The evening world., 1902-10-14
MORALITY PLAY
SURELY QUAINT
Kate CareW Says for Once the
, Programme Word Is Not Mis-
applied in Reviewing EVERY
man" at MendeIssohn Hall.
BEAUTIFUL GIRL APPEARS.

quaint Us the word used by the pr0-
gramme, and whole bushels Of quaints
dropped in the porch of Mendelssohn
Hal last night when an awed, but
drowsy, audience emerged into the TWEEN
tieth century and wondered whether 1t
had better go to midnight mass or drop
into So-and-So's for a bite.
QUAINT" Is no name for it. For once
let 1t be confessed that a much-abused
programme adjective has not been mis-
applied. "Everyman' is a distinct ex-
perience. 1t is like a dream. Did you
ever, when you were a little boy or girl
ut Sunday-school, dream a curious jun
BILE OF Heaven and the Catechism?
"Everyman' is such a dream translated
into theatrical realism. The only impor-
tant difference is that your DRAINS
never bore you, but "Everyman"-well,
you can't help thinking that If in the
fifteenth century they had had Mr.. Con-
tinrous Performance Proctor to apply
his patent condenser to the Morality
Drama audiences would have appre-
cated him very highly indeed.
simple, Rambling Oddly.
nut lIlNN IIdu no SuCn luck, ana, AFTER
all, we are glad to have clergyman" as
It Is in all its simple. rambling oddly,
and We ought to be grateful to the
EliEabethan Stage Society. of London,
for digging it up In the British Museum,
and to Mr.. Ben Greet for coming over
here and producing it with the original
Oxford cast. AS an antidote for rapid
transit tunnels and ready-cooked break
fast feeds an hour and forty minutes
OF pure Eli~zabethanlsm is not bad.
The familiar first-night faces had a
hushed, half-scared look in the churchly
atmosphere OF Mendelssohn Hall. and
throughout the performance they did
not recover their happy careIessness.
There is not a laugh in the whole play
bear that in mind. And as there are no
acts there are no between-the-acts in
tervals But you can't Imagine any
one going out to take something with
the spell of "Everyman" upon him.
Not "a laugh, and yet-well. it would
be a dangerous experiment with a
chance audialce that hadn't been pre-
pared in advance for its dose OF Eliza
bethanism. Mendelssohn Hall has two
grated openings on eitaer side OF the
stage up near the ceiling. One Of these
IL utilized for the scene of Heaven-the
Heaven of your Sunday-school dream.
An actor with a deem voice and a Santa
Claus beard sits behind the grating,
n 1t Is rather a strain on the rever-
ence OF a modern audience to see how
the Divinity was represented to the
simple minds of the fifteenth century.
No One ChucilIed Mt Death.
And then, Death. 1t seemed a miracle
that nobody so much as chuckled at
Death. with the shadows and lights of
4 skull painted over his face, a white
bony system outlined on his black flesh
ings, ard a wheezy trumpet to blow.
But Jerhaps the spelling of his name
had something to do with 1t. The pro-
gramne gives he archaic "Dethe."
With all due respect to the Fifteenth
Century and to the monk, Peter Dor
land, of Diest, the Clyde Fitch OF that
period. who is supposed to have written
"Everyman," and to the Elizabethan
society and everybody else concerned.
It is the acting that makes the show
possible-indeed. the acting of one part.
Everyman Is on the stage the whole
time. You could no more dispense with
him han you could with Robinson
Crusoe in the story of that persons
adventures. And II Everyman were not
superbly acted there would he no Mo-
rality Play at Mendelssohn Hall.
He. lis a gay young fellow, you know,
who is suddenly Informed by our grue-
some friend. Dethe. that he must make
the last long pilgrimage, and the poor
fellow experiences many heart-rend. ng
emotions before he lays himself down
In the grave.
The part is played by a woman whose
face is so beautiful and expressive and
her voice so haunting, that merely to
watch and listen to her is enough to
reconcile you to n whole evening of
Sunday-school dream resurrected from
the Fifteenth Century
Some of the other parts are well
played-notably that of Doctor. a monk