The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-06-27

rrammo'" are heard. There Is a buzz
NJ brilliant conversation, Illuminated
with flashes Of opera glasses and the
-att'e NJ expensive jewelry.
Then suddenly, almost Unexpectedly,
in fact just as IL done, so to speak, by
machinery. the lights all over the
theatre. except on the stage. are ex-
,inguish,d Absolute silence falls.
Here and there is heard the crackle Of
a shirt front. But there Is no other
SOUND.
In this expectant hush, a man in a
check tweed suit walks on the stage:
only one man, one single man. Be-
cause II he had been accompanied by
chorus, that would have been a bur-
lesque: II four citizens in togas had
been with him. that would have been
Shakespeare: II two Russian soldiers
had walked after him, that would have
been melodrama.
But this is none Of these. rms is a
problem play. So he steps in alone.
ali alone, and with that absolute finish
# step. that ability to walk as if
how can one express it?-as II he were
walking, that betrays the finished
actor.
He has. in fact. barely had time to
lay down his silk hat. when he Is com
ple,ely betrayed. You can see that he
Is a finished actor-inished about If
teen years g He lays the hat. hol-
how side up, on the silk hat table on
the stage right centre-bearing north.
northeast, half a point west from the
red mica fire on the stage which
warns the theatre.
All this is done very. very quietly.
very impressively. No one in the
theatre has ever seen a man lay a
silk hat on a table before. and so there
il a GREATNESS hush. Then he takes
of his gloves. one by one, not two Of
three at a time, and lays them in his
hat. The expectancy Is almost pain
tul. II he had thrown his gloves into
the mica fire ii would have been q re-
lief But he doesn't.
The man on the stage picks up a
p!le Of letters from the letter depart
men, of the a table. There are a
great many OF these letters. because
all his business correspondence. as
well as his private letters. are sent
here hy the General Pos Office. Get
ting MS 4elttTs III tuls way ~ h's"s'
he is able to read them like lightning.
Some Of them he merely holds upside
down for a fraction Of a second.
Then at last he speaks. 1t has be-
come absolutely necessary or he
wouldn't do it. "So-Sao Paolo risen
two-hum-Rio Tinto down again
Mo,eby anxious, better sell for half
a million ster,ine'-hum
Odd YOU hear that? Half a million
sterling and he takes 1t just as quietly
as that. And it isn't really In the play
either. Sac Paolo and Rio Tinto just
come in to let you know the sort or
man you're dealing within
Lady Observation-Disclosures
the ninth-lunch with the Ambassador
Friday the tenth"
tAnd mind you even this Is just
patter. The Ambassador doesn't come
into the play either. He and Lady
Claiborne are just put in to let the
people in the cheaper seats know the
kind Of thing they're up against.)
Then the man steps across the stage
and presses a button. A bell rings.
Even before it has finished ringing,
nay. Just before 1t begins TO ring, a
cardboard door swings aside and a
valet enters. You can tell he is a
valet because he is dressed in the usual
home dress Of a stage valet.
He says, Did you ring. Sir John?"
There is a rustic Of programmes all
over the house. You a hear a buzz
Of voices say. Hes Sir John Trevor
They're all on to him.
When the valet says. Did you ring,
Sir john he ought to answer, mo.
] merely knocked the bell over to see
how it would sound" but he misses 1t
and doesn't say 1t.
Has her ladyship come home?"
Yes, Sir john"
Has any one been here?"
"Mr. Harding, Sir JOHN
ANY one else?"
NO, Sir John"
very good"
The valet bows and goes out OF the
cardboard door, and everybody in the
theatre, or at least everybody in the
seats worth over a dollar, knows that
there's something strange in the rela-
tons Of Lady Cicely Trevor and MIR.
Harding. You notice-Mr. Harding
was there and no one else was there.
That's enough In a problem play.
The double door at the back Of the
stage, used only by the principal char
acterS, is opened and Lady Cicely
Trevor enters. She is young and very
beautiful, and wears a droopy hat and
long slinky clothes which she drags
across the stage.
She throws down her feather hat
and her crepe de what-you-call-it boa
on the boa stand. Later on the valet
comes in and gathers them up. He
Is always gathering up things Ike
this on the stage-hats n boas an !
walking sticks thrown away by the
actorS-but nobody notices him. They
are his perquisites.
Sir John lays to Lady Cicely. Sha
ring for tea?"
And Lady Cicely says. Thanks.
No in a weary tone.
This shows that they are the kind
time. All through a problem play II
is understood hat any Of the charac-
tiers may ring for tea and get 1t. Tea
IN "a problem play is the same as
WhlStry in a melodrama.
Thea here ensues a dialogue to this
r'ie,'. S.r John asks Lady Cicely II
she a,- jccn out. He might almost
hay" Guessed it from her coming in
ID .. and cloak, but Sir John Is an
English ~baronet.
.-H.- f-.t aVa, tha nata