The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-05-18

he sets before you: his simple sailors and
farmers are thrillingly alive; his is the
power to convince YOU at once of the
authenticity of situation primarily
Though the vitality of the characters in
volved
The atmosphere with which his best
plays are saturated Is not Fictitious; 1t IS
not the result of a heaping up of the act
ual; he resorts TO no Belasco tricks to be-
guile you into believing you are in the
presence of life because well copied suit
of clothes or stage full of ''reaP bric
a-brac is foisted upon you. A cheap set
such as was used in his play lie at the
Greenwich Village Theatre was all that
was necessary in the way of material
equipment. To this day l feel the pres
ence of mountains of ice outside that
forecastle. O'Neill used his imagination
where Belaseo would have eollaborated
with the ice company.
Or take In the lone, which was pro-
duced by the Washington Square Players.
A group of sailors in forecastle, the
tragedy of mans life revealed to them,
a touch of pity on the part of a few
rough men for fellow being. And for
BACKGROUND the fateful sea of the sub
marine zone. Atmosphere All one
could ask for, but not one atom Of 1t
dragged in for effect. The situation de
Ynondad tho atmnSnhprp
lie have already referred to. 1t is
stark picture of human misery at the
mercy Of human obstnacy. Here again
is atmosphere-with haunting sense OF
impending doom-but as always an in
tegral part of the drama Of humanity.
The Noon of the CGribbees is rather
less a play of character than the others.
At first sight the atmosphere seems to ex-
ist for its own sake, but on rereading it l
am struck by the extraordinary artistry
of the canvas, as background. Here,
amid the heat of the tropics, on shipboard
in the harbor, is a scene of mad revelry;
figures of men and women fit back and
forth. Dim and Insignificant at first, they
gradually emerge just in time to play
their petty part and disappear.
This play does not grip one in quite
the same way as does In the Zone; it is
a broader canvas, in which the purely
dramatic clement does not predominant.
The Long Voyage Home is a heart
breaking little play; Swedish
sailor has boarded his savings for
years with the intention Of return
ing to his aged mother, buying a
farm and leaving the sea. Each time
during the past that he has tried to carry
out his determination he has taken too
much drink and been robbed In this play
we see him ashore refusing whiskey but
accepting harmless "belly wash"-whieh
is drugged. He is robbed and carried
aboard an outward bound ship. An in
cident, scarcely more; but I can count on
the fingers of one hand the full length
plays have seen during the past two sea-
sons that are as truly dramatie.
Where the Cross Is Made Is somewhat
different from the plays have just men
toned Mr.. O'Neill has seen fit to in
troduee touch of the supernatural, and
while he has succeeded In creating the de-
sired effect 1 cannot help feeling that
this play lacks the freshness of the others.
1t has not the direct power of In the
Zone and BosHd East for Cardif-an-
other stark specimen Of the forecastle
play. -;
The last play is The Rope, a painful
and bitter drama, the scene Of which IS
the barn of New England farm on the
sea coast. 1t is tragedy of greed,
hatred and madness. Money hes at the bot
tom of If all. The touch at the end of the
play is one Balzac would have appre-
ciated. The little mad Mary climbs up on
a chair to swing from the rope hanging
from the loft; it comes loose and she