St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-10-24
IN THE THEATERS.

Thomas W. keene'S impeysonatien of
! Richard Ill, as finished piece of
work, is little snort of marvellous. That
the great trageaian is an established
fav0rite With St. Paul people WAS
proven by the reception given him by
the audience that welcomed him at the
Metropolitan last night.
The thing that is, perhaps, most
worthy of appreciation about Keene's
portrayal of the great characters of
classic drama is that he never allows
his auditors to feel that he is simply
playing part year after year. There
IS Strength, newneSS and surprise
about everything that is refreshing.
He has been seen many times be-
fore here, and in Richard HI. :"
but never before to be so thor
oughiy appreciated as last night.
The play in his hands is. in reality, a
grand scenic revival of one of Shake
speare's most powerful, if in some
respects repulsive, creations. Certainly
10 the beautiful stage setting can be
attributed in measure the change OF
which one is conscious, When seeing
bin of late in this play; but the plan
ming of all detail and the quick manip-
ulation of things that contribute so
largely to the completeness of the
whole show the genius of the man, as
well as they do his artistic ability.
keene'S representation of Richard has
always been vigorous and interesting,
sometimes almost too robust, but Us the
result of his ind0mitaDle effort and
OF hn
10 US the finished character. He
certainly is eminently fitted by his rare
dramatic ability and long training to
adequately portray any characters in
which he appears, but his characterize
ton throughout of the hypocritical,
double dealing, ambitious Gloucester is
essentially masterful.
LII the second act, where he stops the
funeral procession, and in the midst of
her grief goes SO far as even 10 WOO the
fair Anne. Edwards sorrowing widow,
he is sufficiently hardened villain to
please the most eXacting; and likewise
Iii the Ludlow hail scene, where he con-
SentS to the death of the two innocent
young princes, lest they should stand at
all in his way. Even in the coronation
scene, when the hight of his ambition
might be- supposed to have been
reached, the malevoleut nature still
shows IN the Unsuitable appetite for
more power.
1t seems eminently fitting that, on the
night before the battle of BoSworth
Field, when repOsiHg for few hours in
his tent, IN his dreams he should be
visited by the ghosts of King Henry and
Lady Anne, as we'll as those OF his muir
dered nepllewS; and py all the laws of
TetrlbutiOn it is just as proper, nay
necessary, that In that same battle he,
meeting Richmond i'll hand to- hand
light, should fall. This last scene is as
grand ii finale To well-executed play as
can be Imagined. and when to Keene's
wonderful ability as a tragediaR is
added the support that he has, the play
as Whole in his hands is certainly
only less meriterious than his Richie
lieu. As well as Thomas r. Eagleson,
whose imperSonation of King Henry
VI. Is superb, Mr.. keene has with him
Edwin Arden, who, as the Duke of
buckingham, distinguishes himself {;
Frank Hennig, as the Earl of Richmond {;
Carl Ahrendt; Robert L. Haines, who
plays the part OF Tressel remarkably
we'll; Edward Mackey, lord mayor of
London; Hazel Regain, Mrs. 5. K. Ba-
ker; Miss Florence Rockwell, who is a
new member of Mr.. Keene's company,
aud plays Lady Anne very creditably.
Miss FaderS' imperSOnatiOn of tire
queen is especially worthy OF mention,
as she is wonderfully strong, particu-
iarly in the tower scene.
Tonight Hamlet" will be given by
the Keene company. -.