New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-10-16
Plays with Strong Fingers on
Key of Sympathy.
COMPANY ACTS FIRMLY
Play Provides No Star Parts
and in Other Ways
Is New.

|
pervaded the acting as well. The rlay
presents very human man fighting for
! his life against heavy odds. The appeal
! to sympathy is strong. But the app al
/ In THE New Sin" is made not only to
/ the sympathy, but to the Judgment MS
/ well, and therein lies the double interest.
An audience feels almost as though II
were impanelled in jury box, and asked,
each member OF it prsonally, TO give a
decision on the case. The reason for this
Is that the case, in its essential point Is
not uncommon. About oigh, wage earn
. ers out Of ten are in something Of the
same box as the Hilary Cults OF Mac
/ Donald Hastings play.
Hilary Cuts is the eldest in family OF
I eleven or twelve brothers and sisters. He
| is the only one Of them who amounts 10
anything The rest are worthless and
pennlIess. The reason they are penniless
| is that their father, a wealthy man, left
/ freak will, so directed against Hilary
/ that not only should he not receive any
! portion OF the inheritance himself but
! none OF the others were TO come into their
share until Hlary's death. Unable to sup
port themselves, the Wretched family
/ could DO nothing but walt for Hilary TO
| die in the mean time begging from him
continually.
Finally driven beyond his strength by
the dependent misery Of his brothers and
sisters Hilary decides to commit suicide
Once ne is out OF the way they will get
their $4,000 apiece. II IS hard 10 die
because the man is an artist, who feels
he has something in him worth while,
and which. II he could live and work nc
could express.
Macmillan. ono Of the ne'rr-do-weii
brothers. comes IN to beg for food. He
has lost his place on account Of an anair
with a girl In the shop. The employer
who dismissed him happens In and IN
fl Of fury Max shoots him.
When people rush in at the sound OF the
shot Hilary takes the blame OF the muir
der His arr ST and trial follow, and on
the testimony Of Max he is sentenced 10
death. Hilary is satisfied that it Is his
duty TO do this for his family. But whiIe
he is in prison he has leisure for thought
why should he, the only valuable one
IN the lot, die TO save those who were
not AZ 10 live? So that when, through
the skill and untiring efforts OF his Two
chums, Max is forced to confess 10 the
crime and thus let Hilary out-at the
same time not being subject 10 trlai
himself-the hero returns to his nome
resolved TO see no more of his DEPENDENTS
He finds letter waiting for him announc-
ing that his first picture, which has been
hung in the Royal Academy Is 10 ne
r,rcbased for L. 800 pounds.
Max comes In again, desperate TOT
money. Hilary tells him 10 go. He no
longer feels responsible for the eleven
weddings that fate gave him for orothers
and sisters. Let God look after them
and give them their daily bread. The
brother admits he stole from child that
morning and that stealing was all there
WAS ahead Of him as long as Hilary il'eu'
And Hilary applauds Max for having AT
last got spunk enough TO steal As last
resort. Max says that the others are
waiting down below on the sidewalk Tor
help. too They have sent Max as an
envoy TO ask Hilary to commit SUICIDE,
Hilary goes TO the window, looks out ana
sees them IN their misery and rags All
his philosophy leaves him.
81 shan't kill myself for you. / can't
feel it's right any more, but I'll buy from
,ou my right TO live. I'll give you each
q 900 Of the money l get for my picture
This will have 10 do you for a year Al
the end Of that time | shall hope TO nave
earned enough to buy me another year
and so on. Goodby Max-damn you-good
luck!"
Some talk has already been raised in
London and in Chicago where this play
has already been presented about the
validity Of the curious will which so
spitefully condemned the eldest son. But
why bother about the will? The will Is
not the play. The play IS a matter OF
relatives. How many strong, valuable,
self-supportinG men or women are there
who have not relative or a string or
relatives clamoring for their sacrifice?
The theme in this sense is almost uniVer- |
sal. People are usually asked to die 70
oblige the dependents as Hilary CUTS
was, but every day they are not only |
asked. but expected to give up the thing I,
that is most needed for their own devel- |
opment in order to stop up some unnec- |
essary gap in the needs OF the failures /
who lean on them. Hilary Cults compro- |
mlSeO. lie uCClucu lOl " NiV iNi '''N''' |
he bought from them his right TO live. |
Is that the answer? Not the coldly, log |
zeal one certainly, nor the sentimental /
one, either Reason decided him to live, !
and the blood thicker than water" feel |
ing made him buy from those who had no |
rights over him his right to live IL Is
hard not to wonder how this matter |
would have been settled If the picture |
money had not turned up just then to |
provide him with the means Of buying |
himself off.
The play is set in one scene and the |
characters are all men. The absence Of
women is quite novel. yet somehow they |
were not missed. The whole tone Of the |
play, the talk, feeling and manner of It |
are altogether virile and male. 1t is
mans play straight through.
The acting OF THE New Sin" is as in
teresting as the play. The production was
numbered in London, at the end Of last |
season. among those which showed the
dawn OF a new era in the drama. There
we're about three others. The newness in
them is the absolute realism with which
flaws and acting are merging. Not the .
stage realism known until now, but the
sl,npIe, sincere, untheatrical realism OF
life.
The English company now at Wallacks
acts in this direct style. Cyril keight-
ley, as Hilary Cults, is plain young
Englishman. nc saint no hero in his own