Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-03-16
NCHRIS," A SEA PLAY,
h IS CONRAD ON STAGE
New Playwright Earnest, but
Not pramatio-Atmosphere
His Chief Asset

p,oad--"Chris," a play OF the sea
.sorJs Philadelphia s first view of the
rork of Eugene O'Neill, about whom IT
xVnrovn merely that he has inherited
". nndoubted inclination and feeling for
ne ne stage. that he is the playwright OF
IN unexpected midseason success on
p,oodway, the somber and powerful
pppnrnnd the Horizon" and that he
J.. onc of the band OF earnest young
.r;cans who are forcing on jazzy
.nnes lingerie farces and thin comedies
the competition Of plays of serious
Instance and thoughtful artistry. His
ubsr;tancc is from his father, James
h,Neill. Shakespearean actor and cele-
Y,.ted Monte Cristo. His earnest
aess for the welfare for the stage he 10
sndeayoring to translate into real plays,
consciously but slowly, his output thus
fsr being two plays and a small shear
Of playlets. >,
that aspiration is larger and hner than
scbieyement thus far in the young
n,avwrigbt's career. But though the
prasn falls short of the reach, Mr..
n,Neill holds firmly what he has grip
nod To the critic of plays there Is
rch n sense of energized capacity and
Al conscious power underlying Chris"
that expectation will be greatly disap!
nointed if his succeeding plays do not
reveal a growing control and mounting
mssterfulness over the materials of life
and the methods Of the theatre. And
critics of plays shared with the audi
snce the feeling that here was play
birhly interesting for what II sought
and highly entertaining for what IL
wrought. Aiming at theatrical better
m,nt, It never marred artistic intent by
sermonizing or propaganda and 1t was
never ''highbrow.'
Readers of fiction will at once say
that "Chris" shapes and utilizes for
tbe stage the materials and men, the
novelistic modes and manners of Jo-
seph Conrad. This is. true, but there is
no imitation. Chris" simply belongs
10 the same school in its color, its
atmosphere. its concretcness, its re-
atty Of character and realism Of event.
| Here, too, is something Of its limi-
| tations as a play. Conradian deserip-
| ton and style can carry story, but
they cannot be staged: 1t relies on the
atmospheric and not the dramatic. Like
'The Niger Of the Narcissus," !"
"Chris" has a plot SO severe and sim
| pie as to seem no plot at all. OF dra-
matte conflict there is little and of ac.
tion virtually nothing. The develop
mont Of the story of the old bos'n who
forsvears the "yampipg'' lures of "tbe
AID devil. Sea" is Intermittent and
enisodic and not compeIlingly cohesive
IA the climax. when he is broken and
Yields TO the call. not so wisely fore
ssn'eu as SssSes' WHY nay: hau nis "en
scp the', ros;st iths tamn, anu .t;n Unu mn .ha u
otuer oi,n;o u" davnbt.rs 80 tba doon Tho rhe
snen sncient mar;nar wbo ncrson;fieap ep not the
t;nntoi;nad sn.tIno ro,o,pe hnt .h. IU. .d .ns
y snt tbs seo foIt hy "ne wb" "' hss se Lnown Su
=. y. Ie IorJnass SIa so on WI" nn,n liz snown
asht 20 Inon ,waS frnn, f.rfayr;nn Ufy ~ sh;ms
hst HE ,H ctr" strne.,c 70 save he da,ci,ter' ips'
with uS, " coli in Snr h,ood frnn, n'arrr;nc
"a .a;ior I"' Sbo s,nnI;as H' tHa omIu iaus ii,"s
smoi;on and nn,v S clo sh in in" Tho on,y n,,r ro''
Tbs staging in civ sanar.to ond ;,ir
.;vs cots ws. uarn oFant;no 'mu nna ' tho
admirable acting ~ Emmet Corr;oan nc
Chris I'm Fertana as tho daSnh.as aS
md irthmr A sbieu nc Tho "i,,'S Sa ;ior
iov,r was snnniemented bv nnmernvs
/