The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-14
THE RUSSIAN HEDDA GADLER.
NINE. ALA NAzIMOVA ATTEMPTS
\THE PART IN ENGLISH.

Foreign I'm Accent Monotonous and Tin
canny On Gesture and Out Of Harmony
with the Play, 10 10 Acclaimed by
Admirers OF the Russian Actors.
Yesterday afternoon at the Princess Nine.
ALA Nazimova, leading lady OF the much
praised Russian actors Of last winter,
attempted Ibsen's -Hedda Gabler' in
English. The audience was composed OF
many Of her admirers-who were lavish in
applause and p~raise-and Of some others.
Certain facts are beyond question. Nine.
Nazimova has not mastered the art OF Eng
lish speech, and except by courtesy cannot
be said to rave learned il. Her whole de-
livery was not only lacking in the intimate
and varied vernacular essential to the
realism Of Ibsen, but was couched in an
accent at once monotonous n stilted.
Her sinuous attitudes and slow, ell aborate
gestures were likewise foreign to anything
either English or Scandinavian, and were
In an entirely different key from those OF all
the other actors in the cast. There are
many who enjoy the exotic and the uncanny
and there are some who cannot prevent
it from getting op their nerves. -
Tho paramount objection was to Mime.
NoAeS~PeSA Va WV PehN
very considerable repertory OF ~vivacity
and charm she put aside, and in place Of
it assumed from her first entrance a MORT
bund air and the demeanor of elaborate
insolence. Her stencilled eyebrows, black
glowering eyes and sickly visage were as
little suggestive Of reality as a tragedy
queen. 1t was all like a travesty Of pre-
R~sphaelite posing-a Cussed Damozel.
For Mrs. Fiske's brisk, captious and
scintillant, perhaps even brittle, Heddd it
is not necessary to hold a brief. 1t is
enough that the present Interpretation is
out Of keeping with the text and thef rimary
requirements OF the action. With Heddd's
sickness of body. and of spirit pounded in
from the start, there was little scope for
salience, variety and surprise as the char
acter developed in action. The petulance
Of the incident OF Miss Tesmdn's new hat,
n the cat and mouse worrying OF Mrs.
Elrsted, were not at all a matter of feline
impulse and were altogether a matter OF
slow and calculated reptilian venom
Georges remar to his maiden mt that
his wife looked so flourishing' was gro
tesquely at variance with the obvious fact,
and when, after a half hours ttte-d-tefe,
Assessor Brdck discovered that she was mot
really happy, y the hardness OF his observa-
ton and its i~nadeouacy to what had for
hours been assailing the eye were full of
unattended irony. At sight Of such a
Heddd as this, instead Of lingering to pro-
pose himself as the apex Of a domestic tri-
angle. you couldn't "a seen the amorous
Assessor for thed dust.
As a study Of the modern girl in tempera-
mental revolt against the normal wOmanly
life, "Hedda Gabler" is o play Of intense, il
| sordid and distressing, interest. As a feat of
dramatic construction and a vehicle for the
representation Of truculent emotions it will
always be attractive to actresses bent on as
sorting their powers. But intense and vivid
as il Nine. Nazimova's personality, and dis
tinguished as are her achievements in other
roles, il cannot here be said that her II eddd
is in any wav profitable.
Henry Miller. who produced the play,
has given it a cast Of capable supporting
actors. JOIN Findlay was Tesmdn. Dodson
Mitchell, Brdck: John Blair. Lorbong; Mrs.
thomas Whiifen. Miss TtSHdn, and Laura
Hope Crews, Mrs. Hirsted. But, since COM
PARSONS are necessary, though Odious,
il must be said that with the exception Of
Mrs. Whifen and Mr.. Blair-who was at
his best the cast was in no a equal to
tina of Mrs. Fishes production.