The Washington times., 1903-12-03
Acts Exacting Role With
Extraordinary Skill.
SPLENDIDLY SUPPORTED
Play Proves to Be Dissection Of Nissan
thropic Temperament-Powerful,
Fearless, and Unpleasant.

An intense contrast Mary Of Mag
dala" and "Hedda Gabler" the very an
tithesis OF character. One is chastened by
the experiences of life and humbllng
herself in spirit and body before the
Master; the other. with soul scared and
warped by innate perverseness, wreck
ing lives about her. and at last, in the
extreme WEAKNESS and disgust over
what she regards as the trivialIties Of
existence. making a sudden end Of her
own. the actress who can consistent
~ portray such oppOsites. measures up
10 the heights OF dramatic genius. And
such is Mrs Fisk4
IT was a rare sketch which she placed
before her audience at the Lafayette
Opera House last night Ibsen' s
herOine-rather an anomalous designa-
tiOn for a woman like Hedda Gabler,
abouc whose inner nature there is moth
ing that savors OF heroism-was pre-
scented i'm all the repulsive mental
nakedness with which she sprang from
the authors brain. Hedda Gabler rep
resents no phase nor type OF society
She is sui generis, and, heaven be
praised. there are not many such
Hedda has never been able TO draw
swe5 tness and light from any OF the
situations OF life in which circum-
stances or her own wiz have placed
her She Is endowed wiki a mentality
that extracts nothing hut bitterness
from her condition an6 surroundings
The relations in which other women
md peace and repose and happiness
stimuli te IN her only a sense OF the
baroque.
An Anatomical Drama.
Yet Hedda Gabler is not what is or
- .-Efr l..
moral. She does not descend to acts
that would place her outside OF the pale
Of respectable society. She presents the
picture OF one whom nature, in one Of her
ungracious creative moods, has failed TO
invest with the power Of perceiving the
deeper and gentler purposes of HUI
manity- Withal, she has been endowed
with the fatal gilt Of beauty a gift in
this instance fatal not only to others,
but q -ferself. II IS not strange that
such a woman, having destroyed every
thing that possessed interest for her,
should at last destroy herself. II Is the
logical climax OF an untoward chain Of
events.
Ibsen IS nothing II not a demonstrator
81 the dissecting table of the anatomy
of character. He is as absolutely indif-
ferent TO the unloveliness Of the men
tally he has under his knife as is his
colleague ia the dissecting room OF a
medical college 20 the touch OF the dead
body before him. AS the latter seeks 10
ascertain and reveal the seat OF disease
and decay in the body, so Ibsen, with
Implying caudor and clearness, lays
bare the deformities OF mind and heart
Every personality he presents to his
reader is a perfect study OF character.
good bad or Indifferent.
Admirably Acted.
Mrs. Fiske as Hedda was true
throughout 10 the purposes and inten-
lions o; the author. Indeed. her superb
repTessive acting heightened the delinea-
ton which Ibsen indicates in the Ian
guage OF his play. Nothing finer, for in
stance, could be imagined than her at
titude when Assessor Brack tells her
that he alone knows she gave LOvberg
the pistol with which he killed himself.
end then intimates the price at which
he Will preserve silence and prevent a
public scandal. For several minutes she
remains immOvaole; then a determined
clinching OF the hand She rises. goes
irto the adjoining room. One hears her
play gay air on the piano. Then a pis-
tOl shot. Hedda has played the last
cars in the game OF life.
Mrs. Fiske had her audience thor
oughly spellbound. When she hands
Lovberg the pistol and tells him to end
his life. and at once. and when, a few
minutes later. she consigns the manu-
script Of his book 10 the flames. groans
OF horror were heard In portions OF the
house. Mrs. Fiske was admirably sup
ported. Vaughan Chaser, as Lovberg
Mary Madden. as Aunt Juliana: Belle
Bohn. as Mrs. Elosted: Henry J. Car
I'm
to be mentioned. William b. Mack. as
Dr. Tessman. invested their respective