Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-01-06
IN VARIED STRAINS.

Margaret Mather as Joan of Arc-The
Crystal Slippers Splendor-Hands Across
the Sea-Other Plays and Entertain
ments.
The appearance of Margaret Mather at the
Bjou Theater was enough to draw a very large
audience last night for the young actress is a
great favorite in Pittsburg. The play, Joan
of Arc" by Jules Barbiere and translated
by William Young, also excited some interest.
The welcome given to Miss Mather was as
warm as ever. but the promise of the play in
the first two acts was not satisfactorily fulfilled.
The audience was interested in the story Of
Joan of Arc until the battle scene perhaps,
but after that any applause which came was
simply born of kindly feeling for Miss Mather.
Joan of Arc" is five-act play in blank
verse and blanker prose, in which turgidity
and verbosity have hot fight for the mastery.
There are a few passages of clean, decent En-
glish. but not enough to save. the dialogue from
the appearance of being cooked up to sound
impressive by mere weight of words. The play
has for plot few disjotnted chapters of Joan
OF Arcs history. There is no continuity in the
play, and the most vital of events are left con-
stantly to the imagination of the audience.
This might be safe in France or England, where
the herosm of La Pucelle or plain oan is still
household tale, but it is not to be expected
that the career Of a savior of France hundreds
anu hundreds of years ago should be known bv
heart in this latitude. The result of the dis
1olnted arrangement Of the tableaux is that a
Joan of Arc" is series of pictures
more or less related, but not play.
This is good deal of handicap
Tor Miss Mather and her assistants There
are otner serious blemishes IN the piece;
notably, the frequent mention of the Deity, the
appeals to heaven, and the somewhat exact
REPRODUCTION OF the coronation service in the
Cathedral at Rheims. A religious atmosphere
Created nQ xuifh
such devices. But this is matter of taste
after all.
. Miss Mather makes bold and picturesque
ngure OF Jodn and as far as looks went full
nlled the idea of the inspired Maid very fairly.
IL ls mistake to think, as some critics have
supposed, that Joan was q spirituelle sort of
glri, with more mind than matter in her make
up. The records, as far as they go, show that
she was sturdy, spirited French peasant. Her
religious fanaticism or enthusiasm, as you may
please to term it, was blent with strong de-
termination to revenge her country's wrongs.
In presenting Joan in accord with this idea,
Miss Mather is undoubtedly historically correct.
she lends all her warm blooded nature to the
role, and her personality in Jodn's armor is dis
tinctly Impressive. We are inclined TO think
that Miss Mather's best work was done in Act
z, in the scene with Iseut, and the subsequent
climax. The intensity of the conclusion of the
NTH act is undeniable, but the situation is dan.
gerous and grossly disagreeable according TO
American Ideas. At the Porte st. Martin
doubtless this passionate outbreak was re-
sarueu as art1stlcally precious. here such
things are not relished.
But it must be remembered that, pictorially,
the play, and Miss Mather as the heroine, are
full OF color and splendor. The armor of joan,
steel or gold, is sample of the rich accuracy
in costume which the whole play shows. The
scenery is on grand scale, and the court
chamber, the cathedral interior, and the final
scene of the burning at the stake are realistic
in their several ways.
The other actors In the cast are hardly worth
OF mention, excepting always Mr.. Otis Skinner
and Mr.. Howard Kyle. Mr.. Skinner
is an actor of versatility and
virile genius, which qualities have attracted
great attention before. He played the pleasant
lover of JOan and later the manly SOLDIER La
Hire with great force and finish. His elocu-
tion, as was noticed when he was last heard
in Edwin Booths train, is remarkably good.
Mr.. Kyle was good as De Thouurs, but as
WdTWtck he was too suggestive of Frenchi-
fed MephtstOphetes to be anything but comic.
Joan of Arc" will be given tonight, and in ad-
dltion to the regular programme at the
wednesday matinee and Wednesday night.