Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-05-20
Columbia.

1t would be very unpoetic TO lken Inc
Road to Yesterday" which was SO beau
tifully presented at the Columbia Theater
last evening by the Columbia Players.
one of the most competent and best bal
anced stock organizations Washington
has ever known, to the dream of
Welsh rabbit fend" Yet Beulah Marie
Dix and Evelyn Greenleaf Sutherland, its
authors womanlike, have woven the sug-
gestion with that of the reincarnatiOn OF
the soul and medieval romance into
fantasy in which the most delightful SEN
timent of the twentieth century Is mated
with the horrors of the early days of
the seventeenth century. And when the
audience, with little Elspeth. wakes up.
those who have had the experience say,
one has a feeling very much like that
of cooked cheese dream-but with very
pleasant recolectiOns.
E1speth Tyrrell. young American girl.
who is supposed to have just landed in
England from an ocean voyage that has
unsettled her own and the gait of her
Aunt Harriet Phelps literally bathed in
| the romance of Elizabethan days, and
having some views on the incarnation OF
| the soul which are strongly shared by the
family circle into which she has come,
after a heart-breaking day Of sightseeing.
during which the Tower Of London and
| many other ancient shrines of the bum
and buster age have been visited. cats
4 SneSnlTe cheese, ana, utterly WOTn l.,
| sinks to sleep.
The chief charm of her dream is that
| she does not lose her own individuality,
| but every one else around her by proc
ess of reflex soul investment becomes
| just what he or she might have been
| three centuries before. The dream is
| helped along by the suggestion of Nora
Gillaw, a serving maid, that the time is
midsummer eve, when wishes come true,
| and Elspeth has wished she might live
| in the olden time. The realization of her
wish-even though she seems to know 1t
| Is a dream-is not a pleasant one for
her She, of course, is the heroine; but
she finds herself slavey in a taproom
of the Red Sven Inn, and later the Lady
Elizabeth Tyrrell. whom the wicked Lord
Strangevon wishes to marry, much
against her Will
Jack GreatoreX. of whom she has had
but glimpse in disguise before her sleep,
becomes Reformado Jack who through
various adventures and shades OF doubt
eventually evolves into her hero. Adrian
Tompkins, a temperamental artist. be-
comes tapster in the inn where her
Aunt Harriet becomes Goody Phelps, a
stern hostess to. her help; Elspeth' S
brother-in- law, Will Levison, becomes a
swashbuckler; her sister-n-law, Malena,
becomes a gypsy; Kenelm Paulton. the
rejected sutton of Eleanor Leveson, the
wicked Lord Stransevon; Nora, the serv-
ing maid, a witch; Dolly FOULS, who had
been sightseeing WIFI Hef, d Hidiuoci ait
in Lord Stfangevon's castle. and Eleanor
LeveSOn still meek and mild mannered
the rejected sweetheart of the wicked
lord.
And oh such dream as these trans
formed characters weave in the tired lit
tie romantic brain of Elspeth-a dream
that only ends when in great desperation,
after the wicked lord has shown her .he
fiouted and bleeding form of her Jack as
bridal present. she unwishes It all.
i- IL ur1c n a n II
she finds Jack Greatorex. still adorned
with ancient costume, resting from pose
for an artist. and throws herself into his
arms. paving the way for really, truly
happy ending.
In n performance beautifully balanced
and splendidly presented it seems a pity
to single out any one for praise, but Miss
Holmes in a newcomer. and her ElSpeth
was so delightfully."- charming. SO realisti-
cally and naturally played, it would be
greater pity to omit mention of il. Mi.
Van Buren, was what he always sample
and adequate In every requirement,
right gallant lover in both centuries
vithal The other roles seemed to stand
out as remarkably strong characterize
tons. Miss Thatcher's gypsy. and Willard
Robertsons Kenclm PaultOn as well as
his Lord Strangevon Dorothy Bernard.
too. gave two additional character por-
traits to add to a galaxy that is bringing
her work strongly into notice. and Everett
ButterfieId was both the gentleman and
the swashbuckler to the life, while in
other roles Jessie Glendinning. Frances
Younge. Peggy Ford and Stanley James
each delightfully."- contributed to the gen.
eral excellence of the performance
Polls.
The loss of lottery ticket and it's
finding are the extremes of an ex-
citingly lively paper chase which gives
the Poll Players an opportunity this
week to show what riotously funny
and wholesome farce THE Million has
become, freed of the French sugges-
tons that marred it's success when pro-
duced here two years ago.
The ticket belongs to Ramon young
sculptor. whose studio serves as a raj
lying center for two temperamental
chums-a medical student who boasts
Of his meanness, and lives up to it,
and a cubbish young newspaper man.
There 10 a skinny lunch served by
Beatrice. Ramon's sweetheart. with
Francesca. the girl model, to help
When the party breaks up and only
studio, the burglar. escaping from pur-
suit bolts through a window and begs
the girl for protection. She DISCUSSES him
In Ramons blue blouse. and as he van
ishes he promises to befriend her should
she need 1t. and gives her his name and
address Ramon and his chums re-
turn to the studio and telegram is re-
ceived, announcing that the sculptor's
ticket has won the million pesos prize.
The shock frenxies the three with a joy
that expresses itself in smashed furni-