Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-12-26
ANU sENENTS.

NEW NATIONAL TFIEATER-The ap-
Pearance Of Henry Irving was duly recog-
nize last night as an event of popular and
social Importance. The fact that he gives
new play from the pen of Sardou adds in
terest 10 the engagement The house was
wei filed, and the demonstrations were
such as to leave no question of the appre
cation of both the actors conscientious in
telligence and the pIaywrights skill in con-
structing basis for effective tableaux.
The name of Irving is all-suffcient
trade mark. 1t is an absolute guarantee
that anything with which it is associated
will be done with unfaltering technical
skill. The great English actors methods
are in no sense inspirational. He has been
admired to a degree which has often made
any attempt to discuss his art merely
competitive endcavor TO exhaust the lam
guage of adulatiOn. They who praise him
do 50 unreSerVedly; they who disapproVe
have always to qualify their censure by
reference to his magnificent worth
producer and his absolute fidelity to artist
ic intentions So far as they can be carried
out by the mechanics of stage illusion. The
Irving mannerisms" do not disappear with
time. But they no longer detract from the
charm OF his performances. They are eX
pected and understood. Like faults once
condoned, they leave the offender only the
more to be cherished. There are few fig
UIts III literature Wnlcn appeal TO the mind
more viVidly than "RobeSp4erre." He is at
point in historic perspective sufficiently
distant to give the imagination play. A
creature Of the most extraordinary person.
ahty, bubble inflated by the vaporings of
horde of fanatics and floating periIOusly
upon sea of fantastic phrases. he is at
Cnce fascinating and appalling. There is al
ways desire to know something of the
inner life of famous men. If they are men
of transcendent virtues their momentary
weaknesses become matters of interest If
they are rogues, the soft spots in their
natures are objects of popular scrutiny
The desire to know all about a man who
stands above his fellows in right or wrong
doing is inherent in humanity as it strives
from century to century to lift itself to a
higher general plane of thought and action
RoDesplerre has the interest which be-
longs to nature which tolerates only in
tensities. In early life so tender that he
could not tolerate the idea of capital pun
lshment; IN later years too fiendiSh to be
moved by any humane considerations he
knew no middle course. The effort to tenn
per his biography (for it is most as a biog-
raphy III splendid tableaux that the piece is
Interestingly with a conventional story of
early ENHANCEMENT and paternal affection
carries with it the atmosphere of the Sar-
dou workshop. 1t suggests paint hammer
and nails. While intrinscaliy beautiful and
touching, ii is so completely overshadou,ad
by the interest in Robespierre the dera-
gogue that it loses importance The an
| thors intentions, like Robespierre's words
ate ho"ieu GOWN py MS own mob. Robes
| plerres early amours We're no doubt pic
| turesque and romantic, but the audience
knows nothing of them
That this ''sea-green'' monster was at
one time an ardent wooer a gentle phIIan-
| thropist and writer of verses is brought
| to the mind only by inHdental aIlusion The
| point of Robespierre's career at which the
| acuon starts, is one where even devotion
| TO an Old love and affection for son seem
| unreal and improbable. He is a monster of
| such perfect mould that any gentler attrib-
| Utes need to be bolstered by convincing
! appeals either to the imagination or "a
| history. The love story is an apparent and
! appreciated effort to keep faith with those
| AUDITORS who rely upon Sardou never to
. relax in interest and on Irving to provide a
VIVID appeal to the senses. Great art has
| been required 10 weave this element into
| the story of a man so much studied as
| Kooespierre. without making it stand out
IKE patch: As a spectacle the produce
\ ton is magnificent The first act shows a
| forest-but forest different from the
! ordinary stage wood scene as to be a reye-
| tdtion As Robespierre, with the dandyfsm
| which seems at first incongruous, and yet
| which is so in keeping with his egotism.
| piucks flowers by the brook side and in
| males their perfume, the spectator, whether
| a deTotee of realism or not is filled with
| admiration for the completeness with which
| Irving has carried out an avowed purpose
! The mob is worthy of the Irving tratIi-
! tons in this field 1t has the spontaneIty so
uftlcult 10 attain In the closing scene of
the play, when Robespierre is set upon by
| his own creatures. it requires little imagi-
| hatlve effort for one to convince himself
that he is a witness to the actual scene of
| horror. The addresses delivered by Robe
, spheres betrayers have not the rhetorical
| fervor needful to make them worthy of
| their place in this magnificent climax of
| theatric art. From scene to scene, the at
| tcntion is directed to stage pictures, which
| excel by their brilliancy in the tumultuoti,
| Incidents, or by their naturalness in the
| simpler moods The scene in which Robe
splerrc sees the ghosts of his victims is ar