New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-02-12
MUSIC AND THE DRAMA.
REMITTANCE OF MoDJEsKA.

| Star Thea re- where she heartily welcomed by
a numerous audience and where she presented
new play. written for her By Mr.. Maurice Barry
| more with the title Of "Nadjezda." This also was
received with favor, and indeed, at some points
with admiration. The re-entrance of Nine. Nodjeska
accordingly, may be set down as accomplished
under auspicious conditions. She will act at tho
Star Theatre for the next four weeks
1t is dark and sad subject that Mr.. Barrymore
has chosen for the basis of this play; but life IL
full of dark and ssd subjects and they, among the
rest are entitled to a suitable consideration Who
ever would kindle fire, begins 1t with spark
| and whoever would make tragedy turns 10 the
trouble and tho misery OF life, nd not to its bright
ness and its pleasure Mr.. Barrymore appears TO
| have thought that dramatic treatment Of this
dark theme would elicit from ii striking theatrical
situations and vigorous andimpressiye display Of
| the passions, under circumstances of terribly
tragieal character. The result Of his thoughtful
and careful labor has shown the correctness of his
! Judgment
The heroine Nadjeyfa is what Is called "dual"
character IL is a very strong character; ono that
is actuated by variety of motives aud displayed
under q variety of circumstances; one that is de-
veloped and expressed in action more than in
words; and one. accordingly. that is likely to
dure upon the stage and prove useful to actresses
hereafter as we'll as to Nine. Modjeska now.
In the first act of the piece Nddjesda is a
mother; and the motive for her conduct IL
love for her husband frenzied grief at his death,
and righteous haired for his cruel de.
stroyer. Her emotions, here. are all mas
| sive, intense terrible-the emotion of breaking
| heart and distracted brain. Her enemy, former
| lover (such as Shiels LudoeieO, IN Eva1ne").
has captured her husband ia battle, and, having
promised to send him back TO her. does send him
| back to her-a corpse. This is exaggeratl0n of
fact. Such deeds were often done by the barbaric
chiefs Of Scotland; and barbarism is by no means
extinct-as every days report from Russia and the
! East and from Ireland and the West, most
| abundantly proves. In her freuzy Nadjezia first
| dedicates her child to the mission of vengeance
upon the murderer, and then swallows poison and
| dies in her deirium and sin.
In the rest of the piece Addjezdd is the daughter.
The motive for her conduct now is love for her
| lover whose wife she is DESTROYS to become All
the conditions are changed. She Is dwelling with
her guardian, at Nice, in Italy That guardian ism
vengefui pursuit of a man who has robbed him of
his wife, That man is the same who murdered
| Nddjesdas father, and whom she has been sworn to
kill That man, an old libertine now, is one of her
sultors and, furthermore Ia fact unknown to all
except her GUARDIAN he is the father OF her lover
| by the guardians wife.
| This seems monstroUs state OF faets ont,
obviously it is that could occur and 1t is not
nut forward as representative. 1t is exceptional.
The hideous elements of the piece chiefly centre in
the guardian This person is to be viewed as one
| OF those moral miScre2nts who are created by the
cruelty of woman and the maddening injustice OF a
malignant fate Different men take trouble differ
| entity Some IL makes angelic; some IL turns into
demons. The guardian of AGdesda Is capable of
arranging and does arrange, a duel between father
and son-the father being his wrOnger, and the son
being the child of his truant wife. He does this,
moreover with full knowledge of the truth and
when this duel has ended without DEATH ne
cOntrives that the son, whom he has indicted INTO
one of those secret leagues which exist in Europe
and probably also in Amortization the purpose OF
political assassination. shall be commissioned to
murder the father This gives rise to the chief and
closing situation of the play. Nadjezda, in order to
shield her lover from possible peril has sought the
| old lbertne, meaning only TO warn him. Chance
discusses him to her as her fathers assassin, and
she strikes him down. Her lover finds her and re-
proaches her with inidelity. She swallows poison
and dies.
1t will be observed that there is Sort of anti
| climax in the repetition of the catastrophe.
woman dies by poison at the end of the first act,
and woman dies by poison at the end Of the last
act The necessity of discriminating between these
two women and Of making them essentially two
different persons devOlyes upon the actress Of Mad
jeyda 1t will be observed, also, that, to some ex-
tent the dramatic postures in this play are similar
to those IN the play of Fedora" In story
and in characters, however, the trag'
edy of "Nadjezda" is one thing and
that of Fedora" is another. fedora and NadJesdd
are both dedicated to a mission Of revenge: but tho
circumstances under which they pursue il are far
from being identical. Their motives Furthermore,
are as unlike as their circumstances. Feaora's mo-
| whole n
tention of that play to enable Mile. Bernhardt
| 10 rive a glittering and tumultuous exhibition Of
carnalty Nddiesdas motive is a sort OF sacred Ia
naticism in which she has been reared FROM child
hood commngled with the fond solicitude OF an
afectionate girl She Is no more like Fedora than
she is like Lucreza BOrga, heroine better, IN our
Judgment than either of them, for the purposes of
noble tragic acting.
Mr. Barrymore's play would take higher rank
had il been written in blank verse; but it would
not then so we'll have suited Nine. Modieska, who,
in English blank verse, has yet moved freely
| As the play stands-athough there IL much waste
OF words in 1t, and although ITS comedy elements
are vugar-it suits her WE'LL and Aadezdd ls, assur.
eddy, one of her successes. Her method OF speech
! and action is the same that captivated judgments
and taste in Adrieane and Camille She acts from
her own heart as well as from the heart OF the
character and thus she invests the charactef
| with personal charm and the passionate warmth
of reality, yet this emotion is so thoroughly
controlled by her mind that the performance
nowhere shows loOseness uncertainty or excess but
| is we'll defined xand emphasized by the strokes
of predetermined aud well considered art ms t Is
what acting ought to be, and what IN 1aeti
| Good acting always is. The spontaneous grace os
Nine. Modjeska, the sweetness of her rich and
! various voice the remarkably expressive play OF
her conntenance her dark eyes that seem TO caress
! what thew look on with such well simulated love,
| and her tones which are SO fraught with fne in-
telligence and tremulous with deep feeling,
mite to augment the beauty of this new creation,
and endear il TO remembrance. Her act:
ing in the death-seene of ithe prologue and
i'm the temptation scene at the close of act second
was marvellous. The house resounded with we'll
earned plaudits.
! The prologue erTs in being too literal. Blood and