New-York tribune., 1910-11-30
THE DRAMA
Mrs. Leslie Carter in 1.-TWO
Women at Lyric Theatre.

that might falntly resemble art It is a
fve-act piece called Two Women" Its
author Is rupert Hughes. It's star is
Mrs. LesHe Carter. Its destiny is I'M
known. Its pace in the scheme of things
Is of small Importance. although like many
other unimportant things 1t occupies much
space and is consumer of time It con-
tains the largest collection of STACEY de-
vices for the exercise Of actors that any
play in recent seasons has exhibited. All
the resources of the emotional drama
have been examined, classified, labelled and
set up here to do duty in order that an
emotional actress" may have an oppor-
tunfty to Juggle with all the familiar tricks
which for decades have been associated
with emotional parts. The result is that
Mr.. Hughes and Mrs. Carter appear TO
have shrieked the last word in theatrical
ity. There can be nothing more to come
out Of the artificial regions where works of
this kind are thrown together. They have
used all the pieces in the box, all the
hfalutn that ever was thought of, all the
claptrap that has accumulated in ages and
as many of the effects, ancient and mod
ern. as could be packed into three hours
Of performance.
Remy de Margyl, a dissolute young count,
having squandered two fortunes. reforms.
becomes an artist and marries seam
stress with flaming hair. The anectionate
pair are very poor, and the young wife
dies in midWinter of galloping consunp-
ton, just as her husband comes into money
again through the sale of an 'art process
which he has invented Before dying she
makes long and sentimental speeches. over
her sewing, recites in the most approved
actressy style a long monologue about
dream Of death, accompanied at a pre-
slmably solemn moment by a good deal
of noise from her husband and two otner
men on the scene. Thus in the first act
Mrs Carter has full scope for display OF
the domestic virtues and the customary
theatrical mode of dying from consuHp-
ton. But her domesttcity Is cloylng Wheh
it is not overwhelming, and sne mas
robust appearance which does not consort
with the alleged rapid decline OF the I'M
poverished wife However, at convenient
moment behind the curtains or her Deo
aIcove she whitens her face so that when
she comes forward again to the spot nght
for the recital of her dream, the unsopnls-
+icsred (of whom there were many In the
audiencel seem TO think that something
o71fte remarkable IS going on IN the hne o,
acting and they make the noises "Ai|H
appropriately accompany such an event.
In the second act. Reny, after an ao-
sence of two years. returns from Anerica'
where he has made q fortune. and at the
Cafe Tabarin. in Paris, seeks the aeaua4ii'-
ance of woman of easy V1rtne OF IoAe'
had manners, loud oaths and naming haii'
She Is z member of the ballet, queen or the
dissoIute world. and she dresses. as one u
her admirers says. like a brass oano on
the Fourteenth of July" OF course she Is
the living image of Rerny's dead WE anu
Remy persuades her to come 70 MS sIuulo'
in his suburban cottage, where she MAY
pose as a. model for his unfinished poftraiI
of the Jeanette who Is no more Inc SET
ond woman of the flaming hair is. by the
way, named Jeannine. and from the nio'|
abandoned profigacy she turns IN SIX "eeAs
into pattern of sweetness and VISION oA
light-according to the dramatlst- Accoro-
ing IN Mrs. Carter, she becomes, or re-
mains a virago According TO both she
ro15es +be paiuter and tells him so. but
the ,airter has not dreamed Of this ana
will not vhereIlpon the flaming one storms
at him in long and STACEY Speech III
which once more she tells the story OF her
life and having made every one uncotl-
Ifortab BILE she declares for a return 10 the
Tabarin, relieving the artists cottage
! of her IoQuacious and vulgar presence
But. of course. the millionaire artist pc
| ing a true millionaire artist OF the
| emotional drama follows her to Par1s,
where to his STACEY surprise he nnos her
living in the luxury so often assoc1ated
with the "heroines" Of emotional plays
/ and for the usual reasons. and ne taxes
her TO his arms and asks her TO be ms
wife. And so on to the end Of the fourth
act, by which time the pair had parted
again-for the usual reasons, the expIana-
ton Of the wondrous luxury, the suTg1ns
course of jealousy, and so on again. "hat
the fifth act disclosed the present enron
icler does not presume to say, for at the
late hour at which the chroniclers OF plays
must needs leave the playhouse the nrth
act mad not begun. But enough or the
play had been seen to make the act Of
breathing the comparatively pure air Of
the subway a relief and a joy. In all the
| simulated agony, ii all the recitatives
| of love in all the rhetorical passion,
| in all the woe and happiness, not a
thrill not q pang. not a gleam of delight
| shot over the footlights. Mrs. Carter
showed. as she has shown before. expert
ness in the craft Of acting; she did every
! thing in the right way by the book, spoke.
walked twitched her fingers, snapped her
ewes gestured gave rapid utterance, SLOW
utterance omitted nothing that ever was
| done bv the emotional school; but De-
| hind all this skill in externals there was
no informing power. there was no inner
| fire or light You saw the machinery move
| continuously. heard IL click till the curtain
! fell II was as il you saw moving, talk
! ing human shell without thought or soul
| inside IL The audience liked the whole
| show well enough. But what does that
| signify? No amount of liking can make
Two Women anything more than ma
1 chine-made play or the performance OF
| IFS star ANYTHING more than machine-made
acting To be sure there is always pub
! lie for this kind of emotional play-nak-
| ing and this one-two-three-four school of
play acting but its existence and its pat
ronage prove nothing that can be OF use
| 10 the best interests of the modern theatre
| and of the art which the theatre Is sup
uosed occasionally 10 serve "a w.
| CAST OF TWO WOMEN"
Jeannette Moreau.. .,rs Iaslie Carter
! Cornte Renly ce Margyl ...-. Robert "ar@icA -
J -rancois R0snv --.-....... Harrison Hunter
MARQUIS Pascal de Foudras. Brandon hurst
! nr5,a,aI R. Lawrence
! ~, a. 7 {seac ........ Harry G. Carlton
| Cor7e da AndaIl,cia ......A N. Montegaudd
! Nine Yvonne DerVal- -------..-.. F1eien Iracg
Nifty GaIlipauX ,,i; I Ga ,,
! %fai- ......... Grace Studiford
/ -. Marcalla Lamb