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Show NEW PLAY, "THE FIRST MAN" NOT UP TO O'NEILL STANDARD , . "M MARGAR8T MOWER STARRING IN THE FIRST MAN." BY JOHN O'DONNELL. . NEW YORK. The commercial as well as the artistic success of Eugene O'Neill in the piis. year has placed 1 the Prohvincetown dramatist! In such doniinarm. p iiion that a failure of I his receives more attention than the I success of others The production of the third O'Neill' play of the year, "The First Man." has in no waj strengthened O'NeflTi posi tion. The pla is important because I is a work by O'Neill and disappointing because ol its dramatic weakness and I general lediousness. REVERTS TO TYPES. Most disappointing is that in "The First Man" O'Neill has ceased to be the creator ot original characters and has reverted to types. Tlie imaginative fire, the sustained swiitness of action, which made "Em-I "Em-I peror Jones" a success; the novel ) characters and the dramatist's ability to catch the glamorous and elusive ' 1 beauty ot "Anna Christie's" regenera-I regenera-I tion. are lacking In this new play. Something was lost when O'Neill j transferred his dramatic se ncs from i the jungle of Emperor Jones or the I coal bnrgc oi Anna Christie to the i somber quiet of Bridgetown. Conn. Agalunt this New England back-1 back-1 ground of bigotry, O'Neill has project i ed a slow-moving picturo of obsession, obstetrics and involuntary father' i hood. For two acts tiii.niatic action Is suf ; located in conversation as Martha (Margan' SfoweiO, wile of Curtis I Jayson. pleads at times with piteous beauty with her husband to welcome a coming infant Jayson. played In mediocre fashion by Augustin Duncan, the English actor, ac-tor, who was so well received In "The S. S. Tenacity." refuses to be recon ciled to the child. At the death of two infants, 10 years before the opening of the play, the Jaysons had solemnly agreed to give no more hostages to fortune His wife has broken the agreement; her d i am will prevent her from accompanying accom-panying him on an expedition to the Asiatic plateaus to search for the oris in of man. Hence Jayson hates the child. So for two acts. Slow moving and stifled, but loaded with O'Neill's -eri ous and sincere gleanings from life's experience. TRAGIC INTENSITY. It is in the third act that O Neill sweeps into brilliance for a brief mo ment. The off stage moaning of a woman, wo-man, the Increasing cries of pain and the final piercing scream announcinc the birth oi the child, bring the action ac-tion to a point of tragic intensity. Then the sudden announcement of his wife's death, followed by JaystnYs decision never to look upon the face of his unwelcome son. "A murderer, I hate him," says the father. In the last act the dramatist sounds a consoling note, as In "Anna Christie": Chris-tie": the father. is reconciled t- his child. Dut happy or unhappy, this fl nal act is iinconvinclng. The tragic knol Is loosened but the hand of the dramatist is apparent and the fingers are clumsy. |