Evening star., 1923-12-31
Basil Sydney. in He, Who
Gets Slapped"

When man endowed with natural
talent puts his heart into his work it
is seldom he fails to put across his
Ideas in strong and definite shape.
And this hypothe sis is doubly true
in the New York Theater Guilds
presentation of Leonid Andreyev's
four-act play, HE, Who Gets Slap
ped" which was the first of a set of
three plays to be presented at Polls
this week.
First of all, the success Of this
tragedy seems to repose in the sim
cerity of purpose and full heartedness
/, of treatment animating the, creator
| When he sat down to write it. 1t is
a true story. 1t is a crashing blow
! delivered by master to the mediocre
plagiarist who stole not only an
authors wife but his work as well,
ana became u popular author of st.
Petersburg not so many years ago
I Next, and just as important from the
viewpoint of cash customers, is the
Characterization given the title role
by Basil Sydney. If a man plays that
role and has not the meaning of it
IN his heart, there will be something
lacking. And there was nothing
lacking in Basil Sydney's presenta-
ton of He last night
me play is laid in "A circus, which is
in itself the world in miniature. To the
troupe comes man who has relin-
clowning and becomes He, who gets
slapped" He passes out his slaps to
the persons in the orchestra chairs
while those in the galleries roar with
delight He passes out SlapS to takers
and hypocrites about him. His wife had
been stolen by a mediocre, who had
stolen also his works. He sees a similar
tragedy of life being enacted in the
circus, when a girl is about to marry
a huge fat. Stolid baron with the eyes
a Sninpr al
wait like spider until he gets what
he wants. About this fact the play is
built.
The result is tragic but it leaves one
wondering, when the girl and the baron
, and He are dead, whether He did not
put across his idea after all. For the
dying girl and He made a tryst to
meet beyond the veil and il is certain
that she must have chosen He rather
than the fat spider.
Throughout the play is literature.
Some of the silYery dripplnSS OF Shake
speare do not rival many of the spots or
beauty in this presentation. They pop
up every now and then Unexpectedly
and confront one like a masterpiece on
canvas in a Louvre exhibition. Virtually
everything is good, but some things are
far better.
We must not forget Zita Johann,
as Consuelo. an equestrienne, with
the leading feminine role, the girl.
She combines poise with natural en-
dowment, and repression with ma
tural enthusiasm in her role. She
is a capable counterparter for He
And all the reSt-Romney Brent and
John McGovern as clowns, who play
Beethoven on a one stringed barrel
Stave violin and Mozart on a mouth
organ-are good. Words of praise
should fall to c. II. Croker King,
the comedy lead as a dissolute count;
Florence Auer as Zinida, animal
tanner; Lloyd Neal as Jackson,
clown, Stanley G.. Wood as Briquet,
manager of the circus, and, above
all to the fat spider, Baron Regnard,
played superbly by Redtield Clarke.
The wonder of it all is, however,
how Gregory Zilboorg translated the
play from the Russian into English
and retained the Russian spirit of
it intact. To him should go a huge
part of the merit for the success
Of the play.
The presentation will be repeated
on Thursday night and Thursday
matinee; tonight, tomorrow and Fri
day nights, and at the Tuesday
matinee. Bernard Shaw's The Devils
Disciple" will be the attraction. on
Wednesday and Saturday nights and
at the Saturday matinee Peer Gynt"
will be presented.
It's a great week for the more
serious lovers of the drama.