Productions and Reviews
"In Fashion, Mowatt constructed a play that amused her listeners by exposing their frailties."—Kelly Taylor, Fear, Loathing, and "Fashion"
There were only a few extremely critical reviews of Fashion, one of which was published by the Spirit of the Times and is shown below. This review criticized the writing of Fashion for not truly abiding by comic principles. Underneath its criticisms of the play, however, this review does underhandedly compliment the acting in the play:
"After murdering some four-score pieces of standard worth, they absolutely make a comedy out of Fashion--to the popular eyes at least. To its neatly turned points of satire, one has added a shrug of the shoulder, another a jocose leer...without the actors, Fashion would be intolerable."—Reviewer for Spirit of the Times
Undoubtedly, the most important critiques of Fashion came from the famous writer Edgar Allen Poe (depicted right). Poe claimed that Mowatt's play was derivative, drawing parallels between it and another play, The School for Scandal: (Barnes 149) He deemed Mowatt's play to be too conventional, claiming that Fashion was, "a well-arranged selection from the usual routine of stage characters, and stage manouvres." (Barnes 149) He also criticized the plot of Fashion for being too explanatory and having a weak denoument as well as the dialogue for not truly being comedic. (Barnes 149) This report was featured one day following the opening of Fashion in the The Broadway Journal.
Interestingly, Poe wrote another review in the following week's issue of The Broadway Journal, essentially retracting much of what he had previously claimed about the play. He wrote, "So deeply have we felt interested in the question of Fashion's success or failure that we have been to see it eery night since its first production; making careful note of its merits and defects as they were more and more distinctly developed in the gradually perfected representation of the play."
Poe was not known to change his views easily on any subject, but it did seem that his view towards Fashion grew more sympathetic as he saw its development as a production over time. (Taylor) He still believed that the characters were conventional stage types, but also re-evaluated his claim that Fashion was entirely derivative:
"In one respect, perhaps, we have done Mrs. Mowatt unintentional injustice. We are not quite sure, upon reflection, that her entire thesis is not an original one. We can call to mind no drama, just now, in which the design can be properly stated as the satirizing of fashion as fashion."
Put together, both of Poe's reviews offer a balanced view of Fashion. The play did not perfectly satirize the Noveau Riche, but it did make audiences and critics alike think, and made theater-going fashionable.
Early Productions and Audience
Fashion generally received positive reviews after its debut. It was primarily lauded as an "acting" play, just as Mowatt had intended. Gleaning from Mowatt's Autobiography, however, it does seem that she felt that her work as a playwright was overshadowed by the actor's masterful representations of her characters. Mowatt wrote:
"'Do you not feel proud?' inquired a friend of me. 'Perhaps I should, if the acting of Fashion had not been so very excellent that the author has only a secondary share of the general successs' "
Upon receiving glowing reviews such as the one below, however, Mowatt should have felt proud of her accomplishment. Later on, however, Mowatt did acknowledge that the play was an "unequivocally brilliant success." Despite any negative reviews that called the play derivative, Hows review below claims that the response to Fashion was "unexampled in theatricals" :
"It is with no ordinary feelings of satisfaction that we record the triumphant verdict of the public in favor of Mrs. Mowatt's comedy.... It has created a sensation unexampled in theatricals and has decisively established the fact that the time has arrived when a strictly American drama can be called into existence."—J.W.S. Hows of the New York Albion
When Fashion first opened at the Park Theatre on Broadway (depicted on right), it was a resounding success. (Taylor) People from a variety of backgrounds came to see the play because it depicted the inherent pretenses that we put up as humans, a social phenomenon that all individuals can relate to, even to this day. Fashion was performed every night for three weeks in New York. (Taylor) News of Fashion's success had traveled, and it went on to be produced at Philadelphia's Walnut Theatre after its New York debut.
Despite Fashion's unique ability to attract both middle and upper class audiences, the structure of the Park Theater itself contributed to further tensions between the classes. (Taylor) Those middle class viewers who could not get the best seats would often throw refuse at the audience members in the front or on stage in an effort to have their voices heard. (Taylor) It is interesting, that, during a performance revolving around class structures, audience members took action to tear down the class structures that existed in society at the time, thus creating a kind of meta-performance.
Overall, Fashion was the first performance to fill the Park Theatre with a crowd of educated individuals. (Barnes 143) Prior to the debut of Fashion, attending the theater was a leisure activity primarily occupied by the less educated, lower income classes. (Barnes 143) The theater was also not deemed suitable for ladies to attend in the past, but there were a large number of women of good repute and social position that attended performances of Fashion.
Acclaim
Criticisms
