Table Of ContentAT THE THEATRE
By BROOKS ATKINSON
New York Times (1923-Current file); Feb 20, 1953;
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times (1851-2009)
pg. 14
AT .T:HE,
The Cast
Having one good play to his Pi~:~'St~g:la6y l~os~~~eeLo:~; ~n:;m~ :
credit, William Inge now has an
Ughtlng by Jo Mlelzlner; costumes by Mil
other, "Picnic," put on at the dred Trebor; presente4 by the Theatre GuUd
and Mr. Logan. At the MUSic Box.
Music Box last evening, And mem Helen Potts. •..••.••••••••• , ••• Ruth McDevitt .
orable though "Come Back, Little ~u;~~· ':::.:: :':::. :'::.:: :':.~JfJ1 rt!1!i:; •
Sheba" was three seasons ago, Bomber ..........................M orrls Mn~yr
Madge Owens ••••••••••••••••••••• JanIce Ru e
"Picnic" is a notable improvement. ~~e~:r~ssldi:ieY .:: :::::::::::: :~~~i~ ~~~~~
Taking a group of commonplace Alan Seymour ..................P aul Newman
people in a small ~ansas town on CIrhmrias tKinreo nSkclhteo en."w al.d.e.r. ..•.•.•.•.•.. E..l.Iz..a.b Reteht aW Sihlsaown
a hot Labor Day just before school Howard Bevans .•...•.•..••.. Arthur O'Connell
I
opens,' Mr. Inge has made a rich
and fundamental play o.ut of them
that is tremendously moving in the I direction and acting are beautiful
last act. In the first )act they .look1 also. Although Joshua Logan has
commonplace, but they are people I staged D10re spectacular perfofD1-
of strength and valor by the time ances, he has never staged one so
Mr. Inge has finished dramatizing fine. Working like an associated
them. artist he has helped sketch the en
Everything is drowzily casual vironment with grace and good hu
when the curtain goes up on a sun mor. When the mood gets serious
baked yard shared by two famlies he stages the climax powerfully
that have no men in them. Mrs. without losing the sunny mood of
Owens, the neighbor on the left, the opening scenes. J'0 Mielziner in
has two growing daughters and his most imaginative form has de
she hopes to marry the prettiest signed a shabby. heat-drenched
of them to the richest boy in town. small town yard that has an artis-
But a braggart vagrant with a
tic vitality of its o;vn. I
huge. lanky bOdy strolls into the
yard, and Mr. Inge's play begins to * * *
come into focus. All the women The acting is superb. As the
begin to take a new lease on life. cheap braggart. Ralph Meeker acts'
Since Mr. Inge can write comedy from the inside out, never forget
as well as drama, the first stir ting that the character has a valid
rings among the girls and women ity of its own. Janice Rule gives
are amusing. But "Picnic" is a a .lovely performance as the beau
deadly serious play. Before it is
tifUl maiden whose mind is unclear
over, the vagrant with the loud
but whose instincts are sound and
mouth and the unsavory past has
courageous. As a tom-boy with
altered the whole landscape. What
brains and artistic gifts. Kim Stan
ever was unreal in the first scene ley gives a penetratint5 perform
is brutally real in' the last act.
ance that conveys the distinction
Forces get loose that no one will a.
as well as the gaucheries of dis
ever again put under control.
arming young lady.
* * ,* Peggy Conklin as an anxious
Mr. Inge knQWS his characters mother, Eileen Heckart as a school
so well that you cannot distinguish teacher with a hunger for life and
them from the· drama. Everything a knack for getting it. Paul New
seems to progress under its own man as a eo lIege lad infatuated
momentum once the characters are with a. pretty face, Ruth McDevitt
defined and th(l situ~tion created. as a wistful neighbor, Arthur
For Mr. Inge seems to have no O'Connell as a comically reluctant
p~rsonal point of ' view, but only a br.idegroom-help to bring to life
knowledge of people and an iH all the cross-currents of Mr. Inge's,
stinct for the truth of the world sensitive writing.
they live in. Given a wayward The promise of "Come Back, Lit
brute who has a certain sincerity tle Sheba" is abundantly f~lfilled.1
of his own, and a flimsy world of uPicnic" is an original, honest play
Ilazy illusions blows apart. The with an awareness of people. Most
women who are first amused and of the characters in "Picnic" do
then titillated look around them ill not know what is happening to
astonishment and terror at the end. them. 'But Mr. Inge does, for he is
BeautifUl as the writing is. the an artist.
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