The Indianapolis journal., 1904-03-08

matinee)
GRAND.-High-class vaudeville, 2:15 and
PARK.-"wedded and Parted ? and S
| EMPIRE.-Burlesque 2 and p. m.
! UNIQUE.-Variety, and p. m.
Sir Henry Irving i'm 'TLouis XI.'
Henry Irving whose unembellished name.
| as William Winter once remarked is
more honorable than any title could make
it, effected his temperance before In
| dianapOls public last night at English's,
when he was seen in one of his greatest
stage creations-Louis XI. in the play of
that name An audience OF good proper
tions greeted the famous English actor and
| accorded him the cordial welcome that he
| deserved.
The play of Louis XI." adapted by Dion
| Boucicault from TIE French of Casimr
Delavigne. who, in his turn. based his
drama upon Sir Walter Scott's Quentin
Durward,' is essentially an Irving play
theatric, but inviting the influx of a great
artists masterful Interpretation. The
! drama is built upon inaccurate pictures of
the truth, but Sir Henry's spirit of original
creation. wonderfully tempered by genius
of adaptation and precision of expression.
give it an artistic value that it has never
Many other actors have essayed the role of
the crafty, hyprocritical, vindictive old
French monarch, but not one of them has
ever succeeded, as Sir Henhy has done, in
leaving in the minds of his auditors an
image that can never be forgotten. After
witnessing his powerful performance of
last evening it is easily understood why
English piay-goers have not allowed the
distinguished actor to drop the character
from his repertoire during the last twenty
five years.
Sir Henry's embodiment Of the mean
| looking King who bore in his person plain
marks of that decrepitude which char
| acterlZed so many OF his race, has be-
| come of the classics of the modern
stage. Louis XI is a fascinating subject
TO read about and pictured last night by
an actor who realized perfectly every quail
! ity for which the monarch was noted the
character became a remarkable study.
There is something peculiarly fascinating
| in the contrast between the mean appear
ance or Louis and the vast result OF his
reiSn-between the splendor of the older
| feudalism, so brilliant and so powerless,
and the shabby garb and deprecatory man
ners of this first of the modern Kings of
france. The portraits of Louis XI give him
a small and cunning eye, a long aquiline
nose, a cruel, cynical mouth and hair that
falls on his shoulders. Sir Henry presents
striking reproduction of these portraits
through the employment OF most effective
| makeup and facial expression that is re-
markabe. No coarse vices are charged
against Louis by historians and the actor
pictures him as man whose physical
weakness disnclned him from all excess
and open violence-a man with singular
coldness and hardness of disposition, who,
false to the core himself, lived in an
( atmosphere of deceit and distrust. Super
stitious to an unusual degree and naturally
tiniid, he could show himself, upon occa-
sion, as very fearless.
The actor makes it evident that the
strangest element in LOuis's nature was his
| religion, picturing the French King as
| willing TO perform all kinds of outward
worship, had absolutely no belief in God.
Mean of soul, mentally alert, physically
feeble, and disposed to take low view of
his own character as well as that of others,
I Louis Xl, as portrayed by Irving, is one
of the most interesting of historical char
= acters ever represented on the stage and
the play, which is not to be classed as a
4 great one, becomes valuable solely on this
j accound.
Sir Henry held the earnest attention of
/ the audience from fret to last, and after
! each act was the recipient of long and en-
L demonstration of approval at the end of
l the third act he made a short speech,
| thanking the playgoers of indianapolis for
l their warm greeting. 1t was in this act
/ that he was at his best. Nothing finer
| has ever been seen on a local stage than
| his rendering of the old Kings serious
] moods and passions during this wonderful
| scene in the monarch's bedchamber. What
| terrible figure the old man presented
/ when damning his physician, jacques Cor
l tier. for allowing the young Due De Ne
4 mours to escape from his clutchesl What a
/ pitiful picture he was when pleading with
| the priest for Just ten more years of lifel'
| And what fearful sight he became, when,
= waving his dagger heplessly above his
head, he cried in a voice paralyzed with
| rage, for the blood of his enemy In this
| scene Irving rose to sublime heights, but
never throughout the entire play was he
1 for moment out of touch with the char
| acter. He actually lived the part, and it
4 seemed poor taste on the part of the audi
ence to compel him to come out of the
n n "a 10f for in nr1dV 20 .,.alx
The supporting company was good with
| out being especially noteworthy. Mabel
/ Hackey, as the Dauphin, gave an admira-
bic portrait of the light-hearted boy. look
i ing the part and playing ii well-ngh per-
l fectly. Gerald Lawrence, a young actor
or handsome stage presence, was good to
l gaze upon in the character of the heroic
Due De Nemours, but seemed rather in
clined to rant in the more stressful pas
sages of his part Nora Lancaster made a
sweet and beautiful Marie. and acted the
role sympathetically, while Laura Burt
was artistic In the small part of the peas
| ant girl, Martha, who fiatters the decrepit
old monarch in order to save the life of
her lover. An excellent characterization
was that Of James Hearne as the King s
| physician Cortier his scene i'm the third
act, when he denoupces the sinful ruler
being a splendid piece of acting Mark
Patton was equal to requirements as Philip
= De Commines, and the minor roles were
in good hands.
The play was staged in the customary
\ Irving style. all of the settings beside hand
: some and effective, while the supernumer-
aries were managed with rare skill. The
scene at the opening of the second act
showing the crowd of merry-making peas
ants, was one to be remembered, good
was the acting of every character on the
stage, no matter how insignificant the part
: 1t is the careful attention given to details
such as this that make Irving perform
ance so memorable aside from the mag
nificent work of the star himself.
Sir Henry Will present THE Merchant of
Venice" this afternoon al special matinee
and, as his Shylock is considered COM
| panion masterpiece to his Louis XI, great
interest is being manifested in this revival
of the favorite Shbkspearean comedy This
will be the famous English actors last ap-
| pearance in Indianapolis for many years.
In fact, he may never be seen here again.
The Vaudeville at the Grand.
Acrobatic acts come and go, but the Mel
son family continues TO present. season after
season, the most startling exhibition of ac-
robatics TO be seen anywhere. be it on
a vaudeville stage or in the sawdust arena
OF the circus tent. There are always ten
of the Nelson's. ranging from Granddaddy
c Nelson. who is sixty years young" as
Elbert Hubbard would saw down To- little