The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-04-24
Al ST., Paul
..Theaters
Ghosts" at the Metropolitan.

is the nearest approach to humor that
the play contains And this humor is
or the grim sort that supplies no high
light to a somber study.
A moderate sized audience Shlvered
through three acts last night. Occa-
s1onally that audience was forced into
remembering that the spell that was
belnS cast upon it was not wrought
entirely by the Norwegian dramatlst.
L men the spectators aroused themselves
and applauded Miss Shaw and the four
capable players who supported her But
Tor the most part they followed the
play in silence and they paid for it and
the players the tribute of a long SILVER
ing sigh when the curtain fell on the
last horrible act. This adjective is not
an eXagSeration.
The drama is repuIsive from begin
ming to end. The name Ghosts is
either misnomer or a bad translation.
Ibsen's GHOSTS" are not ghosts at all
but the black bats of life that breed in
noiSome places. They appear in one
century and disappear in the next but
they seem never to be entirely de-
Stroyed. Dwellers in the noisome
places and biologists are familiar with
those bats, but it is only occasionally,
and then by the far aft Tapping Of
their wings, that they remind the ma
jority of people of their existence.
Therefore because its lesson can never
be a general one, one questions the wis
dom of a play like Ibsen's Ghosts" Al
though one may be wiser he Will not
be the better for seeing it. There are
more effectual and decenter ways of
educating men and women to an ap-
probation of the incontrovertible fact
that the child must answer for the sins
of the father than through the drama.
But if there is little to be said in
praise of the play, there is much to
be said in praise Of the players. Miss
Mary Shaw, who plays the leading role,
Mrs. Alving, is a finely schooled actress
whose very unusual ability finds out
let in the difficult role of the dis
tracted mother Miss Shaw has the
1.-the grace that is nearly always pos
sessed by the red haired WoISap. She
has rarely beautiful voice, to which
one is tempted to apply that much
abused word, caressing. 1t is a voice
that conveys an infinite variety of eX-
preston, not by pitch but by cadence.
Miss Shaw's reading of her lines last
night was a constant joy to the ear,
as her fine presence and the slow grace
of every movement were feastS for the
eye. The quiet intensity of her acting
while it added considerably to the hor-
ror of the play, made the role mar
VelouSly human one, and commanded
always the sympathy of the audience.
No great dramatic outbursts are de-
manded, and in this lies the difficulty
of the role. The pent-up emotion must
be indicated rather than expressed. 1t
is only in the last act that acute suf-
fering finds relief in a great cry. But
Miss Shaw so successfully carries her
audience with her through all the
scenes until that last terrible one that
the cutlery was as much a relief to the
audience as it was to the suffering
mother. A curtain call after the final
curtain was the unusual mark of ap-
probation that the audience vouch-
safed Miss Shaw last night.
Frederick Lewis. who plays the part
of Oswald Alving, the son who suffers
so pitiably for the sins of his father,
is talented and artistic young actor.
who succeeds in making the suffer-
ings of the doomed boy horribly real.
Metropolitan audience has seldom
seen a more effective piece of acting
than that in the last act, where Oswald
confesSeS his awful fear to his mother
and makes her promise that she will
give him the death-dealing morphine
when idiocy shall finally overtake him.
The final collapse of the son Mr.
Lewis art made "grewsomely effective,
and after the audience recovered it's
breath from the horror. Ia heartily ap-
plauded the art. But Mr.. Lewis act
ing was not all crowded into the last
act. The boy, Oswald. is a degenerate
from the beginning. and the realistic
manner which the actor kept this fact
constantly before the audience was
quite as remarkable as the dramatic
bit in the last act. ,.t.-.
Maurice Wilkinson's Pastor Man
ders was fine presentation of a rather
repulsive type. Charles A. GAYS ia
cob Engstrand was a clever character
sketch. Miss Virginia Kline. a hand
some young woman, played with skill
a character that is peculiarly Ibsenish.
that of Regina Engstrand.
Ghosts will continue at the Met
ropolitan for week.
So many inquiries from out of town
have come, to the Metropolitan opera
house regarding Richard MansfieId's
appearances there week after next that
the booking of seats has been arrang-
ed so that residents and non-residents
will have equal chances. The Mansfield
sale begins on Monday, May 4, but
from now ON mail orders will be re-
cefved. These orders should be ad-
dressed to the treasurer Of the Metro
pol1tan, state the evening or matinee
for Which seats, are desired and con-
tain remittance and stamped envelope.
They will be numbered in the order in
which they are received and filled &C
cordtng to numbers on the first day Of
the sale, without prejudice or favor.
Only limited number of tickets will
be sold any one purchaser who is not
known to the management or is not
identified. Of course, representatives
of theater parties, literary clubs, uni
Versity or high school classes will be
sold all the seats they need. The OBJ
Ject Of the system is simply to de-
Feat speculation and serve theater-