The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-08-21
UNDER ORDERS IS
NOVEL SPY PLAY
Its Four Characters Are Por-
trayed by Shelley Hull and
Effie Shannon.
AUDIENCE rs ABSORBED
America and German Figures
introduced With Effect
at Eltingc.
AUDIENCE rs ABSORBED
"Under Orders"-At tho Eltinge
Theatre.

The play which A. II. Woods pre-
as Under Orders"--it was spy plax
Of course managerial instinct being
blind to every other kind just now
was called by Its author. Berte Thomas.
in London, "Out OF He'll" Then Mr..
Woods gave II as my Boy" last spring
In American cities. 1t is really what
| the public calls a piece, however. that
counts.
The novelty for the audience last night
lay In the economical means Of telling
his story the author had adopted. The
four leading characters were played by
Effio Shannon and Shelley Hull. and
that arrangement was made possible
| through the relationship OF Mrs. Ford
| and Frau Hdrt5mdnn. They were sis
tiers. although Frdn Hd,trmdnn's mar
riage to a German was not known. That
Arthur Ford, a young American officer.
was first cousin to his double In looks
Capt. Hdrtsmonn was as much of a
| secret The four acts OF the play pass
In Germany and England.
How Action Runs.
Just when other dramatists were
building UP complicated plays about
spies with numerous characters, Mr..
Thomas decided to tell his story with
only these four. The American cousin
is arrested in Germany and there seeks
his aunt Her son and his first cousin
is sent to England as a spy. He is
recognized by his aunt there, who can
not be deceived in her own son. The
American boy Is turned over to the au-
49,, III thN
believes that he must inevitably be shot.
But he is saved. for this play was
written for consumption by the Allies,
and their sympathies must be regarded.
Indeed neither young man Is sacrificed.
Thus through the three acts in Eng
land and the one in Berlin the two sons
are ever present. Sometimes II was the
German spy against the British back
ground and then he disappeared to make
way for the American. Between them
and the two mothers the conflict OF ia
terest is ever confined In view of the
meagre means employed Mr.. Thomas
succeeded in interesting the audience
throughout the whole play.
The hrst act showed the parting be-
tween the American mother living in
England and her son. The next intro
duced hin, as a refugee from a German
prison camp seeking the aunt Of whom
he had heard In Berlin. She was help
ing him to escape when his cousin ar
rived and had the prisoner who he sus-
pected had sought out his mother, sent
back to Berlin.
Tho third act. which passes in Eng
land, is the most interesting OF the four.
The American mother is expecting her
son. He has been i'll and is on furlough.
She Is deceived for a while by the strik-
i,,r ), la \,
manner makes her suspicious, and when
he sits down to play the piano. an ac-
compl!shment her son never possessed,
she knows he Is a spy.
He confesses that he is her nephew,
and that her son is held as a hostage
for his safety In Berlin. But she gives
him up. 1t is shown in the last act
that there has been an exchange Of
prisoners and that neither the American
nor his German cousin has been killed
Plays New Figures.
There is OF course no practical value
except to the manager on salary day,
In such limited number of characters
There Is no good reason why the in
terest should not have been somewhat
complicated by other personages, and
certainly the second act would have been
made clearer had the author introduced
other means to explain certain puZzling
minutes
The physical resemblance OF the char
acters was OF course essential to the
theme of the play. II was in incidentals
that the extreme closeness Of the con-
struction seemed unnecessary. As Fran
cisque Sarcey once observed about
similar point 1t may be admirable to
write a sonnet without the letter "a"
b,,t tha n,IIl no ~,
ter for that accomplishment.
Fffie Shannon played the two mothers
with more tenderness and gentleness
than force. Shelley Hull differentiated
the German and American soldiers ad-
mirably, the details by which he pro-
claimed the German being especially eff
fecuve. The slight changes in his man.
ner and in his physical appearance were
remarkable, His acting was superbly