St. Paul daily globe., 1893-11-17
MODJESKA AS PoRTIA.
a Strong Presentation and an
tg Able support.


81 Modjeska was greeted at the Metro
politan last evening by her usual very
large st. Paul audience. 1t was not
made the dress occasion of the appear
ance OF Irving and Terry. but the multi
etude was quite as large as at any per-
formance of the famous English pair.
st. Paul audiences are accused of being
cold and unreSp0nsiye, but MOdjeSka
and Otis Skinner had no reason to COM
plain ON that score last night.
1t would almost be sufficient for pres
ent purposes to say that Modjeska as
Portia sustained herself, were it not for
the fact that she has never before ap-
peared i'll that roll in st. Paul, and the
further fact that she has only ilnperson-
ated Porta in America two seasons. the
first being with Edwin Booth.
She must certainly be accorded by
nearly every critic high rank among
all Portas.
1t is so rarely that woman of the
great strength of mind of Portia pos
seSses her accompanying sweetness,
grace and archness. that to the average
person size seems almost an lncOnSlSt-
ency.
1t is difficult to say where she rose to
the greatest effect.
AS the woman of charming grace
when she plightS her Iroth to BasSanio,
there is delicate commingiing of
strength of character which the actress
brought out with the deIicacy of Shakes
peare's intention.
The amusing plot which she lays,
while deylSing the most serious feature
of the play,to entrap and tease BasSanio
was handled admirably III the climax of
the last act.
Otis Skinner is an excellent Shylock.
He 6raved the most difficult feature of
Shyl0ck'S performance, which was
made very little of by Henry Irving.
This scene is the Jews meeting with
Tubai. Every reputable Shylock can
play the court scene with strong effect,
but not every one can present
effectively the meeting with Tubai.
Shylock is frenZied with grief over the
departure of his daughter Jessica with
Lorenzo, Gentle.
In the midst OF his rawlings Tubal ap-
pears. and informs him of the loss of
ships and fortune of Antonio. The
thought flashes into Shylock's mind
that Antonio must forfeit his bond. and
that lie had an opportunity to feed his
love for revenge by eXacting the
pound of flesh. His love for
revenge Overpowers his sorrow.
The transition from sorrow to JOY un-
der the circumstances has been declared
by Engiand's greatest Shyiocks of the
past to be the most difficult thing to do
of anything in the play. Skinner GER
talnly made the transition with marked
power. His Shylock is less repulsive
and more human than the Shylock of
most actors.
Il. PeytOn Carter is one of the best
Launcelot G0bboS on the stage. His
personal makeup fits him especially for
the part. His every appearance on the
stage was the signal for storms of ap-
plauSe.
Howard Kyle as Gratiano. Guy Linds-
ley as BasSanlo. Charles Collins as An
tonic, Frederick Guest .aS Lorenzo and
Maud Durbin as JeSSlca all performed
their parts very acceptably. On the
whole, the support throughout is good.
Robert Downing will be the attraction
at the Metropolitan opera house for the
first four nights and Wednesday mat
inee, appearing in the following roper
toire: Sunday and "Wednesday even
ings, "The Gladiator;' Monday night.
"Virginius;" Tuesday night. Damon
and Pythias;" and "Wednesday matinee,
Richard the Lion Hearted" The mat
inee prices will prevail at the Wedues-
day matinee, 25, 80 and 70 cents.
-
The attraction at the Metropolitan
opera house for the last four nights of
next week will be the great New York
success of last season, entitled THE
Crust of Society,""