The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1914-10-23
PRONOUNCED A GREAT
DRAMA BY CRITIC.

Extracts from what the dramatic
critic of the Memphis News-Scimitar,
October 18th, said about Today"
coming to the Greenwood Theatre,
Thursday, October 29th:
Much has been written and perhaps
a great deal more said about the reason
and moral of "'Today,' but momen,
tariIy setting aside the moral, there is
a reason for it in the superb artistry
of its construction, its dramatic techni,
que, its vital, absorbing situations and
its intense, capably acted climaXes,
and those who witnessed the initial
Memphis performance at the Lyceum
Friday evening were indeed fortunate.
Depicting characters that are true
to life, but fortunately of the minority,
George B%roadhurst and Abraham
Schooner have drawn a clever yet
tragic denoument of an element of New
York ultra society wherein a weak,
willful and pleasure-loving young wife
is the central figure. Today is the
sordid delineation of the ultimate end
of a woman to whom the love of a de-
voted husband is as naught compared
with the transitory pleasures Of admir-
alton and dress.
AS for the technique of the drama,
for Today must be placed in the
category of dramas, nothing more can
be asked. The art and witchery of
s~tagecraft is manifest even to the
most minute detail.
Perhaps aside from the hawlessness
of the production, n characteristic
that stands predominant over the
others is the absolute and tense interest
which grips the audience at the mum.
erous climaxes pervading the per-
formance.
The suspense of the audience was, at
frequent intervals, held to "a breaking
point where one wrong word would
have spelt ruin, but there was nc
wrong word. Every situation vas log
ically placed. Each act and each scene
was necessary for the evolution of the
fourth, in which the final thrilling,
tense moment, where death held sway,
formed a fitting climax for a drama so
replete with gripping scenes.
As to the story of To-day" 1t is
the depletion of three lives, an inordi-
nate. pleasure-loving and beautiful
young wife, unable to thrive on the
prosaic surroundings of a modest apart
ment, but choosing to barter herself
for the evanescence of life, a devoted,
CT capable and home-loving husband ard
an old German couple, who weave into
the play the sincerity and faithfulness
so wildly lacking in the portrayal of
the feminine characters.
Four acts of the drama disclose a
merciless depletion of vanity's in
fuence on the puny-minded idolaters of
fashion and luxury. Its horr,r is only
tempered by the portrayal of the pure,
wholesome womanly life as character
lied by Mrs. Wagner, the Teutonic
mother of young Frederick Wagner.
Accustomed to the Injuries of life,
Lily Wagner, Frederick's young and
beautiful wife, manifests her inanity
under the duress of proverty and cas-
lily falls a victim to the cajolery of a
woman friend of the higher social
set.
She is subsequently introduced to the
mistress of a gilded apartment on a
fashionable street, which is conducted
under the guise of a respectable menage.
The young husband, having been made
agent for the owner Of the property,
in calling to collect the rental, finds the
picture of his wife on the table. He is
stricken by the revelation.
The pre- sentation reaches the final
climax when, in a subdued light. hi /,
wife is brought into the room and,
while in the embrace of him wht m she
thinks is another man, the ron is
flooded with light. The trapp d
woman's screams, tie knowledge that
she is face to face with death at the
hands of her enraged husband, the
final denoument and the sci E-.mpos-
ed arrest Of the husband, combine to
present a dramatic CLIMAX seldom
ouuoipd