The sun., 1919-04-13
By LAWRENCE REAMER.

Sem Benefits play seems to in
tetest New York theatregoers at Its
first hearing SO long as 1t Is dramatic
and rather to. bore them whenever
IT, becomes psychological. Herein
perhaps lies a difference in the spirit
Of the Anglo-saxon piaysoer. who is
RARELY interested In thought. especially
on the stage; there deeds count. So
soiiloquy longer than Hamlers invites
enhui. How could the long dialogue
between Fazto and the painter there
fore continue before the yawning set
inf To audiences OF his countrymen
with a special patience for the state Of
mind expressed in beautiful verse Of the
kind that Bennelli represents among
cohtemporaneous Italian writer's there
nj u have been delight in the unACaA-,
I'M Of this antiphon as we'll as IN the
somewhat extended rhapsodies of lisa
beta. 1t ought not to be overlooked
that foreign actors, either French or
Italian. may have been better pre-
pared to sing these verses than our
own. It would be false praise for
= Me Hopkinss players. just as 1t Is
for all our actors, to say that they
possess any gifts as readers. So
there was no beauty to be expected
from the delivery Of these long pc
RODS. But rigid pruning ought to put
the third act into the concise form
necessary to harmonic 1t with the
rest OF the play. The knife might
with advantage be directed toward
the lengthy explanation Of Gianetto
in the first act. 1t is long out Of all
relation to its Importance.
But the best impression the play
made was in avoiding the operate. In
the later Sardou days his dramas were
so. hollow and artificial that they
shrieked out for music to hush the
creaking wheels. "Gismonda' was a
striking example Of this triumph Of
mechanics over heart and soul. It was
proclaimed as no better than an opera
libretto at its first performance.
Equally unlnteresting are most OF the
modern French plays In. the grand
manner whether they be the work OF
Coppee, Mendes. Rchepin. or any aca-
deinic poet These works seem now to
have reached the state to which they
were inevitably destined. With the
scores Of Fevrier. the late Leroux and
other contemporaneous Frenchmen, in
Guiding the departed Massenet, to i'm
part second Importance to them by
illustrating with the medium of an
other art their somewhat dry material,
they are enjoying a new favor. Pos
sibly they may indeed attain the sue
cess OF another great French play
wright who is becoming known to the
present generation by the music that
Giacomo Puccini wrote for his LA
Tosca." The score OF the italian COM
poser alone keeps the name Of Sardou
alive to-day.
But the swift action Of Sem Benefits
play could never wait the step OF the
composer. Then the vitality OF its fig-
ures would ever prevent them from
degeneratlng into the puppets OF the
music drama swept here and there in
its final analysis by the score of the
composer. Both the faint hearted
painter and the bullying mercenary of
Pisa are living men despite their an
Client background. They may have
lived and breathed and had their be-
ing in the Florence Of the Magnificent
Laurence. but they are to-day recog-
nizable humans.
Arthur Hopkins's production Of the
play has been praised for its beauty.
and all of the laurels which have been