The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-11-09
Mr.. MANSFIELD'S BRUTUS
IN HIS PRODUCTION OF SHAK-
SPEARE'S JULIUS CAESAR"
The Play Presented by a Finely Capa-
bic Company and with Elaborate
Stage Settings at EngIish's.

Marcus Brutus, the flower of anarchy
that is what this day gets if it gets any
more value than incidental excitement and
antiquarian interest from Shakspeare's
tragedy of Julius Caesar" The case was
beautifully put by Richard Mansfield last
evening at English's. His embodiment of
Brutus moves in an atmosphere charged
with his wild and ia tal desire personally to
materialize- the fine dream of humanity
individual equality and dignity. On the
day of the feast of Lupercal he stands back
from the crowd that worships Caesar and
regards the spectacle mournfully. Not sad
ness but disgust is the feeling inspired in
Cassius and Casca by the same sight. They
smell the Sinking breath of the multi
tude and note Caesars weak acceptance of
the contemplate laudaton. And in his gar
den, where the conspiracy against Caesars
life is formed, Brutus gives it to his asso-
ciates that it is the spirit of despotism that
they oppose; so little is it Caesars body
they would kill that it would be murder to
destroy also Antony, who is but Caesars
limb. AS Brutus is the only one of the
conspirators that is possessed by the spir-
itual significance of what they do, it is only
to him that the ghost of Caesar returns
resultant from the ambition that would
drive out Caesars ambition.
The fond but terrible madness of Brutus
is emphasized by the actor increasingly
from the beginning of the play At the
vision of Caesars ghostly return, his fea-
lures writhe with lunatical agony and not
merely with fear; and at the close he sits
on rock as on throne, hardly impressed
with the activity of the rout around him.
gazing far off and voicing almost involun-
tarily his wish for death at another's hand.
When he has pushed his own sword into
his breast his pose, the strange and ghast-
ly expression of his distorted face, mean
so much that is intangibly horrible that the
eulogy Of Antony falls fiat.
There are now constantly occurring
phenomena OF the nature of Brutus's
pitiable hope, resolve and failure-the mis-
take of hurting the body into the inexorable
progress of evolution if by that puny
weight to force the great contamination i'm
mediately into actually. The present cir
cumstances are very different, il is true
but the good that is in the Shakespeare
plays must now be extracted by compari-
son Of their significance 10 present affairs
In their terms and their intrinsic purpose
the dramas Of past centuries are now in
adequate.
Strangeness is the key of Mr.. MansfeId's
presentation of Julius Caesar" The coIors
OF the scenes are mistily florid when
frutuS garden, the camp near Sardis and
the plain of Phillip are shown. Mr. Mans
field exploits his musical voice TO its full
and reads the dramatists lines rythmically
The lyric quality is taken too. by the other
players, and an orchestra of unusual ex-
tent is used TO give the voices an accom-
paniment.
The company is at almost all points ade-
quate, and Mr.. Forrest, in Antony's ora
ton, makes the part approach in impor-
tance Mr.. Mansfelds INTERPRETATION of
Brutus. The irst-named actor has not the
ability to express the fine calculations and
disturbances of the mind that is so much
factor in his principals success. but he
works out the dramatist's intention with
great skill and force and has not that strik-
ing defect In Mr.. Mansfield, the stress laid
on the external attributes of a singing
voice and gracefully swaying body Mr..
Dennys biting irony as Casca Is more i'm
pressive than Mr. Johnstone's intense but
sometimes weak impersonation of Cassfus
Generally, 1t is a production of q Shak-