New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-04-17
MUSIC AND THE DRAMA
s,1v1NJ AND CLARA MORRIS.

Tho conjunction of Salvini and Clara Morris
..raiced 70 attract large audience 10 booVhs
Tbeatrc last night where these distinguished actors
anpeared IN GiacOmetti's play OF Morte Ol'he,
now called "Ihe Outlaw" A welcome full OF good
will and admiration was accorded TO both' ana
@ba;r acting was followed with earnest attention
and hailed with frequent demonstrations OF SYM
pathy and delight The play of The Outlaw
which consists of a series of prose conversations
without action, and almost without nv
6ent-is n particularly dolefu and tedious
composition 1t succeeds however III p'O
sentng several actual, earnest ana sen
sitive human beings in perpexing relations 10 eao
other. and it eliminates in domestic situa"on "
intolerable anguish, to which mercnui ooN.n
mis- an annronriate period It's five acts ana eisn'
lcharacters have often been seen mere oeioro anu ~
well known. but the misery inherent Al It's noPo
hes. story was never before expressed 81 Ihoio"s'
in this region as 1t was last night o.,
Tho ambod,ment of Conrad the outlaw py oai-
,,;ni ia a.suredly a massive image OF tender man
h'.od bowed down by impacable fate and slam az
last by immedcable and relentless sorrow luz
dramatist has fairly tortured his ingenuity to devise
y stuation of acute and iDexoraO ole woe Ills nero
N murderer has suffered hellish torments OF remoiso
and all the horror OF years of Imprisonment anu W
this accumulation of agony now added nrst sort
of protracted vivisection by jealousy then 'no 'o
loss of hope then utter condemnation OF sell anu
the abdication of all human ties lie mas III iao.'
practically come back from the graVe-an Enocn
Arden with the added burden and corroolng stigma
of n conscience scared with the sense OF crime his
lAougbrer sbrinks from him and loves another
father. His wife will obey him, will sacrifice herself
for him. but her heart turns toward another man,
who her and who has been her benefactor Alter
this emaciated in body broken in spirit and isolated
from the human race, it only remains for this
watched and desolate creature to expire, and this
refuge is at length permitted.
The strength of the play resides in Its statement
of the case and In its close analysis OF human
mature as affected by the passions OF
love- hatred, jealousy and despair. Conrad
lis not an imaginative, poetcal or subtle character
Salvini grasps it through his human
afinities enters into the heart OF II and makes IL
absolutely and dreadfuy real. Upon his wonder
fully eloquent action in the narrative OF the out
laws crime and subsequent suffering there is no
fresh comment to be made Thisls one Of The select
and authentic gems of essentially dramatic art
which were long since accepted, and will always he
remembered as perfect and wonderful. 1t again
produced great effect. The affecting death scene
has also been sufficiently described. Art can go no
fur in this field than it has here been carried by
Savini in his affecting stimulation OF the wful col
lapse of nature under the stress of q lamenta0le
and deadly anguish. As one of the supreme mo-
ments in acting this will always 1--we
in our remembrance with Charles Kean's
death scene in Louis XII" and
the death-Sccne of Queen Elizabeth, in the royal
and splendid person of Adelaide Ristori.
The influence which, last night, measuraby deep
ened the sombre glow and narrowing painfulness
of Salvinis impersonation and of the entire piece
was of course that of Clara Morris. In situations
(which present a woman striving to endure with
iron composure cruel weight of injustice and
grief or nervlng herself TO dumb submission des
perate action, when the brink of frenzy at mo-
ments of conflict between passion and duty. this
iactress not only escapes from all the trammels of
,conventonalitY but c0nfers upon her auditors an
,equal freedom and happy release. The SITUATIONS
ideylsed for ROSdle mostly Of this Description
and as the outlaws wife Miss Morris is the persona
fcation of miserable vet heroic fOrtitude Her I'M
pulsive caprclous, ftfu style OF dramatic acting
combining moments of level and mOnOtOnous self
suppression with sudden and eager flashes OF feel
ling and stormy gusts of widness-is entirely
harmonious with this ideal of shattered ana DRIFT
ling wOmanhOod Throughout the scene OF the
Injecting between Conrad and ROsGHe III act third
she maintained a nervous rep0se which was impress
slve the highest degree; and her ultimate express
sion of the conquest OF love duty In the choice
most painfully pathetic. Beyond maniies alton
OF great resources Of feeling and OF professional
skill possessed by Salvln1 and Miss Morris
for the portrayal of suffering, there Is no result at
tanned by this performance Oeducble from 1t.
A Rembrandt picture of misery-that is the sub
stance of the work, and as such 1t is indeed re-
msrkable.