New-York tribune., 1920-08-18
By Haywood Broun

Dy T1eyWOOO DIOun
Spanish Love- produced at the
Maxine Elliott Theater last night, is a
play rich in color and poor in dimen-
sionality. 1t is striking as a poster is
striking, a thing of broad strokes on a
fat surface. The simple story deals
with the love of Pencho, the village
braggart hero, for Maria del Carmen,
and how she promised to we'd Javier,
the rich mans son, in order to save the
life of her lover, who had stabbed
Javier. But it was in fair fight, mind
you; the dagger wound was in the
breast. Pencho, who did not care to
live without his Maria del Carmen,
came back and stopped the wedding,
and at the end hate died because Javier
was dying. Before the lovers left the
village to flee across the huerta to
happy exile Pencho and Javier en-
braced and clasped hands. Love runs
stronger than hate even in the hot
blood of the folk who live in the Prov
luce of Murcia.
All this would take little time in
the telling e it were not furnished
forth, bravely sometimes and again
tediously, with local color and comic
relief. Many brilliant picture is built
for the eye in spanish Love-" but
often we found it difficult to believe
that we wero in Spain when we OBJ
served chat certain of the comic
peasants We're using most the marriage
jokes employed by every little old last
years American monologist
Nor were we reconciled, quite, to the
fashion in which the play was staged
by which characters came on through
both the lower boxes or down the
aisles. pausing at the apron and then
climbing one flight to the stage proper
as the acton grew more intense Some
times this method contributed to the
effect. There was, for instance, a
thrilling first act curtain when Pencho
came back from outlawry and gazed
straight over the heads of the audience
at the crowd of village folk who were
a certain pleasure in considering the
notion that upon occasion even spec
tator ight enter into the acton of the
play by thrusting out a foot and trip
ping the villain if he pursued too
closely upon the heels of hero or hero
inc.
On the other hand we were startled
entirely out of our attention for a GER
tain scene upon darkened stage when
a voice just behind us exclaimed,
Come on, old lazybones!" We looked
back angrily at an inoffensive old man
in row H only to discover that the
comic father of the heroine was MAX
ing an unexpected entrance down the
that something of the illusion is lost
when the playgoer comes face to face
with the player. When actors are not
on the stage they ought to be in The
Lambs or some other quiet fastness
safe from prying eyes.
Much of the acting in Spanish
Love" is excellent of its type. 1t is
violent and picturesque without hay
Ing much relation to life and its sub
tleties. The nature of the play calls
for good deal of posturing and most
of the players welcomed the oppor-
tunity to take a position and hold it
was done by William H. Powell, as
Javier, the unsuccessful suitor. He
was spirited and interesting, though
there was nothing much about him to
suggest the Spaniard. James Rennie
as Pencho, was always a striking fig
ure and be staggered to excellent eff
feet. Personally, we should have pre-
ferred to have seen the villain triltnph
The hero was much too masterfuf and
we'll satisfied with his prowess in love
and war.
II the peasants of Murcia were ia
mlllar with red blooded American fic-
tion he would surely have been re-
ferred to as che man" But we can
Whytal was effective and so was Henry
Stephenson. The women were not
quite so good, although there were
some fine moments in the playing of
MISS Maria Ascarra. Some exceedingly
lively Spanish dancing enlivened the
betrothal scene.
Since we have complained that in
some respects the play is not sufficient
ly Spanish, it seems captious to also
assail it for being too Spanish. but we
DO wish that at some time or other
IN the play somebody would have quit
talking about The huerta long enough
to tell US what it was. We waite d
watchfully for solution, but that
never has been of much use with
huertas.
The play is an adaptation by Avery
Hopwood and Mary Roberts Rinehart
from the work of Jose Feliu Collins
Carlos de Battle and Antonin Lavergne
1t provides an interesting and occa
slonally thrilling evening in the thea
ter, but we think that it would be better
II 1T could exchange about two quarts
OF local color for an ounce of pace.