The Washington times., 1910-01-25
Religion, Without He'll
fire" Theme of Dawn
of Tomorrow"
MISS ROBSON HAS
REMARKABLE ROLE
Fuller MelIish, AS a Neurotic Mil
liOnaiTe, Gives a Capable
Portrayal.
By J. R. HILDEBRAND.


-timisrn, might have called a rum 60
Mrs Frances HodSson Burnett real
lied that there is nothing new under the
sUn-unIess It Is old enough-and passed
right by faith cure sects, mental telep-
aIhy problems. mind healing creeds and
theosophicaI propaganda 10 some 1900
odd years ago when wise men Of the
East saw strange things"
And q twentieth century audience at
the Belasoo last evening thought they,
too, must be seeing strange things. ana
one critic called The Dawn Of a To-
morrow novel
"A play OF cheerfulness" it is rightly
named. and. 10 quote Glad again,
Just a little religion with hell-hre left
out
Play Not "PTeachy."
Maybe this is a bad advertisement Be
assured, pIaygOer, there IS nothing
"preachy'' about this play There
aren't any show girls, not even a lone
pony ballet, nor any tinkiinE music.
but il is corking good fun, just the
same The audience at first received Il
IN the spirit that Sir Oliver Holt &C
Cepted a Bible because his physician
said i've had patients who got a queer
SCrt OF comfort from reading the
thing" They went from the theater
feeling like Glad who was told 70
-'ssk-and keep right on asking"
I've tried it, she said, "and II
1t is a play Of paradoxes- It's theme
Is 50 old that Il is new Sir Oliver Holt
was so rich that he was unhappy His
heir had so much fun he was tired Of It.
one night Sir Oliver stTOlled down on
the East Side 10 Peach Blossom alley
20 shoot himself as methodicaIly as he
attended to other business
e mighty atura ctive little gUtter-rat AT
that
say. mister" she told him. Just keep
moving about and thinking Of some
thing else, and moving about and you
won't do it."
The pupil was kept moving about. all
right. things happen fast in Peach Bios
som alley. He was also thinking about
something. elsa. whole lot Of other
JhinEs-oetore he knew IT.
When you want thing bad YOU ask
some one and keep on asking and You
get an answer was MS next lesson
That worked
More Ideas.
Then he began thinking along lines
suggested BY a thief, who remarked.
saEeIy enough: Suppose some one we
don't know knows all about US, amt
we in a he'll Of fx2 And suppose this
IS al true, and We poor bIozes runnin'
around here and not KNOWN Of It Gee,
that's foolish
Which is enough OF the story OF The
Dawn OF Tomorrow 20 show what IN
usual material for the stage Mrs Bur
nett brought into play
Little two-headed Glad, clad in a
greasy assortment Of rags that belied
her name, with unEempt hair and
clean face, was the unusual role the
star, Miss Eleanor Robson, chose 10
play. Not chance there for per
Hrrn
display Of feminine attraCtfveneSs but
a Sreat, big occasion for acting. And
Miss Robson made the most Of it It Is
better role even, than Merely Mary
Ann. which was her one performance
most like that OF last night And her
work recalled that Of Mrs Fisl1e in
salvation Nell which IS another
great compliment
Fuller 1TeIIish, who can claim the title
OF artist. so often miSapDIied in stage
land. was cast as the DeurOtic Sir Oil
yer, and his portrayal was q near. mas
EeEpIece- He was especially good IN
the opening act when he has overheard
PHYSICIANS predict that he is failing
pl-s callv and is about TO collapse men
tally. His role teens with chances for
CveTactinE and he evasled every one Of
then He painted IN high lights and
his Characterization was always fOTCi-
be out not once did ne become meIo-
dramatic
After these two there were nearly a
dozen characters who can get little
but mere mention. but deserve much
more. The criminals. the paupers. the
ne eT-dO-Wells. the hanEerS-On Of the
East side were presented with exacti-
rUde that at times made the blood run
cold II wasn't always z merry play.
but II was uniformly cheerful
Setting Picturesque
The scene in the court yard Of Peach
Blossom alieE was in itself a work Of
art. worthy Of David Belasco OF any
other master OF stage realism The
alley. with its wObblv tenements. It's
queer turns. its reeking humans and
its mUrl1y pail Of fog was a study IN
wage portraits
And the play. Why pick flaws IN
q ork OF aCt2 In places u may be a
bit loosely constructed, the finale NAV
Be a little forced. but its men and
women are real. its life, whether IN the
respectable home Of Sir Oliver Holt. in
the shady alleys OF Peach Blossom
court. OF In the scene Of reveIs at
young divers apartments, rings true.
One person Of that surprised audience
sized Il up
I've seen greater PLAYS" 10 said.
''but don't remember seeing a better
one"
There probably were not many play
EoerS at the BclaSCo last night who
were not better men and better women
for having seen The Dawn Of a To-
TnOrrou-rr