New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-01-16

bi,
MS own heart and had threatened 10 abandon
81. petersburg and to overturD the now o,dar
oI RUSSIAN progress. This was enough IN In
spiie MS fathers relentless fury The same
ie'er VINO mad driven his sister Sophia from
we '"Iohe INTO a convent and then erected a
s"'o"S III front OF her window where two
hundred Strelts conspirators could be hanged
before her eyes, not troubled with sensibjIitv
ana would not have shrunk from condemning
his own son TO death.
A situation as revolving as It was dramatic
could not be presented to a modern audience
with the naturalism Of semi barbarous Russia
IL the first quarter Of the eighteenth century.
1t was necessary to idealize both Peter and
AieNis ana to mitigate the appalling horror OF
an unnatural death-sentence. 1t was the con-
verse Of the situation in For the Crown" where
a son killed his father. who was about to be-
ira, his country after an honored career In
that instance the fathers reputation could be
saved only by death. and the murderer himself
expiatea his crime by being himself accused OF
treason and dying In shame and dshonor. Mr..
Lawrence Irving had a more difficult task be-
cause he was not inventing an imaginary situa-
ton. but was dealing with historical events He
could not Justify fathers heartlessness in
bounding his son 10 death, and do not under
stand that he has tried to do so. He has at
tempted what the great masters OF the stage
have dore before him. He has supplied a motive
for the tragic incident and adapted 1t for
dramatic use.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLOT
The first act revealed the relations Of father
and and strongly contrasted their char
acters by many subtle touches. Consprators
in the Kremlin. hearing the rumors Of Peters
defeat and imprisonment have ended a debauch
by inducing Alexis. the Regent. TO sign an order
for the release of his mother. Eudoxia, Peters
divorced wife. She appears In her convent garb.
but instead of abettng the plot warns her ir-
resoute son against ntagonizing his father.
He declaims passonately against his fathers
butcheries. and when a company Of mobiles rush
in to proclaim him Tsar. he has no thought
for Euphrosine his Finnish mistress whom
he names as Empress. He alternately ap
proaches and shrinks from the window. where
the crowd outside is calling upon him to show
himself Distant martial music is heard. there
Is turmoil in the streets. soldiers force their
way in. and Peter the Great enters In tower
ing rage, while cOnsprators. courtiers, Eudoxia
and Alexis are covering before him.
The act is filled with movement and flashes of
characterization Peter, with his short. cured
mustache and fierce eyes, his dark caftan.
silk waistcoat and woollen stockings and the
stout stick with which ne beabors friend and
foe, is as picturesque figure as has ever been
at the Lyceum. The part suits Sir Henry
Irving's extraordinary talent for facial express
sion and quick transition from one mood to an
other At first he is furious defeat by the
Turks; then he has a paroxysm Of Joy over
news Of the capture Of Riga; he Is filled with
ironical scorn for his divorced wife. Eudoxia,
and pets with affection and pride Catherine.
a. tumble maid of all work, who is
lust the thing for an EmperOrs wife,; he turns
in relentless rage against the cOnsprators, and
at the entreaty Of Catherine spares their lives.
condemning them TO build a new capital In the
swamps OF the Neva; and, finally, after play
full passage with Euphrosine he magnanimously
forgives Alexis and makes a deliberate e1ort
to understand and convert him into worthy
successor. Sir Henry Irving plays his part with
wonderful variety and power. 1t Is one or his
most vivid and melodramatc approximations.
In this act. as well as in the second act, In
which father and son are finally separated AFTER
a fierce quarrel between Catherine and Eu-
phrosine the playwright has accentuated with
cumulative force the characteristic traits which
render anita gonism inevitable. even when each
is striving to approach the other. Peter. with
all bis levity. coarseness and buffoonery, is
marvel of restless energy, with an overmas'er-
ing ambition TO break away from the old, be-
niehted Moscow Of baleful traditions, and with
@ pew canital TO found o. modern Empire In
touch with the civilization Of the West Alexis
70 a weaklng without force OF character or
sympathy for his fathers work lie disturps
his father by becoming faint and excited wheh
child is run over in the street by n caIihoh'
he neglects his studies and attempts silly I'M
posture by pretending that he has been wounded
In the hand by pistol which mas nor oeeii
fired off; he is not man or action. taxes no IN
terest in the Emperor's colossal projects, READS
religious books and whines about Euphrosine'
and when he Is compelled 10 choose between
his fathers work and mOnastry. abdcates IN
craven spirit and takes refuge In flight. The
| motive for his execution IL the Emperors sense
Of nublic duty An unworthy successor must be
| removed In order that the welfare OF Russia
NAV be promoted and his own work not under
mined Tolstoi who Is Peters keenest adviser.
clearly EXPLAINS the public necessity: "Emperors
have come out of converts before now. ba-
toosbko The cowl is not nailed TO the head.
you know"
There Is the same broad. expository treatment
90 the general theme In the third act. In which
Alexis and Euphrosine arc discovered by Tostoi
In their hiding place near Naples and Induced
On Ye,urn 10 Russia The playwright has not
succeeded in justifying what is to happen In
,he next two Gets but he has explained stua-
ton which is fraught with dramatic interest
and pathos The Russian logic OF II Is summed
I'M I'm such sentences these "Emperors doh
have sons; they have successors" i i've TOT
men: that is enough for me- The drama
marches rapidly to Its tragic close Ihere il q
most picturesque and effective trial scene IN