New-York tribune., 1920-01-14
Nance O'Neill Gives Amazing
Performance in the Most
Vivid Play Which the
Season Has Yet Produced
THE CAST
By Haywood Broun

Nance O'Nelll gave an extraordinary
performance at the Greenwich Vii
lage Theater last night in Jacinto
Benaventes still more extraordinary
play "The Passion Flower" Whether
Hiss O'Neill gave a good performance
is still another matter, and we find de-
cision difficult. 1t was a performance
which reminded one in many ways Of
the eight-oared crew which came some
wears ago from Leland Stanford Junior
university to row at Poughkeepsie re-
getta. 1T was crew of huge men, none
't whom knew how to row. On the day
u the race they generally forgot to
leather, but simply lifted up large sec
lions of the river and carried them along
up the course. They rocked and they
splashed and they slugged, but though
they did almost everything wrong,
there was much mighty power in them
that they all but won the race.
Nance O'Neill was almost as faulty
IN much of her technique last night.
and yet she, too, had something so
huge and vigorous about her that it
must remain question as to whet er
anybody else playing correctly could
nave outdistanced her.
AfSN6' VIC sp~lklllR dIldlOSy is per-
maps enough for any dramatic review,
we cannot describe her unusual per
1ormance without comparing her also
to Frank Moran, the pugilist, who
fought Fulton on Monday night in
Newark. Again and again Nance
O'Neill would rush into a big scene
with her head mctaphorically lowered
and both arms swinging wildly.
Now "The Passion Flower" for all
the elemental strength of some of it's
scenes. is play of amazing subtletes
Nance O'Neill lashed out with all her
strength and fury the play had twisted
and turned aside from her in such a
way that she did not touch it. After
she had missed several times one might
feel that here was drama entirel Y
too elusive for the primitive methods
Of the star. but before this impression
had a chance to become set she would
suddenly crash flush upon the scene
with one of her widest but strongest
efforts. At such times the force Of
the impact between player and play was
so terrific that it shook the playhouse
and every one in it. In those moments
we forgot everything she had missed
cheer person who could bring such
terrific passion and force into the
thcater.
Good or bad, it is one IF the most
exciting pieces of acting we have ever
seen in the theater. 1t does not de
serve the dispassionate applause of
critical satisfaction. 1t is a perform
ance to make one rush out of the
thcatcr or stay and shout "'Ataboyl "
AS matter Of fact, we did neither,
but then we are all cramped up with
inhbitions. We use the word ad-
visedly, for no playwright we have seen
has ever collaborated so closely with
Freud as Bcnavente in "The Passion
Flower" And yet we would give q
most false impression if we suggested
that this was in any sense a play for
highbrows. Specifically it is as sim
ten times as exciting, but behind every
action there is also the hint of the
most elaborate processes Of the sub
conscious mind. Every act Of violence
has its accompanying complex. How
ever, the violence is so vivid and so
abundant that it serves to make a COM
pletc evening in itself. Compared to
"The Passion Flower Sem Benefits
"Jcst" is drawing-room comedy.
Every tempestuous force Of evil in the
world is let loose.
On the eve of the wedding the fiance
Of young Spanish girl is mysterious
ly murdered. A former suitor is sus-
pectcd, but at last the discovery is
made that it was the girls own step
father who instigated the crime be-
cause he could not bear the thought of
having the girl leave his home. He
has long pursued her, but she has al
ways repulscd him. In fact, she has
always imagined that her emotion
toward him was one Of passionate
ing scenes ever devised for the thcater
she suddenly discovers that her emo
tion is not hate, but an overmastering
love, and in the end the man shoots
his wife because she tries to come be-
tween him and his stepdaughtcr.
This is the crudest of summaries
for this comparatively simple thread
is complicated by the closest and most
searching examination of the inmost
hearts and minds of all concerned. The
play is one moment a murder mystery
mclodrama and in another as complex
a play as "Thc Master Builder" 1t is
Brand" and "The Thirteenth Chair"
and thrown them into one. Into the
Freudian aspects of the play we can
not go because it would open up a
field which would require columns and
columns of twisting and turning. More
over, it is at least three volumes ahead
of us. If things keep up this way
no dramatic critic will be properly
equipped for the thcater until he has
become a highly trained neurologist.
Although Nance O'Neill is the out
standing figure of the play, there are
also excellent performances by Robert
Fischer, Mrs. Charles G. Craig and
II.},. Walton Nohodv -, If is ort;rolx-