The New York herald., 1922-09-22
ny LAWRENCE REAMER.

No other figure in the life of the
Orient seems TO captivate the writer's OF
Western fiction so much as the Eura-
sian. she is beginning to dominate their
stories about the East. The little
Japanese half caste. Yae Smith, in that
shoddy bit of propa aganda "Kimono" is
its most picturesque figure.
w. Somerset Vaughan has made an
Eurasian girl the heroine of East OF
Suez." which A. IL. Woods gave last
night at the Eltinse. Evidently no
other question seemed to his practiced
eye to offer so much material FOR the
stage. She Is provocative creature
with the hand OF her own people turned
against her and those allied through her
white blood equally contemptuous The
traditions OF two contrasted civilizations
war in her heart for mastery, war more
over with the sense OF injustice that
makes the half breed. through no fault
of hers. an outcast.
Here, OF course, is heroine of melo-
drama To the mind of any playwright
Along one line East and West will never
meet--and that is the Eurasian. So IN
spite of the conventional English edu-
cation which her father provided the
girl in East Of Suez" sinks the minute
she steps foot in China TO the level OF
her mother, who serves her obsequi-
ously as a nurse or Amah with tho
blood tie kept a secret between them.
What does Mr.. Vaughan prepare for
his heroine on her own he1th? All
that is possible for the Eurasfan.
She falls into the hands of a rich
Ch hxaaman to whom her status Is a mat
ter OF Indifference so long as her Eng
lish beauty is his. Then there are her
English husband and his friend whom
she has for long time loved. 1t is her
reactions to these three that supply
Mr.. Vaughan with the material for his
five scenes.
His Ally in the Matter.
Always the Chinese suitor has his all,
in the mother. who looks to him for
more than the other two can give. 1t
is he who stages the little riot in the
street that the English husband may
come out to quell. But the wrong man
gets the knock on the head meant for
him. 1t is the lover who is accidentally
wounded and must stop in the com
pound until she has nursed him well
of the wounds intended for her husband.
! He Is away on a mission connected with
his business duties.s So The .Eurasi
nurses her English lover with only the
| Chinaman lingering about TO work in
1 the end his Oriental revenge.
He inflames the woman with stories OF
! the lovers unfaithfulness until the let
ters he has written are sent to her hus-
band as proof Of his friends treachery.
The Englishman kills himself rather than
face the disgrace of this disloyalty TO his
| friend. Then in a somewhat fanciful
mood quite at variance with the rest OF
the play. which is frankly melodramatc,
the spirit of her Chinese ancestor is sup
posed to descend on the woman. who sits
stiffly in the unimpassioned manner oi
| the Orient looking straight ahead of her
and listens without emotion to the knock
ing of her husband on the door of their
temple.
In the Main EnGrossing.
| Such is Mr.. Maugham's melodrama Ia
the main engrossing, highly colored with
some suggestion of the life of the Orient
and above all with the glowing acting
of Miss Florence Reed to impart vira.ity
\ TO the long scenes. Miss Reed ma ie 4
| dcubly alluring siren with the blood OF
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