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Show 1 ! With the First Nighters HP "THE HAVOC." Hj By T, G. H Tliere is a complexity in the world old story H i as newly wrought in "The Havoc" that causes its V ; author to just miss greatness. Free from sickly M sentimentality, direct to the point of boldness, M, complete in its illusion, almost perfect in its con- M cinnity; its banality, which reoccurs with fie- j quency is the jarring note which puts it out of Mt tune with the great dramas that have gone bo- m fore. And still it is one of the bright lights of H hope before those who have maintained that the B time is not far distant when American dramatists B will attain the heights held so securely by the H old world masters of the craft. H It is strange that the let down, almost to the H point of flippancy, should come during the course H of the objurgation of the husband, at the time of H his deepest stress, but there is no accounting for H what may possess the mind of an author after a t burst of brilliancy in which he has Shown real H Hashes of greatness. Perhaps it is to be charged H to the eccentricities of genius, or mayhap to the H temptation to momentarily relieve the tension B with a laugh, but it is too bad that Sheldon car- H ried the business instinct of his principal to the H point where he could calmly mention household H expenses while deciding at the crucial moment of H his life, the course he would pursue in facing the H sudden havoc that had entered it. H But Sheldon's drama is a wonderful one, de- H void of theatricalism unless one must consider H that possibly such situations could never occur. If H the imagination is given lull play, however, there H aije very few products of American dramatists H that supercede it in force of word and action, and the characters are drawn with a cleverness that H must instantly stamp the man an adept in de- M lineation. H In fact it is in these characters even more than H in the situations that Sheldon excels, and Mr. Mll- H ler, Mr. Byrne and Miss Crews, not to overlook H Mr. Pennell, are thoroughly flnished in their in- H interpretations. Henry Mijler grows and grows B in the part of tlie outraged husband, leading step M by step to the full proportions outlined for the H character, and hi speech and pantomime through H all the gripping,' breathless scenes" is the cou- M summate actor. H Francis Byrne who plays Hessert, whoso phil- H osophy is a sham, whose love is only carnal, M whoso life iu a lie, and whose character is a mass of component weaknesses, is an actor of remark- M i able ability, and the way in which he goes to M ' pieces wheu face .to face with new and unbooked m for responsibilities is the work of a real artist. B Kate, "as played by Laura Hope Crews, was H just what it was intended she should be, con- m i veying by look and gesture, turn and droop her jguilt or fear or sadness, and at the close, she was H study in wearied anguish that could not fail to M The startling situation in "The Havoc" comes H ,oE the transposition of relations suggested by the H husband when he finds that he has been deceived H by his wife and his friend who lives in the samo H house, and the working out of their damnation as K planned by him, is as pretty a revenge as has flH 1 over been conceived by anyone who has ever writ- BH ten on the woes of the transgrssor in the homo. IH But in the conclusion, the woman is not allowed jHr '' to suffer, and the last impression leavep one H imagining that she has learned her lesson well B and that the love of the real man will light her H way to happiness. M "The Havoc' is a fine , and those w,ho are H interpreting it could scaivdy bo improved upon. |