The Indianapolis journal., 1904-05-01

the writer does not pretend in setting forth
this review of the season just ended, that
his views and comments are infallible.
critics and playgoers have disagreed from
the time of the first dramatic perform
ance ever presented, and they will con-
tinue to disagree until the final curtain
falls. The public performer is to the critic
OF daily newspaper simply topic His
use of his topic is to furnish his readers
with information dressed up in palatable
sauce. He is hired to provide reading about
theatrical doings, and is expected to inject
into that reading substantial amount of
sound critical judgment which shall give it
authority with the general reading public.
To the writer's mind, the greatest actors
seen in Indianapolis during the theatrical
year were Forbes Robertson and Richard
Mansfield. Mr.. Robertson was excellent in
The Light That Failed and superb in
Hamlet. His version of the kipling story
was not liked in the East, and he failed
to make the strong impression that he af-
terward made when he presented Hamlet
in New York. And yet his portrayal of
Dick Heldar one of the finest pieces of
acting ever seen in a modern play. A
poetic, yet impressive personality, enhanced
by that peculiar charm named magnetism.
makes Robertson an actor doubly armed
for conquest in the field of art AS Hamlet
the grandeur of his diction and his thor
ough understanding and appreciation of the
text made his lmDerSOnatiOn of the Dane
a faultless performance. He will again
tour America next season. and it lis to be
hoped that he Will favor Indianapolis once
there
any love of dramatic art in this city, he
will have larger audiences when he comes
again than he had upon the occasion of his
first visit.
Richard Mansfield. for his part. gave new
evidences of his remarkable genius by pre-
senting to the lCcal public two wonderfully
finished characterizations. In the role of
the young German prince of 'Old Heidel-
berg, weary of the conventionalities that
hedged him in, and longing for some share
in the joys of youth, his performance was
so humorously pathetic and so true to life
that the most hardened theater-goer found
il impossible to keep from laughing and
weeping al the same time. Such a play as
"Od Heidelberg is one among a thousand
and such piece of acting as that given by
Mansfield as Karl Heinrich is a joy for
ever. Has Mansfield been awarded the
praise that is due him? 1t is true that he
Is generally looked upon as Americas best
actor, but Is he not one of the greatest
actors the world has ever known? Praise
IS meted out 10 an artist very grudgingly
these days. and few critics are willing to
admit that any actor of the present can
compare with the grand old fellows of the
past. But Manshelds delicious rendering of
the youthful Karl Heinrich and his mas
terly portraiture of grim old Ivan we'll
named ''the Terrible" are such complete
portraits that the critics who can fail TO
recognize in them two absolute MASTER
pieces in the art OF acting must indeed be
ciystallized with ideals of the dead and
gone Mansfield in America; Forbes Rob-
ertson in England-these two men stand at
There are those who look upon Ibsen as
beacon light in modern dramatic art
and again there are those who find the
writings of the great Norwegian wholly
repulsive. The followers of Ibsen maintain.
that there is even in his most morbid So
Geological plays enough of philosophic light
To make them sweet. wholesome and in
structive. However this may be. there is
no doubt that Ibsen has had great vogue
this past season and there is every indi-
cation that his dramas will be given even
greater prominence during the coming
theatrical year. indianapolis was afforded
an opportunity 10 witness two Ibsen plavs
Ghosts and "Hedda Gabler." Roth
were well acted. but Mary Shaw's perform
ance of Ghosts was much better than
ElNa Proctor Otis's Interpretation of the
other play. Mary Shaw disclosed the same
individual gift that marks Mrs. Fiske as an
unusual actress-intellectual acumen that
enabled her TO discern the elements Of the