The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1898-03-15
AT THE THEATERS,
Columbia what Dreams Nav Com,

Columbia what Dreams May Come.
The authority of one Mr.. William
Shakespeare Notwithstanding there is
much in a name and. in spite of thou
sand and one things against her, Nine.
Janauschek had big audience before
What Dreams May Come" last night at
the Columbia. 1t was an enthusiastic au-
dience, too though all the applause given
was not due to the aforesaid name. In
fact, the greater part of an assembly that
came to laugh remained to praise.
But more noteworthy than the return to
stellar hOnors of the famous actress is
the drama she presented for the first time
on any metropolitan stage yesterday
evening. That this is really powerful and
powerfully real is not so much caused by
theme or treatment-though both are fair
as by q certain element of unseen at
traction, not so much morbid as weird and
less CHASTITY than novel
In brief the story Is of a Russian no.
blLwomrh the Countess Dimitri, who
has. before the play begins, stolen for the
sake of her government papers belonging
to her English husband. His ruin and their
separation is followed by the birth of a
son, who is consigned to his father by the
wife's relatives. This father believing
the boy Legitimate attempts to drive
him to desperation, and by means of an
ingenious set of complications, to force
the youths own mother into killing him
by strange mind power she controls
sort of unholy hypnotism. the murderous
force of Mahatma. This she is doing
despite the woman who loves him, when
she learns of the relationship revenges
herself by proving to the Englishman that
the lad is his own son and finally reaches
her intended victim in time to save him.
The mysterious side of power so pure-
ly mental and so little understood as that
OF the Mahatma is used to great advan-
tdge by Mr.. Kester, and with rare tact
combined with a great deal of latent but
still evident strength and dramatic force.
His situations are interesting, almost alb
sorbing, while some of his act fnales
| achieve by the force of suggestion that
winch only badness could win by express
sion. The scene that ends the second act
of the play contains so much of the hor-
rible and so little of the repulsive, such
an iniinitude of weII-drawn energy in ac-
ton that one finds himself feeling every
]
motion made on the stage.
There are many faults in the play, but
they are mainly of a nature that can.
make them easily eradicated with lit
tie care. At first the plot is much involv-
ed, and the comedy portion remains so.
The speeches are far too long, and pow
erty of business makes ii impossible Tor
the pictures to be animated. The players
seem to rely on the same motor power
Tor expression and motion, for when one
is not used the other remains idle also
Another detail that hurts the play great
~ is the excess of foreign phrases used.
These materially injure every situation
and in one case spoil a climax Mr. Kes-
ter should remember that audiences do
not Of necessity speak French, and that
f he will insist in using that language,
he must give away lexicons as souvenirs
A F'renchman at the play last night
might easily have complained that it con-
tanned too much English to be uAder-
standable.
I:Li wer5 the faults thousand times
greater the inherent force of the drama
and its mystic qualities would carry it.
| The novelty of a mind murder cannot be
! oyerestimated, the nearest approach to it
/ before having been as far distant as the
/ NahatmI situation in MY Friend From
India "
The cast presenting the piece is in the
main excellent. Madame Janauschel has
not lost the technique of her art nor the
/ fire that made that technique appreciabIe
She checks any tendency to overacting
with deliberatiOn and subdued intensity
{ that does her credit. Her Countess is a
human being with human tendencies. so
carefully drawn as to be remarkable and
so strongly built as to prove that Mad
/ anne Janauschek's good work is not all
/ in the past. Edmund Collier has a semi
! villainous role that allows him to look
handsome, carry riding whip and speak
with sweetly-moderated voice His St
Clare is the first scoundrel he has played
! i'll some time who was not also a hunch-
/ back Joseph Whiting is as good as a lay
figure may be- John Blair makes pass
able role as mawkish as that of Little
BiIlee in 'Trilby." while Myron Calico.
Frank Lyman, John Holland. John Hep
worth and Margaret De Wolfe are good
in parts that do not give many chances
for enthusing. One of the best people in
the company is Maud Banks, whose Mary
4 O'Blake is a bit of consistent character
work rarely equaled. Mabel Washburn
. supplies very little Of the best brand of
I low comedy.