The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-06-07
INCE IS SPLENDID
 STEPHEN CLIENT IN "
 1.-THE GREAT DIVIDE''

The theory of Darwin gives to man a lowly osigin. He. has come by a path that begins in the mud of prime val ooze and passes through many forms of life to his present state where the elegancies of life and spir- it dawn within him. Once he was a savage and that. was far up on the ladder of ascent. A cave man, brutal, when he saw the women of his choice, he stunned her with blow and drag ged her to his. lair. Some writers be- lieve that civilization is a mere ve- neer laid upon this savage creature. And such believe that women still, in their inmost souls, like to be taken by force and that men desire to take them so. But the civilized woman with her layer of acquired character istics will revolt from exercise of bru- tality, and there will be a struggle between the woman primeval and the woman civilized. This is evidently the thought that the playwright had vide, which was given at Polls last night, with John Ince and Miss Elem ing in the leading roles.
 Picture lonely miners cabin, in the mountains, at nightfall, and therein a woman, cultured. proud and beauti- ul. ed, drunken, leering, bestial, entering by force, but picture one of them as having a beauty of rugged @ugliness, as of a fine statue daubed with mud. Then picture the woman, in her pre- dicament, saying to the one, "save me from these two, and I will be yours, under the law"
 Surely the scene is sufficiently thrilling.
 And. so the villain, beautiful in his ugliness and his strength, buys off one of the other two with a necklace of nuggets and puts his life into the balance against the life of the other in duel with pistols. The other IS killed, he gets the girl. They are mar ried by a drunken justice of the peace.
 And then Ne comes into gold mine, the man does
 But the civilized woman of the two he has married in the body of one, is unable to reconcile herself to the con- duct of her elemental sister, the cave man and returns to her New England home and the traditions of three cen- turies of New England culture.
 Of course such a play must have reconciliation and a happy ending. No time need be wasted upon the closing act. It is entirely conventional. The man and the woman are rejoined and they live happy ever after.
 The Great Divide, from the necessi- ties of its unusual plot, is an anti climax. The biggest thrill is in the first act. The other acts never do, and never can, catch up with that one. Ince made a great Stephen Ghent, confirming the popular belief that he is stronger out of his Sunday-go-meet- ing clothes Those who have seen Henry Miller in the same part are quite sincere in saying that Ince is a. better Stephen Ghent.
 Miss Fleming, as Ruth Jordan, f1ll- ed the eye and the mind, but strange ly enough, in her case, her dialogue seemed to lack it's usual carrying pow CT and distinct articulation.
 Miss Margaret Lawrence as Polly Jordan, quite covered herself with glory. Mention should be given to MT. Buchanan as Lon Anderson who had only a ''bit.'' But it is better to do a ''bit'' to the entire satisfac- tion of a critical audience than to be indifferent in a larger part, as some actors are.
 The settings are well done. The lighting in the first and second acts is beautifully managed. The work of the company was uniformly good.