The Washington times., 1903-12-01
HepSe'S Greaf Drama Per
formed BY Mrs. Fiske WHR
fRe Utmost Sympathy,
Skill, and Intelligence.
German Te1f Paraphrcsed
into English By William
Wmfer-The Play Bril-
Hantlp Mounted.


time in this Capital at the Lafayette
Square Theater last night. 1t proved to
be a work of unusual beauty OF text,
constructed with abundant dramatic
power and wildly and impressively re-
producing the scenes attendant on the
translated, moreover, from German into
scholarly English by William Winter,
today and for many years the fore
most American critic of the stage Thus
the drama was invested with a persua-
sive interest for its own sake; but last
night this interest was widened and
deepened by the enactment IT obtained
at the hands Of Mrs. Fiske and her
admirable company. In view Of this sit
uation, it should occasion only the
deepest satisfaction that an audience
brilliant even for Washington sat
through the drama. intently, reverently,
and quietly absorbing every event
The production of this play. in any
form and at any place has invariably
provoked discussion This has been
true for many reasons-the frank ac-
| ceptance Of the MagdaleD as the subject
Of the play; the attempted indication
on the stage of the presence of the
Nazarene; the construction put upon the
treason of Judas; and the outspoken
faith of author and actress that
through the religion represented by the
person of Jesus lay the only refuge,
comfort and hope that the penitent wo-
man of this class could ever find.
It is certain this discussion will now be
heard IN Washington; and that is well,
/ for no conversation based upon Mrs.
/ Ffslke's portrayal OF Mary can be maud
/ lin in sentiment or Specious In what
/ Mr.. Winter calls 'the establishment
/ of vicious life" It should be added,
! however, that this discussion. If it do
| occur, will bp only the outward and
/ conventional sign of an awakened re-
/ gard for the events with which Herr
/ Beyse's play is concerned
A y;oble Story ReveTently Told
Mary Of Magdala" is. briefly. fan
ciful story built about the personality
f Of the woman who now typihfs the
+, shame of her sex. It presents her as
the mistress OF Judas Iseariot, until
that parsonage follows the new Prophet
toward a free and triumphant Israel,
and then as the beloved of a young
Roman soldier, Aulus Flavius. In the
/ lap Of her igrominy and the scarlet
sumptuousness which 1t buys she is I'D
| TO see Jesus and Is by him purified IN
! heart and soul Her regenerat ton is
complete; once only does she falter. and
the temptation is that by yielding TO
/ Flavius, a nephew OF PLATE. the power
/ Of imperial Rome will save her master
4 from his own people. At the end, when
that temptation and every temptation
Hike it has been put behind her, when
Jesus has been crucihed and the earth
has rocked under the awful anger OF
4 the heavens, she turns back to Jerusa-
lem with the seal Of conscious purity on
her face and her Saviour's promise TO
return 10 earth cherished In her heart.
How FAR removed IS a story Ike this
from the commonplace intrigue on which
most modern plays in English depend,
In the one instance the presence of the
most gentle and pure figure in all MIS-
tory, although not introduced into the
play, pervades every scene, and the sin
ner is saved 10 less by her own repent.
ance and her will 10 avoid sin than by
the inesdmable compassion OF the Naz,
arene. In all the others the wrongdoe,
either ingeniousIy escapes the conse-
quences OF her evil, or is saved by the
magnanimlty Of some Othrr person, or Is
put out into the world as a problem
with all the sympathy such an author
and such an actress can jointly arouse
in the one case sin Is shown in its rrua
light-a thing ugly, diseased, repellant.
sickening, In the other, it is so ban,
daged around with fate" slack of
will.' circumstances" and "conven,
ton that only the thou ghtful- can de-
tect its presence and none can per
ceive its form Suffering like that of
which the Magdalen is the type arot,ses
IN the breast Of nearly every man i'm,
mediate and sincere sympathy, and II i.
because Of that sympathy and not at all
because OF any problem" or anv
pseudo art" that tfis element pre-
dominates IN our plays. No man in bia
senses can object to the portrayal Of sin
IT. this play and in The Proud Prince -
where it is merely the shadow necessary
10 display a beautiful brilliancy; and.
equally. no man in his senses can eve,
! justify the presentation of sin IN n NAV
ike Iris" where It is hidden beneath
attraction and lost in sympathy.
Mr.. Winters Fine Translation.
Mr.. Winter we are told. has done
more, much more, than merely To franc
] late the German of Herr Hevse's
play. The original--upon a rough. liter
al translation OF which TIE present plax,
is built-is accepted as human and com
passionate in spirit, but neither. poeticaI
] 4AoA Sb4fALAilf anu III some respects lack
ing in refinement. The heroine's shame
IN the German version is characterized
as ''needlessly specific and ample;" the
portrayal Of Flavius as "carnal and
coarse" the motive of Judas not only
the fanatical resentlnelt Of a disap-
pointed patriot, but the sensual zeal
I ousy Of a discarded paramount" OF
these qualities Mr.. Winter has purged IL.
At his hands it has become fine study
in English blank verse. a drama OF ex-
= traordinary power and suspense, and a
source Ito difHuse the influence Of cha -
and suggest the celestial victory of a
} human soul over sin and SORROW through
belief in divine goodness"
A measure Of the charm which sue
Z ceeding audiences find in this play de-
? ponds, no doubt. on the realistic pictures
: Of the Holy Land which il embouies.
Jerusalem viii ever be sight clear 10
! the eyes Of childhood only. A few years
lsufdce for most OF US to remove il