The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-11
Mss JEFFREYS As THE UNFAIR
r,RCE COMEDY or SIMPERING
Am HYSTERICAL IDIOCY.

~S. hear Unfair Sex" Turns an Actress
charm 10 JElincss, Her Talent 70
AhomInatIOn-IIps scenes by George
CIddens the Only Redeeming Feature.
That capable and charming actress, Miss
,nis -JeTreys. fell a victim last night at the
,hortv 10 a Young playwright with an obso-
- so,se of humor. The heroine OF The
Mar Unfair Sex" IL a young wife with a
Liant for Mysteries and an enjoyment OF
,he nettv t~yrannies they enable her to prao-
49,. IN her husband and her relatives.
IJdcd 10 this she has the folly OF imagining
,bo, neople are secretly in love with her
.bsn they only hold her in secret abomina-
,ior OF the farce comedy in which she ~
,he central figure the first act exploits her
rottiness and tyranny, the second act her
rrepostcrous folly and the third act her
anal subiugation as the result Of this folly
10 her puppy dog husband now at last be-
come auasi PetrUckio to an anemlo kGtheT-
me-
Tbcrp WAS a time when idiocy was re-
,srd,d as a fruitful source Of amusement.
PAW. records that the ~gallants and even
,he centIewomen Of his time paid their
.billines for the JOY Of laughing at the
i,mates of Bedlam. The Elizabethans
ropsed shouts of delighted laughter by
exhibiting on the stage the antics Of mad
usn. Medieval sc%ulptors took a strange
,v in portraying in cathedral cary ings
y,rious forms of dementia 40 accurately
stndied and rendered that the eminent
Cbarcot declared them az capable OF scien-
rife diagnosis as patients in the clinics OF
: modern Paris.
Rut there is an example of this sort of
thing which is relatively even more ancient
the English dramatists of the latter nine
,oerth century, who never tired Of exploit
inc for the playgoing public of their time
the mildcr forms Of female paranoia a 1t
i,rbe-e whom Mr.. Inglis Allen has followed.
The result is as painful a bit Of theatrical
sptiquity a. it has lately been u sorrow
n witness.
In 80 far as the play keeps Miss Jefreys
constantly in the foreground and actively
pmnloyrd there it is an admirable star
vehicle, but those who we're responsible
Cor ia selection overlooked the circum-
stance that. 10 the modern sense, IL uni-
i5rmly makes an able and charming actress
hiieous and repulsive. II is safe to say
that Miss JeHreys's powers have never
been more SlllhllRly Ill CNlhcASOs GNCty
mood Of this prepoSterouS creature she
denotes with voice, gesture and facial eX-
preston as accurate as they are subtle
and swift. No doubt the eminent CharCot
could have diagnosed the exact stage OF
her ~paranola.
But the audience. at first ~exasperated
nv her follies, was finally plunged into the
depths Of boredom. The jealous press
agent has likened the piece 10 The Tanning
Of the Shrew.' But even h crude Eliza
bethan play which Shakespeare did his
hest to redeem dealt breezily in hearty and
robust humors. This modern shrew begins
in Stiffness and ends in sheer imbecility.
In technique. as well rs in spirit, MIR.
Allen harks back TO an earlier generation.
He is, il is said, a young Oxonian. When
he is an older man he will probably take
as his models more recent playwriRhts.
His great scene Tugs in again a bachelors
chambers with the heroine concealed from
her husband in the bedroom. The situa-
ton is managed with considerable skill
skill Of the chop logic order Of the school
which made it it, main stock in trade.
But a dead lion is carbon to any live pup,
and AT its best this old scene roared briefly
and iuefectively.
The one saving grace of the evening is
. silly ass in his cups, presented with not
inapt eXaggeration by George Giddens.
It Is he who gives the one touch OF ~vivacity
- ~ 49, FVAA RNNaANH A1AA Az NANC AAAO W
his beflddlement it a capitally lifelike and
amusing dSnouement. While he was on
the stage there was a good deal Of real and
hearty laughter. But the brief oasis only
served TO emphasize the dry topped age
and bald antiquity Of the piece as q whole.
The cast was worthy Of far better stun.
A. the husband, Mr.. Charles Cartwright.
the memorable KIeschnd, made what could
he made Of the earlier scenes of imbecile
abasemelt, and when it came to the final
assertion Of his authority displayed no little
masculine irmRess and power.
Gerald Lawrence, who has hitherto fig
nred in romantic roles with Irving and
Beerbohm Tree, slipped easily into drawing
room manners as the young fance whom
TIE heroine imagined in love with her and
disclosed a handsome and attractive pres
ence Herbert Standing was capital as an
lrascible old man and Herbert Sleath lent
distinction to an unimportant juv emile
part.