Evening star., 1935-02-24

dlC llIolCdIlOllO AlA lao AAS"NoN
play, "The Simpleton of the Unex-
pected Isles," that Mr.. Shaw realizes
the futility of his campaigns and is
ready to make an end to strife. Sim
liar signs were to be seen In its prede-
cessor, TOO True to Be Good" This
one emphasizes the idea that life
is unpredictable, that the only certain
thing is uncertainty, that the incon-
slant moon is less variable in its
changes than the quicksilver earth.
whats the use?" he seems to say,
while still flashing his old foes
with a somewhat reduced vigor. Des-
perate about conditions on "the mean
est of planets he makes a final ef-
fort to improve them. He removes
from its ugly face nearly all the cit
izens of the British Empire on the
grounds that they are worthless.
In a Shaw judgment day shaw
recording -angel floats down upon the
stage, full panoplied with wings and
a chartered accountants inquiring
disposition, prepared to take stock oil
Britannia's doubtful assets. After ne
has finished his audit and returned
to the skies the English characters
begin to disappear. He is, as the play
saws. wedding the garden" or the
population of the Unexpected Isles
only a pair of eery Orientals remain,
a prieStess (NaAmova) and a priest
(MacKay Norris. 1t is, as the rhet-
orleans phrase it, interesting to note
that the first victim Of this whole
some erasure is the newer generation.
Mr.. Shaw and his angel (who Is also
an elderly person) estimate 1t as
noisy. foolish and arrogant nuisance,
and they exterminate it ruthleSsly.
The medical profession dissolves into
space. statesmen vanish, the captains
and the kings depart for purgatory'
along with the journalists. Charons
skiff is rowed with members OF the
stock exchange, the oxford and Cam
bridge faculties, worshipers at West
minister Abbey and butterflies from
Mayfair. Oddly enough. novel-read-
ers are doomed to extinction while
playgoers are saved. Among others
immune are dramatists, critics, law
vers and clergymen, Mr.. Shaw having
decided, with no explanation, to let
them live a little longer.
THE Unexpected Isles is the authors
L symbol for the world as a freak
of creation inhabited by surprising
worms and hippogriffs. Their irreg-
ularities, to Mr.. Shaw. are dismaying.
The scene is a red spot somewhere
on the British map where two reSpec-
table Englishmen and their wives are
engaged in a eugenic adventure with
a dusky prince and his princess.
prophets of an Eastern faith. The
consequence is a litter of four mon
grel and obstreperouS boys and girls,
unused to any kind of discipline, East
or West. Into the laboratory Is intro
duced a simpleton minister OF the
Church of England (Romney BrenD
A timid little man, he is not equipped
to further the blending Of Oriental
flesh with Occidental spirit, or ORR
entail soul with Occidental sex. The
experiment Is therefore about to come
to a discouraging conclusion when
heaven sends a feathered ad1udica-
tor down to make reasonably salts
factory settlement.
THE above is but superficial ap-
Proclamation of the meanings" OF
the lecture. 1t would be easier to
review a seed catalogue than to write
a record of The Simpleton OF the
Unexpected Isles" As a practical
drama it is in the deva~tating epithet
of the -goer. terrible. 1t wanders
around the stage of the Guild Thea
ter, mumbling to itself about this,
that and other gypsy what-nots. more
like Shaw preface than Shaw play.
If the Guilds good actors did not
endow it now and then with a SEM
blance of animation it would be just
a talking carcass, shining only In its
evidences of brilliant decay. 1t seems
to prove that Mr.. Shaw thinks as
deeply and humorously as ever he did,
but that he has lost, for what one
hopes is only a moment or two, the
knack of the dramatist. Even If he
isn't able to come back to the theater,
he can look with comfort over his
many achievements.
D ICHARD Nancy, Snowman and
~ scholar. already has begun to
worry as to whose shoulders the new
Pulitzer jurors will loop their four