New-York tribune., 1909-11-11
THE DRAMA
SEVEN DAYS" AT THE ASToR
THEATRE.

Seven DAYS is screaminriv funny ANY
body who remembers Fourteen DAYS" q
farce IN which Charles wyndham PLAYED
IN this country many years ago. can form
some idea % the funnsness OF Seven
Days" when told thar 4 is twice as funny
as that older pie ,e. and not half as funny.
IS the name might imply.
seven Days IS sheer farce. but no one
need think he viii have a melancholy even
ing on thai account solemn though some
''farces' Of recent seasons have been Last
uight the spectators in The Astor Theatre
laughed and laughed until they wished the
actors would stop for a while 50 that the
house might catch its breath. seven
Days" Is an fun. az wildly improbable as
a farce should he when il knows us busi-
ness. and New York viii laugh at il FOR
months.
James Wilson. an artist whose prosperity
Is due 20 the ever ready purse OF his Aunt
Selma, celebrates the FIRST anniversary Of
h:s divorce by inviting his chum and his
chums wife and their charming young
friend. Miss KIT McNair 20 an evening al
his very comfortable home wilson's d.
vorce. or rather Mrs Wilson's. was one OF
Ihe Reno sort. granted the lady because
she abhorred the color OF her husbands
sccks, ar the way he parted his hair. or
something equally serious. James is CON
WINGED that the real cause was his in
cressing fatness. However. ne proposes 20
Miss XII He proposes a health. and Il is
drunk n cocktails. Mrs Brown. the chum's
wife, finds her share Of the beverage rather
heady. and, being a woman fond Of ex-
agssration in all things. exaggerates the
effect of the Friendly tippie. just as Aunt
Selma makes an unexpected appearance.
Airs. Brown has been told by medium
frrH ~ - asr-rn1rfs
move in the room. She thinks supernatu-
raj agencies are al work. But there is a
burglar behind the screen. and this cheer
ful person is waiting for the party 10 break
Up so that he can escape unseen. Mss KIT
has been persuaded 70 inpersonate Bella.
wilson's ex-Nife, whom Aunt Selma has
never seen, because Wilson's allowance
Nin he stopped 4 the liberal but terrifying
70 ative hears about the divorce AND 50.
tor an hour or two. the fair McNair
consents 10 keep up the deception when.
a. a sudden. comes Bella herself. the ex-
Mrs. Wilson. who has heard that her for
nlsr James Is ill. James is very vel. but
me cook is ~. And just as at the fat is
shout 20 spill into the fre. and Aunt Selma
seems likely 20 detect the trick that is be-
Ing played upon her. Policeman Flanagan
rushes into the drawing room with the dis
cook. has been carried 20 the hospital a
victim of smallpox: that the house is
euaHantined. and everybody. himself in
cluoec, is locked in. Upon this situation
The hrst curtain falls
All the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. that ensue all
TIE fantastic devices that are arrived az
during the seven DAYS imprisonment ~
rhis queerly assorted group. can easily be
imagined. or Some Of them can be. The
burglar remains IN concealuent excepting
from the audience. Mrs. Brown has
psychic delusions' every little while. Aunt
Selma takes command of the establishment.
the policeman becomes indoor man q an
work; the burglar goes up and down TIE
dumbwaiter is roasted behind the gas
stove. hides IN the chimney. and a general
veirdness seizes upon the entire lot. II is
TOT funny IN the telling but II is vastly
funny 70 behold.
The PLAYERS in the piece know how %
ersct farce. II they did not the whole
coutrivanos would 60 10 wreck in ten
minutes. But the actors are clever enough
10 give the right touch % every line and
20 every swiftly changing situation. OF
course everything comes night ia the end.
and the Ren0ed pair are reunited. The
burglar. like the Lone Fisherman On
.-Evangeline" makes his Wsv in panto-
mime throughout the play, excepting that
8 minute before the end he dcscends like
8 god from the machine. otherwise the
chimney. and explains things. AZ which
instant Il Is also made known that the
cooks illness is not smallpox, and THAI
the quarantine is Withdrawn. Mr. Eville
ss the burglar breaks the house" into con-
unuous laughter. Miss Florence Reed, IS
Mrs Brown. is so comical that her work
in the first act Will be the talk Of the
town. All the players are good and all
tle play is good fooling. Tie authors,
Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hop
wood. make no pretence that their play Is
anything more than "a combination of
curious circumstance" Their purpose was
q make the public laugh for two hours
and a halE They have succeeded and
seven Days" may run for seven months.
The world loves laughter. In the Astor
Theatre IL can laugh iii il is weary.
A ".