The Washington herald., 1919-04-15
Last Night
eAtTheaterS
Belaseo-~Dsrk RosaIesn-,
By EARLE DORSEY.


sion. some plays are born timely, some
Nchieve timeliness and others have
timeliness thrust upon them We are
rather inclined to include David Be
lasco's Dark Rosaleen" In the ter
tiary group.
DARK Rosaleen" IL an Irish play
a play of the brooding civil conflict
that ever and again lowers over the
biacDonnells OF Ulster and the O'Don-
nells OF Leinster. and were one lack
ing In a knowledge Of Mr.. Belasco's
rigid adherence to the terms of his
art one might be inclined to fancy
that he had deliberately based a
timely drama upon those causes OF
unrest which send American Irishmen
overseas to agitats the Peace Confer
ence with pleas for Ireland's "hoer-
alton"
Even a slight acquaintance with
Belasco and his methods, however.
serves to veto that vagrant idea Just
as completely as one would outlaw
the suggestion that he showed Wash
fngton a new race-track play merely
dered by the hopping OF the goats at
Bowie
Nevertheless. the prominent posi-
ton occupied by the Irish question
and In the Bowie equine contests In
the collective mind Of a Washington
audience serves to place Dark Rosa
leen" in the category Of plays which
have timeltness thrust upon them,
and there was many a laugh accord
ed the paddock flavor Of Dark Rosa
leen's'' dialogue which the official
scorer could not properly record as
earned" In the language OF base
ball
In pursuance OF his usual custom.
Mr.. Belasco has given the pIay-review-
ar, In Dark RDsaleen." little oppor-
tunity to scold. True, he seems to
have picked rather poorly in selecting
a leading man for Miss Eileen Huban,
the newest candidate for Belascan
s~Ilar honors, yet Dark Rosaleen" Is
rich in atmospheric values, its comedy
iy~pUngent and penetrating and II nlu-
Hlnes the drab fabric of Irish exist
ence with flashes OF artistic color in
which attention Is focused on the sub
lect matter rather than upon its
setting.
The story. by W. D. Hepenstall
and Whitford Kane, Is a Gaelic
ylJsiOn of the Montague-Capulet
Uapleasantness, Moya McKillup, OF
NtE lEE duCeSLEgH lONlnk ana
loved by Corny Donagh, the son of
a SOuth-Of-Ireland man. their
fathers being bitter enemies. The
DOnaShs are inn-keepers and so
8-yc the McKillUps, and there Is a
will which intensifies the bitterness.
Finally the McKillups come to the
edge OF financial ruin through some
obscure villainy. and Moya Nc
killUp's mare. Dark ROsaleeR."
proves to be the dark horse, in
deeu, when Moya, deserted by her
Jockey, forces her lover into the
saddle for the first time in his life
so that he may lift the Innismore
cap and save the family inn. Great
is the power Of money in the last
act. with nil hands happy and
lister and Leinster united and the
lovers cooling in the corner. all in
rather a too Complacent and too
Casily-attaincd comfy.
Eileen Huban. though not yet a Be
lasco star, seems to give promise OF
joining the Starr -Ulric-Claire sister
hood. She has a tense, appealing
beauty and a certain uncorseted di
rectness which lends itself well to tht
Belascan direction Here and there
she may have fallen a trihe short o
effective performance, yet II seemed
the result Of inexperience and not Gu,
10 a lack of talent.
II is difficult to see how Mr.. Belasct
Will be able to retain Henry Dufrey il
the opposite role. One can conceive
OF. roles for Mr.. Duffey but they dC
not seem to lie within the borders o
Dark ROsaleen." His characterize
tiou appeared weak and fabby and ht
reaped the result at the second &C
climax when ne dismally failed t.
clear the bar in the one big punchs;I
the play.
BeryI Mercer. as a crochetty old
IrishwOman. contributes another Of
those elderly portraits which made
her a delight in The Old Lady
Shows Her Medals and in ''Humpty-
Dumpty." Despite the shortcoming'
Of the skinner vehicle. however, II
afforded Miss Mercer a more oppor.
tune role than does Dark Rosa
leen," yet her characterization i!
CIean-CUt and delightful in its ap'
probation Of possibilities.
Walter Edwin gave a splendid
Irish character in the role Of joe
pouagh, the SOuth-of-Ireland man
Robert Cummings, P. J. Kelly ant
John Murphy united to give us {
trso Of old cronies almost as perma'
hcnt as the three Bairnsfather con-
tributed. Others whose perform
auCes deserve more detailed mention
were Thomas Mitchell, George Fitz'
gerald. John Carmody, Charles F
Mccarthy, Dan Moyles, Farrell Pelly
and Rose Morrison.