The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-04-28
FOUR PLAYS PUT ON
FOR MATINEE SHOW
Lonesome Like" Leads on the
United Associations
Programme.
IN MODERN ENGLISH VEIN
Clcrgyman's "The Last Toast
Among Plays Offered at
the 18th st. Theatre.
IN MODERN ENGLISH VEIN

The United Theatrical Association. one
OF the many organizations designed to
help the poor old stage along. gave matt
nee at the Forty-eighth Street Theatre
yesterday afternoon as an evidence OF good
faith. Four plays were selected and they
we're in parts interesting. Three were
quite new, while the tragic The Worth OF
Man had been played here by Nance
O'Ncll.
It was Lonesome Like" by Harold
Erighouse. that proved to be the most
original OF the series. 1t is quite in the
vein OF the modern English and Irish
dramas. which is equivalent to its de-
scrption as a play of character rather
than intrigue. An interesting phase OF
Youth is revealed in the simple and direct
manner OF tho playwright.
The death Of his bedrid den old mother
leaves sam. who is able to make good
money at the mills although the girls
laugh at him, without any means OF d.
version. He cannot drink or play bill
iards and SO much of his youth went to
looking after his invalid parent that he
cannot play any of the games other men
indulge In. So he Is alone In tho world.
He tries to marry the pretty mill girl he
meets in Mrs. Ormcrod's house. but she
tells him that II he was not fool he'd
know she was already engaged to another
man.
!, looks as II he were to h altogether
without companionshlp. Thief II happens
that he learns the fate OF poor old Mrs.
Ormcrod. Crippled with rheumatism. she
must go to the workhouse. She ts so
much like his mother in her peppery tenn
per that he invites her to come and shs re
his home. This invitation the old woman
delightedly accepts.
Mr. Brighhouse must be Lancaster
dramaCst, as his characters speak In that
dialect. These innocuous studies OF char
acter would be intolerably insipid withcu,
the salt OF dialect. The idea Of this aim
pleton looking for companionship after his
mothers death and finding IL through q
bedridden old woman is developed In en-
pertaining narrative fashion. whitford
Kane played the simpleton. He illustrates
The same school OF acting which may be
observed in the performances of the Irish
Players. He is natural, which means that
the thing goes on without accent or EN-.
phasis. variety or color. II may be that
such method is more natural than some
others-such as that, for instance. of
Bertha Mann. who appeared later But Il
also would be natural to speak i'm tho
same tone that would be adopted In lie.
IL would not make any difference that the
audience could not hear what an actor
said. Realism would be preserved
'"The Last Toast" by Forbes Phillins
salo 10 be clergyman, had a picturesque
setting. veteran OF Waterloo. the last
OF company OF survivors accustomed 10
dine on the anniversary Of the battle. ts
at the table. Death comes to him when
he Is surrounded by the vacant places of
his old comrades. The little piece was
well acted and the manner of its per-
romance never suggested the single mat.
inee. Wallis Clark. F. Cecil Butler and
especially Shirley Brathwaite as a Vic.
torian head walter who might have
stepped out of Dickens were adm!ra BILE.
The piece is too long and it's theatrtc
happiness would be concealed by con.
densation.
Uncle Sans Money" by l. X. Cried.
man. gained its solitary distinction from
the amusing acting OF Amy Ames az
the Irish wife OF dreamy inventor. I,
was in the broadcast spirit OF farce, bu,
added som. theatre blood to the hating
story OF the inventor, who also turned
out TO he a forger and distributor OF
counterfeit coin in order that he might
have the money to keep himself in com.
fort and find time to work on his in.
vention. The apostrOphe about the red
wolves OF poverty at the close was super.
huous. Even the most emancipated mod.
I'm playwright cannot mean that It ID
exousable to manufacture counterfeit,
coin II one happens to he without any
other means of acquiring wealth.
In the wv orth of Man" Bertha Mann
played with some touching naturalness
and artificial eXaggeration the part OF
the wife who saw her husband come gu,
Of prison only TO drive the man she really
loved TO suicide. Miss We'll acted this
part in vaudeville.