The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-02-24
PROMISE OF THE THEATRES
THE Sorceress -

As ZOraya in 1.-THE Sorceress," which
ira w. jackson and William Reed will
present Miss Nance O'Neil, the dis
llhgulshed tragedienne in at the Salt
Lake theatre Monday, Tuesday and
wednesday nights and Wednesday
matinee, Miss O'NeiI will wear some
stunning gowns said to be marvels OF
5000 taste, worn as if they were the
Shttering armOF of a veritabIe sorcer-
ess. In the first act she appears in a
costume of black with silver stars, on
a mOonlH mountain side gathering
herbs and sweet flowers with a silver
sickle, that flashes in the light of a
crescent moon like it's earthly symbol
a double emblem of the faith of Allah.
IL Is mere she meets the young Chris
tan EnriqueZ, and casting upon him
TO the undoing of both, the spell of her
smile, her eyes and her caress. Full
OF half lights and evanescent shadows
1t is all symphony of moonlight pas
SONS, with the Pleiades caught in her
howing Moorish veil. In the fourth act,
tortured by the diabolical inventions OF
the Spanish Inquisition, Zoraya makes
attack after attack with superb dis
dam, trenchant scOrn and a large pity
for human frailty: Swayed and broken
at last only when she finds that her
lovers life and honor depended upon
her. falsely declaring that she was in
deed witch the superstitious Chris
tians imagined her.
Sardou's astuteness is shown in his
use of our modern knowledge of hyp-
notism to create exciting situations. To
us Zoraya is not sorceress, but q Por-
tia of medicine She has inherited from
her physician father the lore OF the
Saracen. which was in fact beyond
anything then known to tn Cfristen-
dom of 1907. and which we readily be-
lieve to have included the use of the
marvels only lately made known to us
by science. Her oeTsecution-Sad the
Theatre surprise of the evenin.- arises ,
from the fact that she heals in charity (
the malaGies that have defied the Span /
ish doctors. In the hour she is con- /
demned To be burned as a witch. ii is 4
so contrived that she has left Joanna, /
daughter of the governor of Toledo, in /
a beneficent hypnotic sleep. from 1
which. if Zoraya dies, no one can /
awaken her. IN the last great moment /
of the play Zoraya agrees to waken |
JOana as the price of her release from 4
the fagots. The girl is brought in on /
a couch. Zoraya, in the presence of the /
mob gathered to see her perish. raises |
her as if from the dead. She is freed. /
then falls victim 20 a new danger. The 1
populace believe she is witch and
fall upon her to force her to the burn
ing. At bay with her Christian lover /
on The steps of the cathedral, the stage 4
picture is one that causes an audience /
to SIT spellbound wondering what the 4
great climax viii be. 1t is needless to /
say that SardOu has handled the stu
atiOn IN & maste~ fashion. The entire 4
play is full of increasing interest until |
ten final fall of the curtain. Jackson 4
and Reed have equipped Miss O'Neil /
with company of forty players and /
of surprising scenic beauty.
1.-The Sorceress" promises to be the
dramatic event of the season.
''Magda" will be presented the last
falf of the week with Mckee Rankin
In the part % Colonel Schwartz.