The Washington herald., 1914-10-20
Imagery and Poetry of Omar" Exquisite
Richard Walton TuIly's
Splendid Achievement as
Author and Producer De-
serves the Attention of the
Discriminating Playgoer.
Guy Bates Post Effective
in Big Role.
By JULIA CHANDLER MANI.

BY JULIA CHANDLER MANI.
Here with a loaf Of bread beneath the bough.
A fast of wine a book Of Terse-and thou
Beside me singing IN the EildeneS.
And wilderness is Paradise enoW.
Thus sang Omar Khayyam TO his lady
love in a rose-bowered perfumed Persian
garden where the nightingales sang; the
inverted bowl we call the sky was Of
deepest blue; the moon climbed to high
heaven and hung there q ball Of pale
gold; where love was born, and joyed
and suffered, and where the easy philos-
opher promised his lady fair that no to-
moIrows should come to steal away their
happiness.
such is the scene which Richard Wal
ton TuIly has brought out Of the Persia
of the twelfth century to serve the
prologue and the epilogue Of the play.
which he has based on the life of Omar
Khayyam, and which was produced by
the author at the Belasco Theater last
night for the first time in Washington
under the title of Omar, the Tent
maker"-tent-maker being the English
Interpretation Of KhayyaH.
Picturesque was the garden OF Imam.
teacher Of the holy word of the
prophet; picturesque was Omar his stu
daughter of Imam, to whom the poet
philosopher promised that no tomorrows
should come TO spoil the joys Of today. a
promise which he was unable to fulfill
for the tomorrows came with the swift
ness OF fate-ghastly tragic tomorrows
when Shireen became the wife of the
Shah.
Many years elapse and We ind the
tent-maker living in Naishapur, singing
his praise to the joys of wine, the only
blessing Of which man can be sure, and
fiouting the narrowness Of the religious
teachers of his city while he sings. IN
his home lives the fair young daughter
Of Shireen, whom the Shah as cast on.
Omar befriends the Little Shireen, believ-
ing that her mother is dead. The develop
ment of the drama deals with the find
ing of his lost love by Omar, when
Shireen discloses to him the fact that
the Little Shireen is their own child, and
brings in Christian slave, who is saved
from death by Omar to win the love OF
his Little Shireen-
The grief epilogue finds Omar and his
long lost lady-love once more in the
moonIt rose-bowered Persian garden.
where, after forty-five years, the poet
still singing his song Of love and fatalism.
Mr.. Tully has been working toward this
play since he was a student in the Uni
versity of California, when his love for
the Rubaiyat began, continuing until
now. Even then he stretched out the
plan of visualizing the poet of old Persia,
but Interruptions came, and in the inter
i'm he wrote The Rose Of the Rancho"
and The Bird of Paradise" but never
once did he Telinquish his intention,
nor cease his accumulation of atmos-
phere for Omar Khayyam-" After the
success of The Rose of the Rancho"
Mr.. TuIly lived for months in the villa
of Elihu Vedder, the famous painter, on
the isle of Capri which is rich in the
lore of the wonderful Persia All these
years Mr.. TUlly has been acquiring in
formation from every source about Omar
and the land in which he sang, which
accounts for the opulent posey and
Oriental mysticism with which he has
imbued this, the biggest and most artis-
tic work of his notable career.
"Omar. the Tentmaker," is a remarka-
bic series of dramatic incidents, STEPPED
in poetry and draped with all the SEN
suOus beauty of which the vinuous one
sang. Its scenic beauty is unparalleled
in the history Of the drama, resembling
in its vividness Of color, and seduction
of tone a Maxfield Parish illustration of
an Arabian Nights tale. Every shade is
in exquisite harmony; every scene a
of the producers art, rang
ln6' as hey uo' LOh the mSsiClsLn ol
the moonlit garden to the fine old tenn
pie Of Zoroaster and the prison and judg-
ment hall where Omar sings his familiar
quatrains from the Rubaiyat itself, and
we witness his disembodiment, his ether
cal journey in search Of the Land Behind
the Veil, and the return of his spirit to
its temporal home.
Dramatically, Mr.. Tullys Persian love
tale is often submerged in its own poesy
and imagery. Pictorially, it is a mag
nificent achievement, the incidental music
adding further charm to a production
which enriches the drama and conse-
quently the stage.
Guy Bates Post plays the big role in a
sincere and effective manner, imbuing it
with that grace and imagination so es-
sentiRl to the maintenance OF the spirit