The San Francisco call., 1904-03-29
At last the Hedda!


What Mrs. Campbell is to Paula Tan
queray. Bernhardt 10 Phedre, Mrs.
Fiske last night showed herself to be
10 Hedda Gabler. strangest OF Ibsen's
heroines. This is perhaps why Mrs.
Fiske has dared TO programme the
piece for the week Usually timidly
sandwiched in at a special matinee-to
local credit, be it said, always crowded
-"Hedda Gabler'' this week attains TO
the prominence even Of a Way Down
East" or a King Of the Opium Ring
The experiment is piquantly interest
ing One wonders il the local Ibsenite
viii live up 10 his repute- He. began
we'll last night. and If Ibsen as we have
not before seen him Interpreted here IS
any temptation. the Grand Opera-house
upholstery VIII not lack covering this
week
Curiously alike Ibsen houses are. and
so was last nights What one might
call .'business-like" is the Ibsenite
among pIay-gOers- Madame's pompon
is forgotten in Hedda's variety. What
matters when her neighbOr's eyes viii
be on her face. not her back. when the
lights go up? So the jewels and frivols
stayed at home last night, and their
owners. keenly attent and richly re-
sponsiye. crowded the big theater al
most TO its capaciOus limits.
Il had much 10 talk Of before the
curtain slowly climbed up on the one
scene OF the play. Nor was the usual
orchestra there TO interrupt-Strauss
say. as Wagner has not, having Yet
left unwritten the incidental music OF
"Hedda GsbIer." Was Mrs Ffske well
after last weeks indispOsition? There
was Nance O'NeiTs Hedda Gabler, very
good. and Blanche Bates buxOm Swede.
How would this foremost disciple OF
Ibseu differ and compare with these?
One had heard. too, that last weeks
Judas would be the Eilert LovbOrg.
Well? II might suit him better than
the role Of Iscariot- One hoped to the
gods il would. But why not the fas-
Gina ting Gilmore. the Aulus Flavius OF
Mary Of Magdala,' and already the
matinee idol Of the hour, as Ibsen's
poet? Figman? All, there one was
undeniably sure Of the Brack.
But the curtain is up Comes first the
little maid Of the Tesman house and
the dear old Aunt Julia who, with
all the virtues Ibsen has cruelty chosen
10 make ridiculous-as life, as cruel.
not seldom does. Comes next Tesman.
the walking encyclopedia that Hedda
has chosen - being poor to marry.
Sfngularly fit in his suggestion OF
physical ineffectiveness. is Mr.. Mack's
George Tesman, admirable in its re-
serve. lack Of exaggerati0n, and atmos-
phere OF lovely dullness. And then
comes Hedda, the pivot OF all things.
With her first words. light, scornful,
restive. one feels the intolerable bit
she is chafng under and is plunged into
the heart Of the drama
There were moments In Mary of
Magdala" when-the medium being
nobIer-Mrs. Fiske touched supreme
heights In "Hedda GabIer." with its
bitter, uncompromising modernity.
there was but one moment-from the
actress entrance to the shot that an
nounces her suicide. Mary Of Mag
dala she acted-and greatly. She Is
Hedda Gabler. How powerful is the
Illusion may be measured from her
last scene Brack has told Hedda OF
the discovery that it is with her pistol
that Lovborg has shot himself She
sees herself in Brack's tolls, and with
her ignoble fears OF scandal, sits there
revolving her chances Of escape. One
wo--three-four-Wh knows how
many breath-held minutes eiapse?-
she sits there, wrfthing. struggling. a
turned eye. bitten lip alone telling
the mean despair Of her soul Inter
minable the spell seems. and one can
not move while it lasts
Much has led I'D to the thrall OF il,
Phases before unnoticed in the char
acter are acceutuated. gounded into
prominence in Mrs. Fiske's marvellous
reading. There is the sensual phase.
Only the passion for power has before
i'm my experience-been brought
into relief in Hedda's makeup. The
root Sensualism OF the character is
suggested with infinite skill by the
actress in her scene with Lovborg.
where the distracted author tells her
of the loss OF his manuscript. He
takes her hand. pouring out his woe.
She listens, with smile at the con-
tact.
It is an electric effect here where she
opens the drawer in which the manu-
script is lying. under Lovborgs very
hand, and slams il as he says he would
spare Mrs. Elvsted the pain of knowing
how he had lost it. Nothing is forgot
ten The ultra-re6nements Of the
character. the morbid shrinking from |
AL that which is not good form. the