The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-12-22

The slight sense of surprise that is
brought to sou as you witness Ada Re-
mans playing in The School for Scan
daf' Is possibly due to the reflection that
when You read Sheridan, the Lady Teazle
did not impress you as being an especially
great part. As Ada Refan plays it you
realize how faint was your conception of
Its possibilities. Sometimes as her Indy
Teazle is contrasted with the other patch
and-powder bellies that animate the pref
ty. old rose drawing-room and she unbur-
dens herself OF her CULVER of light shafts
you perceive how pronounced is the ex-
cellence of her acting, and interes. centers
therein. as il to borrow the phrase from
Sheridan-she were n rivulet of text
msandertng through a meadow of margin.
MISS hehan emphasizes the part not
ny eSagSerating. but by refining il She
shades 1t exquisitelN. now with information.
now by gesture. now by an arch glance.
asaif with toss of the head: but never
eieNating the part obtrusively. never
prnisine IL to the center of the stage with
years ago created the partial least for
us on this side of the w;tter-yet remains
me truest vehicle. or. better, exponent. Of
the sheridan wit. its niccties its fincsss
of malice, subtlety Of satire. its sparkling
humor ard hubbling fun.
Nevertheless. a fair estimate of her last
!IShtS "Suis AZ me olympic found in 1t
than she has infused into ii sometimes,
ana caught at times the merest suSgss-
ton OF the mechanical. or a plimnse of
technique that was scarcely concealed nv
the spirit of her performance There ar.
odd moments, for which au actress like
Rehan may be pardoned. when exhilara-
ton and color eitb little below the Oft
read lines of an odd. old part. and part.,,-
uiariy q part for which, difficult a
standard has been set That Miss Rel,an
hnr hnS n SlAI
fact sufficiently eXtenuating To excuse
such slight lapses.
As for Otis Skinner. in CHARLES Sur
face"-there is eShilaration for vou, In
the perfectly read lines. the manner and
style, there is enough and 10 spare Of zest.
buoyancy. cheer. the effcrvescencc of
voice was never better. Charles is a fat
test of fat parts, to be sure. and, i'll con-
sequence. easy of OVERRIDING; but therein
the actor erred not. Nor is SINNERS cx-
quality in which critics delight. called re
preston. hut rather 10 a naturalness
which, recurring neither spur. nor re-
straint. criivens yet Keeps within bounds.
1t was SINNERS acting that on one or two
occasions redeemed the enacted scene
from the flat aud the mechanical. and
comedy: for there We're passages when
the thing seemed about TO be stale and
to reed stimulus. The fault mav have
been partly Sheridan's. although it seems
sacrilege to say il.
However that may be, certainly it was
In part due to the supporting company.
But. bear in mind that the fault was not
grievous AT the very most; just a lack
Of snap and 90. ON second Thought the
stage manager may have contributed
bit To the fault: the exits and entrances
the movement. here and there, and more
noticeably m the second act: gave the
srersstion of a timepiece slowing down.
Waiter Hale, an excellent actor. bo-e
himself we'll as Joseph Surface. notwith-
standing the fact that he is hut now hard
IL recovered from serious illness. Charles