New-York tribune., 1901-11-26
THE DRAMA.
MRS. FISKE IN A NEW PLAY.
THE UNwELCoME MRS. HATCH E"

THE UNwELCOME MRS. HATCH"
In the Manhattan Theatre last night. before
numerous and genial audience Mrs Fiske pro-
duced a play. entitled The Unwelcome Mrs.
Hatch" and with characteristic vigor and orig
inality. embodied the chief part in it, The play
is an image of domestic catastrophe, and 1t ap-
pears have been made with the single purpose
OF once more exhibiting that old theatrical public
acquaintance. The Female in Distress That pur-
pose. at any rate. It accompshes. and that alone
It IS stale In theme.-an echo OF East Lynne,
Miss Mutton and ''Frou- Frou. and II is gener-
ally trivial in incident often maukish in senti-
ment. commonplace in style hollow. insinceEe and
blasted with artihciality; but, at least It can be
commended for clarity of purpose and precision OF
method it tells plain story in a straightforward
manner. and that IS great merit. On only one
point does IL maintain a u does not dis
tincty intimate whether its heroine is, or is not
an adulteress. II she is, her troubles are eh-
plicabe; II she is not. they TO great extent
fictitious and insignificant In either case. this
heroine-Mrs. Lorimer, calling herself MIS-
Hatch" depicted a good woman who mas
been victinized. partly through her own folly ana
partly through the force Of adverse circumstances
and has become martyr: and with this martyr
not because she means anything or represents any
thing or inparts anything. bat only because she
suffers the community IS invited TO sympathiz~-
AZ the outset the observer Is appr.sed that Mrs
I,or,ner frenzied with jealous rage because OF
the misconduct OF her vulgar. british, unfathful
society husband. wrote n compromising letter
70 him Cov the use OF which he subsequently was
enabled TO obtain a divorce from herr; left her
New-York home: assumed the name or Mrs
Hatch: repaired 20 San Francisco. established
herself in an honest but meagre business there
duelt there cor twelve years; and then returned
70 New-York under the impulse OF an Irresistible
desire 20 see her daughter-who IN the mean tfie
had grown 10 wouanhood and was about 10 be
married These facts promised, the play proceeds
70 SET forth this unfortunate mothers guest OF a
sight OF her child; colloQuy between them uhueI
circumstances theatricaly contrfVed TO De Oh al
affecting character-the girl receiving her mother
aid as that OF a mIlliners servant; herce en-
counter with Mrs. Loriner the Second IN which
t,o the general ioy). that coarse, venomous 1ed'e
is so 10 speak sent heavily 10 grass and hhaiiS
but not without happy recognition between Iho''''
and daughter-Mrs. Hatch's lapse thFousH
trouble indulgence and heart disease. into the re-
noeA NJ death Intertwined with this web OF story
there is the thread OF an amatory romano
being made apparent that. while in San fraiclSoo'
Mrs Hatch attracted the love OF q so"u i''i''
named Trevor. and gave her heart 10 him. "hlle
-.51.-el,- re4usng 10 give her hand-or only re
f,efnp so that like Armand to Camille, he might
come to her deathbed- The action SHOWS TINS VIZ
tim in various situations-in the company oI l|"'
roer who talks to her like blackguard' IN the
cononanv of her faithful old servant, when at Cen
,-a, Park she obtains A glimpse of her daughter
and in the Ioriner town house, where MISS l-oiI
rner and the bridesmaids are rehearslng ther "eu-
5,D, march: and all this showing displays condi-
shocking ht"NA'AN"N
of fr,litless misery. At the last keeping the Sc
cret Of an identity which far as anybody can
see there is reason 10 conceal Mrs. Ha'eh
ends refuge with her old servant in a poor lods-
ing where like Narcisse. she talks philosophy 10
an image and. like Brummell. addresses lnVisiOie
,,,as+e- then the black curtain. and all Is over
There is. in modern fiction, a truthful ana Oeau'I
full exposition of the central theme OF TINS pay
(the theme of maternal devotion and self-sacrhce'
and merely by way Of observing the contrast oe-
ling nd
and theatrical afectation, the reader could no.
perhaps do better than TO turn from Ihe Ch"eI-
come Mrs Hatch" to Wilkie Collinss story Of The
mead Secret" There he will find real persons
real plot genuine pathos, an ideal of passionate
Maternal devotion that will make his heartstrings
tremble. and image of fidelity in womanhood
that will fill his mind with exquisite delight The
fond and faithful mother. in that case, however.
vould make no figure the stage. For theatrical
purposes this type of heroine must be a rash, I'M
pulstve wayward. hystericaI being. without bal
ance without common sense, without dignity OF
character as weak as water and wild fire.
Mrs Fiske's affinities actress are WIN
strength not weakness; intellect, not frioole;
womanly feeling. mock heroics: humor some
what than pathos: comedy somewhat more
than tragedy a suffering mother though er-
fecttve she does not carry conviction On the
other hand In her embodiment of Mrs. Hatch
she has invested the character with a personal
piquancy all her own The language or the part -
common: yet the actress, by her flashes OF I'M
petuous spirit her strokes of irony. her qulcA
transitions from calm 10 storm and from aoandoii
to self-control endows 1t with force. The nbre OIL
the part frail: yet the actress fortnes 1t Win
moving sense great nervous vitality her man
agement of Mrs. Hatch's scene in the LorlmeF
house is rich with variety Of both eloquent ret
tcence and expressive action and her delivery OF
r. ,,,,ac-fya against the second Mrs L~orrner Is
q s,,perb outburst of righteous wrath,-for Whlch
she was eight times recalled amid great acclaim
The one dominant thought OF the drama perhaps Is
the thought inclosed in this denuncation-that the
,,ors+ injuries under which women suffer are those
thar other women nfiict upon them In ali thal
she does Mrs Fiske is peculiar and interesting
and this later achievement, while undoubtedly IL
n,u oIeass a multitude of sentimental women
seems likely also impress her more thousntIu1
admirers with still keener sense of her versatile
skill The part must make a prodigfous draft upon
the strenSth Of actress, Tor she II on fne