The daily worker., 1927-06-18
" DRAMA TN
Pre-War Marriage and Adultery
"The Woman of Bronze" at the Lyric Theatre,
Shallow and Out of Date

Il undergone such deep changes IN
the past decade, that the revival OF
"The Bronze Woman" at the Lyric
Theatre is the echo of primitive and
almost incredible days.
Even six or seven years ago, when
the plav was first produced, 1t must
have struck theatre-goers as weak
and sentimental; last Wednesday
evening the audience snickeredo au-
dibly at several touching" passages
intended obviously to evoke tears.
Infidelity as old as marriage, and
the wife whose husband is attracted
by a woman younger and more attrac-
tive than herself remains problem
in real life and a good theme for the
stage Somerset Maughan's 1.-THE
Constant Wife," now running on
Broadway, treats the same problems
from our own decades, point of view.
There are no Mysteries, no wringing
of hands and hearts, no fake motrva-
tions. The betrayed wife recognizes
the property nature of bourgeois mar
rage, and the changing nature OF love
in marriage. She handles the situa-
tion with wit and character, obtains
her freedom of action by earning her
own living, and repays the husband
in his own coin by going off to Capri
with a man she loves and who loves
her. Throughout the play she re-
mains mistress of herself and of the
situation; she refuses to make her
whole life and happiness hinge on the
man who has ceased to be her lover
though he remains her husband and
friend and an excellent and secure
source of income; or to succumb to
the pressure of conventional morals.
If Maughan's play is cynical, it is
a healthy cynicism which exposes the
platitudes and pretenses of middle
class life. The response of the au-
dience showed that it articulates a
genuine attitude on the part of civil
lied people.
Why Murray Phillips chose to re-
vive "The Bronze Woman" at this
stage of the game is difficult to
guess. Neither Paul Kester's clever
adaptation from the French nor
Margaret Anglin's fiAe acting could
save it from it own shodiness and
falsehood. However, this problem
for theatrical producers and pro-
fessional critics. What is interesting
for most of US are the ideas Of the
play.
The wife of Sculptor, conveniently
rich, devotes her entire life to her
husband. Their child was stillborn
and her whole maternal instinct goes
out to the man and his work. Fif-
teen years of flawless devotion and
admiration, do not save the wife from
the pain and humiliation of betrayal.
The artist falls in love with al
young musician who is portrayed as
a destructive force. AS played by
Mary Fowler, the girl is sensitive,
soft, quiet-spoken; but her real vii
lany is shown by the fact that it is
she who first says 81 love you.'
The wife discovers the secret and
"illicit" love by walking in at the
precise moment of its declaration.
She suffers in silence, with the as
sistance of the usual friend of the
family.
She suffers in silence, not only be-
cause she loves her husband and is
generally a noble person after the
best mid-victorian pattern. The truth
is, she wants her husband to finish
his masterpiece, "the woman of
bronze" which is to represent some
vague social ideal about the ascension
of humanity to vague heights of
splendor, nobility, truth, and other
nice things referred to by senator's on
official occasions. Quite incidentally,
the statue is to be entered in con-
test for million dollar prize, which,
as everyone knows, is the usual re-