DOI issue:
No. 183 (February 1925)
DOI article:Wilenski, R. H.: The art of the theatre: the Playfair-Sheringham ''Duenna''
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21402#0078
"THE DUENNA"
been the outstanding feature of his
previous revivals. To that system in this
production Mr. Sheringham has added
a wealth of colour in the costumes and an
ingenuity in the manipulation of partly
permanent scenery that grow ever more
intriguing and attractive as the play
proceeds. 0 0 0 0 0
The colours used are mainly apple
green, coral pink, orange-yellow, lavender,
russet, black and white. The whole pro-
duction is created with this palette of
tints that are combined and alternated
but never mixed or blurred. In each
scene the dominant colours are reserved
for the principal characters ; the costumes
are all mutually related ; and the colour
notes are cleverly repeated in the " set."
In Act I. Donna Louisa wears apple green
and white with a touch of coral, and the
orange-yellow is provided by her hair;
Don Jerome, the protagonist of next im-
portance, wears green and white. The
Duenna (Miss Elsie French) appears in
black and white. Later the Duenna wears
a gown of flaming orange-yellow with
feathers of green and lavender, and her
suitor, the Jew Mendoza (Mr. Frank
Cochrane) resolves the daring discord by
a suit of lavender trimmed with the
orange-yellow and by enormous emeralds
in his rings. In the street scene that
follows, the roofs are russet and the paniers
of Donna Clara (Miss Isobel MacLaren)
are also russet with the favourite green.
Mr. Sheringham, in fact, has splashed
about his colour, but he has splashed it, as
the old yarn goes, " with brains "; and de-
lighted with this intelligent display of
colour we forget the fogs of London and
are transported for a few brief hours to
some land of clarity and sunshine, where
intrigue, song, dance and laughter are the
order of the day. 0000
Sheridan and the programme describe
that land as eighteenth century Seville, and
there are sufficient boleros, mantillas,
high combs and castanets to bring the
Iberian peninsula to mind. To ask for
more would be captious and pedantic.
Sheridan, when he wrote " The Duenna,"
had never been nearer to Seville than
Calais, whither he had eloped with the
daughter of Thomas Linley, who wrote
" The Duenna " music ; and Mr. Shering-
ham is also innocent of Spanish travel.
To these accidents we owe the light-
hearted nonchalance of the Hammersmith
production, which contains no hint of the
gloomy ferocity and sinister politeness of
old Spain. Mr. Sheringham is an artist
who has the decorative sense and knows it.
been the outstanding feature of his
previous revivals. To that system in this
production Mr. Sheringham has added
a wealth of colour in the costumes and an
ingenuity in the manipulation of partly
permanent scenery that grow ever more
intriguing and attractive as the play
proceeds. 0 0 0 0 0
The colours used are mainly apple
green, coral pink, orange-yellow, lavender,
russet, black and white. The whole pro-
duction is created with this palette of
tints that are combined and alternated
but never mixed or blurred. In each
scene the dominant colours are reserved
for the principal characters ; the costumes
are all mutually related ; and the colour
notes are cleverly repeated in the " set."
In Act I. Donna Louisa wears apple green
and white with a touch of coral, and the
orange-yellow is provided by her hair;
Don Jerome, the protagonist of next im-
portance, wears green and white. The
Duenna (Miss Elsie French) appears in
black and white. Later the Duenna wears
a gown of flaming orange-yellow with
feathers of green and lavender, and her
suitor, the Jew Mendoza (Mr. Frank
Cochrane) resolves the daring discord by
a suit of lavender trimmed with the
orange-yellow and by enormous emeralds
in his rings. In the street scene that
follows, the roofs are russet and the paniers
of Donna Clara (Miss Isobel MacLaren)
are also russet with the favourite green.
Mr. Sheringham, in fact, has splashed
about his colour, but he has splashed it, as
the old yarn goes, " with brains "; and de-
lighted with this intelligent display of
colour we forget the fogs of London and
are transported for a few brief hours to
some land of clarity and sunshine, where
intrigue, song, dance and laughter are the
order of the day. 0000
Sheridan and the programme describe
that land as eighteenth century Seville, and
there are sufficient boleros, mantillas,
high combs and castanets to bring the
Iberian peninsula to mind. To ask for
more would be captious and pedantic.
Sheridan, when he wrote " The Duenna,"
had never been nearer to Seville than
Calais, whither he had eloped with the
daughter of Thomas Linley, who wrote
" The Duenna " music ; and Mr. Shering-
ham is also innocent of Spanish travel.
To these accidents we owe the light-
hearted nonchalance of the Hammersmith
production, which contains no hint of the
gloomy ferocity and sinister politeness of
old Spain. Mr. Sheringham is an artist
who has the decorative sense and knows it.