New-York tribune., 1907-10-29

tells its story The benevolent labors of lie Fevre
did not pass unnoticed II cannot blame her MRS
lie Fevres) charity" says an old scholar Of the
eighteenth century-cting one OF Sappho's strains,
but think her too reasonable to be angry with
US for believing eyes"
Mr. Mackaye has not been judicous taste
full in his treatment Of his subject, because he has
tried to treat it in blank verse, something of
that kind, and yet, as Mr.. Fiske declares. "as
modern play''-that Is in colloquial style. The
combination is not feasible. Mr. Mackaye has not
been tasteful in his treatment of his subject, be-
cause his blank verse is iorid, tumid. and over
laid with adjectives.
Mr. Ffske asks by whom Mr.. Mackaye's play
has been called Greek" By several newspapers.
in advance notices of It, and by persons who have
written and spoken to me on the subject.
There are no Psychological" references in my
notice Of the play, to "concubnes. mstresses.
seduced husbands and miscellaneous wantons,'
nor is there any declaration that there is inn
morality between Phaon and Thalassa. On the
contrary, the latter is only once designated
concubine. to indicate,-as the author does,-that
slaves cannot have wives but their relation is, by
implication. recognized moral. and Phaon is
spoken of the husband" OF Thalassa, and
Phaon is seduced from his allegiance to her by
Sappho.
II Sappho does not seduce Phaon from his
wife" what does she do? II killing his child
does not make him homicide. what does it make
him? If his relation 10 Thalassa is moral, and
equivalent to that of man to his wife. what does
Sappho become. when she takes him captive? If
a woman leads away from his lawful wife,
or mate" and induces him to fly TO another land
what does she become. If she does not become his
mistress? If a woman is willing TO induce man
TO leave his wife and fly with her and does
induce him, what is she. If not wanton? Does
the moral position change. if the man becomes
frightened through superstitous dread and returns
resisting the SIRENS entreates until at last. she
sleaps overheard, calling upon the goddess of De-
sire?
Mr.. Fiske is in pain about my thoughts. It is
just possible that Mr.. Fiske has. of late, de-
voted so much attention TO the muck contained in
some of the plays of Maeternck. Tbsen, Suder-
mann, Pinero, Hauptmann. D'Annunzio, Tolstoi,
etc, that he longer knows what pure mind
Is However, it does not signify, for 1.-The preju-
diced old man" worry along under the
weight of Mr.. Fiskes disapprovaL
Mr. Flske. it appears. great store by "the
younger generation" Let the reader consider some
of the opinions of the younger generation as
set forth by several of the most earnest young
men now writing for the New York press.
,,'',., The actors and actresses of his GNr;
af afskes company could not weave the magic spell
ii4y Tss o4y SHe % member Mem OF the company VINO SPOKE
star Nine T Kac6 cTu' i ErC b me tacJ ] uhSt The the
most modern of realists. a bad matter worse.
Her perermanse 9r Sn ands
since She discarded her own language on the stage
last eSehng Oe'" She uoiilO htoned. in % her es long
speeches in manner which was neither human
q9en5iy gross ACTON DAVIES, See See the
Since the play offers no appeal it has
Fe Pfen dSasay MhG Ignored no I0y the pubic 4d
(poeticaL ibid, but because of its defects.
Stage Gould scarcely be imagined and it is is" hsrd
10 70 GO, conceive OF a company more wholly unsuited,
fQrmance The combination OF the two brought
bo"dess @ en6 sInost Ssf mat WAS dll ana
Nine. Nine Kalich g. has none OF the, manner Of
Of the drama She is commonPace e az ules s P5Ssfs
or passionate feTNOT she Is hySteTiCal. and
incoherent. She infuses warmth into the char
and generally fails to project it across the foot,
81 70 i MI Ioo HsrPgrt f T koiker Is even more
FOE. See the Morning World. sunday. octob9r n
peared in it last night sappho ana Phaon presents @
neither an inteigible nor an interesting experience
their environment and experience The chief
actress in such play should he able to speak SO
Kalichs speech IS not intellghle half OF the time
she is musical She mufies her Voice and imagin@s
straint no sense OF values in her acttne no t Te
gestures repeated over and over @ again, WItbagt
meaningless. That would be BAD enough in play
0i mpaern aTesa ana modern manners, but IN a
Is supplied with a synopsis ana an opera glass
to be be used wrong END foremost-sOmething Of the |
KLAUBERT See the New York Times oetobdr .
0h the wash OF that 441gean Sea in 42d street, |
and @ PbaeH h ever If WSsf b & out the bad acting Of
saPpho who loved and sung would probably burn |
she see herself made a shouting siren bv Nine |
haLch, VINO, though she has almost conquered |
tIe way GOWN East Side accent che first brought /
10 broadway. stlll prefers lung 70 poetic power |
the house-tops instead OF for the stage. II is |
more tAn likely that the fate of
nave oyertaken Mr. Mackaye's play no matter in |
whose hands It might have been placed for the |
project 1t over the footliEhts Nine KalIch |
IdSI hlsht rose TO the higher moments of the play
.olIy win ler voice. Long before this Sappho |
J.! Tlew nefselt into the sea- she had been drowned
~ morse, again and again II seemed high |
tne Tor Sappho to jump into the sea II word
nave DeeH q comfort to tho other members Of |
lnS cast Follow her example. . Nine. KalIch /
her cILher chanted monotonously shouted outra- |
soul he kept It there He handled his lines like so |
many DaTS or iron. ''-CHARI.ES DARN |
4ON. See the New York Evening World, October g. |
There Is absolutely no excuse whatsoever |
pelng played % at the Lyric Theatre II Is |
naidIy conceivable that any manager even Gus |
mn would ever think there the slightest sug
geston Of drama in the three insufferaby tedious
Eackaye. When think that we have con |
demned Mr- ROyle and Mr.. Peple we are inclined to
apologize Those men at least normal, at |
teast te healthy they were sane. -. If ever |
II eyer there was suffocatng performance II was |
this II impossible to sit through the |
performance last night al the Lyric. At the end |
of the second act gathered up our coat our
the company are as impossible the play Nine
hauch was mOnotonOus and untrue Sappho L
=" GEORGE HENRY PAYNE. Sec the New
York Evening Telegram. October %.
Now there can be no doubt about the matter. It
must have been another OF those "cOnspracies of
critics" W. W.