Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-03-08
ZONE" IS A DRAMA
Of PSYCHIC FANTASY
r.,ooes starr Acts Impress've'y
in Double Role Of Twin
Sisters

.oo" in which Frances
anrrick - o impressive inpei inpersonai,,,TInn a,,In
starr gives, az who are physicany
Of twin nsnITTomcntaIly dinnar,enn. The
yet tesHy.Pplay teHPly Of psych,,c Who also fur.
author, Edwatc, c,orr with Marie OoIe
nIshed MISS I.iver," in n program ~
and ''Tigeris drama more lengtny, al al
Classics OF Of immaterial,ty an The me.
"a Ptr Pterms Of the real 1n,eu rhs Program, in
GISm Of the the 'Hea'G HMsli annotated With but.
fact, Is Veis Veis,,,ions from such eNpon-
tressng er.woridiy lore as leonm,ruo .,i,,,a, y,
ens ,!oI 9t J' PulwerLytton, Sr ana
"a Camille rlani rn,,insnt ex.
others ine ,ne subject who might lena 40. 40.
perts or .,,nnort TO the theories 9 w,
dltlcnai s.rp rgeen 10 be Sir oliver l'ouse'
playSwrrsn playSnnsn Doyie and Dr. Hyssop; sop;a,,d.
s"vbatever one may .nnhS ths theories
ny or eSe /, the lines and situat,ons
expresssu1 impressively by Mlss
and co,,a ona handle Ayrton tas an oio
starr L,an who is even more OF a.psyc,
ptISnS il is certain that nm i,,,,,otInT
has Written ' NAV. what he has done.
ana no,n ,nrse is TO dramatiZe or at least
llJi,e,tye ~ J,t the current vogue OF iMnet M
capnI"s md spiritism what he mas uohe,
n another sense, is to wrNe p,ay 's ,,se
onpeals to the in,eh'ss ra,her than
their mindS ]" '''
thelI hesnreS eS'i; is certainly unevenly written:
r,o actual love passages reek Grnssly
~ Rertha NJ Clay or Laura Jean LipoeS
@ Gl p,s ,ha case OF the dull good lover, and
IN ln,,'hre tnJ much the crudeness OF the
feseIn,.' 'be.yamps'' in the case OF the Sc
n,",ii n,,",i,.o had lover. There Is comedy re-
~, ~, s,,pnlied in the participation or the
nrosv mother OF the twins and OF maid
with brogue, when u as ,'ne em.' exneSis
~. ~, thrCugh the medium of the raucous
en, en,,or maid in Tiger. Tiger" Appar.
ppn,iy Mr., Knoblock lacks the comic
snIrit and the sense of genuine amatory
.pmancc, But, in this play. as In Tiger,
T,gsr" when he sticks to his thesis. he
IA straIghtforward, coherent and com
Sailing in his writing-even convincing
IN consequences. once acceptance OF pre-
iImnarIes Is gained. His situations grow
sorcIny Of issues: his characters are be-
iIeyabie in their detail despite the weird
mess with which the central figure Is
conceived his dialogue Is direct and OF
human speech. Ineligible even In the
Miss Starr who did 80 remarkably in
Edward Lockes "The Case of Becky"
With n role OF duality. does equally we'll
IN Edward Khocklock's "One" with a
double role. In tho one 1t was actually
A dual personality Miss Starr made very
real, In the other II Is dual corpo-
reality. She impersonates. with delicate
shades Of differentiation In character.
twin sisters. Pearl liz grave, sacrificing,
servlceable. practical Ruby is gay.
carecr.seeking. artistic. The thesis on
which its denouement Is developed Is
that twins are so closely interfused in
spirit that the emotional experiences,
the great lie crises, Of one are felt by
the other whatsoever the barriers Of
time and space In the case of these
supplies the technique, but Pearl fur
nIshcs the spiritual Are and force that
transmute vlrtuoso into great In.
terprctatve artist.
In New York on the eve Of her Ameri-
can debut and Pearl In London ready
to send her spiritual support. The twain
have arranged code by which they
communicate telepathically with each
other. Sundcred by the Atlantic. they
Pearls acceptance Of the marriage pro-
pcsal Of humdrum, likable business
man and Ruby's endeavor to create her
own soul to animate her skilled plan
istc fingers. through the emotional ex-
perIence OF trlfing with philandering
tenor their unhy Is riven. BY the dra-
maturgic device Of the ocean-wide sep
aration Miss Starr Ia able plausibly to
ehlft from Pearl to Ruby In each Of the
three acts. which are divided into a
Pearl scene and a Ruby scene. There
Is bit Of "hokum'' here-seance stun
OF mufiicd voice and peculiar attitudi.
nizinG-the literainess OF which is by no
means so forwarding as the simple dis.
cussion OF the twins psychic adeptness
IN which Pearl engages with the cynical,
philosophical doctor. Doubtless audi.
ences expect something OF the sort in
order To- be assured that zone" Is really
psychic play and doubtless the play-
wright has supplied II to relieve the ex.
ceSslve "talkiness'' OF his drama.
The patching Of the rift between the
twins, the reunion which succeeds dis
Junction OF the souls, the pouring OF
Pearps spirit into Ruby's body, through
Pearls sacrifice OF life and love, Is in.
senIously contrived and leaves the audi.
ence with the feeling that, after the last
curtain OF "One," II Is much more knowl.
eageable about psychic phenomena and
tneIr Elants and twists than It was be-
iore entering the theatre.
MT Ayrton's finished acting as tho
uoctor has been mentioned. The two
ers ,oVers were we'll portrayed BY Phiiin
pesSorough and Martin Lewis. The
mother rther was cleverly and fussIiy done Nv
nara sidney and Theodore BabcoclS
Msrie M Burke, Daisy Belmore and lulu
nyIsson rnIss were excellent In subsidiary