The Washington herald., 1919-02-25
Nntional-EtheI barrymore In 18th
on Chance.o
BY EARLE DORSEY,

BY EARLE DORSEY.
1t Is one Of the mysteries of play
reviewing why a play should ring
as true as a dropped half-dollar
through 99-100the of its length, only
to utterly collapse in that last
| 1-100th of it's course. That's exactly
what happened last night to no less
vehicle than THE OF Chance" q
play which brings again to Wash
ington that marvellous interpreter.
Ethel Barrymore.
In looking around for an answer.
one concludes that Mr.. r. C. Carton,
the playwright, didn't expect an au-
dience to take his play SO seriously.
Also, he may not have expected Miss
Barrymore and her cast to offer
performance of such merit with his
medium. Whatever the reason the
effect was manifest. A National au-
dience breathed hard through its
collective nose for over two hours
of The or Chance" last night, and
right at the very moment OF climax.
when every word, every gesture de-
manded the utmost in deadly au-
thenticity. there came floating over
the footlights a queer note of trav-
Nesty, a humid breath Of insincerity
and-in the twinkling, fine virile
comedy had melted down into soft,
goo-ey stage effect that left us all
sitting in a theater not looking at
play, but looking at a cast of per-
formers bowling themselves on.
We tremble a little at the temerity
of all this. but as sure as any play
ever melted before the eye OF an au-
dience. THE OF Chance" melted last
night in its last act. Happily, 1t didn't
, melt until the evening was nearly done.
Now. If "The on Chance" were just
an ordinary stage story, what we've
said could be left unsaid, but THE on
Chance" is not an ordinary stage
story. Up to that moment OF climax.
| 1t seemed as though R. c. Carton has
written a strong tale which had come
| to life at the touch of a wand.
| A play of that kind naturally creates
its own standards of excellence and by
its own standards do we not only
judge it but by its own standards does
the rest of the tale repudiate that mys-
tic and inept climax
! otherwise, the National offers this
week a performance well nigh soli-
| tary in excellence 1t is as techni-
, cally precise as an adding machine.
/ While pointing no great moral. 1t
grips with a charm that leaves one
! helpless for comparisons. Its direc-
ton, too. is faultless, but its real
triumph as play shows in the selec-
ton of a star and a cast that can
merit only the highest laudation.
Miss Barrymore interprets the role
of a genial. competent, whole-hearted
upper-class Englishwoman who re-
married a happy go-lucky lord after
her first marriage to an intolerant.
class-selfish baronet had proven i'm
possible. There had been a child,
whose own union to a likeable, ire
sponsible nobleman was nearing the
rocks through the girls acquired in
tolerance toward her husbands sporty
instincts. The girls mother-divorced
from the selfish baronet-appears in
time to forestall the wreck and save
the daughters sporty husband from
ruin at the hands of an international
siren and a discredited card sharp.
There is an arranged, though
bogus. elopement whereby the girls
sporty husband and her selfish
father are convinced that she has
eloped with a rich American to a
| suburban bungalow. The father
and husband are guided to the bum
galow by the girls divorced moth
er (Miss Barrymore) and here we
have staged as snappy comic finale
as one could ask.
The playwright makes a character
tell the girl that her husband and
father must never know the decep-
tion and up to that point, We had
24-carat drama. Right at that cru
cial point. though, the dialogue COM
pletely tOsses away the show. 1t is
dialogue that would not fool child
in arms, in our opinion. The au-
dience, of course, knows the elop-
ment is bogus, but the audience also
realizes suddenly and painfully that
no father and no usband-outside
of bedroom farce-Could ever be so
ridiculous silly as to keep on believ-
ing that the girl really eloped and
that her supposed lover had given
her up merely because the real hus-
band appealed to his craftsmanship
Miss Barrymore's performance com.
bined all those qualities Of charm and
vivacity coupled with a masculinelike
power which makes her portrayals
| vivid. Few heroes are so shockingly
life-like and veritable. yet witha
charming, the hero OF William Boyd
Eva La Gallicnne brings a touch OF
wistfulness to the role OF the neglect.
ed wife which might be accentuated
but one looks her in vain for adverse
criticism OF her Interpretation. We
must bow to Edward Emery for Civ
ing us a card-sharping old villain who
is really trying TO bleed the hero but
who is honestly too lovable. for all his
villainy. to dislike. The honorabl,
/ mention award goes to the entire
cast, with particular refernce to T
| Wigney Percival. Joseph Brennan
! Albert Gran Harry Plimmer, Antoi
nette Hanson, Cecilia Radcliffe and J
NJ Troughton in the order given.
ert-Bc1asco-Harry Lauder.
The Incompatible Scotch min,
strel is mere minstrel no longer. He
| also bears the honorable scars of
j wal There are lines of sufferinc.