New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-03-21

at the Park Theatre Is wholly unPIoOCuSnu'oN III
this city. Every seat for the REMAINDER oi hiS Gu
gagement has been taken.
MARY ANDERSON'S REPRESENTATIONS.
Acting Shakespeare is writing poetry In the air
and the actor with motion, face, and voice. Is just
as much bound by the laws of form as the poet Is
who works with written words. Those writers VINO
break away from form do SO not on account OF theH
strength, but on account of their weakness. IL Is
much more difficult for the poet to sustain the now
ing tide Of his emotion and his thought In for ex-
ample, the great Spenserean stanza, than IL
would be for him to write the loose hexameters OF
Upper or the meOdious memoranda OF Nal'
Whitman, or the intoned. chanting lawless SEN
fences of an Osslan. So with the actor It's much
more difficult fully to assume and evenly to sus-
tam an ideal individuality, that 1t is TO make 'haU
individuality the pretext for lOose-jonted' iaul-
bling, haphazard exhibition Of self ana OF tne
impulses and feelings of the moment Anu JuSt
as the poet must always find himself fettereu anu
curbed, until he has acquired such mastery VI
form that the strong and free use OF 1t Ia entHeY
natural and easy, and productive of no trouble SO
the actor who deals with the same subjects anu IN
q kindred way. bears testimony also 10 the power
and effect of the great passions of human nature,
and the influences of beauty in the universal cannot
be free till experience has made the use of form
velops from within. 1t flows out of the action OF
the real feelings Of the soul. 1t is the sequence OF
vital thought and passion acting upon the artistic
| tenperamcut OF actors no less than 81 poets II -
profoundly true that they must learn In suffering
! what they teach in song "-and that which teaches
! them the lesson of life will at the same time teach
| them how TO convey IL. AT last" says Wilhelm
| Meister latter great preparations he disclosed 10
me that true experience is just precisely when one
! experiences what an experienced man must e1poil-
ence in experiencing bis experience"
The impersonations which have been given Dy
uis, Mary Anderson. at the Park Theatre in Brook
lyn, within the week just closed, have covered
very broad area OF human nature traushsureh INTO
uoctic ideals sac has acted Eradae Pdrthenid'
! .yuEa. Juliet. Ncg Mprilcs, Pauline and me
Countess in Love-" # is only technical criticism
! useful bat tedious and .lways seconi-ci4ss pur-
/ suit-which would, on paper, concern itself with
herspccihc method OF treating bese parts. IN detail
The vital pout is tie consideration Of her advance
[ i8cnt. She is young and very beautiful
woman; she Is crude genius; nhd she
is destined 20 great future on the stage. HcT
loneliness aoae viii carry her very far III the
public estimation. 1t us singular aud lnsiruciivet TO
remark. however. with what gradual movement
/ her mind rfocrcsscs-how very slow tho develop
| mcnt is. winch only fancy propels, and in which
thus far actual experience forbears TO participate.
! The greatest Of the parts which have been men
toned Is Jci and, IN her acting of this. Miss An
/ dcsson clearly denotes that the level size
las now reached is hut very slightly removed above
/ shat Oh which she stood year ago Now, as then'
during the Giat half OF the tragedy. she Is the en-
| bodied spirit OF the white lily-the soul OF the
/ Edelweiss. that grows amongst the eternal SHOWS
OF he Alps Her JuHci no more loves homoo than
the stars ol Onion love the ice5orgs Of tie Polar Sea-
MIN in
perfect safety-lnd 10 observer howsocycr synpa-
hetic, can really for 4 moment feel ei.her with
tenderness or dread the actual presence Of That ire
moudous and d,a,-y passion. The only differ
I eucs between her Ja2iH Of tho past Is
sub6ued manner. and al anxious effort 10
elaborate tho sweetness. All the foreground,
accordingly. ia constrained, faint vague.
metallic, aud often very nearly nsipd This u be-
cause the artist is initiating, with strenuous care
something Of which her nature has taken 40 cog
Nance and which ntditiOn VIII not seize. Every
other passion can better be initiated. even hy mex
perience. than tho passion OF love. Through all
lie later scenes Of tie tragedy,-whch are domino
/ led by tragic actiol,-MI5s Anderson moved with
really splendid power-like set free TO be her
salt Ii was not Julit indeed. but certainly II was
/ q woman IN q tempest of passionate anguish utter
mo her heart with unrestricted fulness and force
/ But the transition was unnatural.
! Observation OF other impersoDations confirms the
! IMPRESSION derived from this Miss Anderson is.
evidently doing all that she can do to make artistic
treatment supply that lack of pervasve sponancIiy
| which is at once the consequence and the sign Of
dormant inspiration. Her works are growing in
/ evmuetry-but neithern unity nor in sDlendor She
/ still WINS as a beauty impTesses as prodigy and
| etartles as a genius of accident and mood. The
word mas not yet been spoken which Is to gave her
! I wit al 4
the forms Of art the slaves of her will The triumph
| of Miss Anderson uOw IA tho triumph Of all excep-
tioual pereonaiity shrined in beautiful person, but
not vet the triumph Of great actress With
a snperb voice. here is defective elocutiOn
with magnificent figure, here is ten
dency to pose and to sprawl, together
with n self-couscOus manner IN the strik-
ing Of attitudes with a noble freedom and supple
| ness Of physical machinery, here is caprcious
gesticulation with full and line sense of oppor-
tunities for strong and shifting points, here Is but
an incipent perception of the relative value OF sur
rounding characters and the coo dnation Of all adj
inncts: with a brilliant faculty for stormy and
/ vehement defamation. here, yet is only an inn
perfect idea of the loneliness of quiet touches,
| bal shading and suggestive strokes; with vigor-
Gus and often grand manner of address. here is
freauent lack of concentration in listening; with
wonderful munitions as 10 the fiercer moods OF
human passion. here is a restricted sympathy with
| the more elemental feelIngs-trom which, quite
naturally ensues certain vagueness in the effect OF
their manifestation. Here, in brief, is more tragic
impulse than human tenderness more of physical
strength and force of will than of spiritual intensity
more of the ravishlng opulence OF youthful
| womanhood than of the thrilling frenzy of genius
or the dominant grandeur of intellectual character
Yet-what a wealth Of natural power is here! what
,;saf hat anIan ID
inst snch n nature, surely was spoken the beautiful
prophecy Of Word sworth -
The floating .onds their state shall lend
| To nrr; her tue willow bend;