The morning call., 1892-07-08
THE STOCKWELL OPENING.
A Pretty Auditorium Crowded
With Beauty and Fashion.
Daly's Players Surprise and Delight the Audi
tors With As You Like It"-complets
Msnner Of the Rendering.

As was confidently anticipated the first
night at the Stockwell was brilliant affair."
All the conditions combined to make it so.
We had a coy and elegant theater spick-
span new from the hands of the architect
AMI decorator, more comfortably arranged
than any other place Of amusement in the
city, and a company of players unexeelled
on the modern stage to interpret one
OF the choicest conceptions of England'S
greatest dramatic poet. No wonder then
the people were happy who sat in
that charming auditorium no wonder they
were delighted and deeply interested while
Days players Gnfolded line by line in their
mastery way, the beauties that to the casual
Leader lie hiddea in the text of idyl ''As I ou
Like It." There were times when the en-
husiasm became-we won't say boister0us ::
that Is too strong a word to describe the
feeling Of such an audience. Earnest is
the better one-earnest to enthusiasm in
their appreciation of the literary and dra-
matte treat spread before them. Mr.. Man
ager Stockwell was called for at the close of
the first act After much persistent de-
mand he ventured on personal appear
ance, but did not risk speech.
las YOU LIKE IT"
Shakespeare for once must have desired to
write pastoral poem. says critical COM
mentator. but the requirements OF the age.
the natural tendency OF his genius TO the
dramatic form of expression and his per-
sonal connection with the theater decided
that this poem should be drama. In it
what is done is not SO essential as what is
said''-the dreamy poetry Of the scene seems
10 Danish any violence or rapidity of action,
and we lose ourselves in the sweet con-
temptation OF tie simple partriarchal
life and rural liberty of the exiled
foresters. The sensitive mind is carried on
the pinions OF fancy TO the deep glades of
the forest OF Arden, which though 1t has
real existence and we can point to it on the
map. seems as much the region Of magma
ton and enchantment as is the goblin
haunted isle Of Prospero. Hazlitt, enlarg-
ing this idea, SAYS: "Nursed in soil
tude under the shade of melan-
chuIy boughs the Imagination grows soft
and delicate, and the wit runs riot in idle
ness, like spoiled child that is never sent
to school. Caprice and fancy reign and
revel here, and stern necessity Is banished
TO the court. The mild sentiments OF hu-
manity are strengthened with thought aud
leisure; the echo Of the noise and cares of
the world strikes upon the ear of those who
have felt them knowingly softened by time
and distance. They hear the tnmult and
are still.
THE PLAYERS,
Whose charge it was to Pit the realism of
life into the poets pen-drawn pictures. dis
CHdTSeu ~ 10 tic UTMOST ItUter. a 6dcn
entered on the scene of action, he or she
was greeted with more or less warmth by
the audience, according as they had been
known and valued by previous experience.
The R0salind of the cast. Miss Ada RehaD,
was received effusiyely. and courtesed
low and gracefully, as only Rehan
can, In response. Drew and Lewis
were, metaphorieaily. received with open
arms, and the veteran Charles Wbeatleigh,
the peto our public for two generations it
may be said. had such a reception that even
the leaves of the trees in the cut scenes of the
forest OF Arden seemed to culver ia the
breath oil the applause. 1t would be work
Of supererogation to 60 into detailed men ton
of the performance. One feature to admire
liz 1t is the completeness of the details. The
wrestling of Charles (BoswOrth) and
Orlando Drew might have been wit
Dessed with sense of satisfaction
at the olympic Club, and AmieEs'
(Daubigney) singing of the song Under the
Greenwood Tree" was worthy the premier
barytone of first class opera troupe.
tention. A torrent OF applause was let loose
Tor the manner in which he read "The
Seven Ages" which was certainly done
with good accent and discretion. Mr.. James
Lewis as Tombstone. the clown. had
close appreciation of Shakespearean
confined for the most part to
the modern school. 1t is a compliment for
him to say that he approaches in his
method William Barry. whom Lewis did
not know, but than whom more accom-
plished Shakespearean comedian never
struited his brief hour on the American
stage. Audrey was played by Miss Isabel
Irving. MIR. Charles Wheatleigh per-
sonated the banished duke with all his old
time tact. Celia Miss Adelaide Prince)
lively well sustained. The same piece to-
night.