Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1901-04-13

The grandest production of "Faust
eyer witnessed in Butte was presented
on the stage of the Grand last night.
Two months ago or more, 'Faust was
Ilsyed in Sutton's Family theater by
a company whose talent lay more III
vaudeville and bringing out features
OF the perishable drama. Their roper
tore embraced enough plays to erect
change of programme every night LOT
a weeks engagement; and while the
Company was good enough in lis way
Ierfect acting is never attained by
switching the actor from character OF
a fire laddie in THE Midnight Alarm"
to the character of Mephisto in the i'm
mortal create of Goethe, all in twenty
-four hours. Hence what theater patrons
saw two months ago was scenery. What
they heard from the stage was indiffer-
ent elocuton. The company did it's best.
In attempting to do too much, in the
very nature of things they could do no
better.
Not so with the Lewis Morrison COM
pany now playing at the Grand. The
character assigned every performer fits
him or her as perfectly as the last word
H. Verse of Goldsmith rhymes with the
word in the line above it. All the tai
en-! Of the artist is concentrated in the
study of GOethe's wonderful drama, so
IT, at it can be made a living picture of
poetic thought. No voice nor gesture
OF midnight Alarm to distract and
throw him off his cue. Nothing to think
OF but his part in Faust" AS a most
ne tural result, every person in the Nor
rison company is an artist, from Me-
RI isto down to the peasant girls and
students in the play.
To analyze Goethe's creation of
"Taust." one must imagine himself liv
ing in Nuremburg. say a century ago,
Rrd breathing the atmosphere of faith
which relied on tradition as much as
revelation to inspire devotion to church,
end personal devil to u ~ify innocence
and enforce compulsory piety. Goethe
could not have written Faust" if he
lived in this day, without cutting out
Nephsto and the weird revelry of the
demons in the caverns of the Broken,
for the reason that religion has advanced
beyond the primitive idea of the fiery
hell and the physical agonies of those
consigned to the bottomless pit. But
there could be no Faust without Me-
phisto, and there would be no MephistO
did not a strong belief prevail at the time
Goethe wrote his poem that a sinner
could barter his soul in exchange for
any earthly desire. So it is lucky for
imperishable literature that Goethe
fourished in that age. No other man
row living could have written Faust"
as it was written by Goethe.
Goethe, however, instead of adjusting
III of no to thn
lar belief that he was person who went
abroad like roaring lion, creates an
immortal endowed with the sharpest of
Wit and the profoundest of philosophy.
No saint understood human nature so
we'll as Mephisto; none could penetrate
hypocrisy, deceit, and worldly desire so
readily. Were it not for the unearthy,
drvilish laugh which finished every re-
luke to Faust, Mephisto talked like the
being he was before he fell from his
Eieh estate and became an angel of
darkness, and perhaps it is this very
strong point of advancing the devil be-
You'd popular superstition that makes
Coethe's Mephisto the most interesting
rart of his poetic drama.
In reviewing the cast, first mention is
a.ways given to Mephisto, because he is
the principal character. Many actors
may play we'll in Shakespearian charac-
tiers, and fall down in Mephisto. In
the poem the character is a marvel OF
thought; on the stage it reaches almost
to the pinnacle of dramatic genius. ErrO
lumbar might fail as a King Lear, hui
he is triumph in Mephisto Be he ever
80 strong in King Lear, another actor
would fail as Mephisto. Dunbar is the
O>,c hot To oto iv,c
Although the sympathy of the audience
goes out with unhappy Marguerite, Sc
that many eyes We're moistened in the
scene where, kneeling in anguish before
statue Of the Virgin, she pOurs on
ler soul in invocation, fair critic vii
not give Genevieve Kane hOnOrs above
Mrs. Selby Tapefield, who acted 81
naturally the character of Martha, TIN
Village gossip, Miss Kane was a perfec
Marguerite, especially so in the gardel
scene where she discovers the casket o
jewels; in the part she takes with he
brother, and in the prison scene. Sh
was a lover, however, that we see al
nest every night on the stage when
good company appears. But GOSSIP
like Dame Martha in the play of Faust
Is not such an easy task for an actress
Mrs. Tapefield exhibited her artistic in
stinct throughout, and every line, ever
gesture of the part she played was
uealized conception of Goethe's creatio
o. the village gossip.
Faust made an excellent lover in tn
person of Charles Saxon; and in the dia
1osue with Mephisto, where he gives wa
t. remorse for the injury done to Mar
guerite. his elocution was superb. Val
entine the soldier brother of Marguerit,