Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1897-05-22
"A Celebrated Case"

ing the Thespian Club of that place
did so we'll that the same general terms
Of praise might apply with almost
equal emphasis to each.
Miss Agnes Rankin, in the very diff
fcult part of Margaret Renaud,'
murdered within the hearing, it not
sight Of her little daughter, measured
fully up to the terrors and agonies of
the occasion. Perhaps she had in
dustriously rehearsed this perform
ance, but if not she furnished one in
stance wherein ''practice' does not
necessarily make perfect" She was
adequately assisted by Misses Lizzie
Peel, Minnie Walker, Bessie Jones
and Margaret Schuyler, whose parts.
not altogether easy, We're fifty rendered.
Perhaps the most unaffected of all
who took part in the prologue was
the petite Miss Jessie Robinson, as
"Adrienne," daughter of the murdered
"Madeline' She said her lines with
all child's openness, and, indispen-
sable to the plot, she filled her niche
with naioe earnestness.
The "Seneschal," John T. Dobbie,
bore his character with a dignity of
manner and tone becoming his high
functions.
Twelve years having elapsed, it is
supposed, between the close of the pro-
logue and beginning Of the play,
Miss Robinson is succeeded in the
latter by Miss Mary J. Dixon as
"Adrienne''-a young lady whose
stage appearance at once wins SYM
pathy for her part and admiration for
herself. With features illumined by
the beauty of earnest devotion to both
father and lover, her countenance
borders upon the spirituelle, and her
1.-the. graceful movements would es-
tablish the stage in the mind of a
stranger as her ha6itat. In the JOUR-
NAILS judgment her rendition of
'Adrienne's" dual inspiration was
without blemish.
In Miss Clara Price Miss Dixon en-
Joyed the aid of an accomplished stu
dent of the part of ''Valentine de Nor
nay This, it is said, was her second
appearance upon the stage She may
we'll determine that it shall not be her
last
The stately Duchess" by Miss
Sarah Mcbride the elegant "Chan-
oiuesse,' by NJ Hiss Marie Hamilton, and
the serviceable "Juiie,' by Miss Nettie
Eichhorn, We're each appropriately
presented.
W. R. Dixon looked grandee of
the olden time and in action person
ated the Count de Aubeterre" in
arstocratic style. His was "a fine
character well delineated.
"Lazare,' a camp follower in the
prologue, and counterfeit Count de
Mornay' in the play, We're parts taken
and presented by l.. Spier with the
ready force and vicious spirit of the
inevitable villain of the plot whose
pretensions to nobility, in this in
stance, are here and there impeached
by outgivings significant of his true
quality. This was a difficult role well
enacted.
Sergeant O'2ourke," the comedian
of the play, was in part and perform
ance one of the best of the company.
His observations were spoken with an
energy which brooked no question
and, taken with his emphatic move
ments, generally brought down the
house. He was success.
William Campbell, the fortunate
sutton of "Adrienne,' played the del
icate, dainty, ticklish part of lover
in tender fashion. He was "Viscount
Raoul de Langey,' a military char
acter, who shared with John Renaud,''
the victim of an injustice which makes
ga Celebrated Case" the highest
place in the affections of Renaud's
lovely daughter. So that, after all, his
boat gliding down stream, his part was
''real easy"
The JOURNAL has said enough of
"Renaud," the victim of false charge
of uxoricide, sentence of death and
communication at the last moment to the
galleys for life to show that his career
is the core of the play. This was
taken by J. j. Robinson, editor of the
Star of Homecoming and now Iona
coning's star among the sons of
Thespis, the sire of Greek tragedy.
AS said last week, his is, therefore, now
binary pre- eminence. and as such
his admirers were not disappointed in
the evolution which gradually dis
closed the succession and elimination
of his sufferings. Helpless under the
iron hand of fate, he was yet brave
and hopeful as one who believed that
innocence, like truth, cannot be finally
crushed. Somewhat as Tasso, address
ing his beloved Leonora, hoped to