The Washington herald., 1913-03-25
BELASCO.
Walker whfteside, in 1.-THE Ty-
phoOn."

phoOn.'
A battle royal, literally a fight to th'
death, between the almost fanatica
patriotism of a son of Nippon and hi
infatuation for a woman OF the vam
pire class; a battle in which the victor,
comes first to the woman. but for which
she pays with her life in the very mex
moment; a battle in which the van
quished patriot yields up his life OF
the altar OF duty to his country-such 1.
the epitome of THE Typhoon," the play
of the Hungarian author, Menyher
Lengyel. translated and adapted by Emf
Nyitray and Byron Ongley, which hat
its first presentation in Washington al
the Belasco Theater last night, before
an audience that filled nearly every par
OF the house. 1t is quite evident, how
ever, that the author had in his mind
something else than the INSTALLATION oi
the old. old story, albeit in thrilling
gripping form. He has thrown his eye
into the years to come and offers fol
the consideration and contemplation OF
his public Japan of 100000 of people,
whose dominating thought is to rule the
world and who. while availing of all that
appears of use in the activities Of the
Caucasian, have only contempt for ''the
white brutes''
The scene OF the play IL laid in Berlin.
A number of japanese have been sent
there by their government on secret
mission. Their chief Is Tokeramo. whose
surprising genius has conferred upon him
the distinction, as well as the burden. of
the principal labors of the mission. Lead
er among Tokeramo's associates is Joshi-
kawa, who keeps a watchful eye on the
young chief and holds him up to his
TAIy ho- av,&o al
with 1llona Kerner, a demi-mondaine Of
Berlin. He is visited by Ernest Lindner,
an artist, who. under the influence Of
drink, tells of his love for Illona and Of
her promise to marry him. Tokeramp
taxes the woman with her duplicity and
orders her to leave him. She employs
all her wiles In the effort to overcome his
anger. and succeeds SO far that Toker-
amo avows his affection for her as para
mount TO all his sense of what he owes
to his country. Then 1llona turns upon
him; scorns him for having yielded to her
entreaties. and heaps abuse upon his
fatherland and his people. Goaded to
fury, TOkeramo seizes her by the throat
and strangles her. In order that his
great work may not be interrupted by his
arrest. one of his younger associates an
nounces himself to the police as the mur-
derer of the woman. Two months later,
his work finished by dint of tremendous
physical and mental exertion, while his
friends are in the room with him, Toke-
ramo dies of heart failure.
Walker Whiteside has never done such
work as in this play. His
delineation OF the character Of the "yel-
low man is finished picture. His To-
keramo is not merely a faithful presen-
tation of the authors idea. but a living
entity. The impersonation is all the
more striking and powerful because of
the stoical repression with which he
pa sses through all the scenes until that
one where first he yields to the woman
and then kills her. Until that crucial
moment this repressive force is so sub
tly expressed as to hold his audience
as within a spell. Its influence is never
lost: it makes itself felt in every word
and gesture. even in his silence Mr..
Whiteside gives us in Tekeramo a psy-
Geological study of surprising interest.
Florence Fisher presents so lifelike
portrait of the wanton, heartless Illona
as to be utterly repulsive. 1t is a COM
panion picture to Kipling's Vampire"
She does not allow a single redeeming
trait or action to come to the surface.
She repels pity, for the creature She
sets before us even at the moment of
her death at the hands of her lover.
Her very beauty accentuates the utter