New Britain herald., 1919-12-09
THE TEST TESTED
 ON LYCEUM BOARDS
Play Is Good Melodrama With Plenty Of Mixups Throughout
tBN Herald Reviewer

tBN Herald Reviewel)
 The Fest appearing at the Lyce- hm this week, is fairly good melo- drama, and is certainly one in which the suspense is m aintained up until the hnal words of the fourth act are spoken, one In which it is difficult to "ork out the nature of the plot and us uillnate outcome. In this play the Lyceum Players give their usual good exhibition of stock acting
 The Test is a play in four acts
 put should the author rewrite this play 1t could be shown in three acts Without much injury to the plot In fact it would appear that the only excuse lie first act has for existence is to give every member of the company a job. From the second act, however,
 the play proceeds in an interesting
 manner to climax and q happy and natural conclusion; happy in that low
 CTS. misunderstood and estranged for
 12 years are reunited: natural in that
 the reformer and golden rule advo-
 cate gets it in the neck" so to speak,
 and by practicing what he breaches
 loses his life's greatest desire--the
 girl he had learned to love and cher
 ish. ''The Tcst.' one might suppose
 is a test of some one individuals
 strength of character, but in reality
 'The Test" develops into a series of tests. Everybody is tested. and in several ways. Emma Etygnc. the
 heroine, is put to the test of friend ship for, Arthur Thone, the leading
 character, and again her love for her childhood sweetheart, Richard Fret man, is sorely tested. Tretman is put to the test of manhood. Marie, a minor character, is put to a test of her love for "Schliemie1'' and the lat ter is, of course, given ample Oppor- tunity to test his love for her. Peg gy Thone is given a chance to test her better self against the so-called de- crees of society and the test of cour- age and manhood is put up to Fred erick McVane, the "vilyun'' who, of course fails to meet the test just as much as the more sterling clraracters succeed in their trying moments
 "The Test is unusual in that in this play, as played by the Lyceunl Players, the '1ea ding man is not the leading man. The Heading man." Claude Kimball. plays the role of Richard Tretman, an important but not the title role The chief coarac-
 
 usual stellar form by Barrow Le- Paige. The Test" is well staged, the
 scenic effects arc good and the play CTS have their lines down we'll. How ever, in the fourth act when Tretman
 is near to killing McNane and Emma steps between the two just in time to prevent the former from firing the fatal shot, the acting would be a lit- tie moro real if Emma would only i throw herself in front of tho gun with | l little. more celeritN and panic stricken abandon. As this episode l was played last night, Tretnan had his revolver out of his pocket and l level at McVane, and had ample time | to have fired several fatal shots, and ! drilled several holes in the latters s ] stiff bosomed~ shirt before Emma l tripped lightly up before the muzzle , of the gun to prevent the dirty work" Of course '"The Test" ends happily for the reunited lovers, but 1 one cannot but feel sorry for Thone, 1 whose sterling character stands out l over the weddings with whom he has ! associated, when he loses the girl who l he had asked to be his wife and who, 1 the audience had been led to believe, 1 really loved him and had come to ac-
 
 1 heT youth. Likewise, the character 1 Schlemiel aWallens some sympathy. 1 He portrays the poor youth who may 1 yet develop into a genius, who devot- l edly loves Marie. The supposed in
 tention of the writer, it may be as l sumed, is to unite Schliemiel and ] Marie in the final act, but if there is
 any such understanding it is made 1 on the outside for the last the audi 1 ence- sees of the couple, Schliemiel 1 seems to have made good,' has l urged Marie to ':go for a Walk'' and l she, apparently avoiding him, runs 1 from the stage while he chases her to l the cheering words of Emma: "Go to
 her, boy, and may you have all the
 luck in the world,'' or words to that l effect. The audience is left in doubt 1 over this little love affair.
 1 Briefly "The Test deals with a girl l with d past, Emma Etygne, who i meets Arthur Thone, a great author 1 and a great man, who learns to love l and cherish her. To save Thone' s 1 sister from marrying the villain who l caused her downfall, Emma tells her l past history, even if it should cost l her the respect of the man who loves