily, Herbert still went on to say: “You see, the part needs extraordinary sympathy”—and this gentle implication filled me with a sudden ungovernable rage. I am ashamed to say what absurd form my fury took: suffice it that Herbert got up from the table where we had been supping so happily, and left the house without a word. Domestic Drama, how well you know the situation! The dismay—the doubting certainty that he will come back—the long hours of heart-broken sobbing, huddled in a window where watch can be kept for the longed-for return—the endless, remorseless moments until the almost despaired-of scrape of the latchkey—the piteous appeal for pardon;—then, comfort, kindness, understanding, sweet reconciliation! “Oh, blessing on the falling-out that all the more endears!”
Partners should have been a success, it had all the necessary elements, but nothing very important came of it, and, as was his wont, Herbert quickly gathered himself together for his next venture.”

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