New-York tribune., 1920-01-21
Drama Il of Tolstoy
Given at Carrick
BY Theater Guild
''The Power of Darkness
Adds New Laurels to Play
ere Taking Parts in Pow.
erful Production Of Work

Russia will always have to be it's
ewn explanation.
There sre no wide, desolats plains
anywhere as tho steppes are wide and
desolste. No nation on the faes Of the
modern world presents 50 strange .
meeting place Of sophisticated idsss
and the bare rude elements Of living
No people outside Of Russia are 1t
once so innocent and 90 rid Of inno-
eence, so gentle and % terrible. 80
preoecuied with moral ideas, eoneep-
tions Of conduct, 60 oppressed by the
futility of living aud the hand Of God,
and equally at once willing to OUTAGE
all man-mads law and tho law Of
heaven together in = 6nsl defiance.
This is the explanation, 30 far -
there can be m explanation, Of Dos
toisvsky, Of Corky, Of Telstoi, Of
Chekhov. The Russian ponders on e.
ietence 6rst, and thsn triss 70 live By
the result Of his contemplation. It is
all tho silent centuries Of the East try
ting to find an answer in him. II is Why
he 10 always in despair. Life always
escapes his formulas.
Tolstoi's Russia Speaks
This Is the Russia Of tho Tolstoi
who wrote 1.-THE Power Of Darkness,"
which the Theater Guild is presenting
at the Garrick Theater. It Is . power
ful. even a grim and terrible play, full
Of the naked moral earnestness Of the
people it represents and the man who
made it. The production by the Thea
ter Guild under the leadership Of En-
manuel Reieher has not lost any part
Of this power. Tho Theater Guild It.
tions Of Ito kind by tho fact that its
expert knowledge Of tho theeter ID
equal 30 its ideal devotion to It, again
takes the place which the rugged pro
duction Of John Ferguson" won for it.
"Ths Power Of Darkness" presents q
picture OF Russian. rural life, bssst BY
all tho vague evil, the aecumulstins
terror. thst entsrs on all the Path
ways left open by monotony and stu
In some ways there is something
rreminiscently Shsksepsarian about it
1t - the recurring drama Of . civih-
zation that is still elementary, where
crime Is always crude, simple and ter
ribls and penitence overwhelming and
complete.
It 10 only in sophisticated atmo-
spheres where people sin lightly and
repent humorpusly and genial1y.
The play follows the classic pattern
OF tragedy in its slow accumulation
Of passion and hstred and greed and
death. In its abundance Of horror, the
slow death Of . husband by poison
the theft Of the dead mans fortune by
his wife's lover, the seduction Of his
daughter and the final murder Of an
unhailowed infant-it allies i&salf with
the naturalism Of Haptmann's Before
Sunrise equally a picture Of rotten.
ness and decay in European country.
sides.
Reward in Presentation
Not any Of this is pleasant. What i,
rewArdin4 in the presentation Is the in.
telligenee and beauty Of its production
and tho gathering into the production
Of elements Of artistry that too often
IN tho theatsr appear separately and
alone. t.ss'-7
Much Of this is due to Emmanuel
RoicheK, who has magic a:d com.
plets understanding Of the human ole.
uents that enter into CREATION that
sets him apart from all producers In
s~'~ SA>sa~A ASs~A ShG&S0hs 0A0Sb uI0 &u10~
apce the players supply q rhythm and
elasticity that the Theater Guild has
not had before even at its best.
The large cast Of the play presents
several pieces OF acting that are note.
worthy, the best Of these being Frank
Reieher in 2 typically rolstoyan part
aud Helen. West1sy a. . Maehiavcllian
mother. Other parts taken with dis
tinction ars Arthur Hohl as the we'll
less man who runs the gamut Of crime
to complete repentance, and Bertha
Broad, who takes the part Of one Of his
victims. Tho finest bft of the play, the
truest and most absorbing, 10 . scene
between Erskine Sanford, as An old
laborer, and Maud Brooks, a young
setxess who portrays the sudden de-
genaxatton Of child's mind IN che
nidst Of horror and evil with startling
vividnsss.
Back Of all this is a panorama Of
Russian setting which adds consider
ably TO the series OF fine settings Lee
Simcnson has done for the Theates
Guild The combination mskes 'The
Power Of Darkness" not to be missed
By persons whose theater-hunser will
lead them past tho sweetnaeat counter.