The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-07-25
NATURAL ACTING.
A German Company PIeases and Sur
prises London.
LONDON Telegraph.

London Telegraph.
1t is always pleasant to welcome to Lon
don genuine comedians from any country
in the world. Germany has been singularlv
apathetic in the matter up TO the present
time. We all know that this great and ar
tstic country, which takes the lead in mu-
sic, mas also at her command a great gift
of comedy. But though occasionally We
send over our Charles Wyndhams and
Mary MoOres to Berlin we unfortunately
know very little of German acting in Eng
land. Those with retentiVe memories can
never forget Nine. Janauschek as MedCa
though she did not come TO us straight
from Germany, but from America. where
her remarkable talent quickly ap-
preciated. Very old playgoers indeed can
recall Herr Devrient, supposed to be the
ideal Hamlet, but since Herr Barnay de-
lighted us al the head of the DuCal Sake
Meiningen company with his Mare Antony
in Julius Caesar and other classical
plays, Germany, so far as England is con-
cerned, has been obstinately dumb. Yet our
best professors of comedy in its lighteSt
gayest and most natural sense have much
to learn from such artiStes as Nine. obi
lon and Herr Mil. who are at the head Of
the Vienna Nolkstheater Company.
We talk of natural acting in this country.
but how very seldom does it initiate nature
except "abominably? The great fault Of
English acting is the studied indifference
to be natural. easy and conversational our
actors and actresses learn their parts they
are taught their positions. they speak well
or indifferently, but there is ever a ghast-
ly pause a break or hiatus. between ques-
ton and answer. tits as a rule a dull and
mechanicaI style of acting; But watch
Nine. Odilon ard Herr Mill. or Nine.
Odilon and Herr Christians. and il will be
seen that this is natural acting. because
the whole thing is studied to a miracle poll
ished and perfected and seems to the mere
spectator as if ii were not acting a all.
Such artistes as these do not deliver so
many sentences, well or i'll. wait for their
cues, and go on and on like tramcars or
omnibuses They have expression. During
a speech or a sentence you can see they are
listening to what is being said 20 them.
They interrupt the speaker heresY in
England-with gestures, grimace starts
and surprises, which assist the actually Of
the scene.
At home, if an actor or actress dared to
act while some one else was speaking he
''queering somebody's pitch, whereas
every gesture, every animated movement
assists the speaker instead of spelling him.
But, then, this is acting, not mere reciting
of given parts. We have always had it
from. France We did not expect 1t as
made in Germany"
The play in which these admirable per-
formers appear is called 'Untreu." 1t is
German version of simple story known in
Italy as "Infdile," and with us it is simply
the Joseph Surface and Lady Teazle scene
in the School for Scandal worked up into
a three-act play. A good, Virtuous. but
rather uischievous wife who has condOned
her husbands misdeeds again and again. Is
rash enough to compromise herself i'm order
to test her husbands love 4 more foolish,
whimsical and daredevil thing woman
never did, but 1t gives the new Lady Teazle
some fine opportunities for comedy when
she accepts the invitation Of a most ro-
mantle, yet sensual, Joseph, to visit him at
his chambers. The more passionate ne be-
comes the more she chaffs him to madness.
There, of course. they are caught by the
husband, who as is the case with all
vicious husbands, is morality itself where
the action of his wife is concerned. The I'M
truthful husband makes a pattern preacher
of morality-to his wife
These scenes are admirably played by
Nine OdilOn and Herr Mill, with sup
pressed humpr by the one and exag-
gerated sentiment by the other But the
curtain had not been up five minutes be-
fore we found ourselves in the very atmos-
phere of comedy and nature What would
we not give to see English actress dar-
ing enough to reproduce all the detail OF the
scene where the wife. by charm and CO.
quetry, tempts her erring lord back to the
paths of fidelity? 1t may be what Damas
called the secrets of the aleove," but
when perfectly represented and with absO-
lutte purity, on the stage, 1t is very delight
full to witness. Here a married
woman using every feminine art and charm
70 tempt her husband back to companion
ship and love. And it is done with gesture,
with tact and with grace that tighten up
the dullest or the simplest Of plays. In
"Untreu'' we have not a dull but a very
simple play. But without a doubt it is
ding or our student comedians-if there are
ing methods Of such wel-traned and aC-
cOmplished artists as Nine. Odilon and Herr
Mill. There are no pauses with them, no
gaps, no hedges. They force the play to
success; they do not drag it down TO de-
StructiOn.