The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-02-18

out the duality of the human mind. In
Desire Under the Elms'' prayer and So
liloquy solved his problem; in The Great
God Brown he utilized masks. And
from that point he went on to Strange
Interlude'. with its actual and mental
speeches. a technique which he declares
he will continue to use and which is to
be observed in Dynamo"
In a letter to the board of managers of
the Guild, he explains this:
". as for the dialog in Dynamo
it is I%nterludism. Thought will be as
prominent as actual speech. but there will
be much less cutting-in of brief asides.
Dynamo for one thing deals with more
direct. less cerebral people"
He has evolved this technique so that
it differs radically from the old asides
and soliloquies. There have been other
plays in which the characters, by one
device or another, spoke their thoughts.
But in 'Interlude,'' as Mr.. Macgowan ex-
plains, O'Neill added the contrasts and
conflicts of thought to the dramatic con-
trasts and conflicts OF ordinary spoken
dialog.
It'is interesting to note, in connection
with the sitting Of the last act of
Dynamo that the dynamo room is large
ly copied from the plans of a hyrdo-
electric plant at Stephenson. Conn. near
Ridgefeld, Conn, where O'Nein lived for
a time. Dynamo" is O'Neilrs
fifteenth long play, which estimate in
cludeS the unproduced lazarus Laughed
Including his ,one-act pieces, 1t IS his
for the two other plays of the trilogy
which Dynamo" begins and still another
P ps the "h hBiP Grand Re Tffe 6pus e. T Fl this 5e t saVs,
will be neither a play nor a novel but
there will be many plays in it and it
Will have greater scope than any novel
its own-a lineal descendant of Strange
Interlude' in a way but beside it intet-
lude' will seem like a shallow episode"
And I believe that you will agree
with me that here is a statement
that will make the literary world do
a lot of talking.
You will be interested in the cast
as follows:
Hutchins Light ............ George Gaul
Reuben Light Glenn Anders
May Fife 49,. -. Catherine Calhoun bo11ecet
Ada Fife ......,....... Claudette Colbert
Jennings Ross Forester
ROCCO Edgar Kent
George Gaul, as the minister who
tries at first to force his son Reuben
into the ministry and then lives to
see his own flesh and blood setting
up an electrically numming dynamo
as a God, is giving a performance
that reveals every hidden mental
and physical side of the character.
1t is Gaul at his most convincing
best. No over acting but just the
drawing of a narrow, worried soul to
cling on to God and fight the I'M
believers who dig up science, power
and what-not and place those forces
in a shrine and call it a God.
1t seems to be agreed in New
York that Claudette Colbert as Ada
Fife, the latest O'Neill heroine, has
caused herself to be the most dis
cussed actress in New York. Here is
a marvellous performance. She is
wonderful when she plays her own
flesh against the weakness Of
Reuben Light in the great dynamo
room of the power plant. She forces
Reuben to become a sex hound right
or the altar of his new God. She
Kisses her satisfaction of triumph
over Dynamo so well that Reuben
grabs a revolver and shoots her
dead. Then Reuben runs over to his
screaming Dynamo. Climbs up on
her and places his fingers on her
electric contracts.
His body becomes a dead, black
mass-a human sacrifice upon his
self recognized altar of deity.
And that is Dynamo" the most
talked of play in New York.