Evening star., 1924-03-11
Chains" at the National.

Chains" a new comedy by Jules
Eckert Goodman, which Is being
presented this week at the National
| Theater, in three acts. by company
of unusual balance and strength, Is
both daring and yet polite In Ian
guage and incident. Its theme may
be gathered from it's closing lines.
uttered by a somewhat disconnected
father to his wife, after a gruelling
experience both with their own
with whom their son has had an
"affair"-"I sometimes wonder if
there is such a thing as absolute
right and absolute wrong; II morality
John Maury and his wife Maud.
well-to-do parents Of a son and
daughter, and whose views of life.
largely colored by the influence of
Mrs. Maury, are regulated by what
are sometimes called the standard
selves confronted with their sons
problem. While at college he had
met young woman with similar am
bitions to his own in the line of art;
they had become chuhns and she loved
him devotedly. He responded. ac-
cepting, as a matter Of course, her
sacrifice, but eventually realizing
that he did not care to have her meet
his mother and sister. Finally he
decided to end their relations. She
did not object, but sought ways of
her own to meet his sister. The meet
ing with his mother and father came,
through the influence of his uncle, a
rowing adventurer. who decided that
before the boy should go abroad with
| him, as he eagerly longed to do in
order to get away from the girl, he
must first square things with her.
At the interview it. developed that
the girl still loved, but the boy did
not. He was. however, willing, as a
n, q Of atIfxy har 49,,
he was told there was a child. She
promptly and firmly refused, holding
that marriage without love, even in
the Performance of duty, was an un-
holy thing.
At this point it develops that the
boys sister has not gone to visit a
certain friend, as she had said she
would, and there is an immediate
search for her. She, too. has had her
affinity and has been deceiving her
posal of the uncle that the sons
sweetheart marry him. the uncle, and
with an effective scene between the
mother and father of the boy, when
timent quoted, the play is brought to
"a close.
The discussion of this theme, it is
believed, is not a right of the dra-
matte critic. 1t belongs rather to the
church and to those who are supposed
to conserve the morals of the people.
There will be those who, no matter
what may be said of the standard
conventions by which society is sup
posed to be governed, will always be-
lieve that they furnish a good work
ing hypothesis. whether founded in
truth and justice or not. The play
has the tendency to create sympathy
for tn e girl who is abandoned after
presumably having made the woman's
supreme sacrifice for her love.
1t is splendidly acted, Miss Helen
Gahagan as Jean Trowbridge, the girl,
sustaining a difficult role with poise,
rare discrimination and artistic effect,
even in it's highest emotional mo-
ments. William Morris and Maude
Turner Gordon, as the father and
mother of the boy, seem ideal in their
roles, while katherine Alexander, as
! the daughter of the stunned parents,
meets every requirement of the part
without ever overstepping. Buford
Armitage has the unsympathetic role
of the boy and does it well, while
George Tully. as the uncle, fulfills the
needs of the character admirably.