Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-11-18

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Truth of History. gr.
Executioner's Block. ..quan. stuff.
Star Chamber and Tower of London. .. l ca.
Dungeons and Royal Palaces. lad. lib.
Sig.-Shake we'll together and season with
ambitious dukes, an imbecile king. queen
uniustly deprived of her throne. a few deep
dyed villains, impossible lovers signs, the final
triumph of the wicked, and dialogue to suit.
Such, at least seems to have been the
basis for the construction of ''Lady Jane
Grey" rendered at the Opera House last
evening by the Bowers Thompson dramatic
combination. A single scrap from tho Ca
reer of Bloody Mary suffices for the SUBJ
structure of drama depicting at once the
most fendish and the noblest emotions of
the human heart In close juxtaposition-so
close, indeed, as to make the contrast
doubly damning of the one and dedication
of the other. The heartlessness of Mary
Tudor is magnified into fendishness, with
only occasional flashes of humane or
womanly instincts to maintain the illusion
that she retains the divine spark within her.
John Dudley is darker villain that even
his worst critics have depicted him, but had
Arundel in the same boat, while the devo-
ton of Lady Jane and Guilford Dudley was
something approaching the mythical loves
of the anoients.
Yet the play has much dramatic merit.
Its incidents are intensely dramatic and we'll
constructed as to detail, one after another
scene full of electric fire following in quick
succession. It keeps the attention of the
audience on q constant tension, and though
there are no surprJses-each scene suggest
ing that which is to follow-there is no
lapse of interest from first to last. The dia-
logue is chaste and appropriate, though
there has been visible effort on the part of
the author to avoid using the language of
Shakespeare while he employs his ideas.
OF tho rendering of the several charac-
ters we cannot speak to highly. Mrs. Bow
ers as Mary Tudor displayed a tragic power
that far surpassed in intensity and artistic
excellence the efforts of any actress that has
trod the boards of the Opera House for
many years. Combined to good presence
she possesses wonderfully expressive voice,
and has attained perfection in all the stage
details that contribute so much to the COM
pleteness of performance. She dressed her
part richly and appropriately. Miss Char
lotte Thompson as Lady Jane was all that
the imagination of tho readers of her tragic
history has depicted-a lovely, oonfding
girl, o stranger to court intrigue, possessing
a woman's heart in it's largest sense, yet cap
able of the expression of tho most violent
emotions Of adherence and loathing. She
depicted with equal success the sentiments
of the devoted lover, the hauteur of
the indignant and injured woman,
and the agony Of condemned queen. Mr..
McOo]lom as John Dudley was model of
the ambitious, unprincipled, yet in many
undetermined earl with the delinea-
ton of which the semi traditional history of
the times so largely teens. Mr.. Thorne
made an admirable Guilford Dudley. both in
makeup and in histrlonic execution. Mr..
Powers made fine Arundel, depicting all
the craft and hate of which the role is capa-
BILE with rare fidelity. Taken as o whole no
more complete performance has ever been
given in st. Paul. It was symmetrical in
its every detail, we'll and carefully dressed
and chastely rendered.
This evening the "Hunchback" will be
given, with Mrs. Bowers rs Julia, Miss
Thompson as Helen, Mr.. McCollom as Mas
ter Walter, Mr.. Power as Clifford, and Mr..
Thorne as Modus. At the matinee to NOR
row "Mephistopeles in Petticoats'' will be
given, and in the evening "Court and
Stage" .....-..-..