New-York tribune., 1909-01-31
LONDON DRAMA
Hiss Tempest in Mr. Mdugh0m's
Nesc Comedy.

London, January IS
Since Of the making of plays there has been
10 end originality now lies in novel treatment
OF TIE old stock OF ideas Scores OF dramas
have been written around the afecuonate Wl1e s
device OF winning back faithless husband by
giving him his head and enabling him to be too
much with the other woman Mr Barrie re-
verts TO tie old theme IN What Every Woman
Knows" after first act OF unadulterated orig
tnality; and Mr.. Somerset Vaughan falls back
upon II the main proposition Of his new play,
penelope" enacted at the Comedy Theatre. In
enc case in the other. the sequel is known
as soon as the loving wife's is disclosed.
The husband will be reclaimed IN a final scene
OF reconciliation, and the audience sent home
with the conviction that married man ought
20 be allowed enough rope to hang himself when
he is bent upon making fool Of himself Yet
while the story is an old one and the ending
foregone conclusion. Penelope" like Mr.. Bar
ries play. is a most diyerting entertainment.
The treatment is novel and effective. There are
unexpected turns and genuine surprises in the
superficial, transparent plo:; and the familiar.
commonplace motif is frightened and deco
rated until It has the semblance OF sparkling
originality.
Mr.. Vaughan introduces his characters with
brilliant dexterity. PeneIope's father mother
uncle and the family solicitor assemble in her
drawing room in response TO urgent telegrams
and after being supplied by the maid with their
favorite papers and drinks exchange conjectures
respecting the probable cause OF disturbance
snd reveal their own characters. When the
doctors wife-Miss Marie Tempest iu1personates
her-joins her relatives and the lawyer the
secret comes out She has discovered that her
husband is flirting desperately with Mrs Fer
gUson, one Of her friends and also of his
patients, and is constantly visiting her and
taking her TO races under the guise Of perform
r.
HACK. Penelope, heartbroken and Jealous. wants
to fling her wedding ring into her husbands
face. expose his duplicity and obtain divorce
Her mother is sympathetic but helpless; the
lawyer Is rsticent and disposed to wait for in
st-uctions; the uncle an elderly Iotharjo who
speaks Of duchesses by their Christian names.
tells her she ought never to have married a
coctor; and her father, ar abstruse rnatherna-
. atcian, explains that two and two make four
not five, and that after being too affectionate
Herself she must be cold and Indifferent and
Fliow the other woman to wear out tha bus-
Nahos inIafuatlon by super.iuous endearments
penelope follows her fathers advice and car
fies the prescription into practice by bundIing
her husband and Mrs. Ferguson off 10 the
theatre when they join the family party The
husoano' suffeited TO safety with sweetness at
horne, is TO be overdosed with the rival cbar,,a,
1he audience IS expecting wearisome even
WHICH 'iie second act opens. for the theme is
riSe and the final curtain inevitable: but Mr.
aauEham has amusing episodes in rese-ra
snere are Two scenes with patients in the con-
fulcng room; with a nervous man ,,-ro ts
sHoSlFely grateful for medical advice and doas
not Know how 10 pay his fee and the other with
garrulous widow, most droIly inpersonarad ~,
MfS- calvert. with passion for going to doc
' iors and taking medicine when there IS no+bi,e,
me matter with her and there are no CHARGES
IS she married physician. These are frreIa-
tsnt passages but there is better fun in store
u comes after Penelope has informed her hus
"1o E-ot she invariably buys expensive
Eo"n ano mar when he disappears for the surgi-
ra1 operations on the mysterious Mrs Mack
snc that she and her relatives know all about
nla n'rlatloh with Mrs. Ferguson and are de-
Eoerately condoning il. The husband turns
Hpon the family with reproacbes and 6er,,rcfs-
bon for their disgraceful conduct In encouraeirO,
him IN Ms faithessness. He is shocked because
they have not been shocked. He is not renent
ant for his own nisdemeanors but is yirtuouslv
Indignant because they are SO calIous and c,,nf
sal He poses champion of the sanc+ity Of
TIE home He rates them soundly-AIr Graham
Browne is most effective in this scene-for thar
hypocrisy and worldlness. and proclaims him
self as the only member Of the family who has
any sense OF morality. Entirely in the wrong
Himself. the doctor condemns his wife as mon
ster Of iniquity devoid OF ethical instinct for
taking everything so coolly and not shrinking
from him social leper. This is an original
bit Of comical topsy-turvydor which is irresistt
sly funny.
There Is another extremely amusing passage
Ia the final act The doctors intatuation for
krs- Ferguson has been declining IN consequence
~ her cloytng sweetness and demands upon his
purse and he is more IN love with his wife than
sYer when he finds her cold and without teal
busy. When he tells Penelope that he is NOT
going 20 Paris with Mrs. Ferguson on the nre
tsncs OF watching the conyalescence OF Mrs
Mack. the imaginary patient ne opens the uza,y
Tor broadly farcicsl scene PeneIope with
tears IN her eyes and mischief in her hear,
breaks the sad news 20 Mrs. Ferguson that Mrs
Mack is dead. With hyster1cal sobs she reneats
the patents last words and tortures her rival
by demanding her sympathy and tears En-
acted by Miss Tempest, with feminine nialice
snd irresponsible glee. II is a brilliant comedy
scene When q is over there is 8 break between
the doctor and Mrs. Ferguson. and she finally
pt&xts for Paris under the escort OF the elderly
rsaaaise-sH Encle Davenport Barlow. Penelope