Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-11-07

A SERIOUS dramatic production
~ claimed attention during the
"a week just closed. In rivalry to
u the array of vaudeville. pictures
and eXtrava ganza which in
the whirligig OF time have come to
constitute the standard entertainment
of the hour. Outside the presentations
of the Poll stock company substantial
dramatic offering is a conspicuous nov
city. Behold Thy Wife proved a Gre
alton, distinct and unstandardized: an
expression of the pioneer spirit which
Henry W. Savage manifested when he
introduced 'Everywoman' in defiance
of the conventional forms of play
structure. Students of the drama re-
belled at ''Ev erywoman" as contra
diction of accepted rules and measure
ments, but the public took the play to
its heart. Since then so much of the
earlier classic mechanism has been
utilized in presenting ideas of current
appeal that the student is forced to
recognize the practical value of the
composite style of dramatic architec-
ture. 1t disturbs well formulated cal
culations, but it is a factor in the prob
lem of amusing the public as potent
typed rules for playmaking are re-
pudiated by popular decree at both ends
of the scale-in twc-do1lar entertain
ment and in the jitney drama.
* =
The task of employing all the re-
sources of the theater so as to secure
proportionate effect is a difficult one
and is often accomplished by an abrupt
dismissal of precedents of every kind.
ment outside movies, vaudeville and
stock is the big musical show which
makes no pretensions. 1t scorns the
intellectual landscape gardener and as
serts itself with tropical luxuriance as
wilderness of comic suggestion and
a riot of beauty. The most-talked-of
entertainments in New York are the
Winter Garden, 1.-The Follies'' and
Around the Map" William A. Brady,
the only Shakespearean producer in
New York, frankly voices the opinion
that the legitimate drama has gone to
the bowwows.
Behold Thy Wife, is pre-eminently
thoughtful creation. While it's de-
parture from conventional form is a
step beyond anything that has been
done, it relies strongly on the classic
and considers the influence of the
movies but slightly Its pace is dig
nifed. but not swift. The late Charles
Frohman perceived the influence that
the film theater was exerting, and said
two years ago that the theaters must
compete with the movies; that the style
of play which will have the best vogue
will be the play of a succession of
scenes quickly over that it will COM
pete with the picture play. enjoying
the advantage of real people and real
voices.
x x X
Behold Thy Wife, has series of
strong contrasts in idea. Much of the
play is in the nature of establishment,
a frame for a stage picture of i'm
pressive beauty. 1t goes beyond the
combination of dramatic forms and
seeks to reconcile two widely separated
schools of literature-that of intimate
realism with poetic mysticism. The
playgoing public is the inexora BILE
Rhadamanthus who will judge.
X
Nobody Home" flashed and froliciSed
through two hours Of irresponsible
glee. Its dancing and costuming had
the benefit of interesting personality.
the quiet drollery of Lawrence Gros-
smith being sufficient to lift some of
the scenes out of musical farce into
legitimate comedy.