Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-24
T HE TIL e At E R.
Belasco Theater.

| A play of the present was offered at the
BelaSco Theater last night by company
of exceptionally high quality. Mr.. Wilton
| Lackaye, the star, typified the masterful
man of wealth about whom so much in
| terest now centers: the great dominating
| influence in our present civilization. whose
| personality is as mysterious to the popu-
| lar mind as 1t is potent in human affairs.
| The multmillionaire has taken the place
of the oldtime alehemist wonder
| worker and for purposes of fiction he Is
| commonly represented as being in league
with the evil one. Having shown his
| malevolent side so long. the playwrights
are forced by the demand for novelty to
give some little study to his gentler at
tributes. Mr.. Cleveland Moffett's new
play 1.-The Battle makes candid
ANALYSIS of social conditions, points out
their causes. frankly admitting defects
and mercilessly exposing fallacies with
out attempting to offer a remedy. In THIS
the autho displays the good Judgment TO
be expected from the we'll trained intelli-
gence so manifest throughout the work
presented last night. 1t Is a great deal
to provide a trst-class diagnosis.
1.-The Battle is by no means SO violent
a literary demonstration as the title might
seem to imply. Institutions are neither
bombarded with the heavy artillery of
logic nor peppered with the birdshot of
episram They are simply placed before
the auditor with lucid distinctness, as
Drel6SC LOT Inat scrutiny III uuUldH HAUL
which has ever been the real function OF
the drama. However dextrously the
author may arrange to typify certain gen.
eral tendencies of humanity in a. single
character. the interest in the individual
comes uppermost. and the instincts of
class that he is supposed to symbolic
are lost sight of in the joys and disap-
pointments. the hopes and hatreds OF the
man himself However faithfully the
writer may seek to study mankind, he
finally caOifnlafeS Mr. POnp and adj
| mits that mankind's proper study is man.
The individual is as much as any men
tally yet produced can hope to handle
in way that will engage the approving
attention of the crowd SO 1t happens
| that with all the theorizing as to wealth
and its responsibilities, and all the spec
| ulation on poverty and its causes the
role of John Haggleton, the man of
nerve, rises supreme in interest. His in
fluence on public destinies becomes of
less Importance for the purposes of the
stage than his relation to the lives and
happiness of two young people.
Mr.. Lackaye plays this part finely, and
the entire cast contributes work which.
while varying in quality. Is at all times
sufficient to convey the authors purpose.
The performance of F.. NJ. Holland was
marvel of quiet, convincing power Mr..
Moffett has written a play of strong ell
makes. and has succeeded in handling his
subject frankly and forcefully, without
an appeal to class prejudice.
1t was in a whimsical vein that Mr..
I.ackaye permitted himself to speak. after
the curtain had been raised for the sew
enth or eighth time in response to APP
plauSe. about whose heartiness there
could be no mistake. He referred to the
play as discussing questions which had
occupied attention ever since our remote
ancestors discovered that the one with
the longest arm and the most prehensile
tail secured the largest cocoanut. While
1t did not solve them. the play might be
something of relief from the question
Of how hard one German could hit an
other over the head without killing him
or how much clothing a dancer could re-
move without being interfered with by the
police. The audience would perceive
the difficulty he had In playing the part:
in understanding the viewpoint and
mental operations of a multimillionaire
on his present income. but trusted that
this play might have within itself the
solution of that difficulty. OF course, this
and more Of the same sort was better as
the actor repeated it than it seems in
cold type. 1t was by far the most en-
PERTAINING curtain speech heard this sea-
son.