Worcester morning daily spy. (Worcester, Mass.) 1888-1898, 1898-01-08
SHAKESPEARE DE Luxe.
hargaret mather's Sumptuous Produc,
ton of "cymbeIine" Makes Its Wor-
cester Appe arance.


ton of "cymbelne' Makes Its Wor-
cester Appearance.
In these fastidious times of ours when
novelty or the superlative in sensation
are the only things that appeal to the
theatre goer's jaded palate, it has be-
come the fashion to bring new life to
the familiar and hackneyed Shakespe-
rian drama by means of sunptuous and
costly settings. The magnificent pro-
auctions given the works of the divine
bard by Sir Henry irving in England
and by Augustin Daily in this country
have only recently ceased to be news
paper comment; and now Margaret
Mather signalizes her return to the
stage by a similar production in costli-
ness and completeness of detail at least
equal to any of these.
1t was Irving, we believe, who first
Showed the possibilities of "Cymbeline"
for the stage managers art, and surely
no artist should need a better inspira-
ton than the woods and fields of an
Client Britain, the cliffs and caves of
Wales and the walls and streets of eter-
nal Rome. Miss Mather, backed by a
plethoric exchequer, has certainly
awaited herself of her opportunities to
the full. The II different scenes are all
gems and admirable examples of what
artistic imagination and good taste can
do with historical background. The
costumes, too, are carefully copied from
ancient prints and from wigs to san
dals are facsimiles of the proper mode
of the first century. The ancient
couches. cups, lamps and household
utensils generally are all from recog-
nized models and form an excellent OBJ
tect lesson Of the customs of those an
Gent times.
Almost equal in merit to the scenario
was the company. Harrison j. Wolfe,
lately leading man with Rhea, made a
manly and ardent Posthumus and won
the heartiest applause of the evening by
his impaSsioned denunciation of the
supposed perfidy of his wife. That ster-
ling Shakesperian actor, Mark Price,
was Iachimo, and the craft and cyni-
cism of that character could not have a
better exponent. B. I. Ringgold, as the
braggart Cloten, Augusta De Forrest as
the queen, Lynn Pratt as Pisania,
O'Kane Hills as Cyrnbeline, E. A. Eb-
erie as Belarius and Misses Cantzen and
Hartley as the outlaw sons were all
highly satisfactory.
Miss Mather's own rendition of limo
gen is a painstaking, studious piece of
work. Cymbeline even with such a pro-
duction as Friday night is not an espe-
cially interesting play nor does limo
gems role contain much calculated to
arouse The average auditor, and to that
perhaps rather than to any lack in her
own art, is due the apparent want OF
enthusiasm in her reception. Yet her
wild grief at discovering her husband
believed her false and her pretty dis
play of timidity when exploring strange
ground in her pages costume, were
bits Of originality in conception that
were recognized with marked approval.
A picturesque scene that was finely
done was that in Imogen's bed cham
Der. when the perfidious Iachimo creeps
from the trunk and removes the brace
let from the arm of its sleeping wearer.
The stars costumes combined historical
accuracy with beauty in an eminent de-
gree and were highly becoming to the
wearer notably the boys dress in the
last acts. A word of praise is due the
stage manager for the remarkably short
waits, considering the amount of shift
ing that had to be done.
fCymbeline" will be repeated this af-
ternoon and evening.