The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-04-14
AT THE THEATERS
"Wlfe for Wife,"

"Wife for Wife," the Ferris company's
Offering this week, is not a comedy
DRAMA as announced on the program.
In fact, it is about as closely related to
that style of entertainment as is. the oys-
| ter plant to the succulent ~bivalve from
which 1t takes it's name. The play Is
melodrama in a middle Of he-century
setting; melodrama in which the sudden
death element is brought about through
gun and knife play and poison, and In
which 1nfidelity and kindred evils flourish
like the traditional green bay tree.
| The derivation of that word melodrarna
is rather interesting. 1t bears the label
| ARTICLE de Paris and, originally, was a
| romantic opera in which the action was
carried on In speaking and not in recita-
tive or aria-in other words, flight"
| opera, from the Greek, melos a song, and
| drama, an action or drama In it's mod
ern usage, however, melodrama may be
described as an averted tragedy. 1t is q
| play of strong situations, characterized
more by bold coloring than artistic finish.
"Ihe" more thrilling passages says the
| Encyclopaedia dictionary, ''are accentuat
ed by musical accomplishments known as
the 'hurries,' the only relic of the original
musical character of the entertainment. -
! Wife for Wife" is an interesting play,
despite Its absurdities. and it is better
done than anything the Ferris company
has presented for some time. It has been
well staged, the scene of the first act
presenting an unusually effective stage
picture, despite the numerous anachro-
nisms which may be discovered both in
the costuming and properties" And it
Is we'll played.
The piece was written by John A. Ste
VEINS. a disciple of the strenuous school
Of playwrights, who, far from calling a
spade an ace, delights rather in referring
| to it as that ID rusty old shovel"
However, this method is not always inef-
| fective. The plot sets forth the machina-
| tons of an educated slave to revenge him
self upon his master for the sale of his
wife, matter in which he is eminently
successful until the very last, when he
| Inadvertently drinks a poisoned beverage
he had prepared for his intended victim.
AS the title of the play indicates, his are-
venge is attained thru the disgrace of
his masters wife, who, however, is inno-
cent of all wrong.
The company is we'll cast in this piece,
and, for the most part, the various roles
are excellently handled. w. D. Corbett
does very we'll with the hero and Grace
Hayward is good as his wife, wrongly sus-
pected of unfaithfulness. Ben johnson
as French physician w. H. Murdoch as
the revengeful slave, and Herbert Bren-
non as an embryonic playwright, all dc
good work. Maude Gilbert is charming
as the wife's sister, and Miss Laurette
Allen .'makes good i'll the part of silly
old woman, who in1agines herself in love
with the, DOCTOR. Robert Folsom is not
fitted for the part Of Richard Singleton
His vilainN lacks finish and his love max
ing is devoid Of passion.
I 800 a-'f~,'s -&s'S>E' / j. S. Lawrence.
| s&.:lr. ;'& ~ s,.&
MetropoItan-"York state>Eolks."
Sweet as the memory of joys that are
past in Ossian's phrase, are many lines
of York State Folks Among the crowds
Of pastoral plays striving to share the
success of 'Shore Acres only Arthur
sidman' s work may be considered a legit
innate rival. He has not depended exclu
} sively upon that Photographic realism sc
easy and so inartistic. He has INDUCED
but moders tely in caricatur
Without the imagination of Herne, Mr.
Sidman has been unable to reach thu
strong emotions aroused by *Shore Acres.
But in York State Folks he has main
tanned an equable. low pitch that is sur
prfsingly true to the tenor Of country
life. Legitimate naturalism, indeed, Is sell
dom attained to an equal degree with ma
Il terials whose sordid associations mus
constantly oppose idealization. AS will b.
f recalled by those that saw York Stat,
Folks" when it was produced here las
season, there is not even mortgage il
the play, not a COW, not villain from thu
e city. A check. a cat and an arbitrar!
father afford sufficient complication for th
minor Iliad, wherein the wrath of Simon
Peter Martin is 1.-The direful spring of woe
: unnumbered'' at Martinsville, N. Y. .-
a Simon Peter, himself a character un
, commonly genuine, always intense ant
never melodramatic. takes it's full value
n from the skill of James Lackaye, VIII,
e again fills the part with apoplectic gruff
: ness and finished individuality. Ray L
. Royce is too forcibly tender as the ole
II organist Myron. But the rest Of the com
pany are capable, in particular Miss Kat
a Jackson-well known to the twin cities
as the Widow Miller, and Ernest Lawson
as Lem Dunbar. The costuming and &C
cessories are all that could be wished.
d H. B. Curry.