Within the Law Theatre Review by Howard Miller

With messages about corporate greed, the plight of the working poor, the unequal treatment of women in the workplace, and the often mutually exclusive concepts of “the law” and “justice,” it should come as no surprise that the Metropolitan Playhouse’s revival of Bayard Veiller’s Within the Law retains its ability to grip theatergoers — even though the play first saw the light of day in 1912. While it certainly is true that Within the Law is a melodrama, the writing is sharp and often very clever, and the cast, under Michael Hardart’s steady direction, stays focused on the play’s prevailing theme while assiduously steering clear of the kinds of emotional excess associated with the genre. The central character is Mary Turner (an excellent Elisabeth Preston), a smart and confident young woman who is working as a sales person at The Emporium, owned and operated by Edward Gilder (John D. McNally). Despite a stellar reputation and a spotless record, Mary has been accused of theft from the store, and has been summarily tried and convicted on circumstantial evidence, abetted by Mr. Gilder’s insistence that she be made an example of, and, as she says, the fact that her court-appointed counsel was a “boy trying his first case.”