Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-04-13

L selection was wide. No two
performances could be far.
tfer apart IN topic or method OF por-
trayal than The kreutzer Sonata
and The Cat and the Canary" Bertha
kalich always spells ART in heavy
capitals. kilbourne Gordon, Inc
contents himself with a piece OF
poetry on the program, and after
that lets art go hang. The word
Inc appears SO frequently after
the name OF the producing firm that
it has assumed the proportions OF d
show business. All Mr.. Inc needs
to make his Importance as great in
art as in commerce is few more
pens.
The Cat and Canary" prelude
runs:
If you like this play, please tell your
friends,
But pray don't tell them how it ends
1t is good advice. Even if you try
to tell your friends exactly how
everything happened, you probably
won't get anywhere. The plot bears
something OF the relationship to the
theater that a puzzle department
does to a magazine The fun de-
ponds on the guessing. and you
should study il out for yourself
The best part OF The Cat and
Canary" entertainment is given by
the audience. 1t enables the play
gocr to reveal temperament on his
own account. Harriet can grab
Harry by the arm and say
"O-o-o-h!" during dark scene,
thereby convincing him that she is
a sensitive. irnpressionable creature
who needs protection. And Harry
can grunt "Uh" now and then to
prove that, though highly sympa-
thetic, he is not scared. The mys-
terry play is the great American
thrill. 1t supplies the place OF the
French Grand Guignol, and attains
its purpose without going nearly SO
lar in humoring the tastes OF a de-
graded fancy. The Audience at the
Shubelasco theater acts superbly.
1t takes every cue instanter; signs
and shudders in precise proportion to
the suggestions of the scene, and at
the close OF the evenings entertain
ment reaches for its wraps with an
air of smiling salutation as if half
expecting the stage company to ap-
plaud it for doing so beautifully.
There must be a theater, even if the
public has to take hold and run it
on its own terms.
x
The assertions of the non-profes-
sional thcater become more conf
Al.
tenn of professional production be-
comes more standardized. Says
friend Public, "If you cannot give us
what we want. we will make it for
ourselves" 1T will only be home
made" sneers the professional pro-
Queer. so have been great poems
and great pictures" answers the
Amateur who has the courage 10
spell himself with a capital A and
not limit himself purely to initiative
aspirations. "The economic sciences
OF distribution are essential to the
artists adequate reward, yet they
cannot be relied on to create an
original supply"
The St. Patrick Players, who occu-
pied the stage of The Presiden,
Theater, approached responsible
task in a spirit of genuine sincerity
and made an impression which COM
bined thorough dignity with in
tenSity of interest.
x x ! X
The Kreutzer Sonata" is the de-
veiopment of the acting audience
the audience that lets its emotions
L. II 1,
known. The audience to whom
Bertha Kalich now addresses herself
is not the audience with whom she
had her training. 1t restraints itself
to the earnest tribute OF silent adj
miration during scenes too tense tc
be interrupted by applause, and be.
slows on her reverentially the title
of Great Artist 1t is useless fol-
an audience TO attempt to hold the
acting pace when Kalich holds the
prompt book of human suggestion
All we can do is to attempt dem.
onstration, as creditable as may
he, of depressed emotion"
x y x
The Kreutzer Sonata" like all Of
Iakob Gordin's creations, combined
INTO his own flow of thought cur
rents from many sources of inspira,
ton, sources that he took pains
neither to identity nor to conceal
He accepted an old structure as q
model, duplicated such parts as he
needed for his auditors modern use
but never reached out vandal HAND
to deface or to destroy
Mime. Kalich talks of her plans
Tor the future with the same com
telling earnestness that she puts
INTO her plays. The horizon of hei
Imagination is far sweeping; that OF
her practical expectations is perhaps
not so broad; and yet, who knows