New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-11-02
THE. DRAMA
Helen Ware in "The Price at
the Hudson Theatre.

yersal hearing in this country through
comedy and broad farce, now reveals him
self as man OF serious. sometimes gloomy,
thoughts and Il Is a matter to puzzle over
whether the same sort of audience tnat
greeted every move in "Why Smith Left
Home" with the ready laugh will yield as
ready a tear or heartache whichever 1T is
Intended TO draw. 10 Mr.. Broadhursts lat
est play, 1.-The Price which had its first
New York performance at the Hudson The
atre last night Very likely il will be the
same sort. Audiences quite often like the
direct method And the stage doctors who
minister 10 our need of diversion, knowing
this, reach for the laugh and the tear win
as brutal a directness and lack Of subtlety
as the doctors off the stage do for the pulse
and tongue.
The Price" is Il drama OF the direct
method Ethel Toscani, the leading figure.
IS the one who provides the play with
wheels and who aftcrward pays the price
A refined girl We are told. and indeed she
is so acted by Miss Ware although the
bare lines and situations OF the play might
permit Of different Interpretation. Ethel
is left penniless by her father. and is forced
by necessity 10 shift for herself. She gets
employment as a stenographer with an
artist. Stanard Dole, who aoon dnds In her
his artistic soulmate' Dole has a wife.
too But that is hardly necessary 10 ex-
plain. as the unmarried are not driven 10
tho use Of this term at all After the sud-
zen death OF Dole. who suffers an attack Of
heart failure when his stenoGrapher tells
him she does not love him. Miss Toscani
marries young doctor. whom her heart
tells her she truly loves. Doles wife APP
pears with her dead husbands diary and
reads from Il 10 Ethcl's happy and adorng
husband. DR. Bristol suspicious not only
OF the usual things that stage husbands
always suspect 20 spontaneously. bat also
that his wife killed Dole. makes her pay
the price. He rushes from the house.
After an interval Of sobbing and mad de-
SPAR the deserted wife scizes mysterious
phiaI which she finds I'm her husband :
medicine case. and Is prevented from TAX
| ing It's deadly contents only by the melo-
dramatic suspicious Of a devoted maid, who
tells her her husband really loves her and
will come back to ner. "Oh. I hope he
! will" sobs the wife. and then the curtain
falls.
story OF suspended interest II Is Of the
kind known as strong. gripping play"
But To he quite impartial 10 II. neither in
idea. development OF character nor acting
is II worth the pain its narrowing scenes
cause YOU. The appearance Of Mrs. Dole
with the diary and her reading from its
pages accusing sentences which were not
written in the book but only in her inn
agins ton. formed temporarily a dramatic
scene. She tricks the Young wife into con-
Tossing what need never have been known.
The audience. however. wlon n learns II
the trick. feels dupcd. too. When will play
wrights learn that secrets cannot be Kept
from tho audience
The ending of tho play Will. no doubt.
like the ending Of The Lady or the Tiger"
he much discussed bid he come back or
did he not The only answer last night
TO this question was a partial and unsatis-
factory ono. fie came back-for the en-
core
Ia The Price Mr. Brosdhurst seems 10
try 10 convince you Of sonnet hing somehow
YOU feel that a debate IL hanging over your
head from tho first minute that the curtain
goes up But Of what is no trying 10
convince YOU The play does not reveal.
Tho Vomau's husband fOrgitcs her the
fault she once committed. the unforgiya-
hle thing What drives him from home
is tho conviction that his wife killed her
lover So the woman Is forgiven tho crime
she I'D commit and was condemned FOR tho
one she did not commit Is this Justice?
Perhaps that Is the meaning ~ the play.
But II II s. We all know what justice II.
We AN know ~ works It's course usually
IN some such way. aud this play adds moth
ing Of interest 10 tho axiom.
Helen Ware. a. Ethel Toscanl gave
sort of charm Of feeling and refinement TO
her part she sighed too often. great audi
bio sighs that constantly puffed their way
over the footlights Her limos however
were lacking In any sort OF shading Per
hans she felt II necessary 90 help them ont.
Tho real character or tho play h. that OF
the artists wife. Mrs. Dole. singing
unlovcIv woman. capitally PLAYED 10 the
fill DEPTHS Of Us coarse brutality by Jessie
RaIph Hers was a thoroughly intelligent
performance and one that showed consider
able powcr and distinction Of acting.
There IL \ great lack Of Genuen"ss. o..
worse than that. Of Scnulity. about "Ihe
Price" Playgoers should be used to thai
by now. Unfortunately a great many pe"-
Mo arc SO used to II that they either Ike
commonness In plays and play themes OF
ole, hardly are aware Of its presence.
CAST or THE PRiCE.'