New-York tribune., 1918-12-25
Reprinted from possordov's Iotr editions
Drama
'Dear Brutus" Shows All the
Skill of Barrie in Best
Moments
By Haywood Broun

We wish sometimes that Barrie
would serve himself with at least d
slice of lemon. In spite of this occa-
sional but aggressive sweetness Dear
Brutus" is high class work. 1t is not
MS inventive as Peter Pan, but in hu-
NOR. charm and technical facility this
ls n play of high order In one scene
it is an unusual Barrie play Here is
theme and treatment of much greater
power and scope than the most accom-
ever before attempted And it is y
gloriously successful effort. In this
scene there is sudden thrust of the
tragedy which lies in the fact that
what we call possibilities are not pos
sibilties at all, but wraiths never born
and never TO be born.
This act is laid in mystic wood
where people have second chance. TO
the wood there comes an artist who
was in life childless, bitter waster
In the land of mght-have been he has
daughter and laughter and cheer
She is a most exquisite. sprightly,
humorous daughter Miss Helen Hayes
who is not yet eighteen, and these are
the official George Tyler figures, played
the daughter, and Miss Hayes is as
eager as Christmas morning and as
dazzling as Christmas night. 1t may
be that nobody will ever call her the
great Miss Hayes, but if not she will
| have to grow out of an amazing equip
I ment of natural charm and technical
skill. She was on top of the tree last
night.
However, we were speaking os The
scene, and not of Miss Hayes 1t is
scene of fatherhood and daughterhood
/ humorous, human and ever SO appeal
ing, in spite Of the fact that it is toe
| long and too sweet Gillette and Mis-:
i Hayes held it up in fine fashion, ever
when the brilliance of Barrie begar
to flag. And at the end there is /
brave and thrilling sprint. 1t is amon}
the finest scenes of our stage to-day
In the gathering darkness of the fores
q light appears whore there was n'
house. The father, in spite of The
appeals Of the girl, goes toward The
house and leaves her, promising t.
return in a moment. The stage grow
darker and she whimpers. The black
ness comes in closer and closer, ant
she cries aloud. This live and gor
geous person whom everybody ha
loved for an act, is only might-have
been, and at the last there is nothn,
but darkness except for the despairini
cry of the girl pleading for an exist
ence which can never be hers.
The central theme Of Dear Brutus'
is familiar in the theatre. 1t is in sub
stance the theme of eyes of Youth
and "Roads of Destiny", inquir.
into what might have happened. Th'
play is not likely to remind the spec
tator Of either American drama. how
ever, for the theme is developed witt
high degree of imagination. Tech
nicallv it is adroit. Barrie has avoided
the danger. so manifest in plays of th
school, of allowing his story to spill
up into so many little plays. He ha
fused the land of might-have- been an
reality by allowing the characters t
step out of the one into the other b.
the mere process of going across
Threshold This not only holds tn
thread Of the tale continuously befor
us. but avoids all confusion.
The playwright takes as his mode
"The fault, dear Brutus. is not in ou
stars, but in ourselves, that we are III
derings." He is not true to it. Almos
all the characters who 90 into tn
magic wood find that second chanc
would not change them fundamental
They would be the same in characte
though their circumstances might
different. And then the playwright pr'