New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-04-04
In the Playworld
Jade Gods and faded Audiences
Make Work for the
Producer
By HAYWOOD BROUN

By HAYWOOD BR0GS
Enter a hideous idol" directs Dun
fany, and forthwith the producer Of -
Night az an Inn" must match his re-
sources with the imagination Of the
audience. Bill has already said that the
idol is "a long sight uglier than any
thing else in the world" and fulfil
ment is difficult. There may be folk in
the house who have seen the jabber-
wock, or the colored pictures in the
chapter on alcohol and the gastric
juice, or the library lions. At any rate.
the dwelIers in this we'll trenched city
are sophisticated in horrors. They must
have the genuine article. Something
just as bad will not do at all. and We
we're disappointed when the monster
CROPPED his way on the stage OF the
Neighborhood Playhouse the other
night.
This god Klesh was large and green
and awkward, but none Of these char
acteristics arc necessarily objection
able. With each step toward the front
Of the stage the idol gained in definite
ness, and as his limits and boundaries
we're established he became less ter
rible. When he was only heavy foot
step upon the lonely moor there was no
knowing whether he was a hundred feet
high or twice tnat stature. He might
have crouched 20 keep from humping
the stars and been as green as things
at the bottom OF an unswept ocean.
Perhaps we expected TOO much. After
all, the programme had said that klesh
was j. T. Roach, and IL was not far 10
+ suppose that few yards of green cloth
and the cooperation Of the electrician
I could make Mr. Roach "a long sight
uglier than anything else in the world.
/ Many have told Dunsany that gods
/ should be heard and not seen in the
| theatre. but this is much more evident
! in "A Night at an Inn" than in THE
! Gods of the Mountain" There il
/ distinct let-down in the latter, when
the tramp of the stony boots becomes
visualized in the seven green things
from Marina, but by that time the play
is almost over The audience is still
under the spell OF the magnificent mo-
ment when the bcGgars wait the doom
/ they DO not see or understand. Con-
dltions differ in "A Night at an Inn"
Here the playwright tries to use Klesn
rs a visible and an invisible force as
well. He shows thc idol % the audi
encc and then whisks him offstage TO
be a mysterious voice from the moor,
calling the sailors out, one by one, 20
/ their doom. It il true that the audi
ence does not know just what that
! doom is, but it knows Klcsh and does
not fear him overmuch. About the
worst he could do TO his victims would
be to smother them in green cheese
cloth, which no doubt is unpleasant
enough, but petty and unimaginativc.
"A Night at an Inn" is a thrilling
! play. in spite of the fact that it is
| probably mistake 10 bring the idol
SO openly before the audience. We do
not think the play as good as THE
Golden Doom" THE Gods Of the
Mountain" or even "Argimenes and the
Unknown Warrior" but it is a fine one
= act play for all of that
The entrance Of Kiesh is not ham
+ died particularly well at the Neighoor-
hood Playhouse. but. as we have said,
! Dunsany asks too much from his pro-
Queer in this play. On the whole, the
piece il well acted David Solomon az
the Tof is particularly good.
The other plays on the Neighborhood
bill are "Black ELL" BY Miles Male
: son, and "a Sunny Morning" from
| the Spanish of Serafn and Joaquin
+ Alvarez Quintero. "Blacx,Ell" is pac-
( fist propaganda, and thVefore pecul-
iarly irritating to all who have re-
Gently quilted that persuasion. The
play has moments Of undenlab.e elo-
quence, but the author IN his eagerness
TO fight for his cause has not fought
quite fairly. Lodge or logic or any
thing which stands in the way OF
pacifst in full bay is likely TO go down.
Thus, it seems TO us psychologica!ly In
correct for Madison to build the reac-
ton which takes place in the chief
character upon the fact that the man
has killed an adversary in a hand-to-
hand struggle II is undeniable that
many soldiers return from the trenches
with a horror of war. but that is large
" because of things they have seen
about them. The pity of it all has been
driven home, not in the fighting, but in
the lulls between attacks. Even pac-
fist will lose his temper in a tight and
forget himself so thoroughly that he
will have scant memory and fewer re-
grets for what was done when blood
was hot. Frances Goodman plays vel!
in the company which is seen in BLACK
Ell"
The little play from the Spanish. ~
Sunny Morning" is an amusing trlhe,
nicely played by Alice Lewisohn and
Albert Carroll. II suficed to prove TO
one spectator that the aside may b"
used discreetly in light plays without
offence. The sketch concerns the
warmed over romance of an old man
ano an old woman who meet by chance
in the park on sunny morning. Each
conceals his identity from the other,
and both agree to meet again on the
morrow, but here romance is brldled;
each stipulates that it must be fair,
warm morning.
Fayorites at the Colonial
SantIey and Norton Win