New-York tribune., 1912-03-20
THE DRAMA
4 Charles Ram Kennedy After
mon at the Little Theatre.


r,oro VAS. or there was a desire TO
.,,tain liberal impartiality in the
.,er of religions Yesterday afternoon at
1ittIe Theatre There were two plays.
,t. first. Chinese religion had. let it be
"a with all reverence turn on the
80. i'm the second, the Christian religion
80 eypounded. The first piece was
,,.,.etial. If not heavenly, romance; the
So.ord might have been regarded as a
T2sttIsb ve1s sion Of a sequel to THE Pas
-. PIav." Both pieces were written by
1tarIas Ram Kennedy. but, whereas the
o.oord was original with him, the first
the English translation of French
s.otation from a Chinese original, the
es,rsse original being some seven hun
,-.d wears old and founded on legend
t.r or twelve centuries older. This ver-
.,on of a Chinese play, which is probably
small precipitation Of the original In
-.a,snts. was curious rather than inter
s,,,re and but for the work Of Frank
r.,cber As the Emperor Yuen-Ti II would
-, call for serious consideration as dra-
.o,ic fare The stage management Of the
.,.ca was at times unsauyfytng. TO say
,bs least. Conspirators plot loudly within
.,v feet Of the heroine. After they have
u,,bdrav,n the lady wonders If she heard
sor,etbing. 1t was but the signing wind.
:. bird on bough. or a snake In the
rrses And even the Emperor hears moth
,.g when his soldiers within touch, ar
.,st the secretary Of the Minister Of state
Uos II from the early Chinese dramatists
.ha, our writer's Of latter day melodrama
learned their trade?
The lovely heroine climbs rocky emil
rsnce a Chinese canyon, at the bottom oi
,bicb river runs When she is ten feet
shove the stage her attendant maidens
moan that she IS so high they can hardly
ses her The heroine disappears behind
pinnacIe Of rock. and her attendant
uaidens inform us that she has plunged
tnto the river This kind Of thing is much
hetter done in The Bird of Paradise" Al
Maxine Eliotts Theatre. The Princess
Trana. sacrificing herself for her people
eoes through the business Of the scene in
q manner which heightens the illusion:
but in this Chinese play, The Flower of
the Palace Of Han" the effect hattens al
the moment Of sacrifice. The costumins
was elaborate and gorgeous.
The Terrible Meek" which was the
ssron5 rie-e of the afternoon, will stir rs
much discussion as any playwright or
manager may desire. and in that way will
serve the purpose for which IT was
written. II is played in the dark. Not a
light slimmers in the house during the
rl9v. and the stage itself is in darkness
for some moments after the play begins
There are only three Chara cters-A Peas
ant Woman. an Army Captain and a Sol
dier. They are Britons all, in speech, in
manner. IN turns Of thought. The private
soldier might be Ortheris. The Captain is
an English gentleman. but you are not so
sure that he belongs TO the Army and
NAVY Club, or to the United Service. Not
even Gordon talked as this officer talked
about duty and the trade Of killing. The
Woman has sweet, soft English voice.
and her speech Is the ungrammatical
speech of the lower classes. You hear her
moaning in the darkness. Her son has been
killed by the soldery. He is six hours
dead The Captain, who gave the order
for the killing. is trying TO quiet her grief.
The private soldier comes stumbling
through the darkness. bearing lantern
and seeking orders from his officer Now
you can lust make out the figures of these
two men. You din1ly see the woman lying
on the ground. Captain and Private have
long talk about the bloody business of
the day Perhaps the man they killed was
innocent. But they killed him by orders
from their superiors IT was their duty 10
kin. What is duty? After a long discussion
The soldier, puzzled. goes away And then
oyz4,- t-1r- .
her dead son. whose body is hanging some
where near them In the darkness and fog.
"Thrty-three years ago he was my baby
And now he's dead" She goes on with her
heart breaking tale. The Captain softens.
accuses himself Of murder and asks for
giyeness, which is granted him. He will
kill no more. He will never more he officer
Of the empire. BY and by the private sol
der returns; the fog clears dawn comes.
you see the top Of a wind-swept hill, where
these people are. and rising high above
them three crosses, each hearing n man
crucifed. And you see that the three living
persons are not Englsh-the Captain is a
Roman Centurion. the private soldier Is a
Roman legionary the Woman-yes, the
Mother Of Christ The curtain falls The
audience makes no sound When the lights
are turned NJ the spectators silently leave
the theatre. We're they profoundly i'm
pressed? Were they shocked? Who knows.
But they were silent What they had seen
had been reyerently done. There can be
M question on that point. More than that.
II had been superby done by the three
actors. II you ask, Why do It? You must
find YOUR own answer
The Terrible Meek" cannot escape criti-
s,sm, Probably it's author and it's manager
never expected 10 escape criticism. But II is
not on religious grounds that the present
writer takes exception TO what was done
but on dramatic grounds alone. Grant
that The Terrible Meek is successful, II
succeeds not alone by the superb work OF
Sidney Valentine the exquisitely beautiful
work Of Edith Wynne Matthison. and the
admirably realistic Tommy Atkins-Or-
theris-like work Of Reginald Barlow. but
by the theatrical trick Of keeping the audi
torium and the stage in darkness, and the
theatrical trick Of making the three char
acters twentieth century Britons until the
stage Is lighted in the final instant The
Captain appealed to God. But to what God
did the Roman centurion appeal? There
mas been twentieth century talk, and a
presentation Of twentieth century thought
The lights are up. You see you have beer
tncked These persons are two Romans
and an Eastern Woman Of the year 3;
A.. d. The thing would not have borne the
light Viewed by the light It is not g
play but a preachment packed with anach-
ioAisms Heard in the darkness it is an
eoquent dissertation on human rights anC
human duties. Action, of course, there is
none. Action would be useless in the dark
ness II is the darkness then that has
wrought the spell.