The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-11-09
AT THE THEATERS.

1t is genuine pleasure to bestow praise
upon theatrical performance that merits it..
1t is a dlsagreeable duty to give an unworthy
drama and incompetent players their deserts
But the public and the players, too, are en-
Titled to have the truth about that romantic
tragedy in four acts, entitled 1.-THE Man in
the Iron Mask" which was witnessed at the
Metropolitan opera house last night.
First, then, as to the play, which is, after
ALL 1.-The thing" Donald Robertson the chief
actor in it, is, according to the programme,
responsible for its adaptation 1t is lament
ably lame in construction, diction and senti-
ment The first is crude, the second common
place when not bombastic, and the third
'stale, fiat and Improbable" Words there
are many; action there is little pertinent to
the story, and that is mostly condensed into
the last act. All in all, it is spasmodic, dis
Jointed tme-wasting effort, lacking in con-
centration Of purpose, coherency and climax.
There is, to be just one legitimate climax
occurring at the close of the second act, when
CASTOR, the twin brother of Louis XIV.
passes himself off the courtiers Of Louis
as the king, and thus escapes arrest. What
merit the dramatizaton possesses, as al
ready intimated, belongs to the final act
that representing the interior Of the prison
on the Isle of st. Marguerite. There is some
dramatic action here, some interest aroused
as to the fate of the man who wears the
iron mask. Moreover the iron mask which
the audience has been waiting to behold
for three dreary, depressing acts, is at last
introduced sni SIG
More has been said of the play than it de-
serves. 1t would be charity to say still less
of the players. The best that can be said
of them Is that their conspicuous shortcom-
inrc hos
training and experience rather than sheer
inaptitude and inability. Donald Robertson,
who, without any percepuble reason, styles
himself on the bill Of the play as 1.-The poet
actor" may be an accomplished poet, but
he convincingly demonstrated that he is not
accomplished actor. He Is rather an eIo-
cutionist with all the disqualifcations for eff
fective acting that elocutionists are usually
afflicted with. While in the louder passages his
enunciation is clear and his voice resonant
in the quieter scenes calling for intensity
without noise. Mr.. Robertson's voice assumes
fat, rasping, throaty quality. anything but
agreeable or effective. He suits the action
to the word, in that he drags in both His
long and unaccountable pauses are exasper-
atfng None but great actors could fill
them. Mr. Robertson is not an imposing
Louis XIV, which becomes painfully appar-
ent when he quotes that amiable monarch's
historical remark, 81 am the state" His
gestures are graceful, his repose commend
able and his reading intelligent, excepting
those pauses between words that belong to
each other.
A word describes the work of the support
ing company-amateurish The gentiemen's
costumes hung on them and their mustaehes
were obtrusively artificial They ranted. but
the stars afforded them the pernicious ex-
ample. 70
melodrama without villain and his at
tendant Vaccinations to assist in the develop
ment OF the plot was the refreshing novelty
onered to the usual large Sunday audience
at the Grand last evening when Mckee Ran
KIN, assisted BY capable company, presented
for the first time in St. Paul play from his
own pen, entitled, New York as 1t Isl The
play is in some respects departure from the
ordinary nelodrama. having less Of the heroic
and improbable in it's lines and situations and
in the abstract reflects no little credit upon
its author as a playwright. AS to it's inter
probation, while perhaps open at times to
criticism, particularly in the court scene of
the last act in which there is an interjec-
ton of too much comedy, the production is
certainly above the ordinary.
The play is well staged. The plot of the
piece unravels itself about the career of
and associations form the basis of the story
and in the characterization of the ex-convict
Mr.. Rankin is offered ample opportunity for
a display Of his talents. the role being treated
with deep sympathy. The struggle for the
love of his daughter and grandchild, with the
counter promptings to save them from the
shame attaching to a convict, which, in its
different phases. is the essence of Mr.. Ran
kin's part throughout the production, dis
plays quiet and natural intensity of feel
ing, and an artistic conception
Miss Nance O'Neil, as Mrs. Anna Dunning,
Garth's daughter, is young actress of abil-
ity. Hers is a difficult role and capable of
being easily overdone, but Miss O'Neil ap-
pears to feel her part and presents charac-
terization Of merit and artistic worth. Prom
inent she is in each climax Miss O'Neil
lends much of the essential to the produc-
ton. She was particularly effective in the
scene where she announces her determination
to cling to her convict father, and several
times during the evening received curtain
calls for her conscientious effort
Maude Granger. as Nine. Carlton, a retired
opera singer, the wife of Garth and mother
Of Mrs Dunnfng was wholly adequate to the
requirements OF her role. AS emotional
actress Miss Granger is remembered as an
artist Of ability, who has frequently been
seen in st. Paul and who has won new
favor in this role.
Edward p fMawson, in the character of
Stephen Baldwin, a wealthy merchant, in
terested in the reformation Of criminals and
who falls in love with Mrs. Dunning, fulhlis
the requirements of his part in a finished
manner.
The element Of comedy interspersed through
out the production is furnished by Charles
Willard, as Ebenezer Judkins, Baldwin's con-
fidential clerk, with predisposition for liquor
before breakfast; Lois Clarke, as Mrs. Mary
Ellen Higgins, washerwoman and friend Of
Mrs. Dunning, and William Robyns as Peter
Ballard, negro servant to Stephen Baldwin.
Molly Smith, factory girl, who is wise IN
the ways Of the world. well portrayed by
Mary Saunders. and little Trixie Morrison,
an six-year-old Arthur Dunning, was q