Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1897-08-27
PLAYING TWO PARTS.
INSTANCES IN WHICH AN ACTOR HAS
BEEN TWO MEN AT ONCE.


ers" and the Lyons Mail" Are Plays in
Which 1t Is Necessary For the Star to
Make These Quick Changes.
To be able to play two parts in the
same piece-to portray, perhaps two
characters of totally different caliber-
is not an undertaking which many ac-
tors care to attempt. 1t is only the ex-
perienced artist who may attempt the
feat with impunity, and even then,
though he may appear to the audience
to achieve his end without an effort,
there are many more difficulties in his
path than meet the eye of the habitual
theater goer.
Not only must the actor be possessed
of no small amount of histrionic talent,
but he must often call in the aid of an
understudy, whose duty it is to gull the
onlooker into the belief that their favor
lite is performing the impossible feat of
being in two places at one and the same
time. For i'll nearly every play of such a
character it is well nigh impossible for
the author so to arrange his piece that
the actor may never he called upon to
be on the stage with his double
Any one who has been to see "'The
Prisoner Of = enGa' performed at the St
James thCatcr, must have malveled at
the lightning celebrity with which Mr.
George Alexander, a moment before the
drunken king Of Ruritania. suddenly
as by some act of witchcraft, reappcared
as Rudolf Rassendyll, clad in the ordi-
nary costume of the English tourist
Then, to every ones surprise, the supine
body of the king was carried in so that
to all appearances Mr.. Alexander was
gazing upon his own person IL reality,
of course, it was merely a lightning
change, and the understudy had to be
requisitioned to supply the person of the
king.
A more famous case of double imper-
sonation, however, is that of 1.-The Cor
sican Brothers, " the first play perhaps
in which sir Henry Irving gave us "a
taste Of his wonderful talent.
In the first act-to give a slight re
sumo of the play-the ghost of Louis,
killed i'll duel by a certain Chateau
Renaud III the forest of Fontainebleau,
appears to Fabien, his brother. The sec
ond act takes us to Paris, and through
varied incident to the death of Louis
Here Irving was Louis.
In the third act, however, it is Fabien
who is once more before us, who has
constituted himself the avonger of his
brothers. death. He meets Chateau
Remand and demands satisfaction. Re.
maud is worsted and falls to the ground.
Then suddenly the ghost of Louis ap-
pears, and, to personate the spirit Of
the dead man, Irving had had to fly to
the wings make his way below the
stage and take his stand upon the trap
which conveyed him upward to the
gaze of the thrilled spectators
How was it done? The audience was
amazed Yet the explanation is com
paratively simple: Irving stepped be
hind property tree His double
instantly filled his place, taking good
care not to face the audience when it
was necessary for him to confront the
ghost Hence the lightning change from
mortal to spirit and the resultant be-
wilderment of tic beholders
Neither is the "COrsican Brothers
the only play i'll which Irving has CON
trived to take double part and yet
nonplus the audience by the adroitness
of his metamOrphOsis.
Those who are familiar with the
Lyons Mall will doubtless remem-
Der the most telling scene in the play.
Here DubOsc, the murderer, is III an
attic gazing down upon the prepare
lions being made for the execution of
! the innocent Lesurques-whose likeness
| to the real murderer has brought him
to such a terrible pass-an expression
of horrible glee upon his face, clapping
his hands as he sees the apparently
doomed man step forward to his death.
But his eXultation is premature. Lee
surques is reprieved, and the crowd
suddenly catches sight of the villainOus
! face of the real murderer at the attic
window. The door of the room is bat
tered in. Behind it stands Dubosc The
wretch is dragged from his refuge, and
as they do so Irving LesuTques coOlly
walks i'll upon the scene of turmoil.
The door Of the attic is made to oper
NV dlht NIAS SlluNN4llE IL Al4E -l(uuOSN
from view of the auditorium. I'm a mo
ment he slips through a trap. Hi:
"double" takes his place, to be hustled
unceremoniously by the crowd of "su
pers, " whose duty it is also to concea
the man face III case the fraud SHOULD
be discovered Irving Lcsurques car
hen come on in his new role.
But an actor has been known to play
two parts without the assistance of {
dummy.
In certain play it was the duty O
the hero to leap out of the window O.
his room and to enter from door ON tn,
opposite side of the stage clad in differ
ent clothes though otherwise the same
This, however, was Juggling pur,
and simple. The actor dropped into hi
Eecond dress in much the same way a
an American fireman is reputed t,
jump into his uniform. The COSTUME
consisted of but one piece with a paten
fastening down the back, and as h,
leaped through the window frame b.