Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-05-10
THROUGH THE AGES
WITH GREAT SCENERY
Al Strange Polish Play at Gar
rick Finds Its Justification in
an Artists Settings


-
THROUGH THE AcEs symbolic dram. drama
lated ~ Maurice Joy cnssies oFs,sS Eesst Pro sne
sEswssTa ds MaoaEssr aFfes rhsstre
gsyche ...,s...,'........ .Madams Y,sa Yor,sks
NO. ros Z. :. tia9egb Herbert Charles
Pf'rocicerais-ifcadis, al 4 time. when gods
snSsis Isss esnsa.s ,,v SS,SissatIil tlZSS.. Esss.
fss parts, September igs2 beISTs ass, lsy,
which + to eOine'i1aiswhere
In Poland and in Polish Through the
Ages may be another Peer Gynt." There
It may take Its place beside Strindberg's
Towards Damascus" and Andreyev's
Life Of Man" But translated into the
cold syllables of Anglo-Saxon as the
American adaptors know that tongue IL
Is nfeless condemnation OF over-wordy
and under-articulate ideas about love,
materiaiisnn, and various other abstrac-
tions II will take an English-speaking
poet, a native Maeterlnck, Keystone
d,Annunzio to make these philosophic ad-
ventures OF Psyche and Blax through
seven ages the least bit gripping as the
atrical entertainment. AS STANDS,
Through the Ages" Is simply an excuse
for some very fine scenery.
view at the GarriclS is the most interest
ing, the most distinctive, that Philadel-
phia has ever seen in its regular theatres.
The Ballet Russo gave us more beaut1ul
and more dramatic settings. but tney
lacked the revolutionary lighting whlch
has been added by Richard ordynski, tne
plays producer, to the striking designs OF
witold Gordon.
No artist could ask for more oppor-
aunity. There is Arcadia to begin with,
where Pysche, the shrit, meets Eros
love, and is sent into eternal ana I'M
mortal exile down the ages for the crime
of the base slave, Blax, who tears tne
veil from the face of the god. here MI MI,
Gordon paints green forest' orahse
poplars in the middle distance and great
purple crags gnawing at the golden SKY;
Then Alexandria, of crimson canopies anu
curtains, against the hard green pillars
of a lustful age and here contilct Ior
Psyche, the wanderer, against blaN, the
Roman governor Next convent OIL uhe
middle ages and Blax, the LORD Appot
sitting the soul of Psyche, the nun an
opportunity for as finely composed ue
Sign of towering gray walls ana sun-srt
pinnacle as Gordon Craig has given u.s.
Then the Italy of the Medicis-more con-
fict, this time martial-and hall OF green
blue and red Paris in the Revolution,
with a barricade, violently conhictlnB IN
line. sflhouetted against a pile of dormered
houses-and Psyche fighting Blax again
for the united freedom of France To-
day supplies Mr.. Gordon with the rooms
of the millionaire nobleman, Baron
Won Blax, a Chlnoiserie in gray, cerise
and blues and blacks, all for the person
of his mistress. Psyche. And when Psyche
has freed herself from his gold by making
his house her funeral pyre, we come to the
Future, a time and land of blue and Sill
yer stars upon black hangings. There
Blax, King of the World, finds his power
useless. his people begging salvation OF
the prisoner Psyche, and he himself bow
ing the knee to slave. -'~
e In general the lighting does great
deal for the settings. 1t is almost all
from above and from great HOODS IN
specially-built bridges overhead. 1t gives
infinite shadlngs and paints the great
cyciorama in score of skies that carry
more Illusion than any we have seen In
America. 1t Is only pity that Mr.. Ordyn-
ski hasn't utilized hanging lamp or two
for the centre of illumination In some OF
the interior scenes
To give the acting no more than a brief
word, it is passable. At times Madame
Yorslka vanquishes the difficulties of the
English language as thoroughly as she
does Blax; but mostly strange eonso--
nants and intonations mar her dramatic
effects AT moments, such as the scene /,
of the Revolution. she is really powerful.
Robert L. HalneS mas MS ups ana downs,
too. Sometimes he is just plain play
acting" heavy elaborate, faxed. AT
others. in Today. for instance, he is ex-
cellent.
without a great translator. Through
the Ages needs a new plot Its seven
episodes might hold tremendously If each
were little drama in ITSELF like the parts
of my Lady's Dress; II each in fact
were as interesting by itself and for pur-
poses of dramatic entertainment as the
episode of the Medicls. X NJ.