The Washington times., 1903-05-19
The Brilliant Young Actress
Makes a Profound I'M
preston in Shakespeare
Great Tragedy
THE HighWayman" at
Chase's, The Charity
Ball." The Little Out
cast" and Burlesque.

Juliet, by the grace of God" is
fitting and by no means irreverent de-
scriptIon of Bertha Galland in that most
interesting of all youthful female char
acters of the great poet. In her we find
the rarest combination of those physical
and mental charms that are the true
prerequisite to q proper and adequate
impersonation of the poets fancy 1t is
no fettery to say that since Adelaide
Nelson no Juliet las been seen on the
American stage so satisfying in all es-
sentials. Endowed with youth, beauty
and unmistakable talent, Miss Galland
appeals to the symL athy of her auditors
from the moment she enters upon the
scene, and she holds their intensest in
terest in every line she utters- AS in
appearance she is the ideal Juliet, so in
her enactment of the part she promises
to establish herself in a place which, 1t
is safe TO say, will not easily be reached
in her generation.
In seeking to form a true estimate as
to the proper impersonation of the
daughter of the Capulets it must be
borne in mind that the poet makes her
sound the very highest note of youthful,
girlish joyousness and all-absorbing
love, and then thrusts her into the very
abyss of grief and despair. One can
scarcely imagine a greater or more
sudden contrast than the transition
from the quivering Joy with which she
expects the coming of her young hus-
band TO the horror inspired by the
nurses announcement that Tybalt has
been slain and Romeo banished. 1t is
more than a transition; it is a transfer
nation. For IN that moment Jultet's
fate is changed. She ceases TO be the
joyous, girlish creature of ball room
and balcony and she becomes the woman
doomed to take upon herself the tragic
burden of sorrow, remuneration. and
death. Jl
A Sequence Of Opposing Emotions.
1t may be somewhat trite observa-
ton that in all good and pure women
there lies dormant the quality of the
very highest heroism. In some lives
it may never be awakened; for which
thanks may be given to an all-kind
Providence In some, il is not called in
to action until the stress of expert
ence has ripened judgment. But in
others, it is aroused in the flush of
youth. and then its transcendent char
acter stands out most clearly, and most
brightly.
This Is Juliet's case. This child
for she Is not yet fourteen, notwith-
standing the liberty taken by the adapt
ers and 1nodernizers OF Shakespeare in
adding two years 10 her age-this child
who but a moment before reveled in the
anticipation OF supreme happiness with
the chosen of her heart; TO whom exist
ence bore the roseate hue of loving
and being loved, and whose passion
, swept aside the deadly hatred of tradi-
tional feud, as by the lightning's fash
sees herself confronted with the fact
that her husband is TO be torn from her
by the decree of state
"Banished-that word had slain ter
thousand Tybalts" For second she
is overwhelmed by the thought that her
lover has killed her cousin, but in the
very next she dashes aside this consider
alton and thinks of nothing but the
one all-overpowering fact-her separa-
ton from her husband. Then comes the
added determination of her parents thai
she shall wed Paris. 1t is the drop thai
fills the cup 10 over1owing. and from
that moment forth neither death, mol
the horrors of the charnel house have fol
her terrors sufficiently great TO counter
act her decision that she will live 'aI
unstained wife to my sweet Romeo.
The appeal TO her heroism is not made il
vain II meats with instant and com.
piete response.