The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1906-12-22
"Parsifal."

he stage has done much to eleval,
mankind, and primarily the story 0
Christian fortitude as told in the sa
cred dramas Of "The Sign of the
Cross Quo Vadis" and "Parsifal.
has done much to add TO it's followers
The plain, old-fashioned story thai
good overcomes evil was portrayed
IN 4 mastery manner last Monday
night, and the large audience. I an
sure, were not sorry for the time
spent
The step from every day business
cares into a realm OF holy drama y.
unaccompanied by the same feeling
OF relief that usually is felt in wit
Messing a mirthful productions; and
as result, the large majority of the
audience were somewhat cold AMI
unimpressionable and failed to en-
courage the principals in their inter
prctatlons Of the higher ideals of life
The production smacks much of
Gonnod's Faust and in fact the first
scene in the third act is almost a
counterpart of that when Faust calls
on Mephistopheles for help. In seen
C effects, it does not compare favor
able with Faust; while the tragedetic
part IS omitted, leaving it cleaner and
more in keeping with the "story of
the Good Shepherd"
Mr. Conner, as Parsifal, is in a class
by himself; his reading of the lines
and poetic rendering of the guileless
fool, is the work of a master artist,
recalls wildly to my mind the work
of Mansfield in "Cyrano de Bergerac
His plain enunciation of the lines his
impressive character role, accompan-
led by the grace and confidence of
his ability, at once won admiration,
which increased as the play progress
ed and his opportunities enlarged
Miss Virginia Heating. whom ma
ture endowed with both face and fig
ure, to fill the part of the seductive
Kundry, won new laurels by her clev-
er Interpretation of the unpleasant
role, "a beautiful disciple OF the devil
Mr. Dvorak was weak in his earliest
the play progressed, and rose to the
height of his ability in the third act,
W hen he called on his satanic majes-
ty for help to conquer Parsifal, and
make all earth Pagan land.
MIR Mckee as Anfortas, Prince OF
the Holy Grail, was satisfying in his
many tableau parts; as no opportuni
ties were allowed him to demonstrate
what dramatic abilities he may have
possessed.
Mr. Halpin, as Dwerger, the de-
formed servant of Klingsor, was ex-
cellent in a most difficult role, and his
many "devilish shafts" were delivered
in forcible manner
Mr.. Shields. as Sir Guyon, one OF
the Knights. was pleasing at all times;
while the rest of the Knights were
equal to the small part allotted them
Regarding Herzlede, the mother of
Parsifal as played by Miss Hampton,
] 10 not know which to censure-
for both the part and the interpreta-
ton were very bad, and the play
would be better without them.
To sum up:-From a religious
standpoint. Parsifal is a success, for its
story OF righteous liberty IS told well
and is at all times convincing. Man
goes through life indebted; conquers
1niquity, and passes to his reward OF
warranted happiness without force,
bet through the strong exultatlon OF
the best that's in him" All this, and
more, is emphasized by the play
wright. But from dramatic stand
point the play is lamentably weak and
disappointing A series of tableaus;
weird. unearthly chanting of mems
voices: a narcotic garden wherein the
evil spirit attempts to defile man with
the poorest specimens OF feminine
blossoms: the guleless fool with the
mind OF a sage: beautiful sorceress
transformed as if by magic to a peni-
tent nun; this, and you have Parsifal.