[" THE SILVER CORD " AT THE ST. MARTIN'S THEATRE]
THIS play is well off the beaten track, and despite an occasionally tedious first act, is distinctly interesting.
The Phelps ménage is a most unhappy one. The one indi- Vidual I sincerely congratulate is the late Mr. Phelps, who was removed to another—and I am sure not a worse—home Some twenty years before the scene opens. The root of the trouble is Mrs. Phelps—brilliantly played by Miss Lilian Braithwaite, in whose hands the silver cord of mother-love becomes an iron chain. She knows no scruples in her desperate attempts to retain her almost demoniacal hold on her " two big strong boys "—though anything less virile than Robert, who has no " guts " (the expression is his scientist wife's, not mine) and whose main occupation seems to be moving flower-pots about, cannot well be imagined.
It is difficult to single out individual triumphs in an excellent cast; but I must mention Miss Marjorie Mars's rendering of Hester's hysteria when Robin jilts her at mamma's instigation. Her realism was more than poignant, and I had to comfort myself with the thought that Hester's insanity would prove quite a temporary affair.., She seemed far too sensible a girl not to appreciate her luck in escaping the dreadful fate of becoming Mrs. Phelps's daughter-in-law.' • T. W. :.•••
Previous page
