The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-03-08
"WHEN WE DEAD AWAKE. ="
rgp>T PERFORMANCE HERE OF
IENEN'S FINAL MASTERPIECE.
An occasion Of Absorbing Interest Marrcd
%, the Unequal struggle 81 the cast
in Merging HcRllsm Win symbolism
Florence Kahn aud Dorothy Dnnncll,.

10, the Unequal struggle 81 the cast
,n Merging Hcallsm Win symbolism
Florence Kahn and Dorothy Dnnncll,.
-Wtea We Dead Awake Ibsen's latest
drama and probably his last, which was
,.aIa--d iu Copenhagen just over five
yplr ago Dan. 80 1900 was put On for tho
f,-' nme IN New York Yesterday aftor-
MON at the Knckerhccker and will be
rrDfsi Tor a series Of mat!ntes. The per-
Guau,e was not great 1t was not even
generally good being IN many respects
t.Uuy bad Yet thanks mainly 20 the
power Il the play, the occasion vas OF alb
s.ilnE interest and deserves to take
lsh rank in the events Of the theatrical
yer
Tic -honccmings IN the acting are to be
str.n.cd IN large part to the transcendant
difficulties # the piece. II is generally con-
(cd,i that Ibsen consciously designed il as
tie ,r-'orue II his career az Il dramatist.
Certain 10 h that 1t presents characters
treated ia the politically symbolic manner
of Peer Gynt, produced in 1851 on the
sfme stage with characters represented
with he iueEcrable realism Of the series Of
social dramas of the thirty years following.
Arl certain II IA also that the intellectual
u.-tance Of the play IS q symphony made up
Of tHa themes that the great dramatist had
-Icrf h.- life in developing play by play.
10 state so great message briefly is
not Of course, possible but we shall come
somewhat near the mark in saying that 1t
is the Fight and the only happiness, Of the
individual 10 hive ont his life fully and
iranEy IN accord with al its normal, vital
impulses In Itself this is a message of
courag, and hope But lhscn, who is more
than the Rembrandt of dramatists, depicts
he full glory Of sunlight by projecting 1t
against is deepest shadows. What Is
called his res-imi,m is only the hlackness
cost upon the lives Of those who deny the
prrv " truth lie limns his visions by
hyinG In the projections they throw upon
the lives Il those who catch only their far
Of; rays
Ruiccl Is sculptor who has found his
genius IN tG-h!'nng a symbolic fgure OF |
the Resurrection under the inspiration Of |
model irene Hi, impulse was to love her |
Tor herself and TO mako her his own in the |
mesh But 10 his view art Vas greater than |
Hte and 30 he d.sIu-s cd her as mere episode |
in bis career. She vanished, annlh.ated |
by his remuneration OF her, and from that |
time he also Wa dead not only AZ an artist. /
but az a man. m spite OF the wealth and /
ton brought him.
Al the opening of the play Rubcck meets /
Irene again "A mysterious figure clad in |
flowing robes OF Whro, whose steps are !
dogged by q S.s.er Of NJ roy clad in black. /
he Is married and unnappily TO pretty |
and earthly minded woman who has no
thought IN sympathy with his Irene has !
wandered the earth poisoning all she met |
with the influence Of her own dead soul.
The scene Is at bathing establishment /
. III.
air tables Of hcsiery and in a glade near
by frequented by the guess In two scenes |
of conversation. tense with the develop |
ment Of soul tragedy, Rubeck for the first |
time realizes that in turning his back on |
the woman who had inspired the best In him |
he had, instead of developing his genius, |
slain IL. The two turn their backs on the |
lowlands Of e1is ence and ascend the noun |
tain together TO spend the moonlt summer
night on the heights They are caught in
a mountain storm, but push upward un-
dismayed toward the peak above the clouds |
A day breaks they perish together near
the summit caught in the rush Of an ava
lanche. The Sister Of Mercy. looking up
toward them. speaks for the first time
NPaN vabiscum
the story Of the infatuation OF Rubeck's
wife Hdin. for q burly and brutal bear
hunter UUheim. They. too, spend the |
night on the mountain but when the storm
comes. descend for physical warmth and
comfort 70 the ignohle shelter Of the valley |
fall from the Sister Of Mercy the earthly
voice of Ndld Is heard far below, chanting
her light hearted song of another sort OF
freedom to her satyrike mate.
The great disappointment Of the acting
was the Irene Of Miss Florence Kahn. That
the character ia essentially symbolic may
be freely granted But the prevailing
realism Of the scenes Of the play would
eeem TO require that it have, in IL outward
demeRnor, some measure Of lifelikeness.
The simpler and more vernacuar in action
and speech, IN fact the more imaginatively
sugge-t.y', and therefore the more potent
and convincing the symbolism.
Nemacuar simplicity, however Ia fur
thest Of all things from the reach Of this I'M
douhtedly gifted young woman. All the
ioroe Of her languishing plastque and her
vibrant voice were eXerted TO give the
obvious, the unmistakable. the unacceptable
effect II an animated religious canvas,
symbolic sculpture walking in po,tures
and Speaking a strange, weird language Of
IT. own he afiectation, the NINETY Of
Il al was maddening when II was not funny
Tho RHbCck q Frederick Lewis was too
youthful N 'seeming by half. and was also
ponderously affected at times. But in the
man It was picturesque and emotionally
convincing As the aatyrlike bear hunter
frank Losce reared like lion and CON
duciod himself generally in a manner Of
unamed melodrama, yet vas not without
strokes Of genuine power in the depletion Of
character
The hest performance Of the afternoon,
anu the only measurably satisfactory one,
Wa the Ndi1 Of Miss Dorothy Donnelly
which eN ept for a touch too much of grim
ucng. was admirable in its naturalness
and force. II was far better performance
tam her Candida and marks a long step
In her artistic progress.