The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-05-21

4 translation Oh that work into English
ether by Arthur Brooke, in 1862. or by
William Paynter. in 1869. Where these
Intermediates lacked fine sensibiIity
they manifested fine fidelity to their
tasks. so that the substance which
reached the greatest workman of them
al was still quite worthy of his genius.
His hands transformed it His chief
characters became ''star-crossed low
ers''
His hero typifies a love fuller of devo-
ton than any other quality. nature not
shallow or a mere figure in a pretty
idyll, but an impressive personality fired
with the heat of the deepest passion and
swept from its station by a current of
adverse fate. AS in Hamlet all is
speculation, so in Romeo all is vehement
passion and precipitate action; the cur
rent of life in Hamlet seems to stag
nate or to retrograde-here it is confined
in one narrow channel down which it
gushes with the headlong impetuosity of
torrent till it is dashed over the preci-
pice.
The heroine is the worthy counterpart
of such a hero. She is the daughter of a
passionate age. Her spirit first trembles
with the timidity of childhood. then
throbs with the deepest emotions OF ma
ture womanhood a single day suffices
TO develop her from clinging dependence
to the will and independence of supreme
womanhood. Her maturity is short lived.
1t is yet long enough to picture for all
the world to see the refulgent splendor
of her love expressed in the sweetest
terms of idolatrous worship. She IS Por
tia intensified and Lady Macbeth puri-
fed.
The Romeo and Juliet.
The chief requirements for the proper
enactment of this play. then, are these:
An actor capable of expressing the most
worshipful devotion, of embodying the
handsomest and best hammered gentle
man Of his day." and of reciting with
just emphasis and fine musical effect the
most poetic lines ever written for eX-
presson On the stage; and an actress
who shall be at once childish and wom-
anly, alluring and dignified. whose beau
ty shall shine resplendently. who shall
speak poetic lines with, poetic sensi-
sound alternately the depths Of the
greatest Joy and the blacklist despair.
In the Liebler company those to whom
these are accredited must be set down
as realizing them only in part.
More than any other actor OF our time.
perhaps. Mr.. Bellew is the ideal Romeo
in appearance. His bearing, moreover,
is spirited, graceful and dignifed. But
his conception of the role, as developed
by last nights enactment. lacked all the
elements of deep feeling and thorough
understanding. He is neither the Romeo
of Garrick, fiery and melodramatic, nor
the Romeo of Barry, tender and seduc-
tive. He is mainly a poetic and gracs-
full figure capable of reciting with ap-
propriate pitch and meditation of his
voice the lines assigned to Romeo. The
ill-foreboding hero OF the text, the CO.
relative of Hamlet, the fine figure of
aroused nobility which Shakespeare per-
mits the Fates to bend and break-these
are lost in the picture Of manly gem
tlemar and a melancholy lover.
Miss Robson. as the Juliet, recalls
Mary Anderson. She is childish in fig
uro. Her bearing is consistently girIish.
Her face is marked by strange, sweet
int ellectuality which contrasts broadly
with. the type OF Veronse womanhood.
Her voice is clear and distinct In act
ing she has made a great effort TO in
fuse into her role the strong element
OF naturalness which is the most signal
contribution Of our age to dramatic art.
Yet here, as in the case OF the Romeo.
the impersonation ceases. To the great
Juliet such external advantages would
be merely the medium through which
her Internal powers would display their
glory, the passive instruments which her
powerful and delicate sensibilities might
WELD with ease and effect. But Miss
GIBSON manifests instead of deep ooted
passion merely it's lesser consequences.
Her Juliet depends for it's force rather
on the truth of imitation than on the
pUrposed expression Of a character
thoroughly understood and Intensely
realized. 1t must not be supposed. how
ever, that her impersonation is without
charm. Her style OF acting is smooth,
round. polished. and classical like a
marble statue She is self-sustalned