The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-12-04
TWO WOMEN and some OTHERS
~ OID isHIONED PIti F0R
WRS. CaRTEk.
sur, Nal> OF Victorian standards in Thas
New Production al the hSric The Mr.
earring nirium Light sisesi Nrtsrstn
s.r-~k TraErsi, Nlss Nriison again.

CURING uirilna lIghi Coed Artsrstn
t.r-~A TRACED, niss Nriison Akain.
There ar. lew facts a. hand concern
ing Y Cicconi. who wrote the original
play which - said TO have inspired Rupert
Hugh.s's Two Women ia which Mrs
Carter Is now appearing M IA" Lyric
Theatre IL may 10. true that his play was
one oT th- most successful novelties OF
, the past season in Bari or Padua. or "
may have been the sensation OF the ara
nsitic wear in Rome and Milan. There
il no Information accessible. on this point
aud casual acquaintance win the
! repertoire Of the Tratro Garib0idi in
Third ~ rect ha- not revealed any trace
Of the play there Whenever his drama
may have been written. however. Slgnor
tIcconi has Victoriously resisted the ten
denotes Of his time It's spirit is altogether
at variance with the prevailing views OF
tn. Italian playwrighis
Two Women il feverish melodrama.
with no cognizance Of naturnlness or
truth suggested at any point SO strongly
is its Psychology Influenced by the spirit
Of tn. footlights that il might have been
J written by an actor There in a certain
, crude dramatic force in some OF the
scenes which il still appreciable. dis
torted "a most OF them have been IN order
| that Mrs Carter may generously give her
public as much Of her as she evidently
think il demands There is such an obvi-
ous respect everywhere for the conven-
tions Of the theat re- that il seems impos-
sible its author should not in some way
have derived his now ledge Mt first hand
| In one scene. however. there is an obvi-
GUS departure from conventionality that
lays n chill hand ON the play. so far az
| Anglo-Saxon audiences are concerned
r'gor norris sets in at this juncture.
The bereavsd artist has taken to his
studio the depraved replica OF his sainted
wife and she IL posing as his model II
saerns incredible that there should not
lie in the original a scene showing tho two
together IL ever there was an inevitable
scene a fare to reveal the development
OF the woman's love and the effect Of the
dead womans example on her own char
acter It was due in the third act Of the
play But il never came. and il may be-
that the act r.ss entrusted with the lead
ing roles could not see herself sitting
quietly with her sewing while the artist
! painted her portrait and talk ed OF his
dead wife -. .he woman loves him
10 much by the time the third act
has been reached that she wants to stay
with him always She asks to he his wife.
The fac. that he at this Juncture
declines with thanks does not prevent
her from insistinL. on the affection she
feels for him and repeating her desire
to have him marry her
Such a scene robs the heroine Of course
Of every vestige of sympathy that the
audience might possess for her. She il
VIGOROUSLY the moAt abandoned woman
in Paris Everybody talks about her
wickedness in the second act. As il that
were not enough. the whole childish
business is repeated in the third act. when
she reads letter giving her still more
undesirable character. So the audience
s not for a minute in doubt ~ TO the
real nature Of this heroine. There are
| few vices in the catalogue that she does
not glory in.
Y.t she is selfish enough Ia suppose
that an honorable man who has expressed
his horror of her life will step into the
gutter to marry her She is even rather
.xiEent on the point. There is no element
of the self sacrificing effects Of love here.
Ther. might have been a very different
by her artist lover 80 he his wife. II he
had been enough III love To accept her
An spite Of all that had passed she would
hav. been glorIfied IN the eyes Of the
aidienc. by refusing TO take him a. her
husband Surely such a woman was
no wifi. for an honest man. On. who
was So deeply in love with him would have
rejected his offer for his own sake to show
~. ah.. 10
That was rather what the audience ex-
pected II seemed the inevitable turn
of tn. action when it was evident that the
two were II become lovers. But this
insiStent heroine could not wait until her
lover proposed marriage. She could not
be patient enough - allow him to fall in
love With her and then sacrifice her some
what shnpworn affections for the sake
Of his nan. She wanted to marry n,m
then and there. and when he refused her
first PROPOSAL the audience pu, her out
81 it, sympathies much more effectively
than the here since he married her later
IuiyT ,cnvs GUfrss p,HUTs The times
in IN" theatre change and the public
cor alnly changes with them -Zaza-
l. a recent play. Vet its kind has passed
81 the thesr ric genius of David Belasco
that ~ j. always Of the day One need
only observe the two most recent pro-
auctions from mis- hands 20 realize that his
methods never grow stale. He would
no more think Of giving IN. world of his
admirers such play a. Zaza- to-day
than n. would revive May blossom
The necessity of such constant advance
il shown 80 plainly in the current play q,
the Lyric. Mrs Carter seems TO think
that the formula in which she won her
first succs--es may be indefinitely re-
pea,ed IN slightly varying fashion The
public viii not. however. continue to re-
spond with TN. sam. enthusiasm TO tho
same Influences just IN proportion To it's
familiarity with rh.-e impressions is "
necessary 10 increase rh- force of them To
arouse the same old sensations II is in
conceivable that Mrs. Carter sho MD in-
crease To any great extent her present
viol-nt phy steal demonst ration-. Il il