THE CRIMSON PLAYGOER

"You never can tell what a woman will do next", said the stage detective.

"Yes", agreed the butler. "That's why I never married."

Similarly one can never be sure of what will happen, next in a detective play, but as it lasts only a few hours instead of a lifetime the risk is not so great. However, in the case of "Cornered", at the St. James, from which the above quotation is made, the venture is moderately successful.

It is always easy to pick flaws in a play of this description and Dodson Mitchell's melodrama is no exception. Here things work out a bit too easily and the "long arm of coincidence" is surprisingly helpful. But in order to combat this, the author has busied himself more with the earlier denouements and complications, and allowed the audience to guess the final outcome. For example, before the play was half over, it was not a difficult matter to determine which half of the dual-role would win the hero, but it was not easy to accept all of the various ways in which the playwright jammed the situations into plausibility.

"Cornered" as a serious, logical play is not one to bring forth high praise, especially when one gives it a second thought. Considered merely as a vehicle for entertainment it has its merits. Several years ago Madge Kennedy made it a success on those merits, and this week the Boston Stock Company is again thrilling their audiences.

Miss Adelyn Bushnell alternately charmed in the roles of Mary Brennan, a crook, and Margaret Waring, an, orphan heiress. She was especially good as the crook impersonating the heiress, but her performance would have been better had she differentiated the two parts.

Mark Kent, as Jerry, the "gent", and Houston Richards as a dope field got the most out of picturesque parts. As the proprietress of a low-life Chinese pleasure palace, Miss Roach by her gestures and pronunciation added color to a colorful characterization.