The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-02-06
THE THEATER IN NEW YORK
New Play by Sir Arthur W. PinerO Event of Paramount
importance Twelfth Night at New Theater

''Mid-Channep' is an example Of the
furthest advance in the direction pointed
out first by Ibsen as the way TO natural
ism in dramatic artistry.
''NIid-Channel" has Ethel Barrymore
for the wife of a churllsh Englishman
who nags her and bullyrags: and she.
with none too sweet temper to start
with, lets it go sulky sour under his treat
ment Fourteen years together have
tired them OF each other. An advisory
friend tells them that. midway in one of
the routes across the English Channel,
boats are tossed roughly for several miles,
but after passing that rough portion of
the trip they make the rest OF the pas
sage smoothly. That's his allegory 10
teach the pair forbearance. 1t doesn't,
though. and they separate. the husband
90 mate trausiently with a hussy and the
wife with a libertine. They float like
derelict wrecks through the remainder
OF the play.
Ethel Barrymore is the most fashion
able actress in New York society, and her
openings gather people who make a
theater look ike the Metropolitan Opera
House. Her appearance in ''AIid-Chan-
mel" was her first since. as Mrs. Colt. she
became mother. She had added twenty
pounds to her beauty, Pumping It TO the
limit OF the Gibson type. but the buzz
Of comment within my hearing was that
as young matron she was quite as
lovely as she had been when a supple
maiden. Ethe!s role was far heavier,
too. than she had ever before undertaken;
and II bore her from pickering with
Charles Dalton as her husband TO equally
Unafinluve disagreement with Eric Ma
turin as her lover, despite the pacific
efforts Of II. Reeves Smith as the mutual
friend; those three actors being helpers
20 her in need and indeed.
Ethel barrymore in Serious Role.
The thought about Ethel Barrymore has
been that. unduly petted. she let her
amiable beauty save her from earnest
effort; but that charge doesn't hold
against her in "Mid-Channel." Pinero
has written a bitterly graphic study of
perulant, irTitated, unhappy, and finally
sinful wife, and Ethel personates this
creature of circumstances admirably. The
audience seems glad 20 take her seriously.
In the third act. she goes from her
lover 10 her husband repentant and ex-
pecting to be taken back: but he turns
her away with COntumely In the fourth
act she returns 20 the lover 10 find that
he has engaged to marry some one else.
Now, what shall become Of this woman?
Shall she live or die? DO you. like most
people, like TO have your fiction end
happily any way? Or do you. like the
few, prefer a miserable finish If that be
logical? The three men hold a consulta-
ton over the woman's pitiful case. Shall
the conclusion be life or death? Which
would you rather? If there was some way
to poll the audience instantly. a change
Of ten words would reconcile her and the
husband at the pleasure Of the majority.
As Pinero has written it, q servant comes
in 10 say that, overhearing the discus
sion of her plight, she has killed herself
by leaping from a window.
'The Watcher Is SpoOky.
Two trails TO success have been blazed
through unbroken stage forests by pio-
ueer American playWTignts one way is
occult with telepathy, hypnotIsm, and all
the other known kinds of abnormal men
tality. That's the dramatic elevator
going up. The other way Is materialistic
commercial, and sordidly stingy with
plays that can get along with short casts
rcame 20 a drama enacted by four per
sons. Think Of it, A really fine piece
was taken all over the country with
f0Tty-eight actOrs-or about the number
required in a welI-equipped extravaganza
but divided into a dozen companies for
a dozen separate routes.
The scheme OF THE Watcher is 10 go
up high in the dramatic lift with much
cult, and come down In It with little
cost The psychic weight is Spirituallsm.
The stingy Ightness Is a cast OF six
characters only. And they appear in a
scene requiring no stage hands to make
shifts. And a seventh important per
souage is kept off the pay roll. That
seventh one. invisible and inaudible be-
comes a spook. Cora Maynard, writer Of
THE Watcher meant that creature to
be potent, but impalpable During the
first act, she is a mentally stricken wo-
man in an Off-stage bedroom. Her
daughter is so closely connected with her
mentally that when she dies suddenly
alone. the younger woman knows It
telepathically.
There after the drama IS haunted by the
watchful spook: and there is R-plenty for
this monitor TO do. Her daughter-in-law
used 20 be her daughters Hance's mis-
tress. The fiance IS a millionaire wholly
devoted TO the good daughter. but his
former sweetheart tells him he must get
off with the new love and get on again
with the old. The son IS a drunkard
gambler. and blackleg, vino gratis on
zis prospective brother-in-law vet
hates him jealousy on account OF the
vicious wife. The daughter. too is made
miserable by doubt Of her really true
lover. So the spook mother is a very
busy watcher Of a complex family affair.
Pause 10 think it over.
A Strained Incident.
The most vivid incident in THE
Watcher Is mundane though. and cal
culated TO make a mortal mother-in-law
watch out. The nanCe comes TO call on
the daughter. She is out. The sons wife
is in. He won't touch her She locks
the door, drops the key inside her cor
sage, and defes him to get away with
out handling her. She turns passionate.
and begs him TO hug and kiss her hard;
in point Of fact, IN her petition she
specifies q hug that will crush her in
his arms" and q kiss that VIII "scorch
Ter mouth And the actress IS Cath
rine Countiss, temperamentally caloric.
Yet Thurlow Bergen, the opposing aCter,
Contrives to keep cool Cathrine next
blazes out vindictively. Hen husband (he's
the bad son, remember) comes home
with the good daughter They hear the
voices behind the locked door. He breaks
II down