Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-10-19
LONELY SOLDIERS" Is
DELICIOUS COMEDY
Margaret Anglin Scores Instant
Triumph in Inaugurating the
Little Theatre Season

LONELY OLDIERs-Comedy Jp three acts nv
Gcdd T7BSyf2 by ss Ta HnRh H. H2rT2S99 PRO
Emmaiine Lptrot ...alEf ssily wiiams iurs
Beyerend Ambrose Liptrott. .Rno,a9d Rushton
Betty Taradine ...............,,. Miss Angin
Captain Rymill ............... Edward Emery
Mr. MacFarlano How Howard duilhpdfSag Lindsay
Scene-The Manor House. Petworthy, Eng
Act /. An afternoon in August. 1917.
AStt ASt 3 The The sSms nGnt %SThiims evshing
The Inauguration OF Margaret Anglin's
season at the Little Theatre last evening
was more than an augury Of good times
there. II was positive proof OF them.
On a stage once whitened with the bones Of
much misdirected footlight endeavor a
garden of delectable art has sprung into
luNuriant bloom. Through its sunny paths
| blithely steps High Comedy, most elusive
Of theatrical deities, stimulating TO the
wayworn play patron as Balboa's glimpse
of the broad Pacific from "a peak in Dar-
len"
There is no blight upon the Little Theatre
now. Like ghosts from an enchanter flee
ing" the "hoodoOs" have been exercised by
art in one short evening. \ fragile play.
| slender in thematic material. familiar in
development of situation, is yet informed
! with such n profusion of sparkling wit. and
! acted with such a rare symp lthetic distnc-
! tion ard polish that Lonely Soldiers" be-
! comes a. veritabe gem coruscating artistic
! fires. q
! Two virtually unknown English drama
| lists, f. Tennyson Jesse and II. NJ. Har-
wood are responsible for the play fabric.
/ out of the time honored motivation Of
| "Divorcons" that has performed valuable
! service in very numerous successors of
| that Sardou comedy, the authors have
| fashioned an entertainment as old in
! groundwork as it is new and altogether de-
iu1nf f1 In cot irq md bn
| novel environment is a household in war
| time England in which are "bileted" two
| charming army officers The gracious mis-
| tress of the manor in an effort to observe
| the conventional propretles desperately
fakes" a telegram announcing the death
! of her husband, from whom she has been
! separated for three years. OF course the
| alleged subject for obituary notices unex-
! pectedly turns up and scenes of the most
| delicious comic embarrassment ensue.
As in all comedies of the "Divorcons
! formula" reconciliation of husband and
wife is inevitable and soon foreshadowed.
| In the current instance it is the exquisite
| deXterty with which the slender dramatic
| skein is wound and unwound, priclIed with
literary needles whose points sclntillate
| with merriment that constitutes Messrs
| Jesse and Harwood's chief claim to public
gratitude Lonely Soldiers" is as delicate
as dew and just as welcome in parched
! stageland. Surely it's brilliant dialogue de-
| serves permanency in book form. That is
| a test under which not a few actable and
| enjoyable plays would fail For Miss
| Anglin's vehicle a reading version must
| only confirm its merit
| The Interpretation proved precisely In
| keeping with the demands Of the comedy
| and with the peculiar intimacy Of house
| like the Little Theatre, which has at last
| found it's true province Miss Anglins role
| evoked suggestions Of her portrait in
| Green Stockings" but this one time emo
| tional actress" now seems much more at
| home in comedy than in the days of that
A. f. W. Mason piece. Almost fawless
| technique, keen intelligence, potent personal
| magnetism were keynotes of her superbly
expert performance OF equally high artistic
| rank was the facile, humorous achieve
| ment of Edward Emery as the perplexed
husband who inconsiderately refuses TO die
| II is doubtful II even the John Drew of the
| old DAILY days could have handled the role
with more ingratiating ease. Phyllis
| Brkett, Langdon Bruce and Roland Rush
| ton were admirable coadjutors in a presen-
| tation balanced as carefully as the incest
of official weighing scales in the Bureau OF
I Standards.