Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1888-05-18
Mr.. n D. Shepherd as ingomar.


and Miss Marie Prescott rendered the
play of Ingomar in Hagerstown on
Monday evening. The former took
the part of Ingomar and the latter
that of Parthenia. Mr.. Shepherds
friends in this community hadfollowed
his course on the stage with a great
deal of personal interest, so when
they had an opportunity to see and
hear him many of them took advan-
tage of it, and quite a large delega-
ton of Shepherdstown ladies and
gentlemen attendance the perform
ance.
We think no one was disappointed
in the acting of the two leading char
acters. Mr.. Shepherd shows the ben
efits of earnest study and OF expert
ence and in some of the situations as
Ingomar his acting was magnificent.
A fault, however, seemed to be that
he did not keep up the high standard
throughout, for occasionally he ap-
peared to lapse from the command
ing to the commonplace, from the
subtitle to the ordinary. Yet these
occasional drops" if one may so call
them. showed that the actor was capa-
BILE of good work and that his failure
to maintain this standard was due TO
some other fault than lack of ability.
In the first scene in which he appeared
Ingomar was not SO pleasing. He
was then man just as truly as when
he himself said so later on, yet there
was little evidence of it in his charac-
ter-the barbarian was too barbarous,
too low in the scale of human charac-
ter. In the following act, however,
Inpomar was all that could be de-
sired. Where the savage came under
the spell of beauty and refinement, Mr..
Shepherd's conception of the charac-
ter was perfect. The actor became
the very personitication of the savage
chief growing gentle Mr. Shepherd s
wonderful powers of facial expression
were brought into full play, and the
result was finer piece of acting than
one generally sees. 1t was decidedly
the best work of the evening. There
was some excellent acting after lingo
mar had fallen in love, though he was
still rather too overwhelmingly saw
age to be irresistible as lover, and
4. h.,o ,.t. DO rt
stand such wooing. \ surplus of act
ing, and slight lack of naturalness,
were noticeable at times, though they
were infrequent and not glaring faults
by any means In the last act, when
Ingomar had become civilized and
sottened, the changed barbarian was
splendidly portrayed. The man APP
peared to better advantage and so
did the actor. The character was
well maintained to the end, and
seemed to be much more carefully
personified than in the beginning of
the performance.
Miss Marie Prescott was a graceful,
winning Parthenia, and pleased the
audience wonderfully by her artistic
rendering of the character. She, of
course, had the part that appealed to
the sympathies most, and naturally
evoked kindly feeling. Her work
entities her to favorable comparison
with the leading lights of the stage,
for she is truly an artist.
As for the support by the balance
of the troope, no criticism is necessary.
Beside the principal stars, they shone
dim indeed.
Taken as a whole, the performance
was meritorious one, and Mr.. Shep-
herd need not be ashamed OF any hon
est criticism. That he has fine talent
cannot be doubted, and that he will
win his way to eminence in the pro-
fession is also certainty. He is an
actor of the John Mccullough order,
and SOME of his friends think that he
will some day become fully as famous
as that eminent tragedian.