New-York tribune., 1918-10-24
Drama
The Riddle: Woman" Has
Its First Performance at
the Harris
By Haywood Broun

The new play at the Harris Theatre
is called "The Ridd e. Woman" which
suggests an attempt at a profound psy-
cho ogical study. The fact that the
play is laid in Copenhagen. with an
Dirk for a hero and Hels niger for
villain, strengthens the impression
that Charlotte F.. Wells and Dorothy
Donnei'y intended their piece to be re-
ceived as a serious work of art. Az
rule we expect mordant laughter, con-
stitutional disabilities and nervous
brcakdowns of distressing character
in all pays about Denmark and points
further north. There is one serious
suicide in "Thc Riddle: Woman" to
be sure. but for tho rest it comes out
all very happily. Even the villain cs-
capes with nothing more than a sore
throat after the heroine has slammed
m down on a table and choked him.
with murder In her eye.
"The Riddle Woman is not seri-
Gus work of dramatic art. but it
seemed TO Us excellent enter ,ainmcnt.
The p ay has plenty Of dramatic sus-
pei Sc, and it i acted in an admirably
effective manner, in spite of the fact
T. at none OF it is particularly deep. A
good many spectators viii find tnem-
Sc YES sJn eNnat amused by many Of
tie serious passages IN tie drama, bet
that does not in the least det.ac. from
enjoyment. In fact, one OF tAe mot
r-pre ensible and consequently ENJOY
able states Of mind TO possess in t.e
theatre is that of looking down from a
great he .9ht and feeling sn.oty.
We l~.,.nea no~n.ng ,,oout ANY vital
prooi2l. $ or life d. the Harris Theatre
last night but we d d feel Intensely in
tcres.o0 as u whether or not the hero
Inc was going to shyo, The villain. II.
was pe.d Villain. Even cub of Ger
man spies would Dlacnbail HIM. " ON N
were M, prey. FIRST h, ruined Them
and hen he eXtorOOd nu1 h money. 1t IS
pos lp4e that Shakespeare nd THIS same
Count He.snger IN m.nd as he some
tn ng IT, N the S.alc OF Jenmark."
Two of the woMen in the play alone
were ae0uced by lhe count, and he had
evl designs Against a third we'll under
way, not to mention the poss blity of
outside affairs He seemed intent upon
running every woman in Denmark OF
course, Denmark is not very large
country and it should be expa4ncd
that the action of "The Riddle: Wom-
an" occurs before the loss OF Schies-
wig Holstein.
A.lc pay concerns the story of Lila
Olrlk, who is in the power OF Hesingar
on account of an early indiscretion.
She te~rs that she WI lose the love
OF her rich, p-oud husband if he ever
hnds out anout her sln. For two acts
Mr. O.riN kept paying money to the
count and pleading with him for the
reeuHn Of .er letters. At times she
WIS rather pain. abiect Things
could not go on Ike that forever. it
was plain to be seen that ms. Dirk
vas getting more vexed all the time
In the third act the villain went a bit
roo iar. In addition to borrowing
H'orey from Mrs. Dirk he tired to
x. We 20 her Thereupon she at
tackled him knocked him do IN, ch ,knd
h.m INTO grogg.ncss and took the let
tiers out or MS pocket 1t al seemed
so simple at one could not help Won
Gerlng Why he h d not uggad him
sooner. Possibly ell fears were in vain
anyway, for when she gave the letters
10 her husband he lurned them after
merely oHlng to see how they began
and ended '''''
An excellent cast has been gathered
Tor the ay. Bertha Ka ch is inter
oS,1ng al TINS AID occls ally de-
cldedly thrill G IS the heroine Chlystal
Herhe and Albeit Bruning succeed in
two scenes IN putting clint of hu-
man feeling into the play and A. q.
Anson is n admirabl- devilish villain.
Robert Edeson is Good as the husband,
The title OF the ay doesn't mean
anything much. Women are no more
ridd es than "nything else. OF course.
general infallible rules cannot be lad
down about ther>. but ne ther can thew
about men or mules. While it is true
that 1t may not be possible to tell
what a woman viii under given
set Of circumstances, the same is true
Of horse. 1t is only necessary to
reecr to the cha of the fourth race
at Emp re City in to-day's Tribune to
prove that.