The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-10-06

|Enake drama out of what is essentially n
ltory of thought and not of action. The
keader who will shut himself out from the
&2hfiuences of the present and permit him
Self to be transported through the medium
~ 1.-The Scarlet Letter" to that quaint old
3 Puritan settlement where the master of
.omantic American fiction has laid the
sscene of his touching study of erring hu-
man nature MS it existed 200 years ago,
Stiil exists today and always will exist,
cannot fail to he impressed with the meta
physical strength of Hawthorne's work
Me will perceive, if he be studento or close
II observer of the drama, it's woeful lack of in
|dident and its dependence for strength up
Sn the artful, albeit masterful. manner in
sshich the author compels the readers i'm
Y giimtion to aid him in supplying the pro-
lyounced colors in his pictures, most of
5i'hlch he has painted in neutnll tnts In
& DOCK the mind of the person to be pleased
must he catered to; in play the eye and
gar are practically the only agents for in
serpreting the writer's meaning
For this reason. If for no other, 1.-THE
sPcarlct Letter" will never he satisfactorily
4 ramatizcd. a play is not II literary condi-
Inent, rs many seem to imagine. Neither
'S 1t series of descriptive tableaux, strung
Aogether by jerky. analytical speeches, in
produced FOR the purpose of leading up to
4 he opportunity which the star must have
ill., bring the curtain down upon fine ex
N ibiiion of his Gcclamatory ability. The
tnbjcct matter of the reflections of a man
lis he sits mute and motionless in a chair.
Night make very interesting reading, if
Hell described, but it would scarcely be
considered exciting and entertaining, or
even Instructive, II attempted on the
Itage. The character which thinks has
ito place in theatricals; it is Tho figure
(Which nets that is necessary. The drama
Is essentially the realm of action, for liv-
eng, moving figures are furnished MS sub
4titutes for the novelist's descriptions and
N these enbcdiments Fail to sustain the
ines marked out for them they fall short
III their mission and belong not upon the
ltage.
/ Mr.. Joseph HattoD is the last person to
attempt decentralization of 1.-The Scarlet
| lettcr." and it would be misleading to say
that he had accomplished his task either
veil or i'll, for he has simply reverted some
Incidents. much to their detriment, and
clipped the authors dialogue almost YER
boatim. 1t is true that Mr.. Hatton has
flso written in" II mountebankish sort OF
Fellow who is the master OF the smuggling
.essel on which Hester Prynne and Arthur
lDimmesdalc have planned to escape, but
b. boy might have done the same thing
Equally well. The elevation of Mary Will
lis into robust approximations sou brette
Iiole also tends to mar the dclicacy and re-
ylnement of treatment, which are conspicu-
I'us features of 1.-The Scarlet Letter"
f'hou!d this naturalization. as recently
presented by Richard Mansfield ut Daly's
heatre, New York city, prove successful,
will not be Oh account of Mr. Hatton's
bvork. bltt in spite of it.
Richard Mansfield is frequently spoken
L>f By those critics who are Meier willing to
Eidmit that any one is wholly artistic, as
one Of the best of the younger actors on
Iihe American stage" Mr.. Mansfield is in
my opinion the very best general pcrfor-