Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-12-23

OF the American stage today is Mr. John
Blair, who gave the second of his series of
modern plays at the New National Theater
yesterday afternoon. He has devoted him
Sell TO class of productions which appeals
TO limited public. To be appreciated they
Must De understood; to be understood they
must have earnest, thoughtful attention.
Earhestness and thought are in the ma
Jortty of cases what the playgoer is seeking
TO escape. AS popular attractions, even in
the more liberal and refined sense of the
term, his performances do not claim pat
rcnage But to those who care for them
and are willing that the actor should be a
student and the playwright a philosopher
they are sources of pleasure and of profit
Regarded from different points of view. the
Two productions seen in Washington might,
with justice and candor be condemned or
praised. But the manner in which they are
given claims consideration for them as
works of art and not as products designed
Tor competition in the conventional marts
those who do not like them are not enticed
tnroush any false representations and
promises of thrills and ordinations. Those
who do enjoy them go away grateful to Mr.
Blair Tor his disinterested devotion to his
accepted ideal and for the opportunity of
having some things that are well worth
knowing placed before them in a lucid and
concise fashion. An afternoon at one of
these plays would be worth as much as
weeks hard library digging to any one in
IsIested either in the social problems which
the author discusses or in the literary as
pect OF the stage. The play given yester-
Gay, Ties, was inferior to it's predeces-
sor, Ell Gran Galeete." For all that, it
was good specimen of its kind; earnest,
direct, logical and devoid of artifciality. 1t
does not relieve the tenseness of it's interest
by any ray of comedy, nor ask even for
the customary applause. 1t demands only
oil
when they have been made to think. 1t Is
hazardous experiment, this compelling
people to think, against their wills. 1t has
mace martyrs in the world of art as well
as IN the world of politics and religion.
Bluntly defined, the proposition which the
pay assumes to prove is that man and
woman VINO are married but who do not
love each other should lose no time in being
divorced. Given The conditions which the
play assumes, with such temperamental
~ pes as 1t employs as characters, and the
catastrophe OF shame is inevitable. But
human beings, while they have SO much in
common as to Impulse, vary Infinitely in
their powers of moral resistance. Many a
woman would have been tempted to for
sake a man because she found she did not
love him, many man would have made
the woman who despised him martyr TO
his egotism. But to infer that all thus
situated are likely to plunge into the depths
OF deceit and sensuousness would be an alb
SGrdtty-aS is almost every attempt to es-
tablish any universal rule where emotional
impulse Is concerned. The play is valuable
as somber warning of things that might
be rather than vivid assertion of things
that are. 1t lacks the spirit of the fnevi-
table necessary to give it tragic complete
ness. Mi. Blair did some excellent work.
redeeming his pronounced mannerisms by
the great Intelligence of his reading. His
appearance in response to applause after
the chief scene in the piece was surprise,
as 1t greatly narred the impression which
the performers had succeeded in producing
In all other respects he very consistently
and diligently devoted himself to the pur-
poses of the author His performance was
calculated to win him hearty esteem. Miss
Florence Kahn, who played the part of the
wife, is remarkable young woman. At
times her performance is crude and again
it has an emotional Vigor which makes
her future seem vista of almost unlimited
artistic promise.
Next week adds a glamour of dramatic
ulster to the general brilliancy of the holi-
day season. Henry Irving, who comes so
often from across the seas as to be almost
like well-tried acquaintance instead of
visitor, and David Belasco. who is of this
soil, will both present their latest endeav-
ors In the fields where they have won
former iaureis. Beiasco's reputation is not
like that of Mr. Irving. international. He
has not taken his own country into for
eign environment to any appreciable ex-
tent. But he has brought Europe to Amer
lea In ''Zaza.' a play which, so far as 1t
sion, might easily have been dismissed as a
tawdry trite, had 1t been adapted with
less skill and presented with less discrim-
nation. 1t is on recognizing merit as well
as in creating it that the success of the
modern play producer must depend; and
the triumphs of Mrs. Leslie Carter will
scarcely be mentioned without thought of
David Belasco the man who recognized
in what the public was ready to toss aside
as a worthless pebble, a diamond in the
rough. worthy of patient polish That Mr..
Belasco has forsaken emotional and melo-
dramatic lines and essayed the comic serves
to make his enterprise more interesting
He has displayed knowledge of stage eff
feet which establishes confidence that he
knows what he is about when he essays to
move his auditors to laughter as well as
when he invites Them to wonder or to
weep.
There are many reasons why Henry
Irving should be warmly welcomed by the
American public outside the considerations
which claim admiration for his art; for,
despite the conflict of opinion which may
occur as to the merits of his performance
as an individual there is no questioning
his superb efficiency as a director of stage
effects. What he does not is admirable as
well as what he does. He never surrounds
himself with an inadequate supporting COM
pany in order to be sure that his own abil-
tiles cannot suffer by comparison. He
never makes saucy curtain speeches. He
never INDUCES in public quarrels with those
who chance 20 be unsynpathetic with his
productions He does not ring down the
curtain in the middle of a performance in
order to dismiss disorderly box parties He
does not confine himself to the routine
presentation of one or two successes year
after year. He does not shirk constant eff
fort. He does not pose.
And Robert Mantell, who can transform
the bald commonplaces Of melodrama into
poetry by a gesture. or a weli-directed
glance, will not be forgotten He has a
new pay. whose title does not especially
matter so long as 1t IS about a hero who
dares and lady who loves him.
Mr. Hackett has had almost monoply
of the dramatic field; the nearest approach
to rivalry was tombstone Bennett in an
agglomeration ofiscenes and dialogue which
the Academy of Music offered under the
title "a Female Drummer" Johnstone
Bennett, despite her adaptability, seems a
little out of place In rough-and-tumble
farce-comedy. But the attraction has nu-
merous signs of PROSPERITY Any sacrifice
of feeling she may have made in leaving
the more refined field of endeavor has
doubtless been offset sy pecuniary solaces.
The Grand Opera House had a stellar
feature in James, o. Rarrows with a short
play which serves as a. noteworthy examnla
of the change which has recently bean
-