Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-25

l
AL from the problem play to the
play with a purpose. "Zaza' was OF
the former class, leaving it's problem
unsolved, even debatable in our minds.
Edward Peples "Vasta Verne in
which she appeared at the Mason last
night, is the frank and possibly pene-
ficent exposure of the horrors of drug
addiction. A young woman author is
the victim For her fight the publish
er who has wronged and terrorized
her for his own gain and physician
who loves her but is ignorant OF her
first false step. The physician wins,
only to renounce his victory when he
learns of her hidden dishonor. Too
late he tries to make amends. she
dies in a convulsion before him-part-
ly the result of the drug habit which
she was shaken off and partly, one
imagines, from the shock of his de-
sertion.
AS a play, buoyed up by the always
forceful, sometimes oVer-eXuberant
method of Mrs. Carter, "Vasta Herne"
held the attention fairly well, especial
ly in it's tense and sincere second act.
The incidental comedy rather burdens
than relieves the oppression of its
scarcely inviting theme Indeed, a play
with a purpose should eschew comedy
If it succeeds in making us laugh, we
lose the impression of seriousness at
which author and player honestly aim.
If it in any measure fails In humor,
we note it the more for the earnest
feelings it is designed to rest but really
deadens The episode of a trivial love
affair might well have been omitted
1t is not germane to the plot, which it
merely retards, without intensifying in
the least it's suspense.
AS a picture of slavery to a deadly
and soul destroying habit, the drama
has the merit of an obvious and noble
sincerity. 1t has also the interest OF
a battle to the death between ruthless
greed and the science of human kind
ness. We revolted at the physicians
desertion of the field on the revelation
of the woman's hidden sin, and think
the playwright meant us to. Yet the
fundamental weakness of the woman,
curiously blent with her very spasmodic
strength. cannot be overlooked. We see
her greeting her destroyer calmly and
even inviting his presence, after she
has accepted the aid of the doctor and
begun her battle to free herself from
the curse of laudanum. 1t is this mon
strous tyranny of the drug-true to
life, no doubt-which gives to the
drama it's one unquestioned element of
verify. The habit is conquered it's
heritage of misery remains. 1t is the
tragedy of failure after a brave fight.
The practical value of the play as
moral deterrent is more dubious. To
proclaim from the stage that laudanum
may produce masterpieces of fiction-a
statement which is fairly susceptible of
much doubts to arouse in the minds
of many very human curiosity to try
it and see. The fact that men of gem
ius like De Quincy, Coleridge and
Dickens have been addicted to drugs
has always cast a certain glamour over
their use in the minds of many The
more massive fact that drugs at length
destroy the genius is apt to be over
looked. 1t is quite illogical. 1t is also
quite human.
But the woman conquers herself.
For that, at least, we may thank the
author in a day when many dramas
are sounding only the note of defeat
and disaster That she should be de-
MED the happiness she contended for
affronts ones sentimental preference
for happy ending to a play of human
conflict, but it is perhaps true to the
probabilities. Given a morbid theme,
the PROBABILITIES rarely produce even so
scant measure of triumph as Edward
Peple has allotted to Vasta Herne.
Mrs. Carriers acting has taken on
many of the qualities of maturity,
There is less crash and tear of passion
than formerly, more of that restraint
ana even pOlS6 Oh WHICH, IlSL uGlI dClOlS
have ever denied her the possession
and which some of her admirers will
hardly welcome. In the climaXes of
the play she acted with a directness
and simplicity that were refreshing.
The death at the end of the last act
had the frank appeal of the unex-
pected.
One defect from which several mem
bers of the company suffered, and from
which the star herself was not entirely
Free was that of indistinct and hurried
enunciation. Charles Clary and e. j.
Radcliffe shared honors as the doctor
and the publisher, and one trifling
minor impersonation of merit was
George Duvals Hampton. In stage
craft the production is the most elab
crate and artistic seen at the Mason
in many weeks.
Give Alice Lloyd another week and
she win turn the Orpheum into a Lon
don music all. She made a good start
yesterday afternoon. what with that
pathetic cockney ballad, Never intro
duce Your Bloke Unto Your Idly
Friend" and the frolicsome lyric de-
scribing the stockings which multiplied
on the family clothesline. Many Lon
don ''idols' come to us suffering under
reputation for strange and forbidden
C0rIFTV ATTFNNC