The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-09

10 debauch her sons honor and ruin RdchSFs
life, announces her resolve 70 accompany
the young people. 60 India. Intended ~ q
proof Of her change Of heart, the stroke
energies In tho acting ~ the last turn 70
the screw Of the mother-in-IAw Joke. IN
I characters Of the band Of pillars Of society
Who conspire to ruin Rachel verge upon
~oaricature, the worst offenders being young
WiInare's stodEy and self-conyicted hypo-
critic OF a father. and a gluttOnous and
cowardly clergyman whose chief business
IL to pat his stomach caressingly with
thumbs In his waistcoat pockets. But In
the main the play Ii ably devised and ably
written. There are many bright Inca.
strongly vernacular. The character OF the
stanch and independent curate is lmned
in bold, sure colors, and RACHEL herself, IN
spite OF her essential weakness, has a very
genuine dramatic appeal. The Ultimate Inn
preston is of a large canvas filed In with
artistic mastery. From the popular point
Of view the melodramatic bias Of the piece
Is q virtue. Allotted by an able company,
and especially by the acting Of Miss Doris
Keane as Rachel, It holds Its audiences as
few plays have ever done.
One quality the play has which is 90
rare on the English stage as to be almost
peculiar to Mr.. Jones-it 10 inspired bya very
real moral fervor and authentic passion.
These are qualities Of greatness and more
than justify tho popularity the play 10
achieving. Incidentally the occasion speaks
volumes for our American public and for.
Mr.. Jones's wisdom In making his first
| appeal on this side Of the water.
In His House In Order Pinero has fallen
short ot-in fact, has not attempted-the
fatefulintensity Of The Second Mrs. Tan
queray" and the poignant pity Of Iris.
As the programme-for once accurate
declares, the play 10 a comedy. But the
happy ending Is not achieved, us in The
Notorious Mrs. Ebbsmith" and Lefty, : by
q tour de force in logic. but by the simplest
and most legitimate methods. As a realis-
tic study in devious feminine impulse-and
that, atthe last analysis, is whatal Of Pinero's
larger pieces are-it Is more subtle and
more supple, more infused with latent, half
suggested intuition, than any OF its prede-
cessors. Technically il Is fawless, or all
but fawless; and yet, all unoonsciously, it
reveals it's authors severest limitation.
Ostensibly IL is q study Of wifely caprice
~unsubdued, in contrast with the formali-
ties Of wifely order and method; but,
without asst seems being aware OF the fact,
Mr.. Pinero has made it a contrast between
. case Of nerves and a tragedy OF passion.
The present Mrs. lesson, Nina, a creature
Of not unkindly impulse and extravaganza,
has lived her brief life Of matrimony be-
heath the shadow OF her predecessor, An
habeI-embodied in that lady's relatives.
who maintain their dominance with lesson
by insisting on and intensifying Nind's
shortcomings. just as the rule Of the inter-
| lopers has become intolerable and their
dominance complete, Nina discovers a
bunch Of old letters which show that the
sainted ARndbel had a lover, and that her
one child was illegitimate. AT the outset
lessons idea Of putting his house in order
was to subdue Nina to the pattern Of An
mabel. In the end he quietly evicts the
tribe Of ARndbeI and establishes his true
wife as mistress in her own demesne.
Those who know Pinero's skill can imagine
the spirit and finesse with which he portrays
! Nfnd's rebellion; but in the climax Of it
he fairly out-Pineros himself. In lessons
first grief at the loss OF Anndbel he has
promised the town a park dedicated to
her memory; but by the time it is ready
TO be formally opened to the public the
second Mrs. JessOR is on the soene. What
the occasion means to her need not to be
told, and it is remorselessly ground into
her by the dead woman's family-by lesson
himself. At the crucial moment Jesson's
brother Hilary appears (Mr. John Drew,
a diplomat and man OF the world, who
sees through the predicament at a glance
and persuades Nina to the course Of dignity
and affection. But HiLdry's struggle against
the overbearing AHnGbcl worshippers is
in vain. On the morning Of the ceremony
} Nina refuses to take part in it, appearing
among the mourning relatives in a gown Of
flaming pink, and with the avowed intention
| Of making public gossip Of the obviously
absurd position in which .Ies son finds himself
between his two wives. 1t is then that Anna
beEs love letters turn up, and with them
the revelations Of the soul Of Nina
Her husband, lesson, an uncomfortable
prig, has been the chief offender against her;
but her first impulse is to use the letters
as a stick OF dynamite to blast the family
Of AnndbcI out Of the house. From this
purpose the wise and diplomatic brother,
Hilary diverts her, appealing to the woman
beneath the case Of nerves. Nina oon-
quers herself, consents to give over the
letters to destruction and oblivion, and in
the nick of time doffs the gown OF pink and
Ions for the ceremony a costume OF half
mourning, which delights the audience with
it's precise appropriateness to the occasion.
But this is not enough for the neophyts
in self-effacement. Her secret knowledge
Of AnRGbers guilt, reinforced by the new
sensation OF her own righteousness. raises
her to the ~pipnacles of v~irtuOus self-abase-
ment. She gives way to the tribe of Anna
bel in all things, even ~surrendering a silver
cigarette 'case-the gift OF her father, a
| pipe smoking curate. who had spoiled her
in all things. No doubt IL would be unfair
sven to hint that Pinero was unconscious
| Of the intense latent comedy Of it all. The
fact that he does not permit us to laugh
at il is supreme evidence OF an artistic
feeling for the integrity OF the character
and the Scene tF .p s
Needless to say, Hilary does not destroy
the letters, but shows them in private to
his misguided brother, so that Nina comes
honorably, decently and Immediately into
her own. Not the least admirable touch Of
Pinero's seIf-restraint Is the fact that An
nabsTs relatives are shown the door with
| out being allowed to suspect that they are
~ II = -.