New-York tribune., 1918-05-14
Drama
Two New Plays at Comedy
in Place of the Late
"Salome"
By Haywood Broun

Evidently somebody finally took
Herod's command, "Kill that woman!"
to heart, for "Salome" was cut out of
the Washington Square bill last night
and two one-act plays produced in its
stead. The new plays are both from
the repertory of the Provincetown
Players. "The Rope" is in the best
vein of Eugene ONeill, and "Close the
Book" in the second best of Susan
Glaspell. The best of Miss Glaspell is
so good that her second best is also
interesting and amusing. Her play suf-
fers from lack of stamina. The
theme, though excellent, is exhausted
some little time before the final cur
tain, and interest wanes when the play
wright seeks to hold it up with elabora
tion rather than invention.
The play concerns a young person
who thinks herself the descendant of
gypsies. Her name is Jhansi, and she
feels the call Of the open road and all
that sort of thing. Her fiance is an
Instructor in small university, who
has won her affection BY falling in
with her radical notions He collab-
crates with her in paper on free
speech, and each mendaciously boasts
that his grandmother was an illegiti-
mate child. The little gypsy is invited
TO dinner party at the home of her
fiance's mother, and her scorn for the
traditions of the family into which she
is going to marry creates a difficult
situation. That is not improved in the
least when her future sister-in-l law
buzzes in to announce that she has
looked up Jhansi's family in the state
records and has discovered that she
come news to the young radical, and
she is still more deeply panied to learn
that her father was milkman and
that she was named Jhansi because
that was the chief station in India of
one of the missionary societies in
which her mother was interested. She
is about to free her fance from his
engagement on account of this dis
grace, when he suddenly proves his
fitness by delving into book of gen
ealogy and proving that his great
grandfather was bigamist.
The dialogue is sprightly and lively
and the piece is we'll played T. W.
Gibson is particularly good as the
radical young instructor and Florence
Enright as Jhansi, Elizabeth Patterson
rs the mother and Helen Westley as
the grandmothe all contribute to the
general pleasing effect.
The Rope" was reviewed at some
length in The Tribune when it was part
OF the Provincetown bill. The anna
teurs of McDougal Street did better
job than the professionals of the
Comedy. In fact, the chief loss in
II M
Pinto in the role Of Luke. This we'll
known young professional simply
doesn't compare with the young man
who played the part downtown. We
can't even recall the name of the
Provincetown player at the moment.
and we cannot look at the files after
midnight. AS like as not the page we
wanted would be cut out anyway. Whit
ford Kane, another accomplished pro-
fesslcnal, was also somewhat inferior
10 ms amateur predecessor because he
failed to make the old man the terrify-
ing figure required by the playwright.
Josephine Meyer rejoined the Wasing-
ton Square company after a long alb
sence to play the part Of Annie and
gave an exceedingly finished perform
ance. Even the prolonged applause
which greeted her entrance failed to
disturb her much.
The part assigned to Miss Meyer is
not unlike that in which she scored so
heavily in "The Clod" two seasons
back. Miss Meyer can put a deal of
WEAKNESS into the droop of a shoulder.
The bill retains "The Home of the
Free" by Elmer Reizenstein and Brig
houses Lonesome Like" A second
view of the latter play was wellnigh
as delightful as the first. We have
never seen performance as easy as
that of Whitford Kane in the part of
Sam Horrocks. The play is just
pleasing trife, but the work OF Kane
is fiawless and deserving of drum beats
and trumpet calls.
And speaking of drums reminds us
that this may be the last or one of the
last bills of the Washington Square
Players for the present or longer.
Twelve members Of the organization
are absent in service and others are to
60. Possibly the Washington Square
Players will have to suspend until the
end of the war. The Kaiser has much
to answer for. None of US thought,