The New York herald., 1921-10-11
Pollock in English
Diporce Play Is at
Times EnthralLng
New Drama at Cohan Theatre
Is Earnest R..ther Than
Duly Serious.

"A B.ll OF Divorcement." In which
Charles Dillingham; brought back Allan
Pollock, English actor to this hotbed Of
culture at the George NJ. Cohan Theatre
last night after an absence of seven
years. started realistically before eny
one had spoken line with the chime
OF Christmas bells that were SO beauti-
fully modulated they never once sug-
gested a stage hand banging tubes witt,
more vigor than talent They rang so
sweetly through the tirst act that one
wanted them again and again, prefer
ring them even TO q troupe OF Swiss
bell ringers.
Throughout the three acts the English
author. Clemence Dane. maintained the
quality of these bells with sonibre, reso-
nant vibrations that seemed to reach
the deepest pitch of human nature, mel
lowed by charming overtones that kept
the play from developing the wild Sla-
vonic jangle of Tschaikovsky's "1S12."
The result was a dramatic work that
was unusual in theme generally inter-
esting end at times enthralling earnest
rather than duly serious-for il Is en-
liyened by sparks of humor-and de.
scribabie as one of the filling entrees of
the season, coming. as II does, after so
many watery oysters.
this one of the exceptional offerings Of
the year is set before the rise OF the
curtain by a note on the programme
which states that the assumption Is to
be made that certain, amendments in
the English divorce law recently pro-
posed by the royal commission on di-
vorce have been passed, and that the
play takes place on Christmas day,
l93a--but that does not mean any
Wellsian fantastic visions Of men flut-
tering to earth on weird airships as
they turn on rosy Yuletide complexion
in their faces.
The thoughtful treatment of divorce,
the nubbin of the, ,dramatist's conception,
evidences the wide difference between
this problem in England, where il is
now burning issue. and in this coun-
try, where it is considered lawful prey
for the bright young men of vaudeville.
The hypothetical amendment TO the ex-
isting statutes permits wife to divorce
lunatic husband, and the playwright
without turning his opus at all into
propaganda considers what might hap
pen il such a divorced husband should
turn up. unexpectedly restored to his
mental powers, with some of the logical
clarity that in John Ferguson made
the public willing to pay money to face
life with 4 theatre programme In their
,
hands.
Here the wife had to choose between
the man she married in the hectic days
Of the war without really loving him.
who is weak and needs her, and the
strong man to whom she was to give
herself as New Years gift In actual
life this might lead to no more solution
than lot of running around in circles.
But the wife. fortunately for the pur-
poses OF the play. has a 17-year-old
daughter who solves the riddle in a
fashion that shows how capable are the
quick thinking fappers of to-day. But
for her the play might have ended
tragically and all those Christmas
mistletoe berries that suggest the gayety
of the period go to waste.
In the scene where the wife tells the
man she is renouncing her love for him
in terms of simple eloquence there is
what the critical fraternity rejoice to
call fire. Here Miss Janet Beecher. who
had been little more than sweetly dis
trait throughout the earlier acts, rose
to splendid heights, that made one mar
vel that such finely human things could
be done right before ones eyes in an
age dedicated to holSum.