The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-04-11
AT THE THEATERs
observation-disclosures roberts, In "Tess
Of the D'UrbervIIies."

Monotone impressive, Oppressive, COM
pelllng, rules and Is Tess Of the Dur
bervilles,' a play notable for Minneapolis
IN many ways. The monotone is Florence
Roberts new here as a star. The play.
| likewise new to tho city, Is notable, too,
Tor 1t IS a dramatization from Thomas
Hardy's novel, by Lorimer, son of Rich
ard Henry and Elizabeth stoddard. But
the authorship is as nothing-the mono
tone Is the thing. At first jarring In that
1t seems Ill In keeping with the voice OF
the girl Tess, it slowly forces notice that
| the playwright has taken up his story
after the girl had known woman's sor-
rows Her voice is big and even and
moving with its token of travail. Striv-
ing to emerge from the darkness cast by
| the great error of her young life, she
comes forth for few brief hours into the
| brightness and happiness that dispel the
monotone Of misery, only to be disillu
stoned and swept onward to the tragic
climax of. her tragic life. All this, Miss
Roberts plainly lives and is, with dramatic
earnestness, without trickery, and so
with art. -. s.-..
Tess is the psychological development
Of child of fate. Save in one diver
gence by the playwright from Hardy's
scheme the play is built on fate's work.
ings. Suffering wrong, Tess has risen
out Of her past, above the surroundings
of squalid home and a brutal parentage,
gaining the love of man Of higher sta
ton. Honest above all else, she writes
the story of her past, that Angel Clare
may. know. and forgive or reject. Herein
is the sole human Interference. Her I'M
natural mother makes way with the note,
land Clare, still in the dark, weds her
I'forgiving, it seems to her. by his accep-
lance. Chance enlightens him on their
wedding day, plotting out brief happiness
fors nj 10 iIote
flight, when her confession, following his
own admission of youthful error, reveals
to Tess that single, not double, standards
of morality are supreme Tess, her foot
steps dogged by Alec D'Urberville, the
man who ruined her life, goes back to hel
hopeless struggle for existence. Thru
bitter strife she Journeys on, clinging tc
the memory Of her one love. but at last
!: tricked to believe her husband dead, she
sells herself to gain comforts for hel
brothers and sisters. She surrenders tt
what seems her fate, but goaded to the
: limit of patience in her abasement, she
: turns from her drunken purchaser-an6
gazes dazedly into the eyes Of Ange
Glare, returned to own his wrong. He
learns-and fees again.
Out from the drunkard's room come
brutal taunts. Tess goes to him, and in {
: moment returns, bearing a bloodstainet
weapon that tells she has reached, in tn,
: one possible way, the heart Of the bestial
Again Angel Clare returns, senses tn
deed, and leads her. shaken by 'tragi
horror, out to the night and fight, sun
: rise with it's symbol of Tess emancipa
: ton seeing her surrender to law, tho fre
at last. "
: Miss Roberts is Tess, prisoner Of fate
: then avenger; consistent, sincere, mis-
!: tress at all times of her situations thr
) vocal, facial and bodily expression Mel
!: bourne .MacDowell; veteran of many
stage tragedy, is the ren1orseless ev
spirit. In his earlier scenes, finished tn
i. he is, in his reading OF every line, ssti
: one wishes him translated to his nativ
: classic drama. But in the drunken seen
!: sjust preceding the murder, The proves tn
!: actor in, full grasp Of the eactor' s" facul
: ties, adaptable to the dramas demands.
;Lucius Henderson is adequate to- tn
y role of Angel Clare; William Yerance con
y tributes thoroly good character bit a
. John Durbeyfield, Tess father, vain i
his parade. of his ancient lineage, Oil
n Cooper ais painstaking as Tess brothe
;. Abraham. Especial mention is due Abel
f Worth, the jealous, tippling milkmait
who contributes to the tragedy of Tes:
: life. Indeed, one is little inclined to- fin
a flaws in the support, so agreeably excel
:. lent is almost every characterization.
r J. " Harry B. Wakefield.