The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-11-29
Cbe Cbeatres
Ir. wh,t..,a. |, eve Are King.,

| that his rich sOnorous anu yot "ius
 voice will go on thrilling us with piea ure and his exouisite art will be mould | ing perfect pictures for us when ms new play, We Are King, IS mioe"ihs l in a pigeonhole where such ephemerai plays must ultimately end.
 | There is Whiteside cult in Mont | gomery and we are part Of It. It IS | a class that has learned 10 rely upon this gifted young actor for the pest in dramatic expression. He has never | disappointed us; he did not disappoint us last night. Indeed the greatest sat isfaction we got out of We Are King | Is found in the fact that 1t gave one or | our favorite actors an opportunity 10 | show his versatility. It makes severe demands upon the talent of MT. White | side but he was never lacking. And yet | there was left a longing to see MT. | Whiteside in something more real, more l flesh and blood, more natural than thls l fanciful sentimental purveyor or mock | heroics. Throughout 1t all the treasur-
 ed memories of his "Garrick." of last season, came tapping at the heart and | It's warmth, it's sincerity of purpose, its masterful conception kept asking why Mir whiteside put it aside for this thing which is little less than the child of a plagiarist
 Being of the Whiteside cult. we were at the Montgomery Theatre last night with the others WHtn tHt St Cui tdih went up and we stayed until 1t was over If we had never seen MT. White side before we would have gone away from the theatre profundly impressed by his artistic ability, his perfect read ing, his mellifluous voice, his admirable boise and his splendid supporting com pany. If we had never seen Prisoner of Zenda" we might have taken home a better opinion of we Are King and a higher regard for It's progenitor. Lieutenant Gordon Kean.
 The play is introduced as a satirical comedy in three acts. It Is the story of Venner. newspaper correspondent and soldier of fortune who is led into an intrigue, because of his striking physical likeness to the young king or Hamburg, a tiny Kingdom. whereby he ascends the throne while the sup posedly real king is hustled off to a madhouse Characterstically the cor respondent is the antithesis of King Hector who is cruel a despoiler of wom- en, a spenthrift and a drunkard A marriage with the Princess Olivia Of neighboring principality has been ar ranged for Hector to save his king dom from debt Olivia visits Kahn burg incognito and she and the tenn porary king, Venner, become desperate ly infatuated with each other. In the end it is disclosed that Venner is. after all, tDe real klHB anu 11eS.oh ID '"S imposter .
 Just as in Prisoner of Zenda" there is a delightful sub-plot and the whole is worked out fairly well afteS the fashion of the highly romantic drama There is some subtle humor and numerous long drawn out nerolc speeches Structurally the play Is not a success The denouement is almost hopelessly involved and were it not for the strong, virile figure of Mir. White side 1t might have been a flat failure.
 The dual parts of Hector and Venner give Mir. Whiteside fine chance for an exposition for versatility and artis- tic technique His sudden changes from the weak, tryannical, young rul- CT, with the coarseness of his peasant birth glaring through his royal robe. to the devil-may-care, honest minded soldier of fortune with a soul full or love, was mirrored so perfectly as to be startling. His tender love passages with Olivia showed the scholarly &C., tor who so delighted us in Hamlet and brought yearning to see him as the young Montague; his fiery denuncia- tion as Hector, of those who had en- compassed his ruin was masterful and tragic, while his pure comedy Tn the first act scintillated Here we had flashes of romanticlsm, rageoy ana fine comedy, all executed with finesse that charmed the cultured audience, an audience that frequently gave evidence of its unstinted appreciation Of the young actor
 MT Whiteside is surrounded by a company of actors fit to support such a star. Miss Douglass stamped Olivia with magnetic individuality. Her long sneech in the second act, wherein she defines love, was delivered with such shading as to make 1t powerfully con- vincing. She made pretty picture and shared her proper place, next MT. Whiteside.
 Mir. wender gave fine bit of char acter acting as the browbeaten under ling of Hector; MT. Collins was effec- five as the prime minister; MT. Gard ner filled the requirement as Baron Stanbach; MT. Evart was properly mys- terious and foreboding as the Raven and Miss Pollard was extremely fetch- ing, dainty and natural as June, the credulous young person with heart to give away.
 All of the women were gowned handsomely and the three scenes were inst such pictures as MT. Whlteslde ln- yariably presents, the garden Of the royal palace being striking an" beautiful display of modern stasecratt'
 Some of these days MT. Whiteside will take his place among the great actore of the age. He is very close now to MT. Mansfield, MT. Skinner and others who claim to be at the top. But the profundity of Mir Whiteside's art is too great to be wasted on plays I,,,o we Are King" His power lies too deen for mere sentimental tommy rot. This play does not heighten his reputation as an entertainer. however ropch if may convince us of the purely technical ability of the actor.
 The second entertainment in the Lyceum course, the weeks company -,iIi he at the theatre tonight.
 BIiou-"The Man OutsIde."