The Washington times., 1901-09-22
THE PAssINa SHOW.

| Ihree Foremost Living Actors" These
three Mr.. Ditrichstein @accounts to be
Irving. In England; Coquelin. in France
and Sonnenthal. in Germany Mr.. Dit
richstein has made for The Times briei
survey and comparison of these famous
i stage celebrities, which is the more in
teresting in that it fairly typifies Con.
'tinentai opinion in regard to these much
discussed actors.
I dozen years or more ago Mr.. Dit
rlchstein writes. when Constant Coquclin
ana Henry Irving waged their controver-
sial war of words across the English
| Channel as to the true theory of the art
of acting, /, though still singing in light
| opera, was tremendously impressed, as
were all my brethren of the Vienna stage.
| Irving, you remember said the actor
| should throw himself into his part
should feel all the emotions of the char
acter he is portraying' Couquelin
contradicted fatty. saying the actor
| should never throw himself into his part
that the moment he did so he ceased to
| be an artist
"Coquelin further contended that the
| actor should always stand. as it were.
| behind the character and pull the strings
| of action and emotion
holiday l was soon privileged to see the
representative actors of France and Eng
land-to judge with my own eyes as to
which held the better theory of acting and
to compare them, as | had long desired
with the greatest actor of my own coun-
try, Herr Adolph Scnnenthal. Unable to
reach preference from the written argu-
ments, l saw Coquelin for the first time
at the Theatre Franchise, in Paris, not
only without prejudice but with enthusi-
astic anticipation. The bill that night
was Les Surprises de Divorce The house
was crowded and the noted comedian was
said to be at his best
When the final curtain rang down, L
Ieft the theatre quite stunned with dis
appointment Not that Coquelin had
failed to exemplify his theory of acting.
for ! saw the strings pulled and the
wheels turned throughout the evening
but the Frenchman had created no illu-
sion; he was facile, indeed. almost classic,
technically; but sadly studied and uncon-
trasted him with Sonnent whom / had
seen do everything well. from Hamlet
down to the Duke d'Aleria in LIE Mar
quis de Niliemere, a comedy role as light
and brisk as could be imagined 1t was
not homesickness nor national pride that
led me to decide Sonnenthal the greater
comedian. albeit he had never rushed into
print on the subject of acting methods.
ceum In London, with ths curtain ready
to go up on Wills dramatic transcription
of Goethes Faust with Irving as Me-
phisto. j had often seen our own Fried
rich Mitterwurtzer essay the role, but kept
promising myself that this time i should
not be disappointed-that irving at least
would be spontaneous and convincing
that Mitterwurtzer fine as he was. could
not possibly rival man who had through
art alone achieved so great position as
Irving. =
Isnt against it as / would. whilst
irving strobe the stage the opinion forced
itself upon me that he could not approach
the dominating malevolence and magnif-
cence OF Mitterwurtzer-in-this test role.
His grating voice and bad enunciation,
his ungainly mannerisms. offended con-
stantly. and despite Ellen Terry's superb
performance of Marguerite. l left the
London playhouse with tears of disap-
actor, like the Frenchmanthad elucidated
his written theory. but had failed as COM
pletely to move me. to take me out of
myself. to make me forget that was in
a theatre.
''Sonnenthal could do this: he always
cast his spell surely. and Mitterwur,zer.
too. though neither wrote of methods and
both were dumb to all who questioned
about their ways and means of art
Il had idealiZed Irving and Coquelin for
wears. but after seeing them was forced
to declare in favor of the German method
but convincing and of German
actors such as Sonnenthai, who seemed
at this time incomparably greater than
either the celebrated English actor or
the no less famous Frenchman.
'Of course, virtues were many in both
cases. and these ] did not fail to note,
but comparing each as the representative
actor of his country with the leading rep
not think that neither equaled Sonnenthal
in true art excellence. Though ! saw
Got and Mounet-SuIly in Paris, and Rob-
ertson. Willard and Tree in London, |
t,aT.
cison a sweeping one and declare un-
Fquivocaly for the superiority of the Ger
man actors and their art methods, |
for in the Fatherland illusion was the |
of every dramatic interpre- |
tation and surely higher and surer illu- |
sions We're attained on my native stage.
Several English and American students /
from Hanover who were travelling with |
ne shared this opinion.
ut was not until years afterward that !
7 saw Irving's Beckett one of the most /
impressive and beautiful performances. /
At its conclusion | realized that II was |
not fair to judge a great artist from one /
and that after all Mr.. Irv- /
ing deserved his position on the English |
stage. Last winter l again had opportun- /
ty of seeing Constant Coquelin over the |
footlights. He was playing Flambeau in /
L'Aiglon,' at the Knickerbock- /
n Theatre. Physically and temperament
ally unsuited to the part he made n crea-
ton of his own, which, though neither
nor Guitry's, was nevertheless
effective to the general public. Personal
", l did not care for his performance.
md was again disappointed in the work
Of the favorite French actor. 1t was not
until he assumed the role of 'Cyrano de
Bergerac to which | went in anything
Iut an anticipatOry mooC) that / realized I
now Coquelin had won his place in the
great company of the Theatre Franchise
After seeing five minutes of his Cyrano, I
;at spellbound at his consummate art.
There were no wheels going now. and
he pulling of the strings was handled |
With such perfect skill that l could
scarcely follow the artifices by which he
cached his tremendous cimaXes If |
would take columns to describe the mani
old beauties OF Coquelin's rendition of
his splendid role, so, perhaps the most
onWncing proof OF my enjoyment lies in
more hearings. At last l came to see
hat both Mr.. Irving and NJ CouueIin
we're deserving OF the hIs.: honors they
lad aChieved-indeed that they were ar
ors Of undeniably great talent. but
It'll retain the belief that Sonnenthal
axes precedence over both. if greatness
$ to be the word applied in describing
hese representative players. Whereas
he former are actors of great talent Som
lenthal. ! should describe as a true dra-
natic genius, beside whom but two other
ames in the history of the modern thea
re could justly be placed-Tomasso sal
I'M and Edwin Booth
With the opening tomorrow night of the
Theatre. greatly improved and
eautihed, new and important factor
ONES into the New York theatrical
eld. The house. under the direction of
harrison Grey Fiske, a well-known Jour
alist, who now makes his debut as a |
heatrical manager, win be, primarily the
eadquarters of Mrs. Fiske. but when that
ctress goes on tour some of the players
ngaged 10 support her will remain to
orm the nucleus of a stock company
'hch Will be seen in number of new
principally the plays of ma