The evening world., 1889-03-27
coeUELlN VERSUS IRVING.

OF course IL IL an awfully difloult thing 10
imagine how . man would behave who. having
committed . murder, successfully concealed all
traces Of his crime and profted by the wealth
taken from his victim, 10 subsequently obliged
10 remember the horrible past and every incl
dent connected with the dark deed Of his life.
II all depends upon the nature Of the mar who
has committed the murder. Popular prejudice
insists that such q murderer can be but Of one
kind, Just as popular illustrations made 10 catch
the susceptible juvenility OF the day would as
sign 10 him but one facial expression.
In lie Juif Polonais," produced last night
at the Star Theatre. with Coquelin as Mathis.
the great actor evidently courted comparison
with Henry Irving, who has been seen here in
the same part anRlicized into Matthias, in THE
Bells" In this melodramatic creation Of those
clever writer's, Erckmann and Chatrian-for 10
is melodramatic, according TO its creators
Mathis, years after the committal Of Q murder,
Is terrified by hearing Of q songeur. or dream
reader, who ia able to put q man to sleep, even
against his will, and force him to reveal the
past. This affects his piece OF mind; oil his
calm vanishes; the sound Of the %sleigh-bells
which he heard the night of the murder, Ia for
ever in his ear; no dreams hat he Ia sentenced
to death, and dies In q frenzy Of fright at the
vivid br~ain-picture.
Now, I cannot possibly believe that q man who
can be subsequently affected by an awful dream
as was Coquelin's Mathis; that q being who was
psychologically capable Of such O vivid return to
O buried past as was the French actors crea-
ton; that an individual who long after the
committal Of q murder would find intensified
the terrors which hardly troubled him at first,
could live In the quiet, conteuted, p~hlegmatic
way In which we see him in the first act.
Coquelin's Mathis when we are first introduced
TO him, is Q complacent genial, loquacious old
man, who can sit by the stove and smoke In all
the narcotic delight OF the undisturbed smoker;
who loves o good story, who is passionately fond
Of his only daughter, and delightfully."-. consider
ate to the wife who has grown old with him.
Coquelin makes his Mathis distinctly amusing.
The role has q comedy aspect, and some Of the
sayings are given with the same drollery that
characterized his Mascarille and his Figaro.
1t seems absolutely incredible that such . being
could subsequently become Q prey TO such
CHASTITY imaginings. There Is nothing to show
that the murder had made any impression upon
him. Surely q deed that could react in such q
terrible way must have cast some melodramatic
shadow upon the life of Mathis. Coquelin's work
was admirable, marvellous, exquisitely shaded.
but l can't believe in his Mathis,
Irving's impersonation Ia melodramatic. and
Irving's enemies may mention that as q deroga-
tory fact in connection with his Matthias Irving
resorts to weird stage effects In order to
beighten the melodramatic interest Of his role.
And it seems to mt that everything that can be
done to accentuate the uncanny situation should
be done. "oh." says the sceptic, "lrving's
Matthias is not natural. You could never think
Of such q striding, mannerized creature as go
ing about his daily life-asking for q beefsteah,
or requesting his wife to hand him his slip
pers."
My good sir, You are not asked TO think Of the
beefsteak or the slippers at the time that the
playwrights claim your attention. Erckmann-
Chatrian are attempting to work out q queer
psychological problem, and they want you to
see the man at the times when the problem can
most easily be solved. 1t In not necessary TO tell
you that he eats; he must do so or he could not
live. His life is different TO that Of other men;
it has been influenced by other actions.
As . rule I hate melodrama, but In Irving's
impersonation OF Matthias in Tho Bells" !
think 1t is notVoniy necessary but desirable.
The lesson tauelae Bs tffS biay Is truer as Irving
teaches il. 1t is dangerous to portray Matthias
as Coquelin pictures him-serene, semi-comic.
complacent.
Coquelin dispensed with the scenic effects that
Irving used. but for once the use Of scenic
effects, for all they are worth, could never be
condemned. ALAN DALE.