New-York tribune., 1911-12-24
ROMANCE IN ''K|SMEF'
Otis Skinner Tells How Plan
Appeals to Imagination.

ability 10 supply the flavor and suggestt,.
that make it a place where life Is reyea.s
rather than reproduced. The plays tner,.
selves. nowadays, I'm their serious Or.
deayors to become rivals OF artistic nh
Biography az reproductions of lie Off.
give very little aid 20 the theatre IN y.
Office Of pla ying upon the imagination
If hopes and promises are TO come I'm.
however. there is a play to-day On N.
verge of It's first presentation in New Yor.
which throws real life 10 the winds ana
fiings open With jewelled hand the gate =,
fancy. II is "Kismet." 10 be seen here a,,,
tomorrow night AT tho Knickerbock.,
Theatre.
The scenes Of the play are laid in the CITY
Of Bagd9d about a thousand years az.
There is a Ba gdsd to-day, a little Aratla,
city with few houses, few people and sex
eral hundred thousand traditions But
Is not the city Of two or three million IN.
habtants Of marvellous doings and uuto,
riches that it was a thousand and ON.
years ago in the days when Haroun ..
Raschid lived and when the moon rose n,
magic nights. That old city, however. /,
the Bagdad Of "Kismet.'
There was belief in those times ,h.,
every man had his day. The saying Ia,
somewhat degenerated among us ipto
every dog has his day''-which is on,v
another instance OF the fact that We AZ,
becoming more and more cynical about m.
possibility Of romance in our own lives
thousand and one years ago a mans faa
his kismet, was, they say, kinder to hlr
took more interest than now In his persos
ality and gave 10 each a wonderful dat
During. the course Of il anything was no..
sble. He might at sunrise OF this day bA
sitting in the very dust Of the highway.
whore. perhaps. hc had spent his Who'll
life holding up a withered hand murmurin.
To the passers-by for charity, and befo,,
the hurrying sun had settled into the golden
haze Of the desert he might be standing
behind tho Wazir's throne with the star Of
empire on his brow directing with a ways
of his hand how the world should wss
They We're days Of sharp contrasts, and
therefore wonderful days indeed. Eno
Hail, the beggar, is the man in "Rlsnt"
whose great day is dawning as t9s In.
tain rises. Hail has grovelled in the dus.
always There is no one TO whom he must
not bow, for no one is below him. Ys
he is rich. Others have given him money
TO soothe their pity for him and TO feed
their contempt. The beggar has a daugh-
ter as rare and unaccountable as a desert
flower.
Before The Day IS done the royal hspm
is opened to her to become its queen q,
queens and Hail, transformed, wears the
soft silks and the gems OF royalty Dur.
ing the course of it, he has killed his tvo
enemies; has, In fact. pushed one Of tken
into the palace garden Well and held hin
under water before the eyes OF the audience
until the last faint bubble has come No
and the dim form has sunk 10 the bottom
Great loves and hates are born and nour.
ished and reach their consummaton and
flashing scenes during the mounting and
the sinking of the day, and the whole
splendid dream such as never comes true
in to-day's fairy tales. nor Is ever heard o.
now in plays or fiction, or I'm anything ess
except. sometimes. in real lie. For, after
all, real life has its quick transitions and
strange stories to-day. a. IL always bss
had, and perhaps this is one OF tts
thoughts that will strike the spectator q
this play and let loose his dreams agah
and bid him hope.
Edward Knoblauch has written the play.
London has been going 10 its Garr!ck
Theatre since last April 10 revel IN the
strangeness of the story and the setting
Something that appeals strongly 70 he
dreamer of to-day Is tho fact that tas
playwright has not been Obliged 10 &C.
pend on the British Museum and his oTn
inventiveness to provide the "atmosphere
and the details Of life ia the tabled city
of Bagdad. There is a real place 10 50
order TO see things very much as they Wsn
among the Arabians Of other days. 10
not modern Bagdad, but Tunis In tbs
North African city. cut of as il Is fr'7
other places and until lately very seldom
invaded by the traveller, the antique SPIN
OF the Orentals who drined along u'
coast. conQuering and settling I'm a mlsu
period we'll back in history. is stl odop
preserved And not only the antique spun
but many of the ancient customs lI'
street life still has the hum and color u'
animation and confusion Of the Orient az,
the street cries, the calls OF the water any
wine sellers and of the merchants az tD''
open bazaars form feature Of daily Hs
in Tunis that harks back 20 The oloss'
myths of stre> life I'm the orient W.
knoblauch spent spring and summer.
year ago. in this African coast city tunns
his car TO the voice sounds, learning ~
cries of the vendors. watching at tue ss
of the native city night and mornlns' az
becoming in all manner OF ways seeu
toned To the people about whose passV
and pleasures ne was going 20 write
that he has brought into his play the sps
of what he imbibed there is evident IN
scene in "Klsmet" which shows crown
street i'm Bagdad at the opening OF
bazaars I'm the morning Even IN ren'o-
sal, when the stage was filled with us"
in modern dress. with no scenery,
"props." but men walking about WIN u
hands raised above their heads oaiauN
baskets OF fruits and skins OF wine WIZ
were not there. even then the narrow SUI.
sprang up In imagination with its crow.
bazaars, its sunshine and colors anu
rich larguor Of an Oriental city me'.' -.
response 10 the strange cadehceS -
street cries which At that momeh'
being rehearsed.
The Imagination is the livehest thine t,,y
most of us. Nothing proves this 50 pO,s
as it proves itself when Il has Tue
or action. "A
Otis skinner, who will first grover 80
then rise triumphant as HaJj the oee ,,.
will use his best efforts toward waK"s -
sleeping fancy OF some and supPn
threads for the active imasinaton' -.
others TO spin into cloth OF gold h'
lieves in simplicity on the stage .,,
Rich in Oriental splendors as hisn an
will be-" he said few days ago.
In a sense be simple. There VIII oe "A
difficult scenic mechanisms. no snirn"s' "a
heterogeneous mass OF Moors or AraVs
mingle with New York actors on tne 20 "a
The bubbles that rise when, in heroe h.,
drown the prince will not be thei'