New-York tribune., 1909-09-14
PINERO'S PLAY
Homily on Selfish Middle Life and
Smart Society.
London. September 4.

! Win a falr promise OF success ana enoeo fhlu-
way in failure. The Bundells We're happy when
J they lived up north in F1tzjOhns avenue and
were struggling against poverty and obscurity
! Now that the husband has amassed fortune in
} the City, and the wife lives sumptuOusly in Ian
| caster Gate with of fashionable idlers
| around her. each is the others nerves, ia
! mlarity has bred contempt, and safety and
ennui induce chronic irritability and cause in
, cessant wrangling. Zoe Blundell gives the rea-
! son for domestic unhappiness with absolute lu-
! cidity. Our marriage" she tells her husband,
/ was doomed from the moment we agreed that
! we would never be encountered in our career
! with any brats of children" This is more in
! telgble than the parable of the mid-Channel
J ridge which Theodore Blundelrs stock exchange
! partner explains in detai-the shoal between
| Folkestone and Boulogne where passengers be-
! gin to feel uncomfortable-the rough water IN
! middle life which must be passed before the
! haven of serene old age be reached The
! childless marriage has left the nervous exc1t-
able wife at leisure to fiirt with younger men
! and TO join smart people in vacuous chase
after pleasure and it has not diverted the cal
! ous irascibIe husband from the engrossng pas
J sion of money making. This is the closest ap-
, proach to a moral in a cleverly constructed out
! gloomy depressing play.
| Zoe Buudell is another Iris. not so shallow IN
mind. but coarser and more slangy in talk; and
she is closely related to Mrs. Tanqueray ana
Mrs Ebbsmth II is the same capricious' ner-
vous reckless. alf-hysterical woman. whom
/ this resourceful but pessimistic playwright mas
/ recognized as a social type in an overwrought
world. The only novel characteristic is taste
( for Barries, "kidde plays" and this comes
from a hazy notion that she would have been
at her best in mothering a brood of children.
Otherwise she is the impulsve. excitable hero
inc whom Miss Irene Vanbrugh has repeatedly
irnpersonated with hne variety and wonderful
subtlety: and never has the realism been more
vivid nor the combination Of power and charm
more impressive Theodore Blundel is less bru-
tai and masterful than Maldonado, who turns
Iris out of the house and smashes ornaments
and furniture in frenzy OF passion; but he Is
hard and rough has a violent temper. and takes
70 drink when he has lost mastery of himself
and the situation Mr. Lyn Harding enacts this
part with vigor and keeps the bully under re-
straint while revealing him with subtle compre-
: hension The other characters are the stock
brokers' partner. Peter Mottram. obviously de-
signed for NIr. George Alexander. but admirably
impersonated by Mr c. NJ. Lowne; match
making mother, eager to marry off an artless
daughter Leonard Ferris described by Zoe
Blunden as tame robin. but more accurately
known as a cub and cad: mercenary widow
Of most obnoxious type. and several servants.
Peter Mottram. peacemaher and squire OF
danes, ie good hearted and has many bright
epgrams ana jests. and mother and daughter
are harmless but the others are disagreeable.
vulgar and low-rnnded, ana their talk is an
amazing 1srson Of slang and inane smastness.
The play opens with the n1atchmaker's scheme
for an engagement between her daughter Ethel
and Leonard Ferris. one Of Mrs Blundells ad-
mirers. Husband and wife alternately silent
and quarrelsome. and Peter Mottram tries Co
effect a reconciliation between them After
agreeing so go TO Paris together for holiday
journey they fan out over the choice of hotel.
and Bunden leaves the house and breaks OF all
relations with his wife. When the second act
comes on there has been an interval OF six
months during which Zoe has been followed 10
Italy by Ferris and fatally compromised. while
her husband mas become dissolute and the COM
panion Of a notorious divorc6e. The peacemaker
renews his negotiations. aud Is aided by the in
nocent Ethel. who IS anxious TO bring back her
lover 70 her side. Zoe dismisses Ferris impul-
svely, and Theodore discharges Mrs. Annerly
with handsome sum In cash. and husband and
wife exchange confessions. She is as willing to
forgive him as poor Tess 10 forget Angel
CIare's fault: but he viii not admit that they
are on terms OF equality, and refuses 10 take her
back. although he is prepared TO allow her 10
divorce him and 10 marry Ferris. When she
tells Ferris that she obtain her freedom she
discovers that he and Ethel engaged. and
when her husband and Peter Mottram approach
with noisy talk she hides herself in another
room While the three men are wrangling she
kills herself by throwing herself from high
balcony
There is little comic relief in the sombre and
distressing play. Such pleasure is impaired
comes from the mastery technique Of the con-
structlon the exposition of character by telling
bits of dialogue and the sense that the people on
the stage are not puppets, but real human beings
with lives OF their own-types which can be
found in London to-day The coaTseness of the |
manners and the vulgarity OF the Slang are ap-
palIing. Not one OF the stage figures is high
minded or has any refinement. The frivolity of |
the wife and the boorishness of the husband are |
equally repeent. and the caddishness OF the |
lover IL unspeakably base and shocking. The |
heroine swears fuently as any Of her men |
chums," and the women folk are as vixcnish |
and Ill bred as their maids are impertinent and |
unseemly. 1t is with feeling OF relief that the |
spectator gets out of the theatre into the fresh
air where he does not have 10 watch this rafish |
crew nor TO listen 10 their coarse talk. YET do |
what he will, he cannot forget them. That is |
the pIayWrights powe~. The creatures of bis |
ugly story of low motives, garish pleasures and |
british tendencies intensely vital Vhey |
have taken a firm grip upon the imagination. |
one expects to meet them when loungng at his |
club or dining out the next week.
While the moral OF the chldess marriage is 1
not strongly emphasized. the play. with its ex- |
ceptiona types OF character and Tankness of |
profanity and bad language is sermon. Not /
as amiable and comforting homly such falls |
from the smoothest pulpits IN Mayfair after /
fashionable sinners have enjoyed ritual and |
music and the consciousness of conforming with |
religious conventions, but an old-fashioned Cal |
whistle discourse. with abundance of fire and |
10 old