New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-10-22
THE DRAMA.
RICHARD MANSFIELD AS RICHARD III
,BY TELEGRAPH 10 THE TEwUSE.l


Boston, oct. 2f.-In the Globe Theatre tonight bos
fore great and brilliant audience, well representa-
tive OF the intellect taste and fashion OF This fss-
tidious city, Richard Mansfield presented for the first
time In America his extraordinary embodiment %
shaSespeares Richard III. Its success with his
audience Is unbounded. The public enthusiasm has
tound expression In many ways, and IFS sincerity OF
teelng Is no more TO be doubted than its srdor Of
utterance. His success with thoughtful judges Of
uramSuc art IS scarcely less thorough and decisive.
opnnon, perhaps Is not agreed upon all points. There
are zealous believers in ancient ways who speak Of
fantastic innovations and Of the monotony incident
10 excessive elaboration and deliberate, lingering
treatment The past, however is always reluctant
to give place 10 the present, and these gr7imblincs
only serve 10 heghten the force and effect of r. pub
lie judgment that blends as they are seldom blended
the approval of criticism with the delight ~ thu
multitude.
Mr. Mansfeld's performance Of Richard III IL
performance Of striking originality and wonderful
power, and from this moment Of his uneqaivocal
triumph here the admirable actor will advance ran
idly and easily upon the royal road OF popular favor
All that he has TO dread IS TOO implicit confidence
IN the novelty of his devices and the wisdom OF
his own convictions, together with the danger of
allowing impetuosity 10 take the place OF judgment.
The direction in which his acting should develop IS
toward the calm spendor of noble repose Mr..
Mansfed's defects the suspicious defects not Of
mental poverty, but OF emotional excess
In the meantime this intrepid actor has acted
Richard III in a way that clearly displays and con-
spcuously illustrates his diversified and ample powers
Of physical expression, the afiuent abundance and
vigor of his emotions and that quality in him Of
strangeness and Of charm, blending Imagination with
sympathy, which denotes the temperament of genius
His choice Of this part, alike for personal and pro-
fessonal reasons, was an exceptionally wise choice
shakespeare's Richard IS type Of colossal VIII and
Of restless, nOrdinate, terrific activity. The objects
Of HIS desire and his effort are those objects which are
incident to supreme power; but his chief object is
that judgment Of himself which is rresistbly melted
and steadfasy compelled BY the overwhelming seeh-
ing acrd energy Of his feverish soul. burning and
raging in his fiery body. He can moTo help
projecting himself upon the affairs Of the world than
the malignant cobra help darling upon its prey.
He Is vital, elemental force, gisly, hectic. terrible
lmpeDed by volcanic heat and electrified
and made lurd and deadly by the IN
fernal purpose Of restless wickedness. No
actor can impersonate Richard III In adequate
manner who does not possess transcendent force OF
WILL combined with ambitious mental activity OF tho
most incessant and restless description. Mr. Mans
field in these respects IS exactly qualified for the
character, and ont Of his abundant professional
sources he is able to supply all the other elements
that requisite TO its constitution and fulflment
He presents Richard sarionic scofiing Demon
who nevertheless, somewhere In his complex nature
retains an element Of humanity. In this respect his
IDEAL or the character does not widely dHef 1Cn tha
of earlier tragedians who have played this part
corilng to the traditions Of Edmund Kean and Juns
Booth. His originality and his surprising excellence
are resident in HIS artistic treatment OF IT, He en-
bodies character that is tragic in its ultimate effect
but his method IS that OF the comedian His por-
trayal Of Richard, except at those moments when 1t
IS yelled with craft and DISSEMINATION, or at those
other and grander moments nfreQuent but awful and
agonzing, when it is convulsed with terror or with
he nCuis NJ boldly
sunshine, crystalzed and deadly sarcasm equally
tenchant upon itself and all the world, equally scorn-
full OF things human and things divine. This deadly
assumption of keen and mordant mockery, this cool,
gllttering, malignant lightness Of manner, Is con-
si,tenty sustained Throughout. the performance, while
the texture of IL is made continuously entertaining
by diversity of color and infection, sequent on chang
ing moods: so that Richard is shown as creature
OF the possible world Of mankind and not as fiction
Of the stage.
This is Mr.. Mansfelds triumph an actor and BE-
In day the public mind, observant according
to its depth and true perception and not according to
caprice Will longer accept artificial stage figures
but insists upon the perfect Illusion of actual fe
this IS Likewise the guarantee of Mr. hansiehs en-
durance In the dramatic world This would be an
easy thing TO say by and by, when everybody had
found it out and everybody had admitted its truth.
It should be said with emphasis now, in order
that it may be observed present and also that II
may be remembered hereafter by those persons who
are interested in the movement Of the acted drama o
our time. Mr.. Mansfield is a Of genius. He
has made an extraordinary mark, and there Is reason
TO believe that he win long remain a visible, pre-
dominant useful and brilliant influence in the theatN
of America
Examination Of the process Of mechanism whereby
the effect recorded has been produced dsoses OF
the part of Mansfield thoughtful and careful study
Of the subject we'll keen inuitve grasp Of it,
The actor has not stopped short at
being commentator. He has aimed TO
impersonate character, and he has used
shakespeare's play, which in its original form is
somewhat prollx and tedious, in such a way as 10
make il a living picture of a past age. The version
of the tragedy that he that he himself has
made. II Is i'm five acts. 1t preserves the text Of
the original, much condensed IL Incorporates ina
murder scene from Henry VI and also few scat
tered lines from that piece and from Henry ",
and it uses about fifteen lines from Cibber. 1t is
good piece of work, welliointed and effective. IL
comprises the killing of Henry, the woong Oh
Lady Anne the lamentation from King Edward. the
arrival of the Princess, the Buckingham plot the
prayerbook scene, the seizure of the Royal children
the discontinue of Buckingham. the departure for the
battlefield the episode OF the spectres. and the ina
combat at Bosworth ending with Richards DEAN
1t presents one notable and perhaps questionable
peculiarly in assuming that there are considerable
apses of time az intervals during the continuance OF
the story in other words 1t endeavors to reconcile
poetry with history, which Is a useless and needless
effort and one that produces little If any spprecsba
practical result upon the stage seeing that the audi
tnce would not think of these lapses OF time unless
they were mentioned in the play-bl. An lncesssn'
continuity of action, ceaseess rush and whir OF
events Is the essential life Of this play. No auditor
can feel that Richard waited twelve years before
making any movement or striking any blow after his
lmprecation that heaven viii take King Edward and
leave the world for him to hustle in. This Won
. bustleo is a favorte word with Richard. And. fur
thermore there development of his character III
shakespeare play. There is simply the presentation
Of IT, complete and rounded the outset and emau-
ing invariably and nfexibly the to the close.
Mr. Mansfield, however, deduces this ehect ITO"
bt confederation Of the fight of time that be shows