The sun., 1903-06-21
Hagen; but this same Horde has hardly the
excuse of her bigger-souled sister

........:-. ..---==S=.==--
Hagen; but this same Hi5rdis has hardly tn
excuse of her bigger -souled sister.
Gunnur weakens He describes dream,
that he has had of late. -Methought hae
done the deed thou cravest Si0urd lay sair
on the earth thou didst stand beside him
and thy face was wondrols pale. Then
said l: Art thou glad. now that l have done
thy will?' But thou didst laugh and answer
'Blither were didst thou, Gunndr. lie there
In Sigurd's stead" Ill at ease, Hiord'!
fouts this dream and pushes her cause To
an issue. Sigurd must die. How? "a
the deed, Gunndr-and the heavy days VIII
be past" She promises cheap joys-love
He leaves her clutched to the very heart
by her baleful words. The next intervlew
is with Dasny. No trouble now Ia wiagiag
this emotional bird. Already she repent
Of her cruelty the previous night and would
make amends. Hi5rdij recognizes the
malleability Of tho woman and pierces her
armor by proving to her her own unttness
for the high position as wife OF Si5urd -
now the sole hero. Sac plays all the
music there is hidden within this string,
and it sounds its feeble, little, discouraged
tune without further ado. Dd3ny feels
her worthessness, has always felt 1t; better
let SiSurd go unattended. unhampered
and quite alone upon that shining path
OF glory which surely awaits him She
leaves. Treading upon her heels almost
comes the redoubtable Sigurd to this ex-
posed cavern Of the wicked. Too soon he
falls into the tolls. not because, like Her.
cules with Omphale he is merely a sensuous
weakling, but because he has loved Hiordis
from the first The plot curdles. En-
plantations fall like leaves in the thick Of
autumn. II Siourd has loved. Hi0rdis
has anticipated him. This eagle bends
curved beak and is of the lowly for the
moment. She proves to Sigurd that the
one objectionable sin is the repetition Of
love.
For another and nobler motive SiguTd
gives place to his beloved friend Gunndr,
yet none the less is his crime. 1t must e
expiated as was John Gabriel Borkmann's.
Curious it is to note the persistcncy through
half century of an idea. Lik Flaubert
Ibsen did not really add to his early ac-
quired stock Of images and ideas.
Tempted almost beyond his powers,
Siourd manages to save his selr-respect
and remain faithful TO his wife. He recog-
nizes his mistake; he has always loved the
other woman, though he never knew before
that this affection was returned. Hi6rdis
bids him renounce all for her: together
they will win the throne of Harfager-thc
ultimate dream of Sigurd. Sadly he bends
his back to her gibes. to her devilish sug-
gestions One way is open to him. He
can fight Gunncr in behalf of Ocrnuif and
thus avenge the death of Thorof aud put
an end to an existence bee, M insupporta-
BILE. Hiordis has other plans.
Act ", is short. We see the unhappy
Oernuf lamcntng his murdered son be-
fore black grave mound. He sings his
"Drala' over the dead body A storm
arises. II is a night Of terrors. Kara,
the peasant still unappeased, burns the
home of Gunnar. Hiordis meets Siqurd
and. after entreating vainly shoots him
with the bow and arrow she has made
expressly for the purpose. A strand of
her hair is entwisted in the how string.
Sigurd, dying. tells her to her horror that
he is not pagan, that even in death he
will not meet her "over there" for he is
a Christian man; the white God is his; King
Ethelstan of England taught him to know
the new religion. The epoch of the play
is A. D., 9a3 Despairingly. the strong
souled woman casts herself into a chasm
and is translated into Valhall by her i'm
mortal sisters. the Valkyrie. This last
scene is hopelessy undramatic and, as
given at the Imperial, quite meaningless
After Hiordis commits suicide the curtains
shut out the scene.
In the play. however, OernuH Dasny
Gennnr and Egil are discovered watching
the storm Gunndr claims the protection
of the man whose son he has slain. The
body Of !Sigurd is found; and tho arrow OF
H'ordis. so bitterly did she hate him."
whispers Dagnv to herself with true Ibsen-
esque irony. Gunnor says aside: "She has
slain hi!n-the night before the combat;
then she loved me after all" These sly,
pitiless strokes would have proved too
much to a British audience, sufficiently
outraged by several of Hi6rdis's very plain
speeches. The little Egii sees his mother
on black horse "home- -faring" with the
Valkyrs. The storm passes; peacefully
the moon casts its mild radiance upon this
field of strange conflict.
At the Imperial the act fell fiat. Mr.
Craig contrivcd some storm effect; but
as a whole it was disappointing. Miss
Terry made pretence of shooting
Mr.. Asche. She twanged her bowstring
and he fell leisurely back Large,
fat men do not die gracefully. And Mr..
Asches dicton vas monotonous-al almost as
as his precoptors, Mr.. ,
Benson. He was a trife flabby, and, if !
the truth he told. seemed bored to death. |
Miss Hutin Britton was the pagnp. She
was too early English Holman Clark |
was capital. and Hubert Carter did we'll !
As Gunnar-no too well but well enough
Mark kingliornc the Kara. was excellent.
and 50 was Conway Tearlc as ThoroH. OF
Miss Terry's short comings there is no
need of further eXpatiation She was
Ellen Terry, always charming as ever
slightly irrelevan,-she never kept in
character throughout performance in
ner long career-and acted wholly foreign
% Ibsen's intentions. In fact. the entire
,ast was a mist AXE barring Mr.. Clark.
know Of no more certain way to ditch a
author than putting his lines
into wrong mouths. This Miss Terry did,
though, be it said. with laudahle, misplaced
real
Despite the beauty Of the theatre-and
It is really beautiful little house:
despite Gordon Craig's clever scenic ex-