The Washington herald., 1907-02-03
Of The Washington Hcrald.

the lrlsnmdn could easily prove an abb
as 10 his plot, II he were put 10 1t. for
it is as intangible IN wool as the stun
that dreams are made Of. 1t is one Of the
Three Plays Tor Puritans,' with Caesar
and Cleopatra" and "The Devils Dis
ciple which followed his Plays Pleas
ant and Unpleasant" The English actress
has caught on so well in the role Of Lady
Cecily Wayneflete that she is 10 repeat
IL for an additional week. instead Of
changing TO the double bin originally an
nounced.
This Lady Waynehete is typical Of a
rare class OF women OF superior intelli-
gence that set everything right. from a
family jar to an international complica-
ton. By j display Of ingenious good
nature, serenity Of temperament. and a
tranquil philosophy. BTassb0und is the
composite Of modern pirate, smuggler
and SLAYER, who sails In Moorish waters
under a license from the Cadi. with as
picturesque a crew of London slumgul-
lions as ever cut a throat or scuttled d
ship. He gets Lady Waynehete and her
/ brother-in-law, Sir Howard HaIlam. a
retired justice. into an old castle in the
Atlas Mountains, while acting as their
! escort. ard there reveals himself in the
character of a distant relative who has
/ mission Of avenging his mothers suffer
ings upon Sir Hallam. He betrays him
+ into the hands Of the leader Of the fanati-
cal tribesmen Of the mountains. Sir
I Howard is IL "A tight box. bat through the
/ benevolent oflciOusuess OF Lady Cecily
/ he- ability 20 look al things IN a practical
way and inspira uonany % bring light
I out % darkness, she subdues the avenger,
capuyates the irate tribesman. and with
/ the Opportunc aid Of an American man
0f-war cruising in those waters eztricates
I the party from their dilemma and secures
/ their safe return 70 the more hospitable
atmosphere Of Mogador.
/ BrassbJund and his crew Of Adventures
/ are held as prisoners by Capt. Kearney,
/ T. S. y Lady CecIly acts as attorney for
( the prosecution. and with 50 much amla-
bility, as well as adroitness, that she
makes a deep impression on the American
captain and clears Capt BrsssD0und,
which. Of course. is one OF those anus
( ing paradoxes without which a Shaw play
would be ike a performance Of Hamlet"
without Hamlet Brassbound is as I'M
sympathetic a character as ever was de-
picted on the stage Barring his brutal
courage be has nothing engaging about
him. but Lady Cecily effects a conversion
IN his nature and makes him see for the
first time in his life that women are the
masters Of men, even wild men Ike him
She awakens a dormant sense Of tender
ness in him. and he admits her su-
peri9rity. She is the missing link in his
life. "a woman who can make him obey
orders as Chinese Gordon could when he
served with him. Tie tells her be cannot
live without her. She smiles family Il
have married seventeen men. she says.
with an emphatic pause. TO other women.
They all began by telling NE that they
could not live without me" She is WAIVER
ing. however, when he hears the signal /
gun Of his ship that her anchors are
lifted; all the old instinct Of the rover is /
again reused within him. and he bids her /
farewell Lady CeciIy has been touched I
by his appeal. but the moment he is gone /
her old philosophy returns and congrat-
ulating herself on her narrow escape from
matrimony, the play ends.
With his usual levity. Shaw hits at
social diseases and conventions right and
left. He has a jolly fling at the useful
ness Of missionaries, OF whom he intro
tuces practical type in the person Of
the Rev. Leslie Rankin In the thirty
years that J have lived here" he SAYS 70
Felix Drinkwater. You are the only con-
vert / have nade''-and this same Drink
water turns out TO be the greatest rascal
In the miscellaneous crew Of Capt Brass +
bounds comical gallowsbirds. Shaw
here has torn a leaf out OF the second
part Of Henry w. and given US a
modern edition Of Falstan and his jovial
band of cut-purses
As Lady Cecily. Ellen Terry was admir- !
able. She stiIl looks young enough 10
appear thoroughly interesting. There is /
an unmisjakable tone Of authority in her
work, and she plays the comedy with re-
markabie ease, hitting of the salient
points with the utmost felicity Of method /
and lightness of movement The roll. is /
not invested with enough dramatic dig /
nifty 10 enable her 10 score a triumph OF /
the frst magnitude but on the other 1
hand, IL is, intrinsicaIly sufficiently I
unique 70 enable her 60 shine with a /
peculiar lUster all her own.
a new feature has been introduced in /
one of the New York theaters which IS 4
likely to be emulated by theaters in large /
cities all over the country i'm the course 4
of time. At the Lyric where Sothern 1
and Mariowe are appearing in their roper
toire, the management is providing male /
escorts fer ladies who attend the theater /
alone. Some curiosity was expressed as
10 the success of the plan. but from all /
accounts the experiment is indicating
the high hopes which the management
entertained in undertaking it. Still more
curiosity was shown in the sort Of men
who would volunteer for this duty, as, of
course, some discrimination had to be
shown in the selection of suitable indi-
Eiduals to whom lady would trust her
self to so home at a late hour This
problem also was successfully solved !
one of the men engaged for this purpose /
was a Well-tO-do merchant in San Fran
cisco. whose possessions were swept
away by the earthquake. Another is a
young physician who has not been able
to work mp a paying practice and is
probably serving in this capacity Of a
professional escort to obtain patients
one is necessarily bound to think Of the
opportunity for romantic developments
which this arrangement affords. The DO
sitiOn Of Young physician. temporarily
reduced to the strait Of acting in so
mental a capacity, has elements of ap-
pealing interest. The experiment, how
ever is still too recent 10 warrant more
than an interesting theory. At all events
here in New York. where anything new
is sure to be tried, the undertaking is
said to catch on with the public.
Mrs. Carter continues to furnish ma
teriaI for sensational talk. and at present
writing there is no prospect that Cleo