The Washington herald., 1914-01-18
sy JAMES 5. METcALFn.

T--ere's q powerful tradition that tn.
Scotch have no sense of humor. Be thai
as II may, there's no doubt that thu
Scotch furnish humorous material fe
provoke laughter in outsiders. Blunt,
fuiis the Strings" was as mirthful &
pay as has reached our stage for many
gay. and now comes Kitty MacKay'
10 add testimony that Scotch serious
ness and Scotch self-conceit are among
the most laughable things in the woric
When properly portrayed.
The characters are not all Scotch. but
the really admirable English characters
shown in the old-fashioned sentimental
story of the play by Catherine Chisholm
Cutting are only a background for ths
seif-vaunted virtues of the Scottish per-
sons who furnish the real fun and satire
The literal and not spiritual plety of the
Scotch, Scotch shrewdness, Scotch near
ness. and Scotch hypocrisy are the butt
OF the piece. Two delightful Scotch
lassies furnish the greater part of the
run and redeem the sordidness by theiI
genuine sentiment and good qualities OF
heart Their serious discussion OF the
Bible and its literal Interpretation Is
scene long to be remembered by lovers
Of good comedy.
Kitty MacKay" came here without
much flare of advertisement or herald
establish itself as one of the big sue
cesses OF this crowded season. The COM
pany is almost entirely imported, and
has evidently been chosen with unusual
discretion. The work of Molly Mcintyre
in the title part and Of Margaret Nybloc
as her royal Scotch girl friend, Is by
ITSELF worth going far TO see. Mr.. Ernest
Stallard has the principal male role.
and is extremely funny as the Scotch
drunkard, who gets religion and total
abstinence late in life.
Kitty MacKay' is highly to be rec
commended as clean and mirthful comedy,
whether you like the Scotch or don't.
Again the Orient.
The great cumulative advertising OF
Omar khayyam, by reason of the APP
peal to the average mind of the ia
nous Quatrains, has first been taken adj
vantage Of for stage purposes by Mr..
Guy Bates Post and Mr.. Richard Wat
son FULLY as actor and author. In them
selves the quatrains do not suggest a
play. By making the poet the hero, by
taking whatever could be gathered and
surmised about his life and bringing in
a very large percentage Of extraneous
material, a basis for a spectacular
drama has been secured and quotations
from the actual verse with liberal para
phrases give the whole thing sort OF
Oriental poetic atmosphere.
In its entirety Omar, the Tentmaker,
is more interesting as an effort to make
a play with scant, though celebrated ma
terial. than from any intrinsic merit
of the play itself. Omars verse, as We
get it in translation, is a combination
of cynical, fatalIstic, and epicurean phi
losophy, which eXcites strong admira-
ton in some minds. The author and
producers have been wise to accent the
spectacular possibilities Of the inspira-
ton. as their Interpretation of the phi
losophy into stage representation is like
Iy to be a bit above the heads of the
playgoing public. Mr.. Post makes Omar
himself more picturesque than imposing
Or attractive. The company Is large
one and makes conscientious effort to get
over the obscured story Of the play,
which. as said before. is much more in
.eresting as spectacle than as drama
..EIiza Comes to Stay"
Eliza Comes to Stay" brought over
here with an English company by Mr..
H. V. Esmond and Eva Moore. seems
trite indeed. 1t is thoroughly British and
laid out on lines which one would think
even the English themselves would be
thoroughly tired of. in spite of the belief
that an Englishman would much rather
laugh at an old and familiar joke than
try TO understand new one
Eliza Comes to Stay deals with the
inheritance by an English bachelor OF a
female ward from strange woman