The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1921-06-02
Eugene O'NeiH's
Mem Play, "Gold,"
Not Without Alloy
Willard Mack Plays Leading
Role i'm Gloomy Drama
Of the Sea.

Those intimately concerned with the
plot of Gold" at the F-azee Theatre
last night kept referring to brass" and
Junk" In connection with it, While 1t
would be hardly fair to apply those
terms in all earnestness TO Eugene G..
O'Nenls latest play, it hardly appears
to be pre- yellow metal, but mixed with
some alloy
Once again. in his second long play,
this young dramatist deals with the sea.
and 1t becomes a wet blanket on several
persons destinies. But this work is not
so much stepped in the ocean as devoted
to a strange study of the cumulative
power OF greed on men-rather to an
acrid dissection of the manner in which
an obsession can grip the human mind
In It's tentacles. so that the theatre be-
comes first class clinic.
The story gets it's start when Capt
Bartlett is shipwrecked with his crew Of
four sailors and a cabin boy on barren
island in the Malay Archipelago, and
they discover a chest OF gold and preci-
Gus jewels-which even the new genera
ton of playwrights with their Wanted
realism tacitly admit is what the Malay
Archipelago is good for. Inhamed by
the declaration of the much abused negro
cook that the chest contains Just brass
and junk" and fearing that this shift
less creature and the cabin boy as they
are all about to be rescued. will steal
back and dig up the treasure from the
place where the captain and his three
henchmen have dug it, the skipper does
nothing to prevent Jimmy, a Kanaka
sailor, from knitting them both. in the
general madness prevailing whenever
water on a desert island is being quoted
at premium.
Husbands Guilty Secret.
The rest of the four acts are con-
cerned with the captains efforts on his
return to his California home to navi-
gate ship back to the island. ostensibly
for a trading expedition. with his WIFE
opposition when his guilty secret of the
death Of the two slips from him. and
his sons perverse desire to sail with
him, for no particular reason. just as
his father swears he shall not go for
any particular reason. His wife dies from
grief over his changed. frenZied char
acter, his daughter outwits him by send
ing her lover sailing away in command
of the ship the captain, vigorously deny
ing his guilt because ''he said no word, "
secs visions and presently goes mad
in pleasant company with his son-wait-
ing for a ship that never returns, and a
miserable time Is enjoyed by all.
ONeil has developed his theme with
uneven power. though his enthusiasm In
holding on to the repulslve elements OF
n
flag. He outdoes the Russian writer's
in his devotion to sour realism and
there seems no higher function for art
in this piece at least-than TO drop large
chunks of gloom upon the stage at reg
ular intervals. Occasionally the piece
is potent, just as a bitter medicine is
potent.
Last Act the Best.
The last act, laid in the captain
eerie cabin-like garnet OF his house, Is
the best sustained Of all, perhaps be-
cause this seems to have been the orig
NAL one act playlet which the work
vas In It's original form. and the author
spread out as he wrote backward from
IT, But for the most part. as Capt
Bartlett says himself, there's nothing
but talk, talk, TALK Most of the char
aCterS say 10 eaCn Otner at one liiile vi
another. "rd like to talk with you alone
for few moments" and proceed ruth
lessly along that line. Az one observer
remarked, "This play would not only be
good for the movies but particularly
the talky movies
The case for II isn't helped materially
by willard Macks habit OF repeating
everything at least twice before he
seems to feel the audience has caught
up with him. He swings his arms We
hemently and seems to feel that talking
in a husky growl shows a dominating
character. but when he ought TO domi-
nate he merely gropes In a somewhat
senile fashion and chokes. George
Marion has little opportunity to show
his mettle and the rest of the cast
are merely borne along on the tide or
woe.
Perhaps the author intended to mako
the action OF his play primarily psyche
logical. but in reality there can be no
real action with fixed obsession. John
d. williams In producing It has given
II an ambitious mounting, and perhaps
Il will be rellshed by those who like
TO have their sufferings done vicariousiy
for them By persons on the stage.
Nu DTEC Z RERECEnRn