New-York tribune., 1919-07-29
Dram a
"A Voice i'm the Dark" I
Produced at the
Republic
By Haywood Broun

"A Voice in the Dark" the third
mystery play of the season, was pro-
duced at the Republic Theatre last
night 1t contains many of the old
tricks, but the two devices on which
its claims to interest chiefly depend
are novel and effective. The author,
Ralph r. Dyar, is not so much con-
cerned with volleying suspicion about
as IN arrestipg the attention of the
audience by means Of the manner in
which the evidence is given.
Spectators trained in the traditions
OF American detective plays will find
no great difficulty in finding the Grim
inal comparatively early in the even
ing. Their interest lies in an oppc-
site direction. All the testimony in
the case comes from two witnesses.
One is deaf and the other is blind
Each tells his story and the play Jerks
back for the telling after the manner
of "On Trial" In the new play, how
1T. is played in pantomine, and when
the blind mans testimony is acted out
the stage is darkcned. In the latter
case it was deemed necessary to COM
promise, and the happenings as they
came to the attention Of the blind man
are played on a darkened but not
black stage. There were also certain
compromises in the scene of pantomine,
but these seemed not always inten-
tional. Thus, while it was not possible
to hear word spoken by the players,
since the audience was supposed to be
in the position of the deaf woman, it
was still possible to hear footballs and
kisses and other sounds which ought
not to be very much more potent than
speech.
The device Of pantomime was more
effective in conception than in the
carrying out. Olive Wyndham. for in
STANCE, was very effective in this scene,
but the others, deprived of words, added
a wealth of gesture which was quite
unnatural The dark stage scene of the
blind man was more effective because Of
the capital acting Of William B. Mack
Fortunately, the pantomime scene was
afterward played again with the miss
ing words added and we must say that
however much the dialogue of the aver
age American play is lambasted by the
critical, 1T is much better than nothing.
Rather more than that should be said
for Ralph Dyar's play which has been
worked over to some extent by Willard
Mack. The comedy interest is much
more legitimate than that OF the other
two mystery plays in town. 1t is in
troduced more easily and scores better
Tor that reason. One does not feel the
strain of openly premeditated comic re-
lief. In particular, scene between two
detectives, one a Pinkerton and the
other working for the city," was de-
cldedly amusing 1t was we'll played by
Frank Monroe and John Sharkey
Not all the humor was intentional.
Perhaps the best line in the piece oc-
Cured in a serious scene, in which a
much bounded young woman said 81
will smother my pride and go to Chi
cago."
The play is exciting and generally
workmanlike, although few loose ends
have been left lying about. The best
dramatic opportunity of the evening is
not quite carried to the limit. One
man in the niece finds from the blind
mans story that if he speaks he will
be identified as being connected with
the crime. A simple question is asked
him, and he is in torment to avoid
recognition on the part of the blind
man. This is good theatre stuff and it
ought not to be allowed to slide by
quite as quickly as it does in "a Voice
in the Dark" The acting is generally
good, with the interesting work being
done by William B. Mack, Olive Wynd-
ham, Frank Monroe, John Sharkey
Forine Arnold, Anne Sutherland and
William Boyd.