New-York tribune., 1918-04-16
BY Haywood Broun

4
By Haywood Broun
Playing for the first time in Eng
hsh, a young French actor named
Georges Plateau fairly ran away with
Henri Lavedan's two-act play called
Service" at the Cohan Theatre last
night. Tho brilliancy of the per-
formance lay largely in the first act, for
later in the evening a somewhat mud
died and drcary drama caught up with
'he youngster and cloggcd his foot
steps. Plateau was wounded at Yer
dun and discharged from service on
account of the serious nature of his
wounds. By an ironic twist of fate
his first role in this country is that of
pacifist, apd by the vigor of his per-
tormance he quite put his patriotic
adversarics in the play to rout.
1T is probable thai Henri Lavedan
did not intend his play to be defeatist
drama. Although written before the
war, IN period when pacifcism was
| popular in France, it has been played
many times since the beginning of the
| conflict, and we find. according to the
advance notices, that "it has proved to
be great stimulus to patriotism in
| France"
1t is difficult to understand that.
Even it Plateau had given perform
ance as uninspired as that of Mrs
Flske or Lee Baker the pacifst would
still remain the appealing figure Of
the play. For one act and seven -eighths
OF another the position of the man is
developed and strengthened, and then
| IN the last few minutes most per-
1unctory conversion is fastened upon
hlm. 1t is possible that the brief ap.
peal OF his mother may be played with
an an tne spirit of trumpet call. But
MRS. flske did not play it so last night,
ana we must admit that we could sec
permitted us to hear. Again it may
be that Lee Bakers part is not that of
wordy and vainglorious old fire-eater,
put once more the lines seemed to i'm
pose dlsagreeable duty upon the actor.
AFTER all, 1T was hard to controvert
What Plateau said in the character. of
the pacltist, because although not all
MS arguments' were sound every word
was distinct. There was only the vaguest
suggestion of a French accent in his
utterance, and that was pleasant. A
slightly staccata delivery revealed him
as one OF alien tongue but he spoke
English with clarity and beauty sell
dom heard IN our theatre. Never was
1T more welcome than last night, for
many spectators who sat back of the
tenth row were under the impression
enat mrs; s; Flske was playing in the
original French. 1t was perfectly DOS
slble, however. to follow the plot by
plecing together her gestures and Fla
teau's words.
TO my mind the play misreads the
slgnlfcance of war, since it makes il
SO largely matter of personal emo.
tlon. The mother of the pacifist agrees
with him until she hears that he1
other son has been killed by foreign
plotters IN ambush. apd in an instant
her entire philosophy somersaults.
Just So the boy abandons everything
ne has said when his mother tells him
20 go, although there was nothing to
indicate that he had not reached his
position through his own Judgment
The patriotic father was just as un-
satisfactory, for although he constant
! y asserted that he cared neither for
! glory or reward and wanted only to serve
his country just so often did he dwell
at length on what he had done for her
II Lavedan's characters were not con-
slstent, neither was his plot The fact
that 1T stretched all bounds Of proba-
blllty might be pardoned; but, not con-
tent with playing tricks with facts, the
dramatist was also arbitrary in hand
ling them. This recent business about
the clock has lessened our repect for
time, and yet it has some rights. We
were not satisfied last night, when a
colonel invited general out to dinner
and returned five minutes later with
the air of a man who had dined we'll
Even though there were an automat in
France, it could not be done like that
Again, in the last act, some elaborate
diplomatic negotiations were cleared
up and war declared in a matter of
two and half minutes. The privilege
OF seeing Service" almost reconciles
US to our own war plays, for IL excels
them in little except literary finish, am
that has been largely dssipated in
translation.
Service" was preceded by Dunsany's
"A Night at an Inn," and here Har.
rison Grey Fiskc did a poor piece OF
production. The play had none of the
thrill and excitement which it carried
when done by the Neighborhood Thea
ire Players. Mr.. Fiske seemed to for.
get that the piece is melodrama and
played 1t at tempo suitable fo,
"Everyman." The action was botchcd
IN several places, notably where the
first Hindu priest had to pose with
: his dagger in the air for several sec.
onds before tardy sailor seized his
) wrist to check the blow.
The figure Of Klesh was done mod
crately effectively, for the audience
was allowed to see it only dimly. II
should be pointed out that Dunsan,
made a mistake when he brought the
god on the stage. One of the charac
ters has described Klcsh as being "s
sight uglier than anything else in Tho
world" and no producer can fill a.
large an order as that. However, Klest
! was decently horrible in appearance
but most unimpressive in his approach
. rhe horror Of the oncoming footstcp,
: sounded like nothing much but a fa
man walking upstairs. which is GER
tainly not very terrible to anybody bu