New-York tribune., 1918-08-21
BY Haywood Broun

1ull length play for a cast of two per-
sons but that for a time at least he
makes the audience forget his melo-
drama Is stunt. AS purely technical
display the piece is superb throughout.
Better than that, there are times when
the workmanship is not evident even
to the critically minded.
The third Get of "Under Orders, ;s
by tar the most interesting spy frae
ment which New York has seen. The
sheer excitement of it browns tho in
genulty. And, as usual, that part of
the play which is best written is best
played. Shelley Hull has been bound
1or a long time to the task of PLAYING
attractive young men, good fellows and
! an that The strain has left it's mark.
ne has worked out a formula for
Wholesomeness which is occasionally
distressing. We did not like him a
great deal last night when he played
the herolc American captain. And then
for an entire act. blessed act. he was
allowed to be German and villanous.
EVIL brought crispness and ncisive-
ness to his style which we never saw
IN him before. Indeed, we have seen
1t IN few actors. Not only did Hull
succeed in playing that particular act
we'll, but in large measure he JUS
titled his earlier performance If he
had shaded certain characteristics of
the American little too hard we were
forced to admit that much of this was
necessary, in order to create the proper
contrast in the two characters which
he portrayed.
1t seems a pity to tell the plot of
under Orders" and we can only hope
that not enough people will see this
brief resume to spoil thrill later at
the Eltinge. Although there are only
two actors in the melodrama there are
Shannon plays the mother of an Amer
lean captain and her twin sister, the
mother of German captain Hull is
the American son and the German SON.
The cousins look almost as much alike
as the sisters and thereby hangs the
plot. The American is captured by the
Germans. Escaping. he seeks out his
aunt's house and she helps him on
ward, but he is recaptured. The cousin,
who looks so much like him, dons the
Americans uniform and goes to Eng
land preliminary to joining Pcrshing's
army and playing the very devil as a
spy.
In the third act the German meets
the American mother in England and
pretends to be her son. In the first
moments of his arrival he deceivcs
| her, and here the audience is hattered
in singular way. Just minute or
two before the mother discovers the
sham the audience is allowed to see
through the plot. Nor is the secret
divulged by any cxpedient of having
Mr.. Hull wink across the footlights.
In numberless little tricks of manner
and bearing he has changed. He
stands straighter and seems to have
| put an inch or so across his chest.
There is a very slight difference in
enunciation. The characters view
point on things has changed just a
bit. Actor and author have collabo-
rated very cleverly here, for, although
there arc number Of differences be-
tween the German and the American,
they arc all slight. In the theatre, at
the mother might have been deceived
momcntarly. She is not long in sus-
pecting the German, and her sus-
picion is confirmed when he incau-
tiously plays the piano. since that is
an accomplishment which her son did
not possess.
An effective theatrical scene follows.
The German tells the American woman
that if she betrays him her son in
Germany will be killed Her son, he
explains, is being held hostage for his
pulls herself together and calls in the
soldiers as the curtain falls. Nothing
much can be said for The fourth act
except that the author had to add
something to tell The audience that
the American did not die after all. 1t
is a sound convention which demands
happy ending for melodramas. They
! don't mirror life, and since they are
made-up tales there isn't reason in
the world why we SHOULDN'T shape them
to suit ourselves. Berte Thomas has
chosen the expedient of making the
mother go temporarily mad. We nate
plays that drift into the merely mad
it is an ancient theatrical convention
to be sure, hut it is always the easy
and cheap way to solve a theatrical or
a fctional problem, for that matter
Nobody is fooled. People don't go mad
Of sudden shocks and then get un-
device permits the playwright to
make all the explanations of now the
American got out Of Germany in dra-
matte form. The hero goes over the
things which have happened in order
to bring back lis mothers memory
Naturally, it comes back just in time
for the author to get an effective fina
! curtain. echn!cally the tnlng Is
pretty good, but you can hear the
works ticking away for dear life all
the time, as you could not in the third
! act.
At the beginning the play faces a
peculiar handicap. Everybody in the
audience knows that there are only two
actors in the cast. They know that it
is hard to write play for two players
The first act is good, but all the time
you are conscious of the difficulty of
it. 1t is as if you were watching a
man balancing a cane on the end of
his nose. Even if he does it nonchalant-
ly, you are rather apt to wonder
whether it will not presently fall and
hit him on the nose. Nothing fell on
the nose of the author of "Under Or
ders" for two acts, and then we began
to forget that he was balancing some
thing and began in earnest to watch the
story itself. Those who do not 90 to
the Eltinge expecting to see a stunt
will have the best time.
The two-person play pushes the
author into few soliloquies. but they
are brief and all justified. Effe
Shannon, who plays the part of the
two women, gives good performances
in both roles. She was just bit shose
Of sufficient emotional suggestion in
the first act, but her performances are