Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1905-11-12
At THE PLAY SOuS;,

] l-.------ ------
ar. Jekyn and Mr.. hyde" at the
Boyd.
Mr. Richard Mansfield and his company
in the play founded on Robert Louis
stevenson's story by the same name ot
OF four acts. The cast:
Sir Danvers Carew Henry Wenman
| Or. Lanyon. ..................A. c. Andrews
Gabriel Cttersor1. ........... Ernest Z. Maroe
EUg,e ,or Ns,yco,sI RULER MeIiis
Jarvis ............................ HateN
D Dr. , kjyh''''''.''''''''''iR; cbsrd Mansfield
! Mrs. Lanyon ........ Miss Norah Dunblanc
Agnes Carew. Miss Irene Prnhar
Rebecca Moore. Miss Alma Hathaway
1t is with this play that Mr. Mansheld's
name will be ever peculiarly associated.
| He made all there Is to It. and this is
! much from the standpoint Of histrionic
| art. One cannot see the piece without
leaving the theater weighed with re-
| spect for the actors powers that amounts
almost to awe.
/ Doubtless many ln the large audience
last night remarked that without Mans
| field the play would be incapable of pro-
! duction. Possibly there is truth in this
| reflection; possibly not. What a sorry Jest
| is Shakespeare in the hands of incompe-
| tents. What an idle effort a theatrical
| of any kind in which the protagonists do
not measure in their ability to the capaci-
! ties in which they serve. II Il be fact
| that no other actor could hold audi
ence's attention half an evening in "Dr.
Jeykll and Mr.. Hyde" then all the more
honor to Mansfield 1t means the accom-
plishment of wonders. indeed.
Three of the four acts constitute a study
of the beast The last act has its tinge
of horror. to be sure-the horror that a lost
| cOttI nc fopEa 40 hrfnL a.
hell, but it demands compassion for the
man who has lost the balance" of what
God put in him, and which part, IL any
| is not to perish.
Throughout all the intense dreadfulness
| that Mansfield pours into the unspeakable
| Hyde runs an unquestioned moral lesson;
the certainty that evil begets evil. and
unlike it's antithesis. produces more and
more OF it's own kind by feeding upon
itself. Good has to be nourished to be kept
alive Badness spreads of its own accord.
be it wickedness of soul or the bacteria
of decay or disease.
It is in nature that when Jekyil absolved
his being of all the good the other part
of him grew and grew, stronger and
stronger, until it became irresistible and
ruled. And when It is too late, just as a
tainted fruit never can be restored Dr..
Jekyll finds he can be the Christian gentle
man no more 1t is a lecherous, poisonous
monster or death. No one can regret 1t is
death.
There is nothing in the play or Mr.. Mans
fields acting to relieve the horridness. The
play is simple and direct. The monster
strangles Sir Danvers with a suddenness
that is breath-taking and a iendishness
that is appalling. No one can ever forget
Hyde as he sinks to the floor with his
prey-that brute exultation, the Kissing,
gurgling triumph.
In the third act when Jekyll through his
Hyde makes his desperate plea for exist
enoe and the transformation that follows
! the drinking of the potion the one scene
stamps Richard Mansfield on the mind
forever. The way the actor makes one
feel the awful plight of Jekyll at the end
is the third Of the trilogy wherein the per-
= Torrance of the play is memorable.
OF course no one goes to this play for
a pleasant evening. 1t is much nicer to
read the story, IL one must have anything
about It, for 1t will be remembered that
Stevenson let's low grade witness describe
the most outrageous acts of Hyde. 1r
writing IT is easier to accent good. beauti'
. full things than bad, ugly ones. In acting
1t Is the reverse.
with the exception of one character. al
= the other presentations in the piece are Incl
I dental. The exception is Rebecca Moore
i proprietor OF Hyde's lodgings in Soho, He1
: greed gives a spark, and Miss Alma Hatha
! way was excellent in the characterization
The other roles were in capable hands. bu
:, there is nothing about them calling fortl
n distinguished effort.
d The production closed Mr.. Mansfield
= Omaha engagement.