The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-04-20
1.-THE FREEDOM OF SUZANNE, "
MARIE TEMPEST WELCOMED on
FLYING TRIP FROM LONDON.

10 repeat the ~ o ,ess Of her Marriage Of
Kitty" in The Freedom Of Suzanne may
be questioned and that is one reason,
perhaps why Charles Frohmsn sent hcr
and her company over from London on a
flying trip Of only four weeks. But for the
snapper 10 the end Of a rather slow aFon
there is no doubt that the venture is happy
inspiration, II was in the first act only
that Miss Tempest was at her best After
that, play ard performance hit the trail Of
the obvious But as attractions go these
days, the piece on view at the Empire may
be reckoned a magnet, Even at the end
Of a somewhat arid third act the audience
was In unmistakable good humor.
In note on the programme Mr.. Cosmo
Gordon Lennox acknowledges his indebted
ness for certain passages in the play TO
novel by the ComteRse De Martel." With
far greater proprety both authors might
have Acknowledged a debt 10 a long list
Of French plays, including Meilhac and
Halevy's la Petite harquise' and Sardou's
'DvOrCCns.
The freedom which Suzanne seeks is d.
vorce from a somewhat dull and letharRc
husband, who, with the aid Of his dragon Of
a mother, seeks 10 reduce the arabesques
Of her aprighty conduct to the dull good
form 4 British propriety. Having Sc
she finds that lac usual In such plays her
last state il worse than her first.
The opening act shows her chatting al
matrimony and the means by which size
escapesfrom II; the second her dis omtiture
and her repentant wooing Of her sometime
husf and; the third how she inyades lis
bachelor fiat and after a last flare Of ler
lawlcss sUirit, acknowled Res him her J. aster.
The play opens in Suzdnne's drawing
room at midnight, with Suzanne absent on
the loose and her husbands family assem-
bled TO witness her dlsgraced homecoming.
When she enters she Is all vivacity and
reckless charm.
Her irate mother -in-law's questions a.
10 her conduct she answers with bubbing
and audacious humor. Nothing would
please her better, she saws, than to be cut
on on legal grounds. Her long recital Of
the evenings advent ures ia brlllnnt and
sustained, both in the writing and the
acting.
With a wit that spare3 no one and an
eXuheraut vvacity that seemA to have
no limit, she passes from adventure to
adventure, always advancing 70 the verge
Of compromi sing scandal, and Away
stopping short Of the final tumble. Though
bent on divorce, she has frugal virtue
that stays by her TO the end
It Is many day since tie local stage has
seen a passage OF such accurate technique
and Irresistible comic spirits. Those ia
miliar with the MODE IN En- nch stage com
pared Miss Tempest to Jeanne Garnier.
A more familiar comparison l. with
Rejane in her lighter and more groteSQuc
moments She plays more for points than
the great French comcCie9Le and less for
the even integrity Of the character; but
her fun il no less infectious for that. Her
grimace is wonderfully varied and pun
gent and her voice pipes and toots and
gurRles with irresistible drolery.
Having failed in her nights errantry-
she resorts 10 a device to convict her hus-
band Of cruelty. He sees through the
trick. but, his patience AZ an end, boldly
takes advantage Of it, Grasping suzanne
nv the shoulders, he shakes her until her
hat tosses like a ship in q typhoon, and
her back hair tumhles Then he filings
out, leaving her with her freedom and
the odd tonslinRs.
AZ the husband Mr. Allan Aynesworth,
who makes his first appearance herr.
evinces manly restraint and telling self
command. with no little humCr; but he IL
hampered by a lack Of consistency in the
writing of the part.
That Suzanne should have revolted from
30 good a fellow as he is in the main, Is
far from comprehensible; and his final
asse rtion Of the masculine dete rmnation
TO rlle a wife-which seems TO have the full
appro val Of the authors a rather obvious
playing TO playhouse pre- JUDGES. With
such a woman as Suznnre, Petructio, one
feels, would have made a fist Of IT,
II is perhaps true that women love TO
be subjugated. but it will be long day
before women Of this very modern type
will submit TO being told that they are
subiugated. Here gain the spirit Of comedy
sinks into conventional bGthos.
The second act, in a seaside hotel, re-
veals the Divorce pursued and Inundated
by her lovers, and viewing the simple man
hood Of her er-twhi!e spouse with increas-
ing regret. Jealousy for another woman
completes her resubjugatiOn. The hu--
band plays his hand well, knowing that
in her present mood, she will make stern
chase the shortest chase. When he leaves
her as she thinks for her new rival, she h
reduced to a pulp Of repentance.
The fun Of the act IA less original and less
sustained, and in her final overthrow Miss
Tempest sinks into mush OF British sem
timentality, weeping large and bitter tears.
Emotional drama Is not her meter. 1t
would he hard 10 -av why but one could
would have been more convincing II,
eschewing the lacnrymose, she had kept
10 the plain path Of pure comedy,
The final moment ia which she tucks
up the skirts Of her beet ttagown beneath
an auto mobile coat snatched from one of
her lovers, and ~ q out after her husband
IA Shawlike supe Tman Of primitive woman
hood), would have been irrsistihly gro
te sque III the moment just ceding had
not been 80 obviously out Of the picture.
BY this time the story i told. II only
remains TO show the reunion Of the pair
in The husbands fiat, aud though the game
hes plenty Of fun In IL the effect Is disjointed
and scrappy-an undcniablc anticlmdx.
The English company Wa capable, but
far from eNtraC rdinaTy. CHARLIE Sugdan
played a rather conventional old rake with
tact and humor. G.. s. ritherddRe, a, a
family olictor, had few good moment
The other par.s were negative, and mega
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