The Washington herald., 1907-03-24
OF NEW YORK
NOVELLI, THE GREAT ITALIAN, IN CLASSIC PLAYS.
ETHEL BARRYMORE IN "A SILVER BOX''-MRS.
cARTER-PAYNE TO GO TO THE AST0R.

Special to The Washington Herald.
New York, March 8.-Few cities beside
New York will see Noveiu. the italian
actor, who is spending twoa weeks here
lin a repertoire of classic and standard
plays. including three or four OF Shakes
peare's. It is 10 be regretted. for of all
the visiting artists. he is the most inter-
esting that has appeared sn this country
in many years.
He opened HIS engagement Monday
night at the Lyric In comedy by Jean
Aicard a minor French dramatist, en-
titled Papa Labonnard." I say comedy
and IL Is so nominated in the biil-but It
Is a comedy only for lack OF "a better de-
scriptive term. The principal character
Is conceived IN a spirit OF eccentric humor.
but he has one scene Ia which he rises
TO magnificent heights Of dramatic pow
er, and, broadly speaking, IL is an une-
tuous character role, oscillatins between
pathos and humor-that OF an elderly man
Of a sunshiny nature who harbors a
soul-Facking family secret for twenty
ave years and T. the crisis of a domestic
upheayal unloads It with the destructive
effect Of dynamite bomb.
NovelH followed this performance with
a roliicking moBologue IN costume, in
which he suggested nothing so much as
the strong fareical Characterization OF
Albert Chevalier. The next night he ap-
peared in the antitheticsl role Of King
Lear. following this on Wednesday night
with "shyiock;' Thursday. with Louis
TX" Friday. with La Morte Civile;"
this afternocn with '.shyIock,'' and this
evening. in II Bhrbero Benehco.
Eoveln IS cursed with versatility. As
a result he eonfuses the vision Of lot
Of critical people, who are accustomed TO
worship form rather than spirit and who.
moreover, resent the idea that any one
bat an EngIish-speaking actor should
presume 10 play Shakespeare. Because Of
this unfortunate condition, the Italian ac-
tor is more or less misjudged.
His magnificent work was even deliber-
ately misrepresented IN the course Of the
week. His Shakespearean characters were
said TO be Italian" which is another
way Of saying that they were not Ike
Booths or Irving's, as though universal
art could be nationalistic, and truth con-
trolled by a caveati
No Shakespearean character has been
more subject to a conflict Of opinions
I than that OF Shyl0ck. In the days Of the
/ poet, the role is said 10 have been played
as broad burIesque. and the fact that IL
/ Is not carried all through the play, but
summariiy disposed of midway, would
suggest that Shylock originally was not
[ intended for the dignity with which he
I has lstterly been invested by Kean and
/ Irving, following the example Of Macklin.
who rescued him from the red wig and
/ the attributes Of extravagant bathos.
Noyelli plays him midway between. with
neither the absuTdity of the remote past
nor the uniformly sublime qualities Of
I Irving But on that account he is the
most interesting Shylock seen by this
generation OF playgOers. His realization
/ OF the Hebraic characteristics Of the per
secuted Jew are most forceful. The
amount OF color which. the actor applies
( and the nouances which he touches in his
/ tmpersonati0n are revelations Of novel
! effects. It Is not the slow going. majes-
( tic bFoOder upon accumulated wrongs
whom We have been accustomed TO gaze
upon. but the shambling scuding, gestic-
ulaupg alert. shrewd.- cunning Oriental:
[ yet with an underlying dignity Of human
/ feelings and sublimity of passion 10 re-
deem the characterization from any re-
proach Of materiallsm and iTreverence.
Though far from IrviBg's Jew, 1t is
no less artistic, and for being less mo-
notonOus and considerably more varied
/ in aspects. ike the facets OF a cut gem,
/ the portrait is more temperamental,
more imaginative and fascinating. To
say that Shakespeare great characters
are to be Interpreted by one standard-by
English traditions, interrupted and OBJ
/ scUred as they were by the hiatus of the
I regime of the Roundheads-is 20 belittle
! the universal genius of the dramatist. In
I a word, less sublime than Irving's Novel
/ lis ShyloCk is more composite in the ex-
I preston of all the moods, less rigid IN
/ denotement OF style, less oratorical in
manner, and more life-like and modern.
/ IN this impersonation he evinced the
same striking method which renders his
/ Papa Lebonnard one of the most appeal
/ ing interpretations seen in a score of
( years. whereas HIS Lear is. broadly, a
grand study in senility and decrepitude,
! resembling the hickering rays Of a gut
/ tering candle with interposing bursts of
/ passion, like Illuminating flashes OF light
ming
/ Labonnard. to tell the story briefly.
sticks with eccentric fondness to his early
calling Of matchmaker. although he has
means and has retired from business.
Nothing can disturb his good nature or
alter his plain ways of life; yet he is a
man with d great secret sorrow. His wife
/ affects the grande dame. Her son is like
/ her Both despise the bourgeois airs OF
/ the old man and his vulgar tastes.
There Is also a daughter She Is a chip
4 of the ole block, and as much like La
/ bOnnard as the son is like Nine. Labon-
naTd. The crisis in the more or less hap
] py family relationship comes when the
! daughters marriage IS to be decided.
4 She is In love with a young physician
who has pulled her through d dangerous
/ illness. The mother and brother plan 10
marry her TO worthless elderly noble
man. The young physician is natural
son. and coRfasses it to Papa Labonnard,
/ who has favored his suit No matter.
/ Neither father nor daughter is disposed
/ TO hold him responsible for bis birth But
/ the mother and the son are outraged
/ There is a violent scene between the
old man and his wife He is driven TO
! desperation by her taunts, and. unable to
| control himself, he unlOads his secret. He
] convinces her that he has proof of her
| infidelity and knows that the son is not
/ his child at all. but the fruit of an early
| liaison. He lays his hands on the throat
/ OF the accused woman. when the son en-
/ ters and iRterferes.
His intermediation IS not characterized