Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1905-12-23

be any question about this he is named
Andrew Understand" and Louis Cat.
vert, who plays the part of the court
Is carefully made up as the Laird OF
Shibo. Another charaCter--a whisky
MANUFACTURED whose product is adyer.
Used on the Thames Embankment' Is
obviously Sir Thomas Denver. Annie
Russell PLAYS the part Of tho capital.
lists daughter, Barbara. who has Joined
the army because she wants TO do good
and Shaws theme--so far as II can be
dlscoyered--is the struggle between the
father and daughters respective creeds
his being the cynical one that money
and force accomplish everything. while
hers is an abiding faith IN Christian
charity
About these two crceds. and about all
Mr. Shaw's other favorte themes there
Is talk intermlnable--tho IL goes
without saying that much Of II Is nigh
~ brilliant, But Mr.. Shaw has broken
his word 10 us. and broken II in an
unexpected way. lie promised re-
member "a discussion In three acta."
and recently warned romantic play
goers" that he had thrown them over
completely" In writing his new piece.
But Major Barbara is not merely
not thrown over completely, and II II
Just this circumstance that lnclnes
one TO believe that the latest Shavlan
farrago viii share the fate of John
Bulls Other Island" when II is pro-
duced IN the United States For there
Is Just enough real play and real char
acter drawing In the first two acts OF
Major Barbara" to pique our inter-
est and rouse our anticipation from
University education to how the poor
i've which toward the finish puts even
the ardent Shaw admirer perlously
close 10 the yawn.
Beside the stage Carnegie with his
trombone we have a professor OF Greek
pounding a bass druh--also I'm the SER
vice OF the Salvation Army. He Is
Maj Barbara's lover who has joined
the Booth force I'm order 10 be near her,
but who ultimately becomes the mana
ger of the factory where her fathers
death dealing missiles are turned out
There Is, IT appears, a tradition I'm the
uhdersh8ft family, that It's head shall
always adopt founding as his bust
ness successor. and owing to Andrew
Understands insisting or following this
rule and disinherlting his own son, he
and his wife have Quarreled and separ-
ated several years before the play
opens. The Understand girls, however,
Barbara and Sophie, need wedding
portions so the father of the house Is
summoned back ana In the first act we
nave him calling at Lady Britomart
Understands house. and being Intro
duced to his own daughters. Taken
win me girl whose religious tendencies
nave lea her to become major IN the
salvation Army, the millionaire pro-
ceeds to draw her out. aud here there
begins the struggle between the two.
Barbra Is convinced that visit to her
Salvation Army shelter" will impress
her father with the fallacy of his creed
mat might make right. while he mere
~ eNacts a promise from her that she
VIII afterward pay a visit to his ex-
plosNes sheds. his model workmen's
village and the rest OF his plant.
Ihat IL the end of the first act, and
the second, With It's lfeike picture of
the army shelter Is really uncommon
~ interesting and dramatic. Andrew
undershaft arrives with Barbara and
meets several of the converts-but what
ne gets out of them is not favorable
10 his daughters beliefs. These con-
Verts. by the way, are among the best
character studies that Mr.. Shaw has
given us-oae of them. a Stun bully,
DeIHS as uuIy character g the Chauf-
feur In Man and sSuperman." Mean
while however, the wealthy brewer al
ready mentioned, has offered the shell
ter handsome check which Barbara
refuses. obtecttng to the means by
which the money has been made. But
her superiors oyerrule the girl, and fur
thermore accept substantial contri~
button from the manufacturer OF war
implements and so Barbara resigns
disgustedly, while Understand proceeds
to lead forth detachment Of the army,
hlpself playing the trombone, and fol-
lowed by Barbara's lover the erst-
while pedagogue, with the big drum.
There the play, as such, ends. All the
rest II talk, talk about SaIvationism
Whlggism, the Press, alcohol. charity
Donizettis music English slang, and
matrimony. At the end, II Is true. "
Know that the capitalist has won. ana
that Barbara is a convert to his IDEAS.
but then we do not care greatly. for
we are rather fatigued by the long
windedness of the author, who. as one
Of his best friends remarked the other
day is always amusing but not anus.
ing for quite so long as he supposes
CURTIS BROWN.