The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-03-03
AT THE THEATERs
MetropoItan-Edna Wallace Hopper, In q
Double Hill

Double Bill.
That dainty bit Of dramatic Dresden
ware, Edna Wallace Hopper, has been
transferred from among the gaudy and
glittering baubles Of musical comedy to
the more artistic domain Of real comedy.
This Is a welcome change, since the tiny
and ingenious Miss Hopper evinces a
decided talent for her new work-which
after all, is not quite new, since she be-
gan her stage career in comedy and was
beguiled from it into less legitimate fields
She seems, wisely enough, to have de-
cided to devote her talents to playing the
innocent young person. role we'll within
her limitations. The double bill, in which
she signalizes her return to the legitimate,
affords two such roles, which are, never
theless, in sharp contrast.
In Captain January" the curtain
raiser she plays a rare little waif, given
by the waves to the old lighthouse keeper.
me love OF this odd pair for each other
and the wrench it receives when the rela-
tives Of the little girl, supposed to have
been lost In babyhood in shipwreck,
find her, furnish an idyllic theme for the
beautiful little sketch. Miss Hopper
makes this girl in her teens, who reads
Shakspere to her doll and masquerades
IN her dead mothers gorgeous dresses, a
loVapie little creature. now impulsively
glrllsh, and now almost womanly A cap
ltal representation Of the bluff and God
tearing old captain is achieved by Paul
EVerton as a companion portrait to that
of the little girl. His simple, honest love
for the child, his picturesque sea talk and
the pathos of his attempted remuneration
OF MS provision Of the arrival Of ''sailin'
oroers' are items in mastery bit Of
work. - W.T. : -. -
"A Country Mouse an English comedy.
oy Arthur Law, is, to say the least, a most
unpleasant play. 1t offers not one adj
mlrable character, while the smartness of
Its d1alog and the development of it's I'M
expected situations, merely serve to reveal
the hypocrisy and utter falseness of the
various persons Of the play. 1t combines
the clever audacity of a French farce
with the cynically frank recognition OF I'M
moral conditions i'll high English society
| That characteriZes Pinero's PLAYS. The
unmasklng of every last hypocrite Of the
unsavory coterie is, one must admit. ac-
compllshed with rare ingenuity. Even the
sWeetly innocent little girl from the coun-
Try IS involved In a denouement that
leaves the audience aghast and shocked.
Miss Hopper plays the country mouse
with an open-eyed innocence that takes
| IN everybody on the stage and nearly
j taxes In the audience. So subtly is he,
knowledge OF the world and the men and
women In it indicated that her real char
acter escapes general recognition. Only
/ oAAS
aslde,' which by no means reveals the
depth of her guile. And so the revelation
at the last is received with amazement
not unmixed with revulsion. This is a vi.
tai defect in the play and in the imperso.
nation. An audience likes to be held ir
suspense and surprised, but it does no,
enjoy being. deceived So thoroly in It.
estimate Of a character. Miss Hoppe,
might better take the audience more int
her confidence. Yet it is a fine piece o.
work, considered merely as an example O.
profound Discrimination.
Inc company in support is made I'D O.
excellent actors. The ducal roue of Ed
i gar Norton is a consistent performance
not too offensive. Geoffrey c. Stein AM
Paul McAllister as young libertines of tn,
English nobility, are effective each i,
his own way. Kathryne Browne PLAYS tn
hardened victim of a loveless marriag
with a cool cynicism that breaks up in tn
stormy scene with her guileIess vo1n,
} rival which is the strongest in the NAV
Emma Janvier does equally we'll with tn
ingenious spinster, who pretends to h
married in order to get a lover, Will
Mabel Norton furnishes a funny carica
ture of slavey who succeeds in nixin,
things up irrevocably. ..-
: '..1. .'''- w. B. Chamberlain.