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Show I MASQUERAOER. AT THE I ORPHEUM THEATRE. I IS ENJOYED j n- Godfrey Matthsws) Surely Hie Unanimous verdid I ih(io wiio attended lasl night's per-foAnance per-foAnance of ih "Masquerader nt h-H. h-H. Orpheum theater was that rarely had B' iliov focn in ocden a play of 'such com-Hh com-Hh p. iiinK interest, acting of such connid enjblc power, as 'hot. brought to them 1 tqe art of Guy Hates Tost find Mis spendid compan) rho play, wrriten by John Hunter Bopth, is founded en tne novel jonn IOmloote, M. I'." written by (Catherine ( ncii Thurston and published as far away back as the year 1905, at any rale i was in ihe early summer of thai n,r in which the presenl criti rend the book whirl) had created a furore in English literary circle. In or.1' r to makf of the hook a play approprl ate io the present hour considerable Adaptation has been wrought bj Mr Booth particularly in his centering oT thjE interest of the piny about tne char nctor of a British politician, of bril liani sifts and wide influence who at the moment of his country's danger in ihr month of August, 1914, was found want ins by reason of his terrible cra inp for drugs. This John Chilcote, a membi r of an honored family, himself i man of real gifts in pohiical life, as gone Bieadil) from bad to worse and made of nis future fu-ture a hopelessness by gii inj: wa the drug habit. In thi- he n.is been abeiied b Lady Lillian Astnipp, a yojung and dashing beauty of Tils own society set. Except for the hiif pe- iod of their honeymoon Chilcote and his wife have lived a separate existence exist-ence inhabiting ihe same home, uut go-ing go-ing their separate wajs on aooount of ih" unapproachable mannerisms of 'he husband and his vice of drus .akint. The play opens depict in; a nisht if fog u hen l !hifcol e and his wif) art making the besi of their way home from a reception; Chilcote is very drunk and underneath th shadow 01 a street lamp stops to beg a light for ln cigaret from a passerby. The lighting light-ing of the match reveals the strange coincidence that the two men .ir cous ihe. John Chilcote and John Loder. Uiat tliey are exactly ahk-? in appei I -itnce. in looks and in voice Loder Ss an ambitious and little known journal 1st ho in company with his Juu "Hus We" has seen life in the wilds of Alaska, Alas-ka, His life has been a constant pn- ient search for the gold at the foot uf the rainbow Chilcote, it whom all Ifce responsibilities of his life h ive beanie be-anie nothing but an int rmina'n:e pro. cession of dreadful burdens reflects c j i the strange coincidence of this mpf-mg, mpf-mg, because earlier in the la le bad tuilod his party by not being in hia eat at the house of commons when he was expected to make a speech on the -terrible situation cause) dv the en-Bij en-Bij 'ranee of German troops into Belgium I He thinks he ses the way out for himself, and after being upbraided bv I ue of the leaders of his parr , Hrr bert Fraide and an outstanding Journalist. Jour-nalist. Mr. Lakeley, and after LlBton-mg LlBton-mg in cold aloofness to his wife's ap nals he determine in search nut Lod- Hjn ' i and 2,1-i bim to take hia place in ' -the house of commons and deliver Um , ! speech, which as a second ( bast I has been asked to deliver In thi- i la successful. Loder agrees that this I lime opportunity Long sought, baa ut last come knocking at his door Proni that moment forward Loder takes th place of Chilcote. the fact of h.s Iden-ttty Iden-ttty being left unknown to ('hilcoti- s H wife and to all his acquaintances ca f ptiug Brock, Mr. Chilcotc'e personal Hb i vaht. j Through three acts of eight Scenes knowing Chilcote's house, Loder's Hji i i n u -, ! . hi, -r.v it ChJlCOti home; and the lawn of Lady Wrupp's house the play works Its compelllngl I interesting way. keeping ihe audient I tcrfSely attention to the working out of U the plot. It would be in the nature oi HI -.vjng away secret to tell iho.-e win iid:not see the play how adroiiy the mflRer is worked out and we hazard II' i lie gurss that the house, which last H night was not nearly filled, 'ill lo-Mght lo-Mght be filled to capacity, n audient of lesser portions will be in th natun HI of an insult to the greatest ar'or w H' havf seen in a long lime and the re-Hjj re-Hjj inarkably well drilled company .ippe.ir inc in the play, in course the honors go o .Mr Post j Impersonating the character cf ;hr-i ;hr-i wo men, John Chilcote and Joi n Lod H --r. Mr. Post is nothing short oi inin itable The exaggerated mannerisms of an Englishman of power inline pt r H soh of John rhilcoto is splendidly interpreted in-terpreted by Mr. Post, who may I the honor to himself that Thackeray's Hook of Snobs would have b?en th-riched th-riched could lhat greater depict, r of the fngllsh snob have seen Mr. Posl play this part. Thon as John iod.'. Miofie lif lings true to fin-.- and clean HI ideals. Mr Tost was imin Miia'. h H sponsir- and splendidly .cad., for ev. ery demand of i his ch.raclrr als. He Then in h( sf in l . i nj inrnts in hich he was filled as John Loder to bury himself in. I inipe--on ;.tr Mr Chilcote, he Was surpassingly D fine. Further than all thi I, Mr. Post H la to be congratulated on tb" fine art of his production, on the minute a lontion to detail which enables him as HI a great actor to give plausibility to ii..-enaction ii..-enaction of a plot which for tnr orn-nary orn-nary person seems to or full of lui i probability. The improbarilhty, bbWev-r bbWev-r r, is not as great as it i penis. Mr. Thurston based his story on this on-Hj on-Hj approven fact of modern English po-H po-H lltlcal life. Many years igo a man fer a wager dared to imprsona'o Mr. Oladstonp in the hous of commons ; a time when the great statesman was El and won his wager. The distin-I distin-I giiished mark contrasting '"ie two mnr. i-o much alike was in fact, as in tin. play, the fact of a scarred finrrer be-konglng be-konglng to tho Masquerader. Mi Post's Interpretation last night H as so keenly enjoed and so loudly applauded that at tho close of the Bec-H, Bec-H, ond act he appeared before the curtain and wr r;i lously and briefly I thankocl the audience fur their ro-H ro-H aponalve attention to the work on the H ; Great praise Is to be accorded to 1 illce John playing the part of K n I Chilcote. She showed herself to be an 1 actress of fine grace and feeling and H H jnagnificently able in the moments of r-. ' H enaest. emotion to manifest thn art- 1 H -''s power "i gifts thai are controlled To Mr. Elwyn Eaton, playing the part of Brock, belongs great praise ',; o for one ol the truest delineations oi an English man-servant whose whole life has been richlv Invested In the service of a great family we have seen in a long time. All the smaller parts of ihe piny wore well done and the action moved forward to its close without a hitch'. The enjoyment of the evening was further increased Wfc thr beautiful ?r lections played by the orchestra unci, un-ci, r the leadership of Mr Albert Erick son. In particular wo would like to thank him for his rendition of Edward German's old English dance which we ii.iv e not heard more finely playt d In five years. Perhaps Mr. Post will visit us again, and having soon him in this great play o; motional power, may we ask him that some day he play H. B. Irving's favorite "Louis XI?" If Mr. (Joss continues bookings of, this variety there is reason to hope1 that one day Ogden will have a rcgu-lar rcgu-lar BiX days a week honost to qoodness playhouse. nn |