New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-08-21

COMPANIONS than life had ever done
and of life he seemed a bit weary.
Then there Is Sadie. In the Swedish
edition she is called Lizzie, but Sadie
fits her much better. for she IS not
common except it be in her humanity
As played by Pauline Lord, the only
woman in the cast, she becomes hgure
so fine and so appealing that IL VIII
take many generations OF stage women
Of the street to eface the memory OF
her.
To this strange crew comes the
storm. IL keeps them penned day
and a night-an unbelievable day and
night, in which old animosities dissolve
and fade away and in which Adams and
Sadie renew a love that never before
had serious vows to give it strength.
Slowly the storm rises. The ticker
gives news of the rising food in the
valley, and fear stirs family when 1t Is
known that the dams O'Neill has con-
tracted to build are not strong enough
TO hold. Then comes the water; IL
rosrs about them until finally in the
basement saloon these ten people are
caught like rats.
) The slow breaking down OF the nor
nal relationship between them is fasci-
mating. The saloonkeeper adopts kind
lier tone toward the two wanderers who
sought refuge from the storm and final
ly, after lifetime of sobricty, he be-
comes maudlin with liquor. The ticker
is sileneed. The telephone will not
answer. Later the lights 80 out, and,
although a waterproof shutter has been
lowered from within, the water begins
to seep under the door. Only Adams
and O'Neill face the truth. And fac
ing it, they do their bSst 10 lead their
companions to the end without too
great realization that it Is the end
They drink, they dance, they shake
hands and plight new brotherhood
between them. Frazer, the bitter one,
finds new delight in his humanity.
Charlie, the bartender, knowing vague
~ Of what lies before him. asks in
heart-breaking tones: "You'se guys
like me, don't you? Cause I like
everybody and / wants everybody TO
like me-" Throughout all Of this there
are suspense and dramatic action, but
it is the drama OF human hearts and
minds, not merely of words.
There must come an end TO all this
And If any quarrel might be found
with HenninG Berger's play it would
be that the end Is perhaps a triAe too
obviously suited TO his philosophic pur-
pose. For the storm lifts, the waters
recede, and, freed, these ten return 10
the even tenor Of their ways. The
fine words of their imprisonment, the
devotion of those racking hours, has
disappeared in the light of common
day. The saloonkeeper orders out the
two "bums" who sought his place in
refuge. Frazer again looks obliquely
on life and the honesty of men. The
ticker recalls Adams from his reverle.
Only two Of them still remember.
Sadie gives Adams up TO what she
knows must ~ the way he will go, and
to the woman's voice on the telephone
asking for Adams she replies symbol,
cally: "I'll give him to you" And
there is O'Neill, awakened for once to
the meaning of life and sorry TO have
TO go back 20 its confusion, and so lose
the still small voice he heard.
Even with so fine and significant a
play. it is dangerous to pay too much
attention to il, for in hands other than
those Arthur Hopkins brought TO its
presentation, and with any less finished
and capable a cast THE Deluge" would
klft Nauot IbA AAAAS Il Al4sNAShN W. -
laughter. There is for once some sat
isfaction to be had on the American
stage in not being called on to admire
to the forgetfulness OF more impor-
tant things-the perfection Of the
storm, the natural sound Of the thun-
der, and al the other details Of real
istic play. Mr.. Hopkins does not hold
the mirror up to nature by Mr.. Belasco
does. He presents nature, instead,
through the illuminated crystal sphere,
and is almost clairvoyant in doing it.
The setting by Robert Edmund Jones
is admirable, an interior that is
asthetically satisfying in its harmony
of lines and surfaces and convincing
without being obtrusive. To all this
Frank Allen has brought translated
dialogue that ought to give many
lessons to our followers of the Broad,
way talor-made dialogue. It has a
naturalness that recalls Barker at his
best. The acting is for the most part
set in key quite in accordance with
the subjectiv matter of the play. Per-
haps the excitement of the. storm is
a little too noisy to be persuasive.
Robert McWade as Frazer and Fred