The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-03-08
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I'm King Lear shakspere's vision sound
~ ine ABYSS Of horror to its very
depths, and his spirit showed neither
sight,
Mr.. Frederick Warde and company last
night presented to large and apprecia-
tive audience at the Metropolitan his
masterful Interpretation of Shaksperes
tempestous tragedy king Lear" Those
who have seen Mr.. Warde in the part
know what this means those who have
not seen him can have no conception of
the grandeur of the portrayal of this
foolish fond old man." That It is Mr..
Warde's greatest creation there can be
no doubt, more than this it must stand
for years as one of the few vital creations
of the American stage. Whether or not
Mr.. Warde is one of the really great
actors of his time is immateria1. In
King Lear" at least, he has reached a
height of artistic inspiration touched by
but few men in whole epoch of art. 1t
would be sad commentary upon Amer
lean intelligence and appreciation If so
mastery an achievement as this were to
have no abiding place in our dramatic
tradition.
Four centuries of criticism have agreed
that Lear is the greatest poetic achieve
ment of the Teutonic genius, being, as
Shelley declared, the only modern equiv
alent for the great tragic trilogy of the
| Greeks. At the zenith of his power.
with Hamlet" and Julius Caesar" be-
| hind him fresh from "Othello," Shak-
| spere turned with final triumphant burst
| of imaginative energy to express himself
| in bic ono fniTY1jfa hIo cr-aa tiOn
Lear is colossal, cyclopean It's move
ment tremendous and cumulative; its
| power elemental and battling; its mystery
| lodging conception to the bourne OF
| heaven" 1t is Titanic in it's magma
| tive sweep, defying all analysis 1t is
| suggestive beyond any other play that
| Shakspere crea ted. It leads the mind
| far beyond the mere confines of its boun-
| daries, it confronts the mind with the
| deepest and the highest problems OF hu-
/ man life, for which Shakspere hmselt
| had no answer, because the mystery of
| Lear is the mystery of the human soul,
| which illustrates all it's own questioning
The turmoil, passion and unrest OF Lear
| symbOlizeS the conflicting incOngrultleS or
| human life; the tempest in his brain is
| the moral disorder of the universe And
/ because of its vastness, and it's eternal
| questioning, it cannot be described or
| analysed Like the music of the chated
| ocean upon the sounding board OF the
| rock-bound coast, like the splendor OF
| sunsets that fall upon natures hayocs'
| for which the tongue of man has no
| token, so is Lear There they all are
| but 1.-The rest is silence"
| Nevertheless Lear is wonderfully nu-
| man. 1t Is this which makes 1t so PAL
| fling and so mysterious. *t-
Fer it is always mans self that casts
the shadow on his path, his own frallty
that brings disaster, his own foohshness
that foreruns his doom, his own prlde
| that goeth before destruction. 1t is only
| through agonies like this, through the
| selfish sacrifice of the hearts dearest
| treasure, that he comes at last to know
the reality of things Cordelia, lying
upon Lears breast, is the symbol of
mans blind and erring struggle, and MS
| compensa tion-the restoration at the last
of that he threw away, not knowing its
| worth.
| One must hesitate to speak of such
| work as Mr.. Warde did last night. 1t
| would seem impossible to lay finger upon
a single fault in his portrayal. His IN
| depreciation made the development of
| sympathy for Lear very gradual and
natural Proud, passionate, obstinate
and unnatural at first it is only under
the buffetings of fate and the sore stress
| of trial that Lear becomes so stripped
| of all these things as to compel pity
| and sympathy for his very nakedness.
| Perhaps the most effective part of Mr..
Warde's Interpretation was in the second
act where he utters the terrible wither-
! ing, devastating curse upon Goneril
| Passing quickly from the weakness of
amazement at Goneril's sudden change
| of affection to the heart-breaking tears
which seem to shake his very heart to
| pieces he suddenly reused from his grief
| into a very torrent of anger to turn the
! awful current of his wrath upon the I'M
| faithful daughter. Seldom has anything
| more terrible been heard on any stage;
| few in the audience could repress a shud-
| der as the burning words of condemna-
| ton fell from his lips.
| The storm scene was, Of course, the
most wonderful scene of the entire per-
| Torrance. Nothing in Shakspere can
| quite equal that storm on Cornwall
! Heath of which the tempest-torn soul Of
Lear seems SO vital a part. Small woE-
der that the tempest in his mind so
| overshadowed the raging Of the elements.
Ir the closing part of the drama he
was eGnally effective. Broken in mind
and body he presented the very shape
and form of hopeless despair. 1t was
thus that he won the complete sympathy
of the audience. And he was kinglY, in
deed. vixen out of his dim madness he
rose fer enc serene moment to prove
that he was still. aye, every inch a
king" If Mr.. Warde had never done
anything else but give us this mastery
and appealing creation, his art would be
an abiding contribution to the best that
the stage has produced
Mr.. " arde is supported by an unusually
strong company of artists this year, but
they were not so happily placed as IN
other plays. 1t was especially unfortu-
nate that the two characters most es-
sential to the rightful understanding of
Lear's characteristic rool and Cordeha-
were not in capable hands. Miss May
Warde was not at all equal to Cordelia
and the part of the fool was far beyond
Miss Aileen Bertelle. Neither of these
performers gave anywhere near an ade-
quate Interpretation of the parts, which
was distinct loss to tie general ex-
cellence of the play. Tie lack of an
adequate fool can never but greatly mar
the performance of Lear.
However this-lack was somewhat CON-
pensated by three sterling actors in the
roles of Edgar Edmund and Kent Mr.
Barry tombstone made the hit of the
evening in the role of Edgar, as he ap-
pears in the storm scene disguised as
Happy Tom, and throughout he perform
ed most creditably. He has a very fine
voice. which he uses with discrimination
His reading is always intelligent and in
telligible. Mr.. Charles D. Herman was all
that could be desired in the character of
Edmund Mr.. Francis McGinn, as the
faithful Kent, who, with Cordelia stands
as a constant rebulle to wrong through
out the moral havoc of the play gave a