There was a young man called ---- sounds almost like the first line of a limerick, doesn't it? Suggested, no doubt, by the extreme simplicity of the play. However, this young man's name is Raymond - John Raymond. He is one of those fanatics who insist that no woman can follow the stage as a profession and come through the ordeal unsullied. John points this out to the dear little girl he loves. She laughs, but means to go on; to win fame and glory on the stage with her beautiful voice. John is a doctor, and if Adelina Von Hagen knew as much about the medical profession as John apparently knew about the stage, well - perhaps "The Climax" would never have been written. The Puritanical John is so upset at the idea of Adelina going on the stage that he persuades her, by a process of "mental suggestion" to refrain from singing for some little time owing to a defect in the vocal chords. We see Adelina, who lives with an elderly professor of music and his son in humble apartments in New York, swallowing the doctor's humbug as easily as the fluid he sprays into her throat. Then comes the climax. She may try to sing again. John gives permission. Alas, the voice is gone and poor Adelina nearly kills herself in her grief! Feeling that it is better to live than to die, she gives up hopes of the stage and consents to marry John. On the morning of her wedding, hey, presto! the voice comes back again, and John confesses his guilt. In his wrath Pietro, the professor's son, who dearly loves Adelina, rushes upon John to kill him, but his father prevents the crime. John leaves the house and Adelina runs wild with delight at the return of her voice. Whether she forgives and forgets we are not told, but we may safely suppose that she follows the old professor's advice, "You will forgive him, Adelina." It is a wonderful mixture of farce, comedy and tragedy. Only four characters, but all of them delightfully simple and all simply delightful.
Playgoer and Society Illustrated - Vol II, No. 9