Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-01-04

bert Rathcnetein preceded by
TzE co5,s MAY WHO NAsRIEp nrMb ,5i rydL VIE Y
ns Sg RSbeS, by r9nvT BorkST asSSTa
Some Lion?" Yes. but some play.
wright too. Twenty years late and ten
years after Bernard Shaw gave the world
his best work. the public is slowly dis
covering that the author of "Androcles
and the Lion is a very great and very
entertaining man. The comedies which
are now winning him popularity.
"Fanny's First Play" "Pygmalion." and
now ''Androcles." are-ironicaly enough
not his best They are works past his
primei perhaps that accounts for their
success. But they are works miles ahead
Of any Engiish-speaking contemporary in
that comedic power which Is. not drama
at its most poignant. but certainly drama
at It's highest point Of humanity.
II permeates "Androcles." without this
spirit. reflected In the behavior of both
actors and auditors. the play at the Adel-
phi might be set down for a iumbling Of
burlesque and philosophy. gibing ana
chronisms and terrors. quite literally. 1t
has everything" II starts with panto-
mime lion for its major premise and
Greek ST Francis IN tho tailoring busi-
ness for its minor. They go, through
the old evolutons Of the fable. Androcles
pulls out the proverbial thorn to the tune
of stuff ID roars. And at the end An
drocles and the lion crawl out into the
middle Of the great Roman coliseum to
finish up the tale BY mutual recognition
and rejoicing. Acted out on the boards,
could anything be sillier burlesque7
But before you say, Yes a problem
playNby some one of the greatest Eng
lish playwrights" before whom Shaw has |
his head bowed by the critics, consider !
the entrance of the comedlc spirit into |
even this burlesque. 1t comes and II con- |
quers most clearly In the scene where /
Androcles is sent forth into the arena to I
the call boys announcements mo. r. |
The Christian for the new lion" Says
Androcles to the Emperor Go to your
box and see how a tailor can die" and, |
seizing paintvely but courageousy his
moment of distinction, Make way for
No. I2!'
That same spirit pervades every mo-
ment OF the play. 1t dares TO see the his
tory-shrouded beginnings OF things with
the eye Of prosaic. whimsical and inspired
truth So YOU hear the heather wife of
Androcles implorng him to sacrifice to
the gods like n respectable person. to
give up these dirty, disappearing athe-
lsts," Lowest of the low" people who've
got no religion" Far-fetched? Haven't
we said much the same in the past quar-
ter century about the anarchist, the So
CldilStt tne ngnOStlC, even the UnltarianG
IL is naked truth ludiCrous In Its nudity.
This treatment of early Christian days
proceeds upward through strain after
strain of more serious, more profound
more inspired analysis. Here are four
varieties of Christians all working out |
their creeds I'm the days when { hristianity |
was an emotion, not n dogma. Here is
st. Francis In Androcles, lc wing all the
animals, sure that they haI souls, un-
able to hurt even man. Here Is ,vl 81 i'm
raI ha
temples stealing the gold vessels, drink !
ing away his nerves and rejoicing in I
prospective salvation by martyrdom. !
Here is the muscular Christian" Fer |
rovius. whose faith needs testing like his
sword, and who finds, when he facts q
death in the arena, that he is the fghtihg !
man after all. Here is finally the pa
-rician, Lavinia, the thlnker-nystic. d
arguing delightfully."-, banterlngly Hirta-
iously with the handsome Roman captain S
'ver her fad" Through her the comedic T
pirit rises higher yet. Facing the arena
Yer ''stories and dreams gone before the y
easity Of death. she knows she is dying L
or something greater, yet something she a
ioes not know. III IL were anything i
mall enough to know, It would be too
or God. Nothing else is real enough to i
lie for" But what IS God?" asks the cap o
ain. when we know that, captain, we !,
hall be gods ourselves" ID
fantonlme ana phllosophy, all IN one -
'lay. wed by the genius of man ser- :,
uuly estimated a clown! r.
But that Is not all of the most de- -
Ehtful and satisfying entertainment seen n
ere In a very long time. Besides Shaw's a
lay and Barker's very effective produc- q
lon of it-actors. scenery and all-there cl
comedy by Anatole France, that rare |,
'arisan, based on an incident described b.
4 Rabelais. 1t narrates the absurd affair W
I the man who espoused and married a W
umb wife. who sought medical aid to
he unloosing of her tongue and. who, SC
hen that torrential flood began, bought al
eafness from the doctors to repair the 81
iischief 1t is full of any number OF al
harmlng bits OF satire, most admirably e
ppreciated by o. p. Heggie. Lionel Bra fu
am, Henry Herbert and Fred Eric. But m
lost of all, 1t gives Robert e Jones a W
lance TO exhibit the loveliest costumes II
lat any artist, beyond Bakst. has
rought America. Against a gray and Z
ack background they make THE Man Il
rho Married a Dumb Wife" almost as
spirational feast OF jollity as AN
rocles." X. NJ.