New-York tribune., 1883-06-03

him down the Seine to Havre, and deliver him to q
ship-of-war for transportation TO Petersburg and
certain death. There Is but one means to save hu9
and after strong scene the curtain falls on FSdord
In the arms of Loris. She becomes his mistress ID
deliver him from death. Meantime she had be-
trayed to the police in Petersburg his brother who
is arrested and drowned in his coll. Tha
mother Is killed by the news and
this double horror Is made known to
Loris. Honeymooning with FEDORA is the next and
last act. passion for vengeance seizes on him;
she pleads for the unknown woman who has brought
this calamity on him till she arouses his suspicion,
soon to be turned to certainty. Sure that he will
kill her (which he almost does on the stage), she
takes poison and dies in his arms
This exacting and exhausting role Mrs. Bernard
Beere played in style which, If it had been wholly
her own, would have put her at once at the head
of her profession ard far in advance of any
English actress now living. But Mrs. Beere had, in
fact, gone to Paris, studied Sarah Bernhardt, sat
night after night in front at the Vaudeville. and
instead of creating Fedora of her own, has adopted
that which she found ready to her hand In essen
tias, and so far Mrs. Beere capable OF repro
ducing it, the Fedora saw on Saturday at the Hay
market was the Fedora had at the Vaudeville
in Paris. 1t was, in any case, very striking and
admirable performance The part is remote from
Mrs. Beere's range and method. Unaided, she would
have made of 1T q different and certainly inferior
thing On the other hand. none but real artist
none but an actress of genuine dramatic
capacity, could have modelled such
part upon such an actress as Sarah Bernhardt
without making it a caricature and this was in no
caricature. Mrs. Beere has caught sarahs
manner, copied her gestures, attitudes looks, her
movements, her way Of getting about the stage. her
of the facial muscles and even in her makeup
there Is a resemblance to her original. With all
this there is q good deal of Mrs Bernard-Beerc.
Her sympathetic face, her powerful smooth voice.
lacking IN fexiblty but used with skill in elocu-
tion indeed on the English stage; her dignity
of bearing, her individual power of expressing
emotion, her power over the audience-these aud
moro are her own To say that she came near to
the level of the great artist she has studied under
would be absurd. Equally absurd would it be
to deny that her acting as whole
of very high order indeed.
have dwet the fact of her
indebtedness to the first FEDORA but the real ques
tion of Mrs. Bernard Beeres future is whether she
has learned not how to act this character or that,
but the principles of art and the secret and
methods of that power which makes Sarah Bern
hardt the most finished as we'll as the most curious
ly fascinating actress of this generation. sly own
notion is that the closeness of the copy in this par
ticuar case is necessary result of the study of
single part and that, in Mrs Beere, London has not
merely Fedora. but a new actress.
Certain 1T is that she took the cold audience OF
the Haymarket by storm. Not twice in two years
is such scene of enthusiasm to be witnessed IN
London as followed the fall of the curtain at the
end of the first act. 1t repeated at the end OF
the third, and there was but one opinion of the
merit of the performance. The success Of the play
was secured Mr. Bancroft contributed to it by
careful and excellent performance of subordinate
character. Mr. Coghan, actor of merit at times.
came to imperilling it by reserve Of manner
that amounted to indifference; once or twice. how
ever, troubling himself to act his part. But tho
triumph of the evening is to be ascribed in part to
the care and skill bestowed by Mr.. Bancroft upon
the bringing out of Fedora" and in part in great
part to the acting of Mrs Bernard Beers. The eight
or uine recalls awarded her during the evening were
not too many to express the surprise and delight of
an exceptionally competent and critical audience.