Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-09-27

iBILL OF DIVORCEMENT'
OPENS SOUTH BROAD
p,,zzIng Play Of Shell Shock and
Eugenlcs Develops Some
Fine Acting

p-oad Street.-The first serious pla1
=, tbe season opened this house fol
~, veor last nigth. Clemence Dane
a., Ri1l Of Divortement" has beer
.,s avented as drama with shcl
,,oot as its theme, but 1t is more
,,,r that. 1t deals fundamentally WIFI
.ho question of the hcrcdity Of insan
nr ,tbe problem of eugenic marriages
Id the right of a perfectly normal
.orson to happiness, despite an early
r.adng with a mentally tainted mate.
srJ that's n pretty big bill for one
nloy to face.
p1, IL to the credit of the author
.,i the producers that the story has
s.Or ~" nermittcd to follow on to its
,osIcal I though unpopular, ending. 1t
uId peSId have been easy. with the in
,,o1uction Of little of the art known
" "bokum," to twist it and slur
ssor things and make 1T turn out
satisfactorily to all concerned. In fact,
sssre must have been strong tcmpta-
Hon to do this But, had the tempta-
gon Non prevailed, It would have spoiled
that now stands as gripping and
r,ally powerful drama, and the cur.
tsin falls on q surprise scene that will
isaye the average playgoer puzzled as
~ whether he likes it or not. And
Nen. later, he will decide that It was
tbe only artistic thing to do.
II takes strong cast to put
,tory of this kind across, and strong
ssst has been furnished. There arc
excellent character drawings through
ant, Types that are as familiar here
AZ they are in the England of the
NAV are painted in with keen irony
Sut, in spite of the comedy that
ssryes to tighten the scenes, there
IL seldom moment that one Is per-
mItted to lose sight Of the inevitable
ness Of the outcome.
Allan Pollock handles an exceedingly
Afbcult part with surety and an
artistry that are outstanding. Nine
msp out of ten would unconsciously
oyerdo this suddenly recovered victim Of
shell shock and inherited mental weak
ness. But Pollock's repression and con-
trol keep it so far within the bounds
of ordinary experience that It becomes
doubly convincing. In every moment on
the stage, he Is the man with nerves
jangling and Jumpy ana with brain still
nuzzled, striving to see clearly in the
nists that have only half cleared away
FOR him, unable to grapple with the new
situations he finds after his fifteen years
Of mental darkness.
Katherine Cornell, the only American
IN this British cast, is entitled to al
most as much praise as Pollock. She |
Is, in the beginning, the most winning
and wholesome modern girl and, in the |
end, the big -souled heroine whose self |
sacrifice forms the only way out for all |
concerned. She, too, keeps free from
the sin of over acting in a part that
might easily tempt to 1t.
Ada King, in the character part of
Aunt Hester, the prim and unchanging
representative Of old school thinking
and old-time morality, Is the third Of
q trio of excellent artists who carr?
the burden Of the difficult story. Evelyn
Walsh Hall, as the wife of the victim
Of she'll shock and the mother of the
girl, lent the only inadequate note to
the performance. Arnold Lucy and
Fred Graham did small bits excellently
and John Ashley and Charles Waldron
were also well cast in their parts.