The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-06-09
AT THE THEATERs
Lyceum-"All the Comforts Of HON,

lyceurn--"A All the Comforts OF Home"
"All the Comforts of Home a rafting
good farce from the: pen Of William Gill
lette, is the offering Of the Ferris company
at the, ,Lycenm this week. The play has
been seen here on several occasions and
It's story is too familiar to require retell-
Ing 1t Is essentially Ia comedy Of action.
It's humor lies in situation rather than in
dialogue. A blind man would find 1t stu
pid, while a deaf man might enjoy it thor
oily.
The title of the play is misnomer. "All
the Comforts of Home. suggests wheat
cakes. for breakfast whereas the only
breakfast served in the course of the play
consists largely of small and presumably
cold bottles which the audience is in
formed contain champagne altho the bev-
serage looks more like root beer;sit sug-
gests peace and quiet and there isn't a
quiet moment in the play; it smacks OF
tranquil domesticity, yet the domesticity
Of the play is of the strenuous variety so
frequently aired in the divorce courts. But
1t Is all very funny and it does not offend.
Few plays of the season at this play
house have been better acted. Ben john
son as Theodore Bender, an elderly provin-
cial whose liking for pretty women is
somewhat hamperedfibyl shrewish wife;
Grace Hayward as Fiji Oritanski, an opera
singer with a troublesome sdressmaker' s
bill; Carl Smith Searle as an impecunious
young man in love with two girls at the
same time; Herbert Brenon as Tom Nc
Adow, who gets half; Grace Ais as a
termagant; and Maude Gilbertaas a young
girl very much in love, all do excellent
work. Maude Gilbert's Eyangeline Ben
der is by all odds the best thing this act
ress has yet given us. She plays the role
with sweetness and simplicity that read
lily explains Alfred Hastings disloyalty to
his cousin.
| rue 81.
young woman with a penchant for small
birds, cold bottles and other reprehensible
luxuries. She Is entirely fascinating and
utterly selfish. She allows stranger to
pay her bills as tho she were comforting a
favor; and she permits him to make love
to her. because, as she explains it, he is
retired and therefore wealthy" Miss
! Hayward's best moment comes in the
breakfast scene with Mr.. Searle, as Alfred
Hastings. Here she displays Fits enjoy
ment of the situation excellently. Hast
ings wants to get away, and Fiji, realiz-
ing that fact, rallies him upon his abstrac-
ton, finding added zest in his lack of ap-
probation.
Ben johnson should be accustomed, by
this time, to being henjecked. Since the
season opened he has had a plurality Of
shrewish wives until another more or less
should make little difference. His com.
plete air of detection, in the part of Ben.
der, however, is very funny; and his ap'
parent enjoyment in the relation of stories
of Bender's past escapades and in the
planning Of new ones, is well developed.
The role of Alfred Hastings gives Car
Smith Searle his first opportunity to ap
pear before a local audience in a modern
character, and Mr.. Searle played the par
capitally Herbert Brenon played Tom il
a way that delighted his friends. Ton
Is a boy Of the streets, smart and enthusi
lactic in whatever he happens to be doing
He is absolutely tireless, and Mr.. Brenol
saw to 1t that he did not become tiresome
No member of the company has advance,
SO rapidly in his art since the season
opened as this young player.
Good character bits are contributed b,
Maude Ais as Mrs. Bender and Pete Ray
mond as August McSnath. Albert Veazi
as Christopher Dabney and Burt Mccain
as Pettibone exaggerate their parts, alth
the audience seemed to find them funny
Irene Burke, as Emily Pettibone, is prett
Iand-amateurish to a degree.
u. s. Lawrence.