New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-11-29
"The Gods of the Noun.
tain" in the Port
manteau Bill
DUNSANY DRAMA
SURE TO THRILL
Stuart Walker Shows Gifts
as Playwright and
Producer, Too
BY HAYWOOD BROUN

early or travel far. In our opinion. the
finest things on the stage are "The yell
low jacket" on which the curtain some
times rises as carly as 1880 a. M;
Great Catherine" in Grand Street,
and "The Gods Of the Mountain" in
the repertory Of Stuart Walker, whose
Portmanteau Theatre is set up on odd
afternoons at the Thirty-ninth Street
Theatre.
About a Portmanteau performance
there Is some little folderol, and GER
tainly the suggestion of an artistic
pose. And yet why shouldn't Stuart
Walker and his players walk with high
heads and proud, since it is their
privilege to act one OF the finest mag
NATIVE dramas in the English lam
guage?
Every now and then somebody won
ders why there should be any touch of
contempt in the phrase commercial
manager The manager declares that
he has n perfect right to make money
! if he wants to. and so he backs "A Lit
/ tie Bit OF Fluff" or "Backfre" and
leaves The Gods of the Mountain" to
amateurs and itinerant organizations.
The thing that keeps a number OF
people away from the finest plays IS
the feeling that special intelligence IS
needed for their appreciation. It's not
so. Art is broad. IL is possible, for
instance, to think "The Harp of Life"
a great play and still appreciate THE
Gods of the Mountain"
There is no reason why Dunsany
should not be n great popular dram
atist because his chief function is 10
tell an absorbing story. II is no fault
of his if others have tried to frighten
folk by reading symbolism into tales
that are all straight and above board.
One critic thought that the Port
manteau and its plays might please
children. and added: "But IL should
not set itself up as the home OF poetic
drama of the more serious sort" Cen
orally speaking, a good children's play
is a good play. A child will not clap his
hands off because the leading lady APP
peared in something or other the sea-
son before last which ran a year. nor is
his mind cluttered up with the symbols
and set pieces of the theatre which make
the grown-up react according to for
mula. The child wants to know what
and why, and anybody who answers
these questions adequately In a play
writes with the great.
"The Gods of the Mountain" Is set
in an ancient city in the Far East
or beyond. The beggars lament that
times are hard, and the eldest explains:
THE gods are drowsy, and all those
things that are divine in man, such as
benevolence, drunkenness, extrava-
gance and song, have faded and died
and have not been replenished by the
gods"
To this city comes q wiser beggar
from afar. In his wanderings he has
seen the seven great, green gods Of
Jade who sit in the mountains Of
Marina At his suggestion, the beggars
pretend to be these gods, and, with bits
Of green cloth showing beneath their
rags, they sit in the great hall OF Kon-
Rros, each with his right foreiinger up
lifted like the stone deities. The towns
men come and are puzzled. They test
the beggars with food, and they eat
too ravenously-all but the wise beg
gar, who says: 81 have not eaten since
the world was very nov and the flesh
of men was tenderer tnan now"
The doubt Of the townsmen is not APP
peased, and they send dromedary men
to the mountains TO see If the stone
gods are still in their accustomed
places. The beggars are terrified when
they hear of this, but the messengers
return and report that the gods have
disappeared. Doubt has died, and a
great sacrifice is being prepared for the
beggars, when from off-stage there is
heavy, measured tread. IL is then that
Uif, the old beggar, cries: 81 have a
fear, an old fear and boding. We have
done i'll in the sight OF the seven gods.
Beggars we were and beggars we should
have remained. We have given up our
calling and come in sight Of our doom.
| will no longer let my fear be silent;
it shall run about and cry; it shall go
from me crying, like a dog out OF
doomed city, for my fear has seen
calamity and has known an evil thing"
The stony boots come on and seven
figures file upon the darkening stage.
Huge and grotesque figures are they.
Even their faces are green. "The lead
ing Green Thing" points his finger at
each of the beggars in turn, and each
mendicant in turn sinks back with up
raised finger. A green light falls upon
the faces Of the beggars. The gods go
out. After little the townsfolk enter.
The beggars do not move. A citizen
touches the arm of the oldest beggar.
II is cold. The men have turned to
stone-into green jade. The townsfolk
PROSTATE themselves and cry They
were the true godsl"
The fact that "The Gods OF the
Mountain" is being given is much
more important than the merits OF the
performance. This is something less
than good and more than fair. stuart
Walker IS digniied as the wise oeggar.
but he is a little lacking in volume OF
voice. Somehow or other one feels that
a wise man should speak from his
boots. The lighting effects are excel
lcnt. The setting is stimulating POS
siblv a little too much emphasis is
placed on the grotesque appearance OF
the Green Things. but everybody knows
the close relationship OF the grotesque
and the horrible.
The other plays on the bill are six
Who Pass While the Lentlls Boil" a
spirited and lively romance. by stuart
Walker. IL is an excellent fairy story
and is enlivened by the clever playing
OF Gregory Kelly, as Sir Dsvey Little
Row who saves the Queen and foiis the
Headsman. And the Headsman, by the
wav, is played with rare skill and
humor by Mckay Morris. "Neverthe.
less" has flashes of fun, but it is bit
II is 10 be hoped that Stuart Walker
will put of. his packing and stay
while.
ALDERMEN ACT ON PRICES