The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-16

her delicacy that conceals her technique =
we do not see the keys being pressed down,
though we hear the discoursing OF the ex-
quisite music. No art Ia natural. The
most natural writer's have come by their
i effortless prose after weary years Of wrcst =
ling with their damon use. the favorite
word of Socrates and Goethe.
SO is it with Duse. Bernhardt criticised
her for thinking too much; Ristori declared
that the younger woman could only play
herself After watching her carefully
after trying TO pluck out the heart of her
| mystery, you acknowledge to vaguely
| recognizing that she hs- a certain scheme
| Of doing things all her own: that you hear
| at times the faint hum OF the wheels. II
is In her elocution that the technical side
Of her art can be best studied. Like
| skilled vocalist she achieves certain effects
| by voice production. She employs nasal
resonance when intensity Is demanded
| by the text. The voice is not beautiful
one Of itself. as was PATHS. ~ il Marcella
Sembrich's. but the sincere humanity
| infused in every nudnce, the poignant
| quality of grief. despair. joy-she can thrill
you with her JOY of life too-are not these
to be studied and emulated by earnest
speaks in a sonorous foreign tongue. that
she literally thrills it in moments of exalta-
ton hardly possible in the soldier. slower
Saxon-is no reason why English-speaking
mines should not benefit by her art There
should be no such thing as nationality in
the drama no upper Broadway. no Strand.
no Coincide Frdredise. Ted'ro Costdn,i or
Dsutches Thooter. Duse is a woman.
/ marvellous appartion. one that seldom
appears more than once in a century. Let
us enjoy her without considerations Of
race. II is in the acting and in singing that
woman meets man equally in all the other
arts she is not his match. But, then. one
Duse is worth wilderness Of maies,
II Is safe to assume that Sardou's" Dante"
which he has written for Sir Henry Irving
who is now the Beatrice since Ellen Terry
has announced her intention Of not accom-
panying Irving on his American tour
will be a splendid exhibition of stagccraft.
with the spirit Of the man who saw He'll"
a. his townsmen said. quite absent. Sar-
dou. like Pinero, may be anything in this
world but po"tic. The imaginative quality
he has not And D'Annunzio has it has it
in overwhelming abundance. 1t submerges
his formal reflections. and until it is held
in check he will not write great play
But what could II" not do with such theme
ar Dante? With his accurate scholarship,
his met rical virtuosity, he could make play
that would be unique
Why is il that any one expected great
things from buses francesca She put on
the play for ID Annunzio's not for her own
sake. She does not get into the character
As. for instance. she gets into the souls of
Anna and .Sil,id Francesca has not
difficult psychology She is a media
val maiden, quite artless in her love
Of love and revenge. She does not shiver
al war, though she shrinks before cruelty
for cruelty's sake; besides, Mdldte stino's
cruelty has something personal in it. 1t
is meant to reach her nerves. for he has
been repused by his elder brothers wife.
Now. the exposition Of these characteristics.
and few elementary ones in addition. is
an easy task for Duse What she does not
succeed in doing is looking virginia., looking
young And any amateur might do that.
BY the way. she cut almost entirely the
Greek fire Speech the first night here. The
electric torch did not work well, and after
giving the glowing invocation in full. 1t
fell fiat in Boston.
The Duse company owes its perfect ion
20 incessant rehearsng. Not a piece is
repeated without many rehearsals. There
is therefore tone in these productions. a
unity Of feeling, action, character that
suggests the presence Of one commanding
spirit. II ia Duse Her people are pre-
pared to interchange roles at short notice.
Galvani, for instance, who gave such a
stirring and picturesque embodiment Of
a cruel brother in Francesca da Rimini,"
this same Giro Galvani, played Rosaspino's
part in la Gioconda" so well in Boston
that he was mistaken for leading man
There is a variety Of accents in the com
pany. but impurities are drilled away and
variety Of intonation sought for, though
not at the expense Of enunciation.
II was Robert Louis Stevenson who
foresaw in the unaffected speech of Ameri-
cans future danger for the mother tongue.
These Italians speak "a If they loved their
tongue. English actors have a greater
tonal range than Americans. We seem
afraid to let go the reins Of utterance, a.
If it were immoral to betray emotion And
yet Americans are much nearer related
to the Latin race temperamentally than
the English.
Glen Marlborough is a clever writer, a
man who knows the theatre and its technical
demands far better than some Of his more
successful contemporaries. But he early
encountered the necessity of measuring
stars with suitable histrionc garbs. And
that is a misfortune. From Marie Jansen
to Mrs. lie Moyne he has. with few excep-
lions, cut his dramatic cloth to suit model.
The result in the latter case was Among
Those Present" produced in this city at the
Garden Theatre last Monday night |, was
dire. Neither Mrs. lie Moyne nor the audi
ence was suited. Fashionable society Of
fers many shining surfaces for the shafts
Of satire. But modicum Of probability
must be preserved. else the attempt sinks
to the level of sheer burcsque Among
Those Present" is not entertaining, despite
its occasional good lines, nor is it coherent.
And Mrs. lie Moyne is at her unhappiest.
The little curtain raiser -Rouget do
rIsle." given for the first time here by
Mr. Martin Harvey at the Herald Square
last week. is bound to become favorite in
the repertory of actors who seek for effect,