St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-03-10
AT THE THEATERS.


let at the Metropolitan opera house last night.
The Interpretation of the immortal character
given to us by Mr.. Savini is noteworthy, and
his production of the tragedy much to be COM
mended. But as the character is the soul of
the play 1t claims our first attention and inter-
est The other dramatis personae and the
scenery are after considerations. But before
discussing the young actors ambitious effort,
one can not refrain at the outset from compli-
menting the theater- going public of st. Paul
Tor its loyalty and love for the legitimate
drama in Its noblest embodiment. as shown by
the large and discerning assemblage of ladies
and gentlemen who filled the opera house last
night to witness "Hamlet'-that monument to
the genius of immortal Shakespeare. It ar
gued well for the taste of our public, and re-
flutes the oft repeated assertion that Shakes
peare doesn't pay
Salvin1's Hamlet is composite portrait Of
the romantic, the phlosophic and the mystic.
1t is not-yet-the classic Hamlet that Booth
compelled us to behold with commingled awe
and love, nor is it, thank heaven, the melo-
dramatic prince whom Wilson Barrett en-
deavored to adapt to the poets refined and
subtle thoughts. 1t is flesh and blood Ham
let united with spirituality enough to exalt it
above the common path of mankind and dis
tinguish it from the muscular heroes whose
Prince of Denmark is a repository of pro-
found thought and introspection, and the ex-
preston of his thoughts has made him i'm
mortal. Hazlitt, of the divine poets most
sympathetic commentators, has we'll said
Hamlet is gentleman thinking aloud"
The most conspicuous virtue of Salvini's
Hamlet is his reverence for Shakespeare.
Never. not for an instant, does he mar the
serene beauty of the text with a melo-
dramatic Interpretation or illustration of its
meaning. With the spirit of the true artist,
which he inherits from the greatest living
actor in the world, he leaves to the magma
ton the pictures the poet has expressed in
such incompatible language. No theatrical
artifice. no clap-trap, no forced stage bust
ness are resorted to by this actor to needlessly
accentuate the vital, telling words of the
poet. The action. the emotion, the very alb
straction of thought that the lines inspire
are enough for this actor. they must be
for any player capable Of sympathZing with
this character.
1t has been said that no foreign born actor,
or none whose immediate ancestors belong
to any of the races Of continental Europe,
can embody the ideal Hamlet. This asser-
ton, believe, is largely founded in senti-
ment. Certain it is. that Alexander Salvini
is a living refutation of it, or will be before
many years have sped. 1t is true that his
slight foreign accent does not permit of that
incisive, voluble, subtle reading of the text
that SO distinguished Mr.. Booths mastery
elocution, especially in this role. which is
essentially Evolutionary in character. But it
must be remembered that Mr.. Salvini is a
brilliant actor, with the very best of school
ing, sympathetic to degree and, above all,
keenly intelligent. There are speeches in
Mr.. Salvinis Hamlet that lack the full
ciy M MI no ai11fiI
lating subtlety that the skilled native elocu-
Zionist might impart to them, but so COM
pletely and thoroughly does Mr. Salvini ap-
preciate all the reinements of the character
that he rarely, if ever, fails to convey the
thought or the emotion by his demeanor.
1t may be said, without detracting from
Mr.. Salvinis originality of method that his
conception of Hamlet is in accord with
Booths. Booth himself followed the tradi-
tons founded on the wisdom of scholars and
illustrious actors. His success consisted in
the uniting of the best and wisest of them.
Mr.. Salvini, like Booth-and surely there is
no higher standards always sensible of the
poetic and mystic atmosphere that envelopes
the melancholy prince. He strives to keep
these qualities in the foreground. To wave
aside this atmosphere and disclose mere
commonplace sprig of royalty-a peevish, pet
ulant disappointed prince, who worshipped his
dead father and detested his step-father as
ordinary mortals generally do, would be fatal.
1t would deprive the divine tragedy of its soul
and the gentle prince of his poetry. For
Hamlet is a prince Of poetry.
Mr.. Salyini is to be commended for his ex-
celent judgment in not introducing eccen-
trio business" and unorthodox, and as is
usually the case, outiandish readings. 1t was
noticeable that his emphases were in every
case, with one exception, correct, if not al
ways significant enough. The one error,
slight though it is, occurred in Hamlet's
speech in the closet scene, wherein Hamlet,
in extolling the graces Of his departed father,
likens him to Jove, Mars and Mercury and
then ceasing to enumerate more goods, adds:
"a combination and a form indeed where
every god did set his seal to give the world
assurance of a man." The prime emphasis
belongs to the word every and the second
airy emphasis to god" To be sure this is
scarcely worth mentioning, and is, in fact, in
stanced because it was the only instance Of
the kind throughout Mr.. Salvinis entire per-
Torrance
Mr. Salvini introduced bits of business in
certain scenes that indicated commendable
study and intelligent thought For instance,
in the soliloquy ending "The plays the thing
wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king"
Mr.. Salvini, who had started before he began
the lines, "Oh what rogue and peasant
slave am T. to record on his tablets the
speech Hamlet was to insert in the play.
caught up the tablets and waved them aloft
as he uttered the final stirring words, 1.-THE
plays the thing" etc. This was effective and
legitimate. His closing of the closet scene
varied from the traditional stage presentation,
as that does from the text. He dismisses his
mother from her room, then exclaims 81
must be cruel only to be kind but omts the
following lines: THUS bad begins and worse
remains behind" and closes with lines not
usually spoken. The change is not an i'm
provement, as it robs the scene of the infinite
pathos presented by the picture of the peni-
tent mother in her sons arms.
The duel scene was admirably managed and
gracefully conducted The only scene which
Mr.. Salvini failed to give the deep impressive
ness that belongs to it was that with the
ghost in the first act His subsequent vision
of the ghost in the closet scene was far more
effective Mr.. Salvini was capital in the banter
with Polonius frenzied in the extremely diff
ficult scene with Ophelia, and magnificent in
the dramatic climax-the play scene. He de-
livered the soliloquy with fine feeling and
commendable abstinence from a tendency to
act it.
At the close of this act Mr.. salvini after re-
ceiving numerous curtain calls, responded with
brief but gracefully worded speech of thanks,
which captivated the audience.
Alexander Salvini will be great Hamlet
The tragedy was finely played, and the sup
porting company was in the main satisfactory.
The first gravedigger Of William Ranous was
easily the best characterization contributed by
the support. Walter Vincent was an accept
able Horatio, and Norman Conniers an i'm
provement on the average King Claudius.
Adelaide Fitz Allen was too lachrymose in the
role of Ophelia, albeit she has pleasing voice,
and read her lines intelligently. Augusta De
Forrest looked the queen but was trihe too