New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-04-27
By Haywood Broun

There is much that is interesting
and striking in Martinique" the new
play of the West Indies by Laurence
Eyre, which was produced at the
Eiunge Theater last night. Unfor-
tunately, it falls technically into the
sandwich group. All the meat is IL
the middle. First come exposition and
local color, very thick; then there is
an adrolt and excellent act; but when
one IS done with that he strikes again
on a stale slab Of conventional com.
plications.
Sell my child" and "He never was
yours TO lose" assail the ear no less
Familiarity from the fact that they are
transposed to strange and romantic
lands. Personally, we are disposed to
draw the local color line. A long and
clumsy exposition in the first act was
made no easier last night by the fact
that not a little of it was spoken in
the French dialect Of Martinique. In
iced, so o%utlandish was much Of the
early language that words like porte
seemed old friends and close COM
panions.
There was a will and heirs, legiti-
mate and otherwise, and all manner of
relationships to be established before
the play could get under way. It can
not be said that the characters were
not considerable. LAS you know very
we'll, the will Of Monsieur De Chau-
valons states. explicitly" some char
acter or other would say and then go
on to relate this matter of common
knowledge in great detail for the bene-
tiot of nobody in the world but tho
audience. Suddenly, however, the play
profoundly vivid and interesting. The
characters in the play for this period
seemed to forget that they were show
ing off before a crowd which had never
been to Martinique and went about
their business without too much thought
of showing OFF every native custom Of
the island. Things which the author
had made to seem fearfully compli-
Gated were simple enough once the
author let the play have its head aid
Quit making explanations. Simple
enough they were for an act, an ad-
m;rable act. ar amusing act and pro-
.oundlv MOVING. but with the end Of
the evening in sight curious compli-
cations arose suddenly in surprising
numbers. Everybody, it seemed. was
going to have a child. 1t was ex-
tremely difficult to pick more than 80
per cent Of the parents.
Once more local color came trooping
in. Il told her said the villanous
and over proud blond. "that l would
receive her only if she came in the
ruchings and foularde of the quadroon
quarter" Rouchings is not the word,
hut ryA wa rAffr NV at fnIyIo rlQ
At any rate, everybody was supposed
to blanch at the idea of the heroine
having to wear such things. In days
like these, when some Of the best men
IN the country are going about IN
honest blue denim, foularde and ruch-
ings are not to be sneezed at. More
over, the author proved that in mo-
ments Of great stress the people Of
Martinique speak exactly like char
actors in a popular New England,
scandinavian or Middle Western melo-
drama. How cosmic is the %subcutanc q
GUS correctness Of Mr.. Kipling!
1t is difficult for US TO give any out
line Of the plot, for in all seriousness
we must confess that during the last
act the motives, a~ctions n language
Of all concerned seemed strange and
unreal to US. Previously there had
been much that had enough %observa-
ton Of common human experience to
be interesting. Even in its best mo-
mcnts the play is never quite beyond
The leash Of the author. A manipulate
me hand il barely glimpsed once or
twice. But it Is a hand which is toler-
ably quicker than the eye, and we
were moved even 20 the edge Of tears
when the heroine learned that her
lover had married that very afternoon,
not for love, but just to settle an es-
tate. Also the villain was by. ali
means sufficiently fearful, particularly
as played by Arthur Hohl, who gave
a performance fno IN its pictorial
quality and always interesting, despite
tue burden of q very strange and
heavy dialect.
Josephine Victor was excellent IN the
leading role, and played her big scene
in the second act with a great deal OF
power and tenderness. There were
also good performance by Vincent
Coleman, Maidel Turner, Ida Waterman
and Marion Dyer. The first and third
sets, which were designed by Lee
Simonson, are warm and interesting.
Part Of Martinique" the act which
takes place in the quarter, we can
recommend most heartily. The rest IS
conventional and not very skillful.