The San Francisco call., 1898-10-11
"DANCING GIRL ]"
 AS PLAYED BY
 THE FRAWLEYS Blanche Bates Won- derful Work. FRANK MATHlEUS DEBUT NANCE o'NEIL IN A FAMOUS
 RESTORE PART. Comic Season Commences at the Tivoli-Melodrama Society
 Drama and Variety at
 Other Houses.
FRANK MATHlEU'S DEBUT
NANCE O'NEIL IN A FAMOUS
 RESTORE PART.

The Frawley Company appeared at the Baldwin last night in 'The Danc- ing Girl" one of the most ambitious of Henry Arthur Jones' plays, a play that was presented in the same the ater several years ago by Palmer's Company, and given cast that is unforgetable. a performance that we cannot hope to see approached by any American company that exists to-day. So it is not wanton disparagement of the Frawleys to say that great deal is lacking in their production. They play The Dancing Girl' as any fairly ordered stock company with weekly changes of bill might be expected to do-with one exception. That excep- tion is Blanche Bates, who, in the title part, achieves one of the, If not the, most remarkable successes of her life. Her impersonation will stand compari- son with any; to me 1t seems that ] had never seen the part of Drusilla Ives played until last night. nor formed any adequate idea of Its dramatic worth.
 Flesh and blood" is a hackneyed phrase, especially in dramatic criti- cism, and I dare say it makes a very small dent in the mind of the average newspaper reader, but 1t is the fittest expression l can find for describing Miss Bates performance. She was pas- sionately, yiYidly, terribly, relentlessly flesh and blood in every moment of the part She played the woman for all that was in her, sighting nothing, gild- ing over nothing that Is plainly in the lines with the mock niceties of the drawing room actress, sacrificing noth- ing that is in the play to the winning of false sympathy. She made DruslIia out to be just what she is, a Carmen of modern social conditions. A brilliant Drucilla, fascinating, dangerously fen1i- nine and full of feline grace. Miss Bates played her fearlessly, with dash, warmth, seduction and absolute aban- don. She gave the vital identity, men, tai and physical, and did 1t with the audacity of genius
 The audience was considerable in number and in fashion. Society was all over the house and extended the loud glad hand of congratulation to Frank Mathieu, who made his first profes- sional appearance on any stage in the part of John Christison, the village lover of Drusiila. I think a more var nished part would be more in Mr. Mathieu's line; this one calls for an amount of rough simplicity that he is hardly prepared to give; but 1t at least reveals a sincerity that survives no end of bad gesture, and a clean, comedy per sonality that is just the thing in com- pany of this character.
 MT. Frawley plays the Duke, a part of tremendous responsibility; and while no one would accuse him of doing it perfectly, it should be a matter of gen. eral reorganization that 1t is the most earnest and plausible work he has shown this season. Theodore Roberts, too, does serious if not sensational work in the old father; and Miss Welles, even though her baby voice is against the conviction of the character, makes a pretty study of the lame girl. MT. Hickman plays the foolish Slingsby with considerable eccentricity and some humor, MT Edwards gives a quietly good version of the Dukes steward and Mir Payne is an admirable valet.
 But the glory of the performance be- longs to Blanche Bates. You don't know the play until you see her Dru- silIa There is only one weak spot in her work, the dancing scene. and that Is incidental, and, after all, more or less under the head of athletics. and what she lacks in it she makes up by the most wonderful fall downstairs that you ever saw. ASHTON STEVENS.