Evening star., 1951-07-25

the fact that Carroll mas written or
of the earthly Abbey era of Irish
drama. 1t is plainly in need OF
adjustment, some of it on the
part of the author, more by the
cast, but once it starts to spin
Border Be Damned" might we'll
prove just what Broadway needs
on the night of September 10.
That is the date for its New
York opening under the joint
auspices of Producer John Golden
and Dowling who, for the first
time in his association with Car
roll. gets a role he can act as
well as a play he can co-produce.
This is the character of village
police sergeant who believes in
people more than in law and who
beams his alcoholic blessing upon
the smuggling by which the town
of Chuckeyhead makes it's RECKLESS
living.
The prior to- Broadway cast.
reading like a Free State village
telephone director, includes Mary
Welch, George Mathews. Pat
O'Malley. and others whose hearts
are as high on Border Be.
Damned" as their lines and timing
were shaky in last nights per-
formance.
The sad, stabbing mood of
Shadow and Substance" and
1.-The White Steed" is missing in
Carroll's latest play. He has writ
ten a jest this time, razor -edged
one, summoning the easily tempted
Irish to the faith that life is more
fun than law and peoples instincts
superior to their institutions.
These are the villagers of Chuc-
keyhead, just below the border of
Ulster. To a man, woman and
child the natives of Chuckeyhead
are models of improperly. They
Smuggle the needs and minor lux
uries of life across the northern
counties border not merely for a
living but for the pure anarchial
Joy of it. 1t is a game they play,
vengeful game, to defy the Gre
ators of borders which divide
people. The more hazardous the
game becomes, the more recklessly
inspired the play of the Chuckey-
head natives.
The hazard reaches it's pinnacle
when the stuffy government at
Dublin appoints new, seemingly
tncorruptible district justice to
bring the village into condition
Of statutory subservience.
Thus begins the frenzied con-
fiict to determine whether the
smugglers can besmirch the JUS
tice before he can reform them.
1t is a battle in which no holds are
barred, with the police sergeant
played by Dowling and the un-
tanned sch istresS Miss
Welch) supplying, respectively. the
guile and temptations to assure
victory.
The suspense lies not in who will
win, but by just which of their
mad methods the Chuckeyheadites
will cut the righteous judge down
10 their moral size
4 y r
There is a faster, funnier play in
Border Be Damned" than the one
which the opening night Olney
audience saw. 1t is implicitly in
the gallery of gay characters Car
roll has created, a group which
may not be original but which is
the richer in its Irish charm for
that fact.
Center of this group is Dowling's
police sergeant. This is a poetic
man with an out-size benevolent
heart. 1t is the shame of the
world, in his opinion, that Ireland
Is divided and a man of his sad
ness can only blind himself with
drink in order not to see the people
getting together as SmugglerS. He
has the backing of the village
priest that it is neither sinful nor
Lawless to Smuggle unless a man
thinks in his heart that this is so
No district justice ever en-
countered a more reluctant as
sociate in law enforcement than
the new man sent to Chuckeyhead
Nor did many ever meet up with
more amusing one than the
man played by Dowling, although
he may have become a little too
drunk little too fast last night