A PLAY INDICTED.

Colonist, Volume LXII, Issue 15308, 23 February 1920, Page 2

A PLAY INDICTED.

v Clergy in New York have been-'engaged in, a dem^adJEor suppression o4,the new play "Aphrodite." They refused to accept' as adequate; the changes already made in the production, by which ike scene of negroes mingling with white women is eliminated and the living statue of Aphrodite is placed in shadow, where the apparent nudity is not glaiv ing evident. The Rev. J. jft. Stratton, the wellknown pastor of the fashionable Calvary Baptist Church, after seeing the play in the interest of morality, lias issued a statement calling on the mayor to prevent future performances, and adding :—

"If the promoters get-by with this production I venture to prophesy that jt will not be long before some theatrical manager a little more daring than the rest will take his chance, in expectation of heavy dividends, and portray on the stage scenes of open shame. v The time has come when we must either curb these evil tendencies or give up the fight and let the modern theatre go further and further in its godless and licentious course until it completely destroys the ideals on which AngloSaxon civilisation is built."

The inhabitants of New York are flocking to see the play, and seats for every performance are sold out. One night's box office receipts amounted to £1200.'