The sun., 1903-12-13
PLAYS OF MUCH INTEREST.
A SERMON FOR HUSBANDS AND
UIvES IN "CANDIDA."
stiiI Mr.. Shaw's Play Is Giitterins Comeoy
Contrast supply ny "Der s'rom
-"Sweet Kitty Bellairs" FASCINATING
and Well DOne--A Triumph OF Stage
Graft seen In the Final Tapieau'

Contrast supply ny DeT s"""
-"Sweet Kitty Bellairs" Fascinating
and Well Done--A Triumph OF stage
Graft seen in the Final Tapieau'
Decidedly an entertaining week the past
one for the critical tolers in the theatrical
yinevard. We had George Shaw and
Richepin-the latter Herbertized; we had
Belasco and Max Halbe; we had De Croisset
and a new German comedy; and last ana
least in artistic vallle had We not new,
thrilling melodrama at the Grand with a
dozen villains and much gun play! Weber
and Fields. too, offered lis "Waffles, par
ody of -Raffles;" that is to say. one parody
of another, variety enough, we should say,
for even exacting New York.
"Candida" ia the very 'quintessence OF
it's creator. Many prefer this sprlghtly
sermon disguised as comedy to Mr.
Bernard Shaw's more serious works
And serious it is No latter-day para
doxioneer--to coin a monster word, ior the
Shaws. Chest erto ons, ct dl.-evokes laugh
ter so easily as the Irishman. His ls
cold. intellectual wit. Swiftan wit, minus
the hearty and wholesome obscenity OF the
great Dublin dean. But 1t Ia often mis-
leading. We laugh when we should re-
feet. We laugh when we might better
hang our heads--this is meant for the
average married and bachelor man. Shaw
strikes fire in almost every sentence he
puts into Cdndida's honest mouth. After
reading his eloquent tribute to Ibsen the
crooked places in Candida become
plainer; her mission is not alone to unde-
ceiye but to love. not only to bruise hearts
but to heal them.
In a sineularly vivid passage on page
80 of "The Quintessence Of lbsenism,'
Mr.. Shaw writes: "When Blake told men
that through excess they would learn
moderation he knew that the way for the
present lay through the Venusberg, and
that the race would assuredly not perish
there, as some individuals have. and as the
Puritans fear we all shall unless we find
way round Also, he no doubt foresaw
the time when our children would be born
on the other side of it, and 80 be spared
the fiery pirgation.'
This sentiment occurs in the chapter
devoted to consideration OF "The Womanly
Woman" Let us look at the phrases on
the printed page of "Candida,' that might
be construed as bearing upon the above,
or, rather, the result OF the quoted passage
Candida speaks to James, her husband,
in Act H.:
Don't you understand? I mean. will
he forgive me for not teaching him myself?
For abandoning him to the bad woman
for the sake Of my goodness-my purity,
az YOU call it? All, James, how little you
understand me, to talk OF your confidence
in nv goodness and purityl ! would give
them both to poor Eugene as willingly as I
would give my shawl to a beggar dying
of cold, II there were nothing else to re-
strain me- Put your trust in my love for
YOU, James +, for if that went ] should care
very little for your sermons-mere phrases
that YOU cheat, yourself and others with
every day"
Here is one of the most audacious
speeches in any,modern play. 1t has been
passed over by English critics who saw
in candida merely an attempt to make
q clergyman ridiculous, not realizing that
tho theme is profound and far reaching,
the question put being no more no and less
than-shall a,married man expect his wife's
love without working for it, without de-
serving It? Secure In his conviction that he
was model husband and good Christian,
the Rep. james MAYOR MoreH went his
way smiling and lecturing. He had the
= Rift1o OF gab,' yet he was no humbug; in
deed a sincerer parson does not exist. He
il quite as sincere as Pastor Mdnders, much
broader In his views, and consequently
not half such bore.
But he is, nevertheless, bit Of bore
with his lack Of humor and his grim earnest
ness. Doubtless Shaw took his fling at
that queer blending Of Christianity and
Socialism, that Karl Marx in parsons
collar which startled London twenty
wears ago in the person Of the Christian
Socialist Clergyman. He saw. too. being a
man with a sense of>character values and
their use in violent contrast, that to the
rhapsodio and poetic Eugene Mdrchbdnks,
Moreu would prove a splendid foil. And
40 he does. Between this oddly opposed
nair stands on her solid, sensible UNDER
trimmings the figure Of Candida. Realist
a. ia Mr.. Shaw, he would scout the notion Of
his third act being accepted as tran
script from life. For two acts we are in
plain earthly atmosphere; unusual things
happen, though not impossible ones. In
the last act Shaw. droll dramatist and
acute observer of his fellow mans fobles.
disappears, only to return in the guise of
Shaw the preacher.
And how he does throw a sermon at our
heads! The play is arrested in its mid
ocean, and the shock throws us almost Off
our feet. Don't be deceived. That mock
bidding for the hand Of candida, surely the
craziest farce ever invented, is but this
authors cunning manner of driving home
his lesson. Are you worthy of your wife?
Is the woman who swore to love and honor
YOU (-obey' Is not in the Shaw vooabu-
Iary, thanks to j. S. MILD worthy of you?
If your love is not mutual then better 60
your ways--you profane it! Is this start
ling? Is this novel? No; and yes. The
defence Of love for loves sake coming from
the lips Of Shaw character has a surpris-
ing effect, for no man is less concerned
with sex questions, no man has more openly
deprecated the ascendancy Of sex in art
and literature. He would be the first to
eagerly applaud Edmund Clarence Sted-
mans question apropos of Walt Whit
mans Leaves Of Grass: Is there no
other light in which to view the beloved
one than as the future mother of our chill
dren? q rely on treacherous memory;
the meaning is expressed, if not in Mr..
words