The Washington times., 1903-10-13
Brilliant Young Actress APP
pears to Great Advantage
as The PiQuant and LoVable
Mistress of Haddon Hall.
A Good Romantic PIdu. Well
Acted and Sumptuouslu
Staged = Received With
Marked Favor.

Bertha Gallaud, a young and brilliant
actress who made pronounced impress
sion on Washington iast spring by a
superlative enactment OF Juliet reap
peared locally yesterday evening at the
Columbia Theater in a romantic drama
called Dorothy Vernon of Haddon
Hall. The play is made ostensIbly
from "A book OF the same name written
by Charles Major. but IL is superior to
the novel in every way IL was lavishly
yet artisucally mounted, and was per-
formed by company OF exceptional
unity and strength. Thus II came about
that an audience reflective OF the city's
most thoughtful interest in the theater
contributed al in its power to extend
Miss Galland's just reputation and es-
tabiish her popularity in the favor she
has enjoyed hitherto coo exclusively with
the critics.
The story of Dorothy Vernon is i'm most
of its details an English paraphrase of
Italy's Romeo and Juliet" There are
the same great houses opposed by the
same bitter feud; the same throbbing
figures aglow with the same charm Of
youth; the same meeting. the same dis
guise. and the same nery affection; the
same Intervention or royal personagcs.
and the same clandestine escape. But
the resemblance ends here. As in italy
life is a bright flame shining from a
little candle and in England steady
CLEAN of long duration. so in these two
historic romances one dazzles all the
senses only TO die before the eyes are
fairly accustomed to the light and the
other burns on brightly enough but
steadily enough as well to light many
pathways and disclose much lasting
beauty.
A Life Of Fairy Tales.
The age is that OF Elizabeth. a period
of which many pens have written ex-
tensiYely and all pens have written
somewhat Its chief qualities are
familiar to every schoolboy who has
reached the study Of fractions IL has IN
spirtd more comment twenty times over
than the whole volume Of its literature
The special reflection suggested by this
play is that il stili remains one OF the
least real periods IN history Ii was
bright With SO many great talents. il be-
queathed 70 its successors heritage of
such SURPRISING material achievements
IL produced a literature so rich in sub
stance and SO beautiful in adornment
that its pcrsonages have never seemed
more than half human or it's events
in ignorance Of this view. Of course.
Yet the splendor of his genius created
for US, not a literary world vibrating
with the activities Of his own expert
ences but a people and a life ineifabIy
more fancifuI.
IL is accordingly a period wherein
Elizabethan love songs seem 10 flow nat
uraliy from natural source, where
fancy may assemble all the pageants OF
70 asssfl 9 ion,
people lose themselves vaguely in our
latter day castles OF the air. But il has
never seemed a product OF the common
place force. of actual human life and not
even Shakespeare could give it this
quality.
Romantic if Not Natural.
Where the great master of an nlYv-
wrights has failed Mr. Hester. who has
expanded Mr.. Majors book so adnira-
bly,, could not hope TO succeed At mos
he could only provide a setting for brave
costumes. a frame for heroic deeds. q
Channel for series OF absorbing events
So much he has done remarkably well
At the fall Of the curtain half a dozen
splendid pictures dwell in the mernors
and the mind holds contempla lively q
reproduction OF half its fairy tale i'm
pressions- But he might as well have
X
Tor al the Illusion OF nature which his
work creates. His Dorothy Vernon is n
romance. not a picture OF living men
and women. and his characters belong
either on the stage or IN a book not m
the real world Of this or any other reign
Candor and truthfulness Impose upon
the critic some attention 10 this inya
riable shortcoming In romantic dramas
But they Go not obscure in the Ieas,
the a.. NH
tales. Walter Pator once wrote tina.
music was the greatest OF the arts be-
cause IL was most nearly a creation OF
great beauty out Of commonplace and
uninspiring materials. Perhaps this
view is broad enough 10 explain the gen
ern pleasure IN stories Ike Romeo and
juliet" when told in the musical dictio-r
OF romanticism. The explanation may
be what il may: the unreality Of such
q story as Dorothy Vernon does not
rob Il and never can rob Il Of q
wider general interest than VIII eyer
attach TO all the products OF the oTo
naturaiistic schools put together
Miss Gal1and's Fine Embodiment.
Given. then. a beautiful story founded
on an age OF inherent romantic charm.
Miss Galland and her company had
only to keep within the picture. But "A
I
''only. II is p task which many actors
have essaycd only 10 produce weari-
some compound OF artificial gesture.
strained speech. and stilted conduct
To keep within the picture Of the ro-
nance and still 20 spread text and
events before the view Of hetorOgcnc |
Gus audience. this is 20 e1prs IS fairly
the requirements for producing Shake
speare. Miss Galland's company meets |
these requirements most satisfactorily /
The star appears as willful and I'm
perious young sirl. vibrant between de-
terrnined self-indulgtnce and splendid
self-abnegation. She must BE- IN turn
playful and serious. self-centered and
self-forgctful. domineerinS and sabmis- |
sive. filled with cunning and altogether /
without guile, capriciOus and steadfast [
She must represent the characteristic (
charm OF Beatrice and the beautiful 4
fidelity Of COrdClia. Yet she must also I
create the illusion OF personality and /
so fuse together these contradictions as I
10 inspire her role with magnetism and /