Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-12-11
ADJUSTMENTS
Belasco.

George Bernard Shawl Mention the
name and tho adjectives suggest them
selves-amusing. witty, clever. But
'.aiisalliance." presented last night at
the Balasco. has a now connotation. 1t
was ridiculuously funny. Labeled
comedy" It might more aptly be termed
a farce: not deriving that element from
plot or characters. but from its effect
The plot Ia elusive. Tho play bears a
relation to other Shaw plays like a
modern revue" bears to the older must
cal comedy. Tho captious Irishman has
not sought to satiriZe any particular
conventionality. He has aimed lot of
epigrammatic birdshot at dozens of
them. and then he turns about and ridi-
cules the latter-day reactions against
these same conventions.
Tarleton is played by Maclyn Ar
buckle. Perhaps 1t is not Inappropriate
that the co-star of a few seasons ago
OF an elephant which smashed n lunch
rooms plate glass window while on
parade one day should now be exploit
ing the paradoxes of G. q. S., somewhat
OF a bull in the dramatic china shop.
Misalliance'' not only Is side-splitting:
IT is lfeiike The characters do not spout
the views Of the writer only They speak
ior themselves. Tarleton is the prototype
OF scores of men who succeeded In bust
ness. despise it. place undue value upon
more esthetic pursuits and seek expression
in building libraries collecting pictures
and endowing institutions of all descrip-
tons; Any one who knows his Shaw has
mot dypatia long since, She is the inevi-
table young woman who rebels against
the conservatism Of age. and In this case
she grows particularly tired of the talk
ing. talking. nothing but talking" of her
elders. She seeks relief from this specu-
iative tendency of grownups in action.
has her wish granted IN an aeroplane
with two passengers drops carelessly into
the greenhouse. whereupon she dares the
male visitor to chase her through field
her father. Buy the brute for me-
Young Summerhays seems to point
TO dangers in eugenics II human mating
IS directed solely to the production of
brains. without physique: and Gunner,
VINO participates in one of the most
iaug habie episodes of the extravaganza
illustrates the disaster of Il weak mind
In fragile body. A sinewy young
woman acrobat by profession and
Polish by dialect, is Lima. who holds
AFTER being made love to by each male
inmate of the Tarleton household, that
rove making plays too great part in
the modern cosmos. Mrs. John Tarle-
ton is the usual drab accompaniment
OF a clustering husband like Tarieton;
Tommy Tarleton inherits his fathers
business ability and none of his foibles
while Joseph Percival Is a foil for the
adventurous excursions of Hypatia
Maclyn Arbuckle makes of Tarleton
one of the most amusing figures in re-
cent memory; Hypatia gives a girlish
human touch to role that might be
PLAYED In cynical key Philip Leigh de-
picts the strung son of Lord
Summerhays, played by George Fftz-
gerald; Katherine KaeIred is good to
look upon in the costume Of an aviator.
and Malcolm Morley gives the neces-
sary whimsical touch to the melodra-
matte bits he has to do while Fred
erick Lloyd, Mrs. Edmund Quincy and
Joseph McManus round out a uniformly
exceptional cast.