New-York tribune., 1902-02-22

in the final scenes with the masquerade of
! Ulysses as an aged beggar with piping voice
! and the clearance of the banquetng hall. Lit
! erary reminiscenCe takes the place OF dramatic
| action, and when the glass is held up before
| the original Homeric story the reflection is
! pale and distorted The gods lack the elemental
! majesty of Homers immortals Ulysses is with
! out heroic dignity and intellectual fOrce-a
! homesick sentimentalist and a master of small
! devices and ingenious byplay: and the famous
! scenes are overlaid with color and ornament,
| and are deprived of the charm Of primitive sim
! plicity There is uproar in the banqueting hall,
| with women screaming and suitors and servi-
! tors scampering when Ulysses shakes off the
| beggar's rags and kills Antnous with the first
| arrow from the bow so long unstrung; but with
| all the magniicence Of stage mounting the Ho-
| meric movement of the tremendous scene in
| the twenty-third book is lacking; the doomed
suitors entrapped behind barred doors. the
avenger leaping the threshold of stone when
his arrow has been sent through the axe blades,
and the slaughter OF Penelopes prosecutors
and treacherous servants. No spectacular ef-
fects with black velvet, steam boilers, lime
light and sheeted figures reproduce the
austere simplicity of the hero's intercourse with
the dead, related with reverential awe in the
eleventh book
There has been no lack Of learned research
aimed at SURPRISING his previous achievements
in stage management. and has succeeded. Ex-
perts like Mr. Sidney Colvin and DR.. A S.
Murray have been consulted at every turn; the
British Museum has been ransacked for
cheologicaI details; Professor Lethaby has sup
piled architectural designs. and Mr. Percy An
derson has been indefatigable in costuming the
play. The forecourt of Ulysses palace and
the interior of the banqueting hall reproduce
naan architecture. with friezes of animals.
bossed plates Of bronze, and decorative blends
of many colors. The summit of Olympus,
Calypsos sea girt, vine clad cave the phantom
realm and the coast OF Ithaca, with the hut of
Eumaus, imaginary pictures elaborated
with consummate skill from Honeric hints.
Caypsos cave is not only a spectacle of en-
trancing beauty, but it also reproduces with
poetic fancy the description at the opening of
the fifth book Of the Odyssey. with the gadding
garden vine traiIed the blooming meads OF
violet and parsley, the blossoming wood and
the fountains of clear water apart from the
blue sea. The costumes for gods and mortals
are not those OF the classic period Of Greece,
but those portrayed in vases and sculpture
terror to the Persian The effects
Oriental, ricn and picturesque, and harmOnze
with the archaic architecture and decoration
which Schliemann and other explorers have
gods are habted and armed they de-
scribed in Homeric phrase. Pallas Athene with
her doughty spear, and Hermes, with golden
sandals, canoes taken from the treasure
house of Homerc Penelope, with her
waiting women emerges from the women's
quarters, a statuesque yelled figure, as in the
first book Of the Odyssey, when the minstrel
sings of the return of the warriors from Troy.
The production of the play is marvel of stage
nd COmDlete
every point The music has been composed by
Mr. Coleridge Taylor. with prelude and inter-
ludes for the orchestra, song for the nymphs
in CaIypso's cave. and ballad for the min
strel Mr. Courtice Pounds.
If is on the dramatic side that the new play
is distinctly inferior to Mr.. Phillipss "Herod.
The actors have little to do beyond posing in
the fantastic costumes which Mr.. Percy Ander-
son has designed for them. and repeating the
,1o,,u,riebts blank verse, which lacks the cassi
col finish the sustained dignity and harmonious
cadanca of "Herod." Mr.. Charles Fulton as
Zeug Mr. Oscar Asche as Antnous. and MISS
Constance Collier Pallas Athene are more
euocaeefuI than their associates in catching the
swing and movement Of the verse. and such
stage work as falls to them is we'll done Miss
Lily Hamburg is very handsome as Penelope
and Miss Nancy Price is graceful and effective
as Calypso. Mr.. Lionel Brough. as Eumaeus,
the swineherd, is one of the best performers, and
Mr. Gerald Lawrence acts we'll Telemachus.
Mr. Tree takes his cue from the fifth book OF
the Odyssey in looking wistfully seaward from
the isle of violets, and gives evidence of hav-
ing studied every detail of byplay with palms.
| taking care. The masquerade the old beg
gar enables him to change his voice and to
simulate decrepitude. and there is fine oren-
! ing for medodrama in the closing scene. The
playwright has not provided him with a great
! in
! Ulysses" indeed, is TO be enjoyed chiefly as a
| masterpiece of stage management AS drama
il halts and drags, and as literary "reminiscences
! it fails to satisfy scholarly sensbty. AS
/ magnihcently staged spectacle with an accom-
! panment of blank verse it deserves sympa-
! thetic appreciation and praise l. Y. F.
T. p. MORGAN GIVES TO HOSPITAL
I NewYork, has offered to give $4,000 toward a