The Portland daily press., 1896-09-02
MUSIC AND DRAMA.
The Indian.

ne lnQlans
Mr.. Lewis Morrison presented his new
play 'sThe Indian at Portland theatre
last evening to a fair sized and very en-
thusiastio audience.
"The Indian is drama in four acts,
whose story has been lately published in
these columns 1t Is play whose pur
pose is to show that the noble qualities
attributed to the red man are not fanoi6s
but realities, that the savage James
Fennimore Cooper made familiar still
exists TODAY, whether he retains the war
paint Ind feathers the symbols of his
race or wears the uniform Of Uncle Sam
blessed with the education of the white
man.
AS play "The Indian" has some
strong and pleasing scenes, and some
very effective situations, but there is
still much to be added, and considerable
pruning to be done, before it is a well
rounded drama. The idea of the greed
and chicanery of the Indian agsnt who
works under the guise of philanthropy,
is to a certain extent doubtless borne
ont by facts; that is II the stories that
have been told of many of these blood
suckers are true. But the attempt to
be funny on the part of the agent is not
particularly amusing; in fact the comedy
Of the play is rather forced.
Mr.. Morrison's fine figure. strongly
marked features, musical voice and nd
mirabie elocution bine to make his
Red Feather particularly forceful char
ri Inn, ot1xy ,f he
warrior chief is never lost sight of. He
was seen at his best in the scene with
General Sterling at the close of the seq
ond act when he tells the story of the
supposed death of his brother Rex, and
again when in the last act at the coun-
Gil fire, he dwells upon the wrong and
sufferings through which the red men
have passed. In the scene with Gladys
in which she describes to him the power
of love there was strong reminder of
like scene between Parthenia and the
barbarian Ingomar. In the character of
Rex, the educated Indian brother, he
displayed at times the dependency, the
moroseness almost, of the Indian char
acter. His burst Of passionate pleading,
OF the close of the third act, that Col.
Dudley would change his orders and let
him go to Gladys rescue was admira-
bly, done.
Miss Roberts was graceful, pleasing
Gladys. In the various scenes in which
she was prom inent she showed herself
equal to the task. Her costumes were
effective and handsome. The other char
acters did very we'll with the material
OF their command, but there is very little
in their lines of special interest. They
serve more as feeders than anything
else. We should speak however of Mr..
Gondreault's War Eagle, capital bit Of
character acting. The play was mount
ed very we'll but without any attempt
ut elaboration. The serenade My Lady
Sleeps" was admirably sung inssthe third
act by the quartette. The curtain was
called after each act.
Shore Acres
A fine scenic production of James A.
Herne's beautiful play, ''Shoro Acres"
will be given at the Portland Theatre,
Sept. and 8. To one who has not seen
this charming idyl of New England life
n mere description could scarcely be
anything but misleading. 1t comes with
in the coined-term class Of atmosphere
plays and the atmosphere is that of
little lighthouse settlement on the cors-
of Maine. The characters, and there are
a goodly mber, are natives To the soil
their speech and thought their own.
The usual climax and situation are al
most altogether wanting, in fact entire
" SO, if enc except the fight between the
two brothers in the lighthouse. Never