THE OPEN ROAD

If the natives of northern New England can be lured from their rustic retreats during the evening hours of the coming summer, they will be exposed to a devastating blast of culture which should last them for some time. All the accumulated talent of Harvard and much of the purest cream of the professional stage, under the leadership of a recent graduate of Yale, will carry the gospel of the theatre from under the shadow of the Sacred Codfish to the barren hinterland of Maine and New Hampshire.

In its selection of plays to be offered at its various one night stands along the road, the company has indeed been brave. He who would undertake to present W. B. Yeats and W. S. Gilbert to rural audiences whose previous experience of the drama has probably been acquired from "East Lynne" and the Number Three Company of "Uncle Tom's Oabin" is obviously a man of mettle. If Mr. Bushnell Cheney, who is playing the general part of Moses to the troupe, had not already demonstrated the practicability of his idea in a former tour, he might almost be considered one of those who have no quaims about rushing in where others prefer to let someone else be the first pioneers.

In a way it is unfortunate that the voyageurs are to travel in a commonplace Ford truck, and not, like Scaramouche, in a gaily painted wagon. So much, in these experiments, depends on the method of approach, that the loss in travelling time would be more than offset by the resultant gain in advertising, which could be achieved by having the comedian, in blackface, clashing cymbals from the roof of a purple-and-yellow moving van; as the caravan wound at an impressive pace through the countryside. Still, one can't have everything. For the present, Maine and New Hampshire will have to be content with the Ford truck and the famous Dramatic Club lighting. Perhaps another year will see the darkey, the cymbals, and the moving van playing up in the good old Ringling style.