The New York herald., 1922-10-08

Frenchmen.
The Unresolved Chord.
Galsworthy is nearly always in his
dramatic expression more or less in
conclusive. 'Loyalties" is clear enough
in most of its phases. but there is the
suggestion of uncertainty In the clos
ing phrases OF the last act which it
might require almost new play to
clear up. When the young officer has
shot himself the character that Mr..
Galsworthy has labeled "a society
girl" says, Keep faith! We've all
done that. It's not enough" Some
thing more than loyalties are evidently
necessary in the opinion of the author
to clear up such tragedies as the play
presents. Is 1t brotherly love or SYM
pathy, or abolition of all class or
racial feeling? The playwright ends
his theme on an unresolved chord.
Yet in other respects the fine play
at the Gaiety is uncommonly clear.
Even the theft by the captain in such
urgent need of money Is logical
enough. He robs the Jew who has
made so much by the sale Of his horse,
which he bought for almost nothing.
In that act he is fulfilling what he
regards as the loyalty he owes to the
young wife who would be shocked by
the knowledge that an Italian girl was
demanding damages from him.
The eminently sane host in the
country house, the survival from an
earlier period of English history who
presides at the bridge table as Lord
st. Firth, and the barrister-all these
seem uncommonly natural figures In
the development of the story, which
gives no appearance of concerning
itself with a thesis except in the case
of the young Jew, who is battling for
his rights against an enemy which
has, in his eyes. taken on the proper
tions of windmill darkening every
air he breathes by its comprehensive
flights.
He Is not struggling to hold on to
his loyalties only against the house
party at Meldon Court. He sees the
fight against him, or rather his race.
in the clubs which do not happen TO
want him, In the society which toll
crates him for his money and in every
contact with life that does not in
voive his own race. Only in this case
does the author seem to turn from
the directness of his story to empha-
size a theory.
This particular character must be
firmly underlined. Every "t" must be
crossed twice, every '1' doubly dotted.
Otherwise "Loyalties" is allowed 20
proceed logically to its end Some
times It seems as II the author had
cut a little too close to the bone. He
might have been a little expansive In
character and humor without damage
TO the humanity Of his play. Emo
tions are all kept on a minor key.
Can even this slight fault keep the
drama from seeming the best the Eng
lish theater has sent here in years?
The Rose I'm Bloom.
Y IL was always impossible for Mrs.
Tfske to look like Tess, although her
success in the role formed the corner
stone OF her fame. Maybe there is an
argument here against the famous
theory OF types Of which so much as
heard. Miss Ethel Barrymore 50 the
other hand is the rhysical incarnation
OF Hauptmann's heroine. She Is the
blond Silesian peasant girl. slow In
gait and utterance, graceful only in
her strength and youth. and finally
moving with the heavy tread that used
TO be so admired for Its significance
of her physical condition when San
tuxSa was acted by Eleonora Duse or
X-1nR Calve. Miss Barrymore looks
h,ssc peasant girl TO the life.
And the actresses reflection of her
,nental states? The revelation OF her
love for the human and more or less
pagan Framm is revealed with the
most exquisite delicacy. Sho tells in
her half stolen glances. In the smile
that plays over her face like spring
sunshine, in the suggestion of
beatihc contentment which looks out
of her eyes at the ma gistrate by her