The sun., 1905-09-10
cnco. II the piece has had It's due effect, rs
not only happier, but wiser and better.

MT. ShaW'S present tEeme - u PaIuooA'
According to cur old and falsely sentimental
philosophy CT tho affections man Ia the
pursuing animal, who Ia led by his desires
into position CT adoring tutelage to a
divinely sanctifed creature-woman. But
philosophers have long felt that matri-
mony is a grave burden-perverse souls
call 1t q tyranny. Advanced biology has
taught us that nature. having on hand a
strictly business proposition, drives woman,
no less than man. in the homely way she
has appointed for the preservation OF the
species. Here is q rare opportunity Tor
intellectually diverting farce. Go to''
says the ebullient MIR. Shaw or-as he pre-
fers to be Edwardian. and II possible OF the
time Of George v.-"Damn 1t all! I'll set
the thing on its head the other way and
show 'em that woman. IL the pursuing
animal and man her pitiable prey!'
In the audiences that are nightly con-
vulsed by Man and Superman" there are
probably very few who are not in the cur
rent Of modern thought on this question OF
the relations OF the sexes. Nobody who is
anybody takes Mr.. Shaw quite seriously.
Perhaps he would be the first to feel sad
II they did. But our instincts long outlive
our opinions: it is only when we make
them familiar as embodied In terms Of
actual life that they become common.
place. The most advanced Of us can still
be shocked into delicious laughter at the
reshattering on the stage OF our long shat
tered idols
And what daab Of wit and cynical glee
Mr.. Shaw throws into his ioonoclasml
Gilbert and Wilde were cynical wits, but
never at their most audacious did they
equal him In trenohanoy and diabolic force.
never did their intelligence move on so rare
and high plano.
After an has been said, however, the
drama Of talk Is only-the drama Of talk. In
"You Never Can Tell" the very idea which
Shaw now exploits at length in Man
and Superman," and with discursive ap-
peals to science and philosophy, is de-
veloped in few strokes Of dialogue and
action; and there is, besides, considerable
measure OF the soldier substance Of the
drama. Candida" with all it's tendencies
toward farce, was at bottom . genuine
drama of the emotions. Both Of these
earlier plays revealed actual studies Of life
and char acter, whereas the people OF ths
present piece are little more than puppet
uuOutupFCcS loT tIso val AOus PHa1ce Va SLio
central thought. Artistically Man and
Superman is on the lower plane.
But II the property Of Are is to burn and
Of water to wet, that Of play is to divert.
1t Is no slight triumph that by the sole means
Of his wit Mr.. Shaw is SO increasingly d.
verting. And We owe him no small debt
of gratitude for manifesting the fact that all
cackle Is not to be cut.
The stork which President Roosevelt
has conjured in vain in behalf Of American
life has come home to roost, like the pro-
verbal chickens, in tho balls Of the American
drama. 'The Prince Chap with which
Walter N. Lawrence has opened his season
at the Madison Square. belongs to the tribe
OF -The Heir to the Hoorah' and "The
Secret Of Polichinelle, and its simple, un-
affected appeals to the heart bid fair to be
similarly welcomed. Its author, Edward
Peple, is an aspiring and, as it seems. q
rising local playwright, and this. his first
acted piece speaks we'll, II not superlatively,
for his feeling for life and the stage.
Tho story he tells is so slender and so
wanting In complications that It may be
said scarcely to make a real play; and IL Is
unusual also In presenting It's heroine In
three stages-of infancy. childhood and young
girlhood. requiring three actresses for the
But what might have been
. handicap Mr.. Peple has turned to positive
advantage.
Peyton Ii an American artist struggling
in London to gain . position which will
enable him to marry the girl he has left
behind in New York One Of his former
models, maltreated and deserted by her
husband, appears, dying. In his studio, and
elicts q reluctant promise to care for her
hve-yesr-old daughter. In the second act
his fancee turns up, and makes Of the child,
now eight years old, q pretext to break
the engagement. She pretends to believe
that he Is the father; but it Is evident that
handsomer waistcoat. Already the child
has developed pretty and even womanly
jealousy for the newcomer. In the last act |
she is ls, and everybody hr. pey.on him
self knows that they are In love with each |
other. Matters are brought to q crisis by |
the return of the former fancee now q
widow, who, allured by his new fame and |
fortune, attempts to revive the ancient |
flame. Peyton rebuns her with dignity, |
and marries his ward.
In his treatment OF the child, her dying
mother and the tender hearted artist Mr..
Peple Is frankly sentimental: no shadow
Of realistic character drawing mars the
light and color Of his idyll. The wretched
model, sincerely and In the main simply
played by Florence Conron, dies ON the
stage with metaphorical slow music. The
kindly artist (played by Cyril Scott with a
finely convincing touch Of masculine tender
ness and devoion) consoles the child for
her mothers absence with agreeable fo-
lions while the body Is lying in the next
room. He undresses her, puts her In q
nightie, tells her fairy story. hears her
Now lay mo" with homely and pathetio
additions, and puts her to sleep. 1t was
Jhauncey Oloott extended and elaborated.
In the second act there is Christmas tree,
md much more Of the same sort Of thing.
Il all rings true a. an idyll can. The two
,htld actors arc pretty and winning. Even
he cookney manservant, played with
admirable humor and discretion by Thomas
1. Wise, sheds tho furtive tear. Only tho
AIDED cynio could fell TO honor the draft
~ his waterworks.
In handling the love story. and his grown
lps In general, Mr.. Peple seems less sue