The Washington herald., 1910-12-06
THE NEW NATIONAL.
.ssid-ChnnneI."

Barrymore-she Will always remain so IN
the hearts of the public. though she Is
Miss no longer-piayed in Washington,
but she must have found last night that
she has a host CT friends and admirers
and well-wishers who hold her dear and
are faithful in their allegiance. For last
night when she presented Plnero's Mid
Channel" that play in which for so
long a time she has been scoring a sue
cess. and which she has brought 10
Washington just before she is 10 lay IL
by forever, she found a packed house
that welcomed her with gladness and
testified by the warmth of their applause
their appreciation of a beautiful play
and Of the genius with which her art in
forms It,
II is a new, a maturer. suTer. more
artistic Ethel Barrymore that we see
to-day. The years of busy work. and
fine. artistic work. too. have been more
than kind TO her: they have taught her.
ii seems TO gauge something OF the
power she has; to make her certain, In
her artistic sense. that she was fitted for
infinitely stronger-if not better-things
than the pleasant comedies with which
so much of her career has been associ-
ated. And here. by some providence,
came, in Pineros "AIid-Channel." the We
hicle ready to her hand For II this
play IS triumph for Miss Barrymore.
and II is by far the best work she has
ever done. revealing depths and heights
and breadths which she was never before
called upon to display. it is. too, a tri-
umph for that master playwright, Sir
Arthur Wing Pinero.
In "Mid-Channep -the title is an ale
gory-he has written a problem play, II
is true, but II is not like previous prob
lem plays. II is a problem play dealing
not with unusual people. strange types,
alien classes; II Is a play that deals with
the problem of married life-our llfe my
life. the life Of every man who takes
woman solemnly into his keeping for
better or for worse. Zoe Blundell, the
middle-aged wife Of a rather duh and
commonplace business man. has nothing
about art or theories about free love; she
has not even touch Of decadence. She
IS Just wOman-a wife-and the problem
that Is worked out in this tragedy-for
PinerO's play is nothing less-is the prob
Hem that may assail any wife in any SIM
silar circumstance. That is why the play
hltes home so deeply. rings so true, and
that is why the character Of Zoe Blum
dell. as PLAYED by Ethel Barrymore, is
the best and, in a way, the noblest part
she has ever played.
The story is simple enough. II does not
begin with courtship and end in mar
riage; il begins when Theodore BlundeIl
and his wife have bee1 married for four
teen years With the past few years
they have been growing apart. Nothing
very serious; Just series of little stings.
The husband is engrOssed in business and
has no time TO court his wife or make
pretty speeches TO her. and now they
have come TO open pickering and black
guarding each other The change Is In
both of them. Zoe recognizes it. but
can't correct il: she blames it on her
husband; he On her. She realizes that the
enlargement has come since they have
been prosperous. AS she tells the friend
of the family Peter MOttram, they were
all much happier when they lived In a
little house ''up north" in London.
And Peter sees it, too. Says he. in a
confidential advice talk to Zoe:
You take il from me- there are two instit0otions
in this world that never goin' to ater-men and
women and the shape Of chickens eggs Chickens
eggs are never goin 10 be laid square and men and
women win continue 70 be mere men and women
TIL the last cOntang0.
Ny dear lady. were all happier when We were
up north. mean IN previous stage Of our
careers, All they preach % Us SUNDAYS about cheT-
him and seraphim! It's ms firm hope aud cAnyic-
ton that when We die and 90 10 heaver@we shall
all md ourselves mp north again. Meanwhile. It's
no coed reDinin.
Men are the biggest humbugs goin'-esIeoially to
themselves. And a man Of your age on mine is
never bigger humbug than when he's deloodn
himself with the notion that he's scraI-iron
It's tTyin 70 say sOmethin fresh on the subject a
marriage that's responsible for large share Of the
domestic unhappness and discomfort existn' al the
present day. There's TOO much Of this tryin' to say
somethin' fresh On every subject. in my opinion.
His efforts to reconcile the pair fail and
at the end Of the first act they separate
in a rage.
In the second act II is made clear that
Zoe, In sheer disgust at what she has
heard about her husband in the four
months since their separation. has taken
up with young Leonard Ferris. one Of
the tame robins" as she called the bevv
or young admirers who used To throng
her house. and to whom her husband did
not object. But Ferris is rather a cad
at heart and back in London a little tiff
with Zoe Is excuse enough for him to
rush OF 10 young girl he had been
rather sweet on and propose offhand. y
The third act shows the husband. Blum
dell, IN his fiat at the other end Of Lon
don. He, too, has found consolation, in
the person or divorce, a rather care
less young woman, Mrs Annerly, but he
is sick of her and her constantly calling
him dear boy and her craving for
notoriety, and so he gives her a check
and let's her go Then 10 his fat comes
Zoe. Peter has persuaded her that there
is still a chance for reconciliation and
happiness, and for a few moments 1t
seems that ali will be-Or may be-well
between Zoe and her husband. But he.
poor blunderer, has the purely masculine
weakness of wanting to confess. and he
tells her all about Mrs. Annerly. which
she, with true feminine recklessness, for
gives at once But then Blundell gets
suspicious and jealous. and bit by bit
he worms a confession out OF her, and
Jhen-the fat is in the fire. II is the old.
old story. It is in vain that Zoe. with
a breaking heart. cries.
Il have forgiven you, Theo! For
give mer'
II is not in the mans nature-not that
Blundell is at all exceptional in that. as
Pinero so well knows; he says that life
between them is impossible. All he can
do is 10 promise to give her a divorce
with as little scandal as possible. so that
she may marry Ferris.
The third act shows Ferris fiat on the
top story OF a very tail building. She
tells Ferris now that she will marry
him. But Ferris tells her that he has be-