Life — October 2, 1924 — page 10: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Water Lilies" - A Satirical Play Review This page presents a theatrical review of "Clemo Uti—'The Water Lilies'" by Ring Lardner, a satirical play mocking avant-garde theater. The plot synopsis describes nonsensical, plotless acts that go nowhere—characters enter and exit pointlessly, rats appear inexplicably, and nothing coherent happens. The humor targets experimental theater of the era that prioritized abstract or symbolic staging over narrative. The illustration "Over the Rocky Mountains" shows a pilot and passenger, with the passenger asking to identify Chicago—a mundane, practical question that contrasts with the play's absurdist pretensions. The satire suggests that modern experimental theater is laughably meaningless, more concerned with appearing artistic than actually entertaining or communicating anything substantive to audiences.