SATIRIST SHAW:

NZ Truth, Issue 103, 8 June 1907, Page 6

SATIRIST SHAW:

HIS "W!DO¥/ERS' HOUSES.';

A Caustically Clever Comedy.

New York paper;* arc revelling m the lurd-hitting of "thev shams and shallownesses of the -smug;, selfcentred, propertied classes," which is contained in.Boriuurt Shaw's brilliant comedy, ' Widowers' Houses, ' now being- finally staged and played at Field's Herald-Square Theatre, New Yorlc. As the New 'fork "Worker" says, >" 'Widowers' Houses' is aim of Shaw's most uncompromising .^reductions. •' All the power ofHIS UNTRAMMELLED WIT and his profound contempt for those who profit by unjust conditions arc pub. into this play without mercy." The action of the' play is laid m London, but at might just as vrell have been laid m New York.. The following is the "Worker's" synopsis of the play :— : Dr. Henry Tronch masts the. daughter of Mr. Sartorius' while on an European tnin, and. falls m love with her. A match is made, but later cm Trench le&ms- that tlie income { of his fiance's father, whose money is to help to support the married pair, is derived flrom . -the rents of THE WORST SLUMS .; m London. His better instincts aroused,. m an impulsive but sane moment lie breaks oft the engagement with Blanche. Later, however, ho is informed that his own income .is derived from the same source, that he is a mortgagee of tlie very property over which Mr. Sartorius exercises supervision, and inpiden tally piles up a dowry for his future son-in-law. This puts a very different aspect on the case for Mr French and he is easily lei to see that^. "business is business," and that the "wretched working classes" must have these hqmes, for "they can't afford any better, don't you know." He, v is reconciled to accepting , Mr. Sartorius's money, with THE DAUGHTER THROWN IN, and all ends happily for the precious group. '.Th' 3 heroine, Blanche, is thoroughly selfish, hot-tempered, and spoiled. Amonfi the minor characters otic [of trie most striking portrayed is 1 j i Lickcheese— a name whoso appropriateness is worthy of Dickens. ! Lickcheese is rent collector for Sartorius until the latter discharges him for spending a few shillings on repairs on some rotten sairs m a filthy tenement, and then it is thatLickcheese informs Trench of the source of Sartorius 's income. Later, Lickcheese lises the knowledge he has acquired, as rent collector to to a little land speculating on his own account, becomes wealthy, and interests his former employer m a scheme to erect "model dwellings" for the poor, where municipal improvements will shortly Ye made, and thus increase the value of his property. ;l There ia : A DELICIOUS SCENE j m the last act, when a. conference is held for the purpose of getting Trench around to this proposition. The /disgust of Sartorius, Trench, and Cokane at haying 'to consort with the cunning little upstart whom i they formerly despised, is skilfully concealed beneath their polite' demeanour, but he knows them too well to be offended, and their mercenary motives compel them to tolerate, him. This synopsis necessarily gives but a faint idea of the wealth of wit and truth contained m the play. Mr. Shaw's fertility of resource was jnver so cleverly displayedi