The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-05
NEW PLAYS BROUGHT OUT.
MIR. MANsFIELD AND MR.. WILLARD
IN NOTEWORTHY PARTS.

ntctnu,0 hy henry ~ !" ~
proper Caper,'- b. Henneauin nud Bidaud.
Richard Mansfield likes to act in odd plays
and george Bernard Shaw likes to write them,
The talents of these two men were con.
contracted in Arms and the Man" three
vcors ago and again in The Devils Dis
ciple" last night. The nature OF their joint
eforts and tho effects upon the audiences
were much tho same In both cases. Tho
character which Mr.. Shaw created In the piece
Mt the Fifth Avenue Theatre and which Mr..
Mansfield interpreted, was quite as singular q
hero as tho one that had puzzled the earlier
nssemblago at tho Garrick. He was tho
disciple mentioned in the title. and
his rccklessness was SO extreme that
he vowed allegiance to the devil for timo and
eternity. He declared that his prayers wero ad-
dressed to Satan, to whom he gave volun-
tary worship, and to whom he looked for
all desirable or sure salvation. A holder
insult to Christianity had never been spoken on
the stage than these words Of Mr.. Shaw's
uttered by Mr.. Mansfield, and they were not re.
pented. However, q theatreful Of finely dressed.
politely hammered, and notably intellectual
people enjoyed this astonishing parsonage, APP
plauded him heartily. and accepted him as an
addition to the Mansfield gallery Of portraiture.
The reason Of the artistic success which the
author and actor achieved with this hazardous
experiment did not lie in impiety on the part OF
the audience. but in the fact that the piece, in
both composition and representation, was
whimsically. originally and brilliantly ~intellec.
tual. 1t would have been rejected without hest.
tation IL any other actor than Mr.. Mansfield had
offered It.; but he has his own follow.
ing Of men and women appreciative Of
peculiar dramatic literature, and especially
of ~satirical representations - even misrepre-
sensations - Of human nature. Take the
hero OF The DEVILS Disciple" He was
a social outcast in New Hampshire at the time
of the Revolution by reason Of his profiigacy
and criminality. Chance made him a prisoner
to Burgoyne in the place of q patriot clergyman
whom the British desired to hang. The fellow
voluntarily humored the blunder, in order
that the other and pious man might es.
cape. and would have submitted to tho
moose II the parson had not come back in the
nick of time to save him. There was the max.
ing of q "Tale Of Two Cities or Paul Kauvar'
melodrama in the theme, but Mr.. Shaw writes
nothing conventional or expectable. He con.
structed the first two acts in . reasonable and
almost straightforward fashion, but from
that time to the end it became nearly a
travesty, yet so witty, cynical. and freakish
ALE abls motive M THS sN Was proy sassi' for ase sac sG feSs' Il
a ,nrsw quite asay 1rrh his lie d dssp isll3" ,S MhG mani all s 3Ss
a SnU Whit 10 in i love with b the woman "aa was whose oss
happiness, seemed, to depend, on it. She
shsw.s careful 4 !, blends e wisdom and idioey.
Mr.. Mansfield played his part, as he had the
one in Arms and the Man" with requisite sar-
pathos. it was a genuinely worthy achieve
ment. from an art point OF view. and no
G doubt VT It will will. S on5 1oI much attention; The
johnson and Mrs. Mansfield. as the clerical
husband and wife. and Mr., Forrest as the British
General. gave valuable help to the performance.
Was a fine dramatist of the kind that aspires
only to write a good play spoiled when the In.
fuence Of Ibsen overlook Henry Arthur Jones,
or was it that the master hand to deal
with the problems of life wac only waiting
to show itself while 1.-THE Middleman'
and Judah" were given to tho stagei 1t
mus. have been the dramatist that was spoiled
when the sociologist began to feel that 1t was
life that must be put into plays-not the life
that had showed itself go well treated
in Mr.. Jones's earlier plays; but the sort of life
that must be far enough out Of the ordinary to
need analysis, discussion. and-in Henry Arthur
Jones's case-an ultimate surrender to the con.
ventional and the banal.
So "The Physician" which E. s. Willard
acted last night at wallack's Theatre for the
first time in New York proved the same exasper-
ating compromise that Mr.. Joncs has made of
most Of his recent plays. Only those who do
not care for them have a right to quarrel
with the author who selects such themes as
incurable drunkenness and its effects on
others for the motive, Of a play. He may
fbseeS. 8 manner mann rae and hem he may pr present pneti il IN every ~
detail and result. But everybody has the right
to demsnd that he stick to the problem AND see
the cause of the rejection OF such a subject, 1t 10
justilcd only when truth is followed to the end
that made popular success are jumped at and
the logical ends of tho story are overlooked
without an spo,ogy; Let there be a happy end
does. MI. Jones. For three acts let US have
itifnriIs f Bas VIII VII not Sl'G nssiee, df sha happy PpS
c~nding-that important, profitable, safe. happy
t the Woman mot Of lis bis ne If in os spite IL " q Mr. I teen S''
"A young temperance reformGr. who was in
tPusia %iah was = yo saeFet fiF' a %hG in SnaafG n dsus eR.
S %iIh aof #sasc yhs Il Is hj Hss p SSa|y s'F'f TSss
10 the county, 10 treat him. falls in love With
tho girl and tails to euro her lover. who is I'm.
v%enicntly dies, and Tho ,,paysi' N having
love, marries t Q olher. There was to this
action Tho inevitable accompaniment Of
Q! '"@ sfs d%l %! @ ! Dii aisRiisF0a Wholly 81 Ie' rom rom
that were moro expected, for never has one OF
,Hs s1IhGs, rupp@ plays ,asf PF eiosant, % %natra %Ssa
humor, that made its point almost un-
faillngly. There was not a speech de-
void OF a literary finish which Tow other
contemporary writers for the staRc-perhaps
none hut Arthur P~inero-ever equal. Real
dramatic strength WAS in some OF the scenes.
But that WAS nearly always sacrificed to
"truth",-until 1t was necessary to let every
thing 20 but the purely theatrical effect.
MIR. Willard was very cordially applaudcr,
and his delightful magnetism. his sincerity and
naturalness were able TO overcome the difficult.
ties which his, unintoresting part offered.
There is scarcely q human motto in 1t. One
charming part was that OF n woman OF the
world. which it must be highly satisfactory
for any actress to play. Keith Wnkcinan
brought out some OF its possibilities, although
her diction WAS 80 poor that half the lines
she spoke escaped most Of the spectators.
Maud Hoffman put every quality into the part
OF the heroine except the tenderness. The other
parts were capably played and tho scenery was
exceptional In beauty and appropriateness.
At Hoyt's last night was tried Henry Guy
Cartoons adaptation OF "Le Paradis," a farce
written by Maurice Honrequin and Albert Mil
laud, OF which we had earlier in tho year
a German form entitled "B0cksprUnRc. ~