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Show TT THE CITIZEN 10 The First Nighters claim of the Celtic revival THE chief enduring fame is its honest contribution to truth and poetry. It has proceeded more or less unaffected by political conditions in Ireland and has had eminent exponents among the two sections of the Irish race. John Ferguson," which was presented at the Salt Lake theatre the first three .nights of this week, is interpretive of life among the North of Ireland folk, who have mingled Scotch dourness with Irish fervor. St. John G. Ervine, the writer of the play, is noted both as a dramatist and a novelist. John FerguThe presentation of son" is one of the notable artistic events of the season, an event which owes its importance almost equally to the play and the players. As a departure from the flimsy and meretricious stuff which has been offered on the American stage of late it was as refreshing as those hale and hearty winds that blow from the sea upon Ireland and give to its life a tang that is distinctive and spellbinding. The older school of Irish playwrit-in- g had its charms, but it did not attempt to interpret the magic of the heart of Ireland. It was frankly of the stage stagey and always revolved themes. The around a few well-wor- n modern Irish writer is essentially conscientious. His artistic intent is high above fake and fraud. His achievement may not sweep the heights of genius nor always touch the profundities of human nature, but there is something so true, and at the same time poetic, about it that the honestj mind is grappled to it with hoops of steel. In John Ferguson" the author has bared for our inspection the workings of Irish minds and hearts as they ' function among the Ulster folk. He is not afraid to accept for literary purposes certain conditions of life which the Victorian wri ters. blush ing-lavoided. John Ferguson is a farmer with a beautiful daughter, Hannah, who is o courted by James Caesar, a grocer who has made a success of business despite the attempts of Henry Withrow to ruin him. When the play opens Withrow, a hard-fisteburly, cruel giant, is about to foreclose a mortgage on the homestead of John Ferguson, who faces the prospect of being evicted in his old age and sickness, together with his .wife, his daughter and his son Andrew, whom he had destined for the ministry, but who has been compelled to remain on the farm doing his poor best at a distasteful occupation. A letter has been sent to John Ferguson's brother in America, but the reply and the money to save the farm come too late. Meantime ruin falls in upon the family. James Caesar, mean-spiritepenurious and cowardly, but and talkative, offers to save the farm if Hannah will wed him. In the homestead, before all the family, an encounter takes place between Withrow and Caesar. Withrow wrings Caesars neck and is astounded when he is slapped in the face by Hannah. She accepts Caesar and Withrow departs with the bitter knowledge that he cannot seize the farm. Later in the day -- Hannah rebels. Her brother makes it celar to all that the marriage is distasteful to her and that her father, almost unconsciously, and the mother, quite consciously, have been forcing the match. The father is deeply religious. He consults the Bible in every crisis, constantly tels his family that Gods hand is in the slightest affairs of life and that God makes no mistakes." He adheres to the absolute letter of the rule forgive thine enemies. Hannah is sent, in the early evening, to tell Withrow that he may foreclose the mortgage, as she will not marry Caesar. Meantime Caesar has returned to the Ferguson household and is told that Hannah has changed her mind. He has been bragging in the village that he is to wed her and his humiliation is keen. In his weak, whining way he makes himself ridiculous while considering himself a martyr. boy, has wanClutie, a dered into the house. His keen ears, used to all the sounds of the open, detect strange, wild noises. He rushes out and ushers in the frantic Hannah. She has been attacked and mistreated Caesar, who has long by Withrow. been threatening Withrows life, sets out now with much din and fury to Andrew, oraccomplishe the deed. dered to follow him and bring him back, refuses to obey his father, who half-witte- d- starts in pursuit, despite his infirm- ities. He even goes so far as to call on Withrow and warn him, believing that to be his Christian duty. It is at this juncture that the significance of the character of Clutie" appears. It is a character wonderfully and poetically interpreted by Joseph Allentpn. In the classic plays there was a chorus which, among other things, revealed to the auditors the thoughts of the characters. This obviated the necessity of the soliloquy, an odd and somewhat tiresome feature of the Elizabethan plays, which discarded the chorus because of its unreality.. Clutie" is introduced to tell us what is going on in the mind of Andrew Ferguson that dread night. In a wild, wandering way Clutie opines that Caesar is too craven and mean-spirite- d to carry out his threat. That is what Andrew is thinking and he and Clutie talk back and forth about the probabilities of Caesars Everything that killing Withrow. Clutie says is a marvelously true analysis of Caesars character, given, however, in the manner of a pathetic half-wi- t in wThom mentality is struggling with a fog that lifts only to settle down again. But the zanys talk goads Andrew to desperation and decision. When the family sleeps he takes down a rifle and goes out to seek Withrow. There is nothing funnier in recent plays than Caesars return to the Ferguson household in the morning to confess all the absurdities of his failure to kill Withrow. In this role Edward Favor has achieved an artistic masterpiece. It is rife with the genius of comedy and with the realism of life. Withrow is found shot through the heart. Of course, Caesar is arrested 4' and incarcerated. The expected letter from America arrives at this juncture and saves the farm. In their mad grief Andrew and Hannah cry out on God, and are censured by the father. A moment later, however, when Andrew confesses that it was he who killed Withrow the father temporarily forgets his religion and urges Andrew to flee. The mother joins in g the appeal and a scene, in which Andrew insists that he must find his own peace" by confessing to the authoriteis. The end 4'. comes when he leaves for the barracks to give himself up. The ending, of course ,is not satisfactory to those who have been accustomed to the namby-pambendings of most of our plays. Our dramatists can feed us bitter gallons of tragedy, but at the end must hand us a sugar heart-searchin- y sop. And what is the moral of the play? It is difficult to say. Perhaps there is none. The moral of most of our lives will be known only after we have passed, like Andrew, out at the door. ff'C'AIR and Warmer, the Avery Hopwood comedy which has been one of the greatest successes of recent years, is playing at the Salt Lake theatre. The presentation is in the hands of capable players who make each scene one long shriek of laughter. Orpheum bill opens this week the crack of a whip. A big Anzac cuts pieces of paper from the teeth and hair of another Anzac with a whip-las- h at twenty paces. He THE y well-to-d- d, d, loud-threateni- ng SCENE FROM " NOT YET MARIE MUSICAL COMEDY HIT FEATURING THE ORPHEUM'S BIG THANKSGIVING WEEK'S HILL |