New-York tribune., 1911-12-06
THE DRAMA
"KINOlING"
Margaret Ellington, in Charles
Kenyon's Play at Days.


ent day-who go the most deeply into
human nature for their play themes are
beginning to show a great liking for peas
ant people and slum people-in fact for
people who are accustomed TO lead genuine
lives. rather than for those who have
grown up amid the somewhat unreal sur
roundings OF "the drawing room Per-
haps the drawing room dramas are pass
ing out. Perhaps the deeper going plays
that reach down into the bottom Of the
pool will come 10 be preferred 70 other
kinds ard will win the curious name Of
character plays" even as those parts on
the stage representing something other
than the surface people Of conventional
life are called character parts"
Down at the bottom of the pool Of life IL
poverty. and poverty lays human nature
bare. Probably that is why we Ike It on
the stage and, resent II in our lives.
Mr.. Kenyon's play. "Kindling,' is about
poverty, and in its worst form-thst Is,
among people who are beginning 10 b."
aware Of its horrors. \ theme could hard
~ have been chosen that could plunge
deeper into human feeling than the one
this new playwright has developed-the
tragedy Of childbirth among the terements.
4 Young stevedore. Heinrich Schultz, has
been ambitious 70 find even a slight men
tai outlet from the walled-in ignorance In
which he and his wife live. and in which
both have always lived. Schultz has been
attending Cooper Union lectures and has In
that and in other ways got an outside
light on his own life and condition.
one Of the theories he begins 10 find him
self possessed Of is that a child born in
citys slums has a wrong start In life. il
has 50 wrong 4 start there, he believes.
that IL is wicked for people who live IN
dark. unhealthy tenements to have chill
dren. schultz il younG, full Of work and
determination He will push his way out
of poverty and go live IN a place ilt for
man and his wife and family 10 live IN.
Until then, he and Maggie will be free from
This crime. they will not be among the
hordes who bring children into the slums.
Maggie. who longs for children Of her own.
has been taught dumbly 10 accept her hus-
hands dominant belief. And others in the
tenement where they live. particularly Mrs.
Bates upstairs, keep dinnins the same thins
into her ears.
So that when she realizes that she is
going 10 have a child in spite OF all the
theories she is possessed Of just two ideas.
ono IS TO keep the news from her husband.
the other 10 get away from the tene-
ments. So obscssed Is she with the neces-
sitv 10 get away that she steals from her
tenefactress in order to have money 10
get her and Heinie out OF the city Her
theft is. Of course discovered, first by hey
husband and then by the police. Maggie
has several confessions wruns from her,
untfl in terror and despair she confesses
before all the reason for her crime-the
coming Of her child and the horror she
would bring it into II she could not get 70
a human being place TO live. In the room
where Maggie makes this confession are
gathered several grades of society and
many different kinds of people. But all
barriers fall before the cry Of the woman,
or rather the cry of woman claiming the
divine right for her child-the right of a
fair start.
Like few plays now in New York. Kin
ding" gathers strength as il advances. The
first act does not create the full sympathy
that It seems as though every audience
must fee with the play at the end. The
second act gives a deeper insight into the
characters. while the third wins "A high
place for this now drama Of tho slums.
There T. a more sympathetic note sounded
I'm il than I'm most idea plays. and II dips
deeper than usual into human character.
Margaret Ellington grasped the part Of
Maggie Schultz well. n is not a 'talty
part The woman who is the centre Of in
tarest for the audience stayed for long in
tervals in the background and said little.
She was not continually i'm the bogs OF
emotion. She had lighter moments. During
the greater part of the time she hardly
realized her importance as d figure In life $
drama Miss Ellington seemed never 10
forget that Maggie was really an ignorant
girl. and she brought out fully that ner
outburst OF strength ar the end was not a
declaration Of sociological theories. but was
simply the complete assertion OF primitive
woman Her Maggie schultz is the best
work Miss Ellington has done 80 Far.
The cast was we'll balanced throughout
Miss Ilington's sincere acting saved the
play from having d star and also brought
good work from the Others. George Prob3rt
"a. the unprincipled Steve Bates who helped
Maggie To- steal showed "A keen sense OF
tne hopeless hardness o. the sort Of Bow
cry tough" he represented. As Mrs.. Bates,
the friendly neighbor. Annie Mack Berlein
Lad wit. sympathy and considerable ease
OF manner.
"Kindling, though not in every detail "A
finished play. mas strength, and. in spite
of its rough people and rough talk, a good
deal OF tenderness.