A PROCURESS'S "PROFESSION."

NZ Truth, Issue 106, 29 June 1907, Page 7

A PROCURESS'S "PROFESSION."

W'S SCATHING J SATIRE.

The Prohibited Playi

Pecksniff's, Panders, and Parasites ? Paralysed. .

a Although we have '-'song and dance erformances innumerable x on .. the Vgftge m this country, it is .very sel--'■■p, it must be admitted, that we Jet plays of the kind produced to England by Pinero and Shaw. This' is /possibly owing to the taste of; the Ltheatre-going public not being of juob. a character as to enable its possessors to appreciate Shaw and PinJpro, or it maybe that theatrical enV^cepreneurs do not, m this matter, ■ Jnsplay sufficient enterprise. Shaw's jplays.are, however, highly appreoiatJed and properly . patronised m other Icounttrie^, arid among these, m the JUnited States. There is, for vnr Igiance, Ms play, "Mrs - Warren's Progression." This was, at first, prohihV 'Jted m New York, but the proMbi--o.ion, it was foilnd, could not toe sustained, and. the consequence is that '"Ibhe striking -play is toeing acted Inightly to very large audiences. ' It is ~Jbhus commented upon m a recent issue of- the New York "Worker":— L "Bernard Shaw played a meao teicji, ©n some people i>n the Manhattan theatre audience to-night. These had Evidently come hither' seeking the sal- '■ "iousness which the highly sensitive; '-Mcs on the highly moral papers Nyitten into the play. But those • to laugh remained to listen ; not a cemfortable sibut still a silence. "rly, nearby finally choked Sj^ble giiggling, and **qian two rpws back ' raucous voice, ■ - Jse stwee alaron as lied tofiim. And I s f thdng occtes-fighji, Mjnue to wjiil the understand %not V)MEDY, Vi modern sol/riumph ■ for ws, m fact — Igerness and ispectfii! in«y the very jity and a •J, was as \ gome to is and \esios-xiur-%u \st

time* Not often is a tribute, so ■ well won or so grudgingly paid. '•'Not that there was anything m particular wronig with the audience*, as audiences go. Only one was made to feel that it was made up too much of people, who oanie not . to hear Shaw,, the social surgeon, fcvt ' THE UNCLEAN SHAW, , the daily press had; pictured 1 . It must have surprised 1 them to find themselves following with rapt interest as terrible an indictment of social conditions as oould be presented on the stage. ' ■:''■■• /':"■. '■'To me, therefore, the audience was part of the play. How could I ■help asking myself bow this thing ' was affecting them, if the shameful \ truths so nakedly spoken did aot.sen'd! them away with a strange stir m their hearts and a haunting idea m thedr heads •? ... "Mrs Warren's profession Is THAT OP PROCURESS. She is m partnership with Sir George Crofts, a rich, but still a ''practical" ,roue. She has kept her daugh--ter,! Vivie, m ignorance of the means whereby the girl's education is paid, for. But the time comes when the daughter learns where the money comes from, and she repulses Croft's' advances, breaks with Frank Gardner (whom Crofts maliciously declares is her half-brother), turns her mother away; and starts out m. life for hersielf. V. "This reads simple, but around this little story there is wrought a wonderfully strong and searching analysis of existing society. Mrs Warren ■;..':.. BECAME A PROSTITUTE of necessity, 'because she would rather take her cham<Ses of the river than the white lead factory where her sister was poisoned' working for a poor wage. She had inherited from a "gentleman" of a father a chronic indisposition to work hard and starve slowly like her mother. .But she wanted to save her own daughter from the necessity of a similar choice and had saved and planned and plied an f noxious traffic for that end. And educatioiiTwhibh the daughter reveuf was the t^ry thing which steeled her fcaaj&^jagart'nst the mother ,jwho, •was~ cast, oufrpy ■ J ffinm^'toettig~~'She had held Isacred m her heart and wholesome m her thoughts. That last meeting of the mother and^daughter is one NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN. , "Mary Shaw was admirable as Mrs Warm, a most difficult part, easily ruined by over-emphasis of coarseness or by an exaggerated exhibition of the mother love and longing that has survived through demoralising circumstances. Not a bad woman at heart, mind you, but one calloused a»d cynical by, seeing much rotten-

ness and shallow pretension, though still retaining a belief m "character," despising .snivelling hypocrisy, and consistent to herself, without illusions, and understanding w,eli her true position. She has,also a regard for ''self-respect," meaning the selfrespect that she has been accustomed to see MONEY BUY SO READILY. A straightforward and yet a most complex character, presented m all its subtle shading by Miss Shaw with infinite skill and thoroughness. "Catherine Countiss was too stiff and 'hard as Vivie m the earlier scenes; but warmed up gradually and carried faer passages with Crofts and' her mother through very effectively. Vivie is a striking example of a girl whose primitive instincts hav<e been smothered by the process of education to which the cultured classes are subjected to-day. Only when, at the end of the second act, she opens the door and lets m the ait and moonlight, ,does, the contact with nature steer her true to her better .self, and her natural. , SENTIMENT FOR HER MOTHER breaks through ,the conventional coating which encases her. "Bernard Shaw did a bold thing m ■writing "Mrs Warren's Profession.." No wonder th*K papers of New York howled. ■ Well may they howl, for the play smites their false society and its* immoral morality swiftly and mightily. -A wrong impression of the play and iis purpose may serve to keep canny, good people from going to see it for /a while, but finally they will see it. They must, if they are "noli to die of dry rot. "Meanwhile Shaw can afford to wait. ~" IT HAS TAKEN YEARS for "Widowers* Hpuses" and "Mrs Warren's Profession" to reach us, but they ar« Ware/ and they can never fo» gainsaid again. It is good to have lived -to see such plays produced on the modern stage. Very soon going to the theatre will be really worth while— not as a pastime alone, but as an inspiration and an illuminator of ! the big and little things m life that 'touch us all."

Permission has been granted to the first battalion, Otago Infantry, to have the Wtords -"South Africa, 1901---1902," embroidered on their colors for service rendered by members during the late war. How noble ! One would have imagined that the v late war" was forgotten long ago. Otago wants to perpetuate his memory evidebtly. The colors are no doubt, yellow ; if ,not, they, ought to toe. , An inquest was held at Ohakiine the other day on the death of Patrick Henry Munro. who was found dead. Deceased was reported tp have been formerly a notorious criminal, but had somewhat reformed of late. He had purchased a quantity of chlorodyne from a store, and was found dead on the road. Quite so. Another victim to the drug fiend, but why was the fact that Munro was formerly a notorious criminal dragged into the matter, and published all over Now Zealand ? The fact of a man's past is apparently not covered 'by the grave^.