The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1884-05-11

So with the actor; once the action
u aderEteod, once the machinery OF
language mastered and the test
flows easy Ike the natural flowing
river, giving truly artistic picture
of real man or woman, painting
s'tnA human form with human c9l-
ors," not with sage daubs.
1t takes thought to understand
such acting; but, once understood,
we Can see beauty in no other, and
it alone will satisfy US. This is Band
msnn's greatest achievement-"he
knows what to keep out" he neither
distorts his fsce,nor twists his arms,
nor tears his hair. nor gesticulates
bipse f TO death. He follows action
and does not kill it. As he steps OD
the stage In that peculiar mood Of
his, ard finds himself in Frerch
society Gil Gle, he does not let his art
loose; he retains it and deals so
gently with the position that some
may think he underacts. No; The
only lets the situation take care Of
itself by being merely Nsrciss, the
clever, sarcastic, imaginative, half
crazy Gf you wllD vagabOnd. 1t is
enough and to spare, surely. In his
interviews with Doris, the actress,
who wants to gain him for the cause
OF the Queen, and also to bring him
out Of his "sloUgh of despond" he
restraints himself less. Those ice
bound bonds of human interest be-
come thawed, he begias to remem-
Der, to recollect and to give way to
passion, relapsing almost instanta-
neously into the state into which
The deep scar leaf of grief
had paced him. There can be no
daintier touch than when he throws
himself on the couch ia the room of
Doris and there let's loose his i'm
agination to fancy his beautiful
wife before him, and there can be
no truer despair than when he re-
counts to the young actress the tale
OF his misery. When the girl wants
to awaken ambition in him he s
rather repelled, but when the Due
de Choiseul asks him to take up the
part of the Wronged husband, in the
dramatic representation before the
Marquise de PompadOur. he con.
sentS, and utters his snathemas
with a natural wildness and mad
intensity that make US forget it is a
stage representation at all. In the
last scene Bsndn ann realizes all an
artist can realize The sight of his
wife produces the natural impulse
to rush up and embrace her, fol
lowed by a revulsion OF feeling,
when he learns that this Is La Pom
padour; aud when the terrible con-
viction is forced upon him that La
Pompadour has brought the country
to the verge of ruin through her
evil and ambitious influence over
The King, then his own SORROWS
melt into those larger ones of the
patriot, and he denounces the beau
tiful snesdevil there before him,
killing her with the power of his |
denunciation. Finally, the grief,
the horror,
On whose head horrors accumulate,
and disappointed affection kill him
who did the killing just now.
Upon the whole, Bandmann's re-
presentation Of Narciss is as artistic
and scholarly representation az
can be witnessed, and excee dinghy
educative to all dramatic students,
actors and actresses. It is always
sure OF itself; 1t never outheroes
Hero; it never oversteps reality it
is suggestive when necessary; it is
humorous when necessary, and it is
Intense when necessary. It holds
up the "mirror to human nature"
and Is the forerunner to that future
artistic school Of acting when rant
ing shall be banished from the edu-
Gated drama and the realization of q
deeper insight into character will
alone suffice to draw the "under
standing" public; in fact, when
mimicry will no longer replace
Er--