The times., 1901-05-21
Tho NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. swift,

An audience that completely filed the
Lafayette Theatre last night witnessed the
first production by the stock company of
Captain Swift a play from the pen Of
Haddon Chambers, the English dramdtist.
The piece has no- been seen locally fer
many seasons, and is one o. those old
time successes that Will bear r-viving for
MAJ Y years to come, for II tells an IN
tensely interesting story, and its enact
n ent affords the members Of the company
an opportunity to display their individual
| versatility. IN Its main theme Captain
! Swift Is suggestive Of Jim the Ten
man" in that the aItl0r has selected a
! criminal for his leading character.
The performance las. night MAS given
| IN the excellent n1anHcC which has come
tc be a feaIure Of Che companv's prOjuc-
tions. but the most notable event was the
| initial Appearance Of EIwin Arden. in
whom tie Becger c5rialug has at last
| found a capable leading man. Everybody
| krows that Mr. Arden played the crafty
| Prince Mettarn.oh. IN 'L'Aiglon IN sup
| port OF Miss Adams during the past sea-
son. and that his Interpretation OF the
| role called forth the unanimous approval
Of both press and public. but had he
sprung from absolute obscuTity instead OF
/ from the position OF leading man with one
of Americas greatest stars. his peTfor-
nance Of Captain Swift last night would
IN itself have stamped him as an actor
/ Of force and superior intelligence, with a
| thorough knowledge OF his art that
/ showed itself in every gesture he made
| and in every line he read Mr. Arden's
chief charm Is his naturalness. which leads
| his audience away from the theatre and
almost convinces them that he is actually
| the character they see. His portrayal Of
the role of Swift was nothing short Of a
| triumph. He held the attention Of the au-
dfavga during bc "
/ the stage, and his emotional scenes were
| splendidly done.
Robert Rogers enacts the role of Mr..
SeabrOOk, part totally unlike the one
portrayed by him last week. He gave a
/ . performance that Will long be remembered.
Mr. Rogers was excellent, and proved TO
the entire satisfaction Of the audience
that his talents are not confined to the
narrow limits Of comedy. Wright Kramer,
who may always be looked TO TO contribute
careful and conscientious work gave q
highly cOmmendable performance as the
imUulsiVe Harry SeabroOk Thomas l.
Coleman always inspires one with feel
ing of security and the conviction that he
is wholly familiar with his part, and last
night he proved very convincing in the
role Of Gardner. Myron Leffingwel scored
as Marshall. and Horace Newman did good
work as Ryan.
In tie role OF Stella Darbisher, Minnie
Radcliffe did all that was required OF her
very charmingly. The part does not make
extra ordinary demands upon the histriOnic
ability OF an actress. and is one of those
characters commonly known as coloriess.
but Miss RadciiTe's clever handling of
the part tended TO make it one of the
conspicuous features OF the story. Louise
Macintosh was cast for the role Of Mrs
Seabrook SWifts mother. To those who
have come 20 associate Miss Macintosh
with comedy and character roles. her por-
trayai will be a revelation. The part is
highly emotional and one which might
seem to be out Of the grasp Of this talent
ed a 'ress but she came out with flying
coiors The meeting between Swift and
his mother was a gem, both Mr.. Arden
and Miss Macintosh contributing their
best efforts. Henrietta Newman was ef-
fectiye as Lady Staunt0n and Clara En-
ory appeared as Mabel Seabrook.
The performance tonight will be a bene-
fit rendered Walter Evans. who presides
over the box office Of the Lafayette Thea
ire and the advance-sale speaks volumes
for his popularity.