The Washington herald., 1915-11-28

the combination gave us an unusual
Romeo; but not one calculated to give
Mr.. Relph many future opportunities
to depict the unhappy Montague
This performance of Romeo and
Juliet" Is not important of itself, ex-
cept to those Immediately concerned;
but II demonstrates again that the
acting of Shakespeare is. In truth. n
lost art in America
Another vachell Comedy.
Not for many years has John Drew
opened his season so late as in Mo-
vember. but when he appeared finally
in The Chief" by that latest fashion
in English dramatists. Horace Annes-
ley Vachell. all the old guard Of Drew,
admirers was on hand to welcome him.
Mr.. Drew was particularly dependent
on the late Charles Frohman to Sc
cure for him plays suited to his per-
sonality and the death of his manager
before this seasons plans had been
comr'eted left him without a medium.
Mr.. Frohms had very definite ideas
about the kind of parts in which the
American public liked TO see John
Drew and never let one of his val
liable stars vary much from the kind
OF role which experience had shown
was a sure draw. The men In the
Frohman management have, in this
new work of the Englishman who has
so recently and rapidly come to the
front as a playwright. seemed to strike
upon just about the kind of play and
character that Mr.. Frohman himself
would have chosen.
The Chief is the thinnest kind of
comedy trifie. 1t would be impossi-
BILE with q less finished comedian than
Mr.. Drew in the title part and with
company chosen and rehearsed with
equal care. The hero Is the middle
aged and widowed Earl of Yester
who has retired after an Official ca
reer whose most important accom-
plishment was to bestow upon him the
habit of being called the chief" HIS
lantly watched over by his deceased
wife's sister, approaching spinster-
hood but with matrimonial designs on
him, and his deceased wife's mother.
a portly early Victorian relic with
ways and a tendency to
intrigue that shall make the CHIEF
doubly her son-in-law.
Their fat is put in the fire by the
appearance on the scene of a stin
young woman who had been the OBJ
ject of his affections before his mar
rage, but had been euchred out Of her
chance to become a countess by the
Vaccinations of the other females.
Their efforts To euchre her a second
time provide the main incidents of
the comedy and are of course unsuc-
cessful. as she is able at the finish to
expose their methods past and present.
A side-current of mild fun is supplied
by the love affair between the chiefs
young secretary and his girl WARD.
played by Consuelo Bailey.
The star is well fitted In the part of
the uncertain-aged nobleman, youth
full in looks and who has not lost his
sense of humor or the ability to be
in love. AS the early sweetheart Laura
Hope Crews has very little chance to
her fine abilities as a COM
edienne. Katherine Stuart and That's
Lawton avail themselves well of bet
ter opportunities in the parts of the
and her daughter with
ambitions to take over her defunct
sisters job.
Even with the thinness of plot, The
Chief is very modish and quick IN
its light action. so that it will serve
Mr.. Drew through his New York en-
which ends before Christ
mas. and equip him for his annual tour
through the outside cities.
The Bramhau
After a brief and inglorious season
last year. that curious little institu-
ton called the Bramhall Theater, and
located we'll over in East Twenty
seventh street. has again opened It's
not large doors. This is the smallest
of New York's theaters, as 1t seats
only 210 persons. 1t was constructed
by tearing out the partitions and
floors of an ordinary 25-foot brown
stone dwelling. putting in a lobby. a
gallery and a diminutive stage. The