New Play in Manhattan

The Kingdom of God. "Mr. Heywood Broun . . . observed of the performance . . . that I had given the impression, in the most poignant moment of the drama, of a barge woman. What is the explanation of it all? I don't know. After looking into my own mind, I have sometimes wondered if perhaps the accusations might not be laid to the critic himself. . . .

"They say that any success I've had is just due to my personality. . . . It's always my personality--not my art. . . .

". . . the loneliness of those of us who are trying to create. You can't escape it. You are . . . bitterly and inevitably alone. . . ."

These were not the words of an ignorant chorus girl, chronicled in a cinemagazine, but those of Ethel Barrymore, put by herself in Manhattan's latest smart-chart, The American Sketch. With her were many more, bewailing, in violent fashion, the too few compliments with which U. S. critics had observed her, and other words celebrating the pretty speeches made to her by Max Reinhardt and polite Edouard Bourdet. Principally, it appeared to be a blast of publicity for Actress Barrymore's latest venture into theatrics, which last week opened in Manhattan, The Kingdom of God.

To understand the significance of The Kingdom of God, it is necessary to consider the circumstances of its production. The play was a Spanish one, by G. Martinez Sierra, offered by Lee Shubert. For its Manhattan premiere, the Shuberts had provided a brand new theatre named, after the most famous actress in America, the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The occasion was attended by notables. As well as notables there were play-reviewers who, chastened by Actress Barrymore's rebuke, later wrote that the play was bad and that she gave a beautiful performance.

Actually, the play was not very good and Actress Barrymore gave a bad performance. As a veiled religieuse she is found first in an old-men's home, later in a maternity home, lastly as the Mother Superior in an orphanage. In the first act (aged 19) she renounces her family, in the second (aged 29) she renounces her lover, in the third (aged 70) she persuades her orphans to renounce their plan of going on the streets to steal. A rambling, idle play, it had a few moments in which the hushed, sad peacefulness of cloistered life became apparent. Generally its moments contained talk, the entrances and exits of characters extraneous to the action and much bad atmosphere.

A faithful actress cannot act well when her part is falsely written. But she can pronounce her words and she does not need to make every line a dirge, humming or whistling it. Actress Barrymore said "mush" meaning "must," "wannering" meaning "wandering," and dropped all final dentals. Her voice became deeper as she grew older and she developed a crouch; otherwise her actions did not change. But near the end, the hungry little children in the orphanage cried "Hurrah for the Mother Superior" and, a few minutes later, so did the audience.