The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-06-19
ANNA DICKINSON.
The Crown of ThOrns.

| The Portland Museum was two-thirds filled
Saturday evening by people drawn to the house
| through curiosity to see Miss Anna Dickinson
in her new play, "The Crown of Thorns." The
audience was of the better class of Portland au-
diences, slow to applaud, quick to see defects,
exacting in its requirements, rigidly bent on
| not being ''illusonated,' constantly seeking
for opportunities to yawn, and as merciless in
its judgments as an English civil service COM
mission. 1t was agreeably surprised both in
the play and the actor, grew cordial in its ex-
pressions Of approval, and extended to Miss
| Dickinson call before the curtain at the close
| of the third act.
| The performance was certainly great sur
prise to those who had been led by perusal of
| the harsh comments called forth by the OPEN
! ing night at the Globe, to expect great fail
ure. 1t was anything but that. The play it.
self is grave and stately tragedy, equal in act
| Ing capabilities and far superior in language to
| score of historical dramas which hold the
stage today. Its situations are, with one exeep.
ton, natural, and are all effective, its interest
| throughout amply sustained, its dialogue salts
factory, its delineation of character forcible in
| the main, though sometimes too sketchy. Its
| rection The dialogue is too condensed, the &C.
tlon insuficiently prolonged. Thus the climax
es at the end of the acts, otherwise artistic and
always naturally brought about, are marred by
| the want of elaboration in the dialogue. The
| actors are called upon to express too much the
| audience to imagine too much. With actors of
| great excellence and with quick and highly cul.
| tured audiences the defect would be a trivial
one. But ordinary actors and ordinary au-
| diences are taxed too much. Yet this fault in
| the first work of a playwright is itself prom
Use Of success in the future, showing as it does
entire absence of triviality and redundancy, err
rorS from which many of our best acting plays
| are unfortunately not free. From the literary
| standpoint the tragedy is triumph, and Miss
Dickinson has abundant reason to feel proud of
her achievement. The great bIemish of the
play is the unworthy expedent near the close
| of the last act when Anne is induced to sign,
without reading, the paper renouncing the
| claim of her daughter to the succession. Pass
| ing over her want of power thus to dispose of
| the heirship to the throne it will be asked why
| Cromwell does not place before her the confess
| sion he is so anxious to extort, since, to save
the lives of her friends, she so readily consents
| to sign any paper without even glance at its
| contents. As to the characterization people
will in great measure be guided in their opin-
| ions by preconceved ideas. The power and
| boldness of the delineations are not to be dis
puted. though insufficient time is given in
| which to satisfactorily present the complex
character of Wolsey.
Miss Dicknson's acting, too, was an agreea-
| BILE surprise. She has obvious faults, most of
| which are capable OF correction, and labors I'M.
| der some misfortunes; but she certainly pos
sesses the dramatic instinct for she is intensely
| absorbed in the impersonaton, impressive in
| her acting, perfect in the expression of her
| lines tender and gracious in her softer moods,
| queenly in her wrath, moving in her woe. Her
| utter freedom from even an approach to stagi-
ness was in refreshing contrast to the affecta-
| tons and mannerisms of those about her, and
| the naturalness of her acting commanded the
| sympathy and admiration of her audience. She
certainly lost nothing however defective her
stage education, by comparison with the expe
| rienced actors who surrounded her. Her mis-
fortunes are those of face and figure; but genius
would make her audiences forget all that.
One of her faults is that of voice. She pre-
| serves her platform tone, that cadence which is
| almost sing song, and which is perhaps a re-
| miniscence of early education in the meeting
houses Of the Friends. There is no fexibility.
no variety to her voice. In the ordinary dia-
logue of the play she reproduces the tone of the
conversational part Of her lectures, in the pa
thetic passages we hear the wall in which,
from the platform, she describes the martyr
dom of the heroic Maid of Domremy. Her
tone is not offensive, not nearly so disag reeable
as much of the affected stage elocution; but it
is unnatural; people do not talk that way. 1t
recalls the platform too wildly, and provokes
disadvantageous comparison with herself, a
comparison of Anna Dickinson achieving a
noble triumph on the platform and Anna
| Dickinson attempting hazardous experiment
on.the stageSo perhaps to do justice to her stage
elocation one should never have heard her on
| the platform. Another and grievous fault, a
"Reminiscences of the platform, is the too great
| oratorical pause at the end of a sentence. This
| is exasperating to the listener who cannot rec
oncile himself to these deliberate pauses after
every rounded period in her utterances of scorn
or despair or entreaty. But these are faults
which ought to be easily remedied. 1t is but
1
platform in her acting She is completely un-
conscious of her audience and not a suspicion
of the lecturer intrudes itself. Another fault,
and one which can be easily overcome, is the
| prolongation of the nervous tremor in her mo-
| ments of horror, as when she is regarding the
block. 1t is at first very effective and the
spectator shudders with her; but the tremor is
permitted to last too long; the first effect pass.
es off, and he finds himself wondering how
in the world she manages to shake herself so.
| However, there is not one of these faults that
cannot be easily remedied, and aggregated they
| do not spoil the performance. Miss Dickinson
acts with great spirit and intelligence, and Tn
deniably acts we'll But to simply to act we'll
is not enough in her case. She will be tested,
perhaps uDjustly, by the highest standard, and
she certainly does not exhibit the highest dra-
matte genius She is wanting in something
which every great actor possesses. We should
call it magnetism if that word not had got into
politics. She does not..compel her audience to
forget that she is Anna Dickinson and to be-
lieve that she is England's unfortunate queen.
Her auditors sympathize and admire but never
become oblivous of her personality. She does
not lift them out of realization of their sur
roundings. does not take hold of and control
their imaginations. They never lose sight of
the fact that it is recitation, are never pos
sessed of the illusion that it is reality Its
effect is less than that produced by her Joan of
Arc lecture. But if this power which makes
the great actor can be attained by education
and study aud strong determination, which is
extremely doubtful, she will attain it. If it
cannot be, she must content herself with re-
naming merely good actor
The support calls for no particular mention,
except in the case of Miss Cowper who gave a
fine impersonation, finished, forcible and natu-
| raj, of Jane Seymour.
| VISITING MAsoNs.-Worceste Commandery
Of knights .Templar and st. Paul Comman-