Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-03-11
w. P. Eaton Sees Galsworthys Masterpiece Justice

now, as their second venture, mounted
Justice" and mounted II in manner
worthy of the work. 1t was first shown
in New Haven, on March 2, a date worth
setting down, for It Is not every day that
so splendid and powerful drama sees the
light on our stage, nor every day that one
of our managers Is willing, as they would
put 1t, ITO take chance on gloom"
1t may we'll be an open question. in.
deed, whether Justice" Is not rather n
play for a repertoire theatre. 1t is hard
to fancy 1t being able to draw profitable
audiences night after night, at any rate in
this country. where stark realism Is as
strange n speech to us as Greek, and
where the mass of theatre-goers are un-
able, as well as unwilling to employ their
reasoning powers in order to enjoy n play.
That n potential audience does exist for
such drama is unquestionable, but 1t is
bound to be n minority audience, and one,
too that is hard to assemble by the com.
mon methods since 1t is TO no small eX-
tent composed of people who have lost the
theatre habit, and can only be COaXed
back by some special appeal Such peo.
pie, of course, would be among the best
supporters of n good repertoire theatre,
and II is to them that the new managers
must look for most of the support for
Justice" Fortunately they are not the
ordinary type of managers-that Is, the
type rampant for the last 20 years-and
they will realize fully what is ahead of
them.
And whether Justice" fails or not to
rally paying public, Messrs. Corey. Will
liams and Ritter will have the satisfaction
of knowing that they have done fine
play finely. In every detail of the pro-
ductlon there is ample evidence of intel
ligent management, excellent taste and
fub fnn1iDp. Tho Of hn ga1nptpI
with rare skill, for instance. The play Is
so British in its setting, though univer-
sal IN its appeaD and is written in so
naturalistic manner, that to have n cast
part American and part British would
have been fatal to illusion. John Barry
more, who has the mimetic skill to as
sumo n CocSney role, plays the leading
part, that of poor Falder But other
wise the cast is almost entirely made up
Of English actors, or of American actors
Of English birth, like Henry Stephenson,
a splendid artist whose poise and author
ity are beginning at last TO be appre-
cated by the public. o. p. Hegge who
came to US last year as Androcles in the
Barker production of Shaw's fantasy,
plays the part of Cokeson the old clerk
He. by the way, was in the cast of the
original London production at the Duke
of York's Theatre, London, February II,
1910. No better selection for Cokeson
could possibly have been made. Heggie
is an intelligent and clever character
actor and, furthermore. he has winning
gift of4humor, and there is certain charm
and gentleness about him which wins an
audience at once. Cokeson, actually, Is
the most human person in the play; and
Heggie has just the qualities of person.
ality to make him live. Then. for such
a lesser part as that of the attorney for
the defense in the trial scene, the char
acter who, in reality, speaks for Mr..
Galsworthy, an actor named Walter Lon
ergan was selected, an actor who can
speak the English language as IL he
loved and respected II, and who can sue
cessfully suggest moral indignation and
eloquence.
But there isn't a badly-played character
in the cast. Even John Barrymore. sans
moustache and sans all his jaunty assur-