The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-03-05
FINE PLAY; FINE ACTOR
J. E. Dodson and Excellent Company In ''The House Next Door Large Aud fence Present.
fence Present.

A SplenO1Qly representative aud1ence, both in numbers and character, saw at Jackson's theatre last evening what by common consent is deemed one of the best built and best acted plays that has come from any play wright in recent years. What a real relief it is to go to the theatre nowadays and see a bit of real acting, scholarly, thorough, intelligent work that has no taint of modern theatricalisn to mar it's beauty; no straining effort to inn part the meaning of the lines; no
 nJI1nblirg and mouthing of words to detract from the effectiveness of the elocution. An actor-and one is tempt ed to spell. the word with a big "A, played here last evening And he played in a brilliant, finely written comedy that was quite worthy of his art That actor was J. E.. Dodson. and the comedy, sThe House Next Door, the combination rarely delight full. Thank goodness! the theatre goers of this city had the good sense it would have been a source of regret had that fine performance been made to a house scantily filled. And ap- plause was bountifully bestowed, as it should have been, for the work that was being done for the edfhcation Of the patrons of the drama present was of the highest order. MT. J. Hartley Manners has written several unusually brilliant plays, but in The House Next Door, we find him at his best.
 In it he has blended comedy and real pathos with the touch of a master craftsman, and at the same time he has put on to paper character which it would have been a joy for any ca pablo and intelligent player to vitalize. Otis Skinner could do the part but hardly as satisfactorily as Dodson. Richard Mansfield might have been ahle to tone down his methods. suff1- cient1y consummate artist that he was, and if he had succeeded he would have made a wonderful piece of character work out of this grabbed. irritable, short sighted, aristocratic egotist. Manners supplied the material with a generous hand; the actor was paitic- ularly fortunate in his author.
 Manners takes the attitude of an ex- tremely clever due1ist in the author ship of teThe House Next Door," One can easily think of him facing an ad- superiority. There is a flash of the foil and some vital thing is laid bare, but before you have time to notice the wound there is another flash and a new subject of point attracts the at tention- You must not for a moment make the mistake of thinking that Manners is skipping chamois-Wise like Bernard Shaw from conversational heights to sordid social rocks. Man ners is skating over the cracking Ice of the problems of Jew versus Christ ian and the aristocracy of birth. and yet he is not doing a problem play but an excellent comedy which carries be- cause of it's suggestions and because of the tears which so often follow the laughter. The plot is old. as old as Romeo and Jul1et''-and Shakespeare blew the dust from it-yet the interest does not center in the young lovers but in the naughty old baronet who will not allow his son and daughter to the son and daughter Of a -t1- tied but self-fnade Jew who has saved them all from, want.
 The story deals with peppery old Sir John Cotswo1d Bart, whose busi- ness ina abilities have wrecked the fam fly fortunes and placed his estates in F., one of those numerous Jewish knights whom their last two gracious have raised up in such plen- titude.
 The town house of Sir Isaac Jacob son is next door to thatsof Sir John, in whose Jew despising soul the near ness of one of the hated race rouses the bitterest resentment. The majesty of birth breaches the testy old baronet reduced to his last shilling and proud of it. And 1ithe majesty of birth" breaches Sir Isaac next door; only in his case the idea of majesty, it's origin and it's duty, is quite different.
 Sir Johns daughter falls in love with Sir Isaac's5 son and Sir Johns fury by becoming an opera singer, falls in love with Sir Isaac's daugh- 1 ter GLOW anyone of the four could now anyone else could have liked the tour collectively or sing1y, as they l were presented last night almost made | he piece into a problem play !, where i It the natural clash between the par l snts ensues. In this the figure of the | Jewish knight is made one of gentle 1 ness, generosity and nobility. whereas he old aristocrat is consistently dom l neering ,irascible and unreasoning. In | he end of course, Sir John is brought 1 70 a realization of his wrongness, the | our mixed pickle hearts beat one, 1 ind the curtain falls with a broken put gentle Sir John leaving for call | It the hated House Next Door
 MT. Dod support was excellent. | n the main each member of the com | ,any was finely fitted for his or her l part Particularly is this true of Ruth | Chester, Sir John's wife. Olive Temple, | Sir Johns daughter; indeed Miss Tenn ,Ie personally proved so winning that | he affecting little passages between i lerseif and her father brought tears O the eyes of many of the women present..
 The role of Sir Isaac, was capita1ly by Frank Losee, while Re ran Hughston irnparted to the char .cter of Adrian Jacobson. the son, a eal of earnest effort. Fania Marin if was excellent as Esther, Sir Isaac's laughter. Herbert Standing as Walter lewis the 'sPresbyterian,' with the blinking effect was a rare orn. Altogether the performance was ne of the most satisfactory seen here n many day and Manager Jackson $ deserving of credit for obtaining it or the local playhouse.
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