The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-04-17
PLAYS OF THE DAY IN WHICH A GREAT MANY
DRAN1ATISTS SHOW WORK WELL WORTH pr I\rTJ\C

Statisticians of contemporary litera-
! ture, hebdomidal tabuiators OF "bes;
! seller" performances. report decline
in the output of works of philosophy.
| criticism and other hebetudinous lucu-
brations Of the learned and an adj
vance In the output OF. hence pre-
sumably in the demand for the moe
creative" depa rtments. poetry AMI
the drama. Religious works. too, are
said To. be in high favor "A result 40
doubt Of events lit to fix the thotghts
even of the customarly thoughtless
upon matters of more than momen-
tary import. When the present is bad.
people develop a new liveliness of in
terest in the future. even the far flu
ture. Whether the statisticians and
analysts are effectively correct or
merely entertainingly theoretic IN
their outgivngs. it is certain that the
recent production If printed plays Is
not only larger than the normal per-
formsnce OF the presses, but il on the
whole better worth printing and
reading than the ordinary d~amati"
literature Of the ordinary day
Edward Shcldon's two plays MAC
millans) have action plot. dramatic
personality and the form" that, I'M
obtruslvely, carries" either across the
footlights or on the printed page. "Ro-
nance" Is the story OF the love Of a
young New York rector and an
Italian opera star" The clergyman,
trying to save" the simple child
nature, is himself saved by her. There
IL little too much intersection Of
Italian, French and German phrase.
and in the clmactic scene II would
have been pleasanter and equally eff
fective t. save the love crazed
preacher from blasphemy. Prologue
and epilogue, introduced with admira-
be easy naturalness. drive home the
moral" OF the play, the eternal veri-
ties" OF the way OF man with a
maid. Equal power of holding at
tention, though in an entirely dissim-
liar province. is shown in Mr.. Shell
don's mermaid phantasy The Garden
of Paradise" in which the daughter
of the Sea King seeks a soul in the
love of human prince. In pure
poesy this play Is rich, Its mechani-
cal devices would ruin the temper and
bank account of any but the most for
tunate of producers" but the spec
tacular effect might he made superla-
lively beautiful. There are sea folks,
witches, superstitious sailors, gallant
gentlemen and lovely ladies in the
courts of a prince and princess who
are all that royal lovers should be, In
"a phantasy. Mr.. Shedon's plays will
not be found to TT any less satisfac-
torily the requirement OF "A time when
people are perhaps inclined to be more
than ordinarily eNacting because the
plays are not of war and politics
The determinedly serious minded
student of the drama will enjoy
Robert Frank" "A politico-social
tragedy ny Sigurd Ibsen. only son Of
Henrik. translated from the Nor
wegian by Marcia Hargis Janson
(Scribners). Frank Is "A revolutionary
statesman who undertakes to end the
long war between capital and labor by
making the workmen part owners"
He is cold, intellectual and dangerous
IN the march Of his ambition To n
miserable end. fittinG;y engineered by
a crazy leader of the syndicalists
whom he has detied. 1t is hard To
imagine house" even of "intellec-
itials" keeping awake through the dis
scrtatiOns On class aud mass. The
final scenes, where the statesman and
the American woman journalist avOw
their love, only 10 have their budding
romance" nipped by the assassin's
bullet, are tensely dramatic. The
younger lbsen sees life in the grim
, way of his famous father, lie has the
| dramatic instinct for the clash OF
personalities. The play contains many
, keen cpigrans. II Is not complimen-
! lary to Americans of wealth and in