New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-11-24
THE DRAMA
The Irish Players in Plays by
Bernard Shaw and J. M. Synge.

who find themselves in water which he has
"hotted up" Tor one. there Is that strange
survival OF tho childhood Of the race. the
Censor OF plays in London. Why. In the
name % sense. did the Censor forbid
"Blanco Posnet' to London ewes and ears?
What could that poor. laundering gentle
man have read into The Shelving Up OF
Blanco Posnet' which aroused his fears
and led him 10 trcmble for British respect
ability. or whatever ,t might have been
Tor which ne shivored7 But nobody can
explain the Censor. not oven the super
shaw. who can explain away many things
though not this one lingering error Of the
high gods Tho Censor forbade dt IS now
history somewhat ancienD The Shelving
Up Of Blanco Posnet' ON the London stage
No one will over know why. For IL Is the
privilege Of censors that explanations
never can he forced from them. The
Supershaw delivers himself in a prodigious
preface. or series Of prefac.s. much longer
than the play. But the reason Tor the CEN
sor's grief Is still TO seek. The Powers
Above may bo. AS thoy are often supposed
10 be. powerless against stupidity. AZ all
events, they do not deal harshly with H.
ana no one has over dealt harshy with the
Censor. who must bo the incarnation OF
stupidity enthroned on a system which en-
Cendors peacefully or otherwise. his sheep
like kind You may deal harshly with the
Censor i'm print. But what is print e.
Shaw covers the poor official with words
inches thick. so that the person Of for
bidding becomes invisible. But out Of all
the fuss and feathers comes A COMEDIAN
I-fe nm. D
who lives I'm London and has never seen
this country excepting IN print what
again IS TrintD. II is performed In Ne"
York by a company OF actors making n
speciality of Irish plays. Now. all this
would not have come about had 10 not been
for the Censor. and 80 some thanks are
due TO him. Because. IL seems that the
Irish Players had some cause % Doe crate
ful 90 Bernard Shaw and when the Won
drous Censor forbade the performance OF
"Bianco Posnct" within his jurisdiction the
Irish Players put their gratitude to the
proof and produced Shaws play I'm Dublin.
Being in America now, they perform Il
here.
What was il that frightened the Censor
The Showing Up Of Blanco Posnet'' has
been much written about since the Censor
frowned. Therefore # need not be de-
scribed at much length now. What has to
he said OF the play can be expressed in
much smaller space than that occupied by
a Superpreface. Blanco IS a bad man in
mining town in what Shaw calls "A ter
rtory Of the United States Of America.
Tie other men iu the town are as bad as
Blanco. but they have not the title. they
have other titles and are quite as hypo-
critical as men I'm other places whore there
is more soap. Blauco is arrested for horse
stealing that uttermost OF crimes but in
the very nick Of execution h. is saved by
the unexpected. The unexpected is a
woman. whose dying child Blanco had tried
70 save. How all this is brought about is
better watched than written OF. Blanco is
"shewn up" in that unwashed. vociferous
and saturated communit-. first as a bad
man. but not quite as bad d man as can
be made-there are others in the play far
worse-but, at the end, as a chap with
heart in him. and a heart IN the right
place. i'm the good old-fashioned style Of
hearts and their places But the way Of
approach 20 all this Is not the old fash
toned. 1t is Shaws way These people
say things. as we'll as do them. They tear
off strips OF language and reveal the spirit
working within them-the lies that are
there and the truth that Is there, deep
covered BlancO. who differs from them
all i'm his frank acknowledgements that he
has been playing the game Of life just a
he saw n. as "a rotten game" in sheer
defiance Of an eccentric God who likes 20
tumble things and make His puppets suf-
fer. now turns at the touch Of q child's
hand and a womau's faith and plays the
great game" He becomes stra ght, does
Blanco, and he helps i'm Strengthening out
some pretty bad tanges 100 other lives.
They are not lovcly-any Of these lives.
And they are treated with q Shawful
searching and satire There is some frank
talk. as there should bc, and a Shawsome
exhibit of folks az they ara But what was
it that frightened the Censor? Here is
strong little play, interesting and candid;
Interesting because il is candid, and Of
course. dramatic II is a one-act criticism
OF life. and IL is worth while. II is Shaw
full. but not Shawscene nor Shawphemous.
for. in fact, these qualities exist only IN
tho minds that create them. not in p.
Shaw's mind.
HOW rs III the FIlsDl DbIb~f'N llltlll
THE Showing Up of Bianco Posnet'' is
funny, satrical powerful IL is strong
meat Bernard Shaw has written the best
Western play of years. Shall an eager
world look 10 him for the great American
drama" IT'S qu3re world as they
say IN one Of the Irish dramas OF the
series and lots of auare people i'm it,
When YOU come to think about IT, it's
''quare.' too. about Shaw and his Ameri-
can play acted by the Irish actors They
acted with capital spirit last night They
knew what they We're about. Fred O'Dono-
van was i'm the right part as daredevil
Blanco. Sara Allgood was amazingly good
as the young bad woman. Arthur Sinclair
Ghc programme stupidity had another
name down n his place. acted To- the life
the canting manner OF Elder Daniels. Mr..
Morgan was excellent as the Sheriff. and
as much may be said of Mr. Kerrigau as
the Sherim's brother Srapper. Truly, the
Irish Players surprised their house last
them by their versatility
their changes from one kind OF part 10 "a
radically different kind Their stage
crowds in the "Blanco" piece had vim and
effective grouping. such AIS our local stage
sometimes sees. but only too seldom. The
change from old Ireland TO the new world
left nothing 10 bc imagined. Perceive
then. that the Irish Players know what
they are about in acting their Irish plays
as they do And YOU know then that what
has been said about their stylc-their pccu-
liar style. II you Will speaking OF stage
ways-means the result OF persistent effort,
Just as their successful stimulation of Amer
icanism. far west. southwest Americanism
IS I'm the "Blauco" piece.
New York last night had lis first stage
glimpse OK Synsc play. This play was
..The VOL Of the SaInts." IN Interesting