The San Francisco call., 1899-07-28
MADAME
sans GENE"

~ LANCHE BATES, Augustus Cook,
* Harrington Responsibilities are the
-S play these three. and the greatest
of these is Blanche Bates. As the
high spirited, true hearted, outspoken
daughter of the people, whom clrcum-
stances have placed in a position she can
not socially grace, she is at times almost
great noticeably in the longer speeches.
where anger and indignation stir the emo
tions and reck not the consequences.
Where singing sarcasm is to be admin
istered, she lays the lash on in artistic
stripes, as large souls can, when they
meet smaller ones in social friction. To
some charming comedy passages in the
prologue and throughout the play she
gives the lightest and lovingest touch, and
more than all she forgets herself more
completely than she had done in any
character. Yet there is a disappointment
ranking somewhere, and II is because
her actual performance Is not her pOten-
tial one. In the broader comedy she fails
through eXaggeratiOn, chiefly in her scene
with the dancing ma Ster He is so stupid
ly placid and reserved, unlike ones
idea of a frisky Frenchman, and refuses
so sturdily to meet Miss Bates even half
way, that the eXaggeration was painfully
accentuated Madame Sans Gene was
without culture, but she was clever and
she was woman and never, never could
she have found the awful and oft repeated
difficulties Miss Bates. with athletic
struggles. extricates herself from The
passage, when set in the right key, is
enc of the most tuneful and merry in
the composition, but Miss Bates fails to
strike the key. As the laundreSS, she is
gowned correctly end beeomi9gly; her
court dress is very beautiful and was evil
IDENTIFY made by one who knew, but she
mars it's beautiful harmonies when she
throws over her shoulders cloak quite
out of the period and quite unComforta-
ply ugly. Miss Bates does not under
stand the art of dressing, and when she
bot h.aF- Inv
does she not stop now and learn? OF,
better still, put herself into the hands
of costumer with a soul, and abide by
his decisions?
Mr.. Cook has won his Iaurels in NapO-
leon. and comes back but to wear them
He wears them gracefully and consclen-
tiously. Mr.. Reynolds was pleasant
disappointment as Lefevre, and II is pleas
ant TO say that he gave singularly good
even performance, a little overload in the
prologue but otherwise unmarried. OF the
support one might mention faVorably Mr..
Hickman, the Fouche of Mr.. King and
the Julie of Miss Mould. The latter had
but a small part. but she graced IT and
looked to perfection an aristocrat of the
period. Miss Van BuTen was beautiful
figure as Queen Catherine, but her efforts
are elocutiOnary and she fails to satisfy
The other members of the company go
unObtrusiVelY through their parts and
need no assistance from the prompter, but
this is the most that can be said Except
in the prologue the stage settings are i'm
possible. The empire scenery is ''3 stone
upon the heart a mock of hope" The
artist no doubt painted conscientiously,
and perhaps with enthusiasm. but direc-
ton did not come from far back in the
brain. He knew a few points as TO en-
pire, the bees, the wreaths, the y and the
eagle of the Caesars. but what conglom-
Grafton of uglneSs and Bourbon feur-de-
lis and false color he has forced upon us
Instead of the beautiful magenta empire
red with its set patterns and its graceful
bees he has given us q hideous terra cot
ta never looked upon by Napoleon, bees
the most rampant and stenciled doors that
make ugliness complete. Not one article
of empire furniture graCes the room. not a
console table, not a mahogany piece with
it's familiar brass trimmings, not single
suggestion of the period. The empire was
a pseudo-classic revival and harked back
TO the Caesars and to Greece, and is so
terribly familiar to us all that the anach-
ronisms are painfully glaring. If the
scene had not been done specially for the
production one might have less to say,
but if money is TO be spent, why not
spend it with artistic direction? Such
things should not be in the hands of those
who do not know.
CHARLOTTE THOMPSON.