The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-02-23

and overhore Mr.. Phillips TIC write a
fourth act. in which the man convinces
her that he loves her really and truly
for herself alone. Then she consents to
become wife.
The daring of Mrs. Patrick Camp
bell in presenting Sophocles' Electra,
which she did too late last week to be
described in last Sundays letter, is
good art and bad business. as the APP
preciative few like it and the many
others do not Electra Is the first
Grecian classic to be acted in America
in English and in the way of ordinary
theatrical business. 1t is modernized
in manner partially, though, and the
source of this version is German.
Il When collegians use Greek tragedies,
and especially when they undertake TO
speak them i'm the original language.
the action is on an upper back stage,
while on the lower front one chorus
listens, exclaims and explains in the
ancient Athenian style. In this pro-
fessional performance of Electra"
single stage is set with one unchanged
scene. i'm front of a royal castle. where
Electra bewails the murder of her
father. Agamemnon, by her mother,
Clytemmestra, and induces her brother,
Orestes, 10 punish their mother with
death. None of the blood shedding is
seen, but Electra describes the first
assassination with horrible particulars,
and the second is heard in agonized
| outcries.
Greek actors wore masks, as you
know, TO express emotions in hideous
exaggeration: but Electra's face now
| is the handsome one of Mrs. Patrick
! Campbell. never WY and CIytemnes-
tra's = that of Mrs. Beerbohm Tree
undisfigured: and the torturing expos
ure of the daughter to hungry. chilly
shame does not look very cruel. for
| the covering left on her is a black
4 gown uniform, and the shoulders and
| arms that CLEAN white by contrast be-
long to a famously symmetrical wom-
an. Do not construe this as inappre-
citation. Mrs. Campbell and Mrs. Tree
deliver with exceeding skill of elocu-
ton their thousands OF words without
| deeds. the manner of, the production
is scholarly beyond cavil. and students
of Greek tragedy, with those others
who have curiosity to crafty, are
having a good time with Electra"
Many such were present at the OPEN
ing; but there We're others.
X 4
How did it strike your" 1 asked a
man who had occupied his customary
seat in the front row, and was hurry
ing TO his reserved table at a restau-
rant
They ought TO let George NJ. Cohan
put some songs and dances in it," he
! replied. and that's no Joke. Wasn't
| the last minute worth more than the
previous hour? for then Mrs Pat
danced i'm glee over the murder of her
| mother by her brother for the murder
! of her father. Wasn't she great in
| that? l haven't seen anything fetch
1 niger since Mary Anderson as Perdita
fdanced in A Winters Tale I've got
fifty thousand dollars to back Mrs.
Pat in Electra with a Greek chorus
of showgirls and music to fill a whole
evening"
The first hour of the evening is given
! to The Flower of Yamato." a TRAGEDY
translated literally from the Japanese
and acted in imitation of the Japanese
way, with Mrs. Campbell bigger than
any japanese actress, If not greater. as
she is nearly six feet tall, while A Ian
woman of that stature would be put In
native museum as a giantess The
usually statuesque beauty looked a
curiosity anyway. with her black hair
coiffuFed in the mode of Toxic. ner big
eyes slanted, her habitually barred arms
/ hidden in the sleeves of a kimono. ana
/ her erect poise changed to the hinge
back, toSgie-knee, grovel and kowdow
mannerisms of YUM Yum in THE Mi
toddle; she spoke in a weak faIsetto.
and cooed softly as she trotted into and
out OF her bamboo and paper house 1t
was more faithful portrayal Of n Jan
lady than Blanche Bates i'm Madam
Butterfly" For awhile the audience
was inclined to take her in fun, and to
regard the unwelcome wooing Of the
wife by a terrible bandit as comedy;
but 1t developed a tragedy fit to win
a of iofT
author.
The husband went far away for a
night. The bandit came to make love
70 the wife. The outlaw would murder
her spouse if she repulsed him. Size
would rather die than either yield 10
him or let her husband be killed
! Il love YOU she lied to the bandit,
land / hat my husband. but you
must not kill him before / give myself
TO you. He will return soon, and go to
sleep there" pointing out a place
alongside the sliding paper front of the
house. You will see the shadow of
his head right there, and his heart will
be Just here" indicating two of the
panes of paper in the window-like
screen. Thrust your sword through
the spot I mark and IT will pierce his
heart"
The bandit went away. The husband
tdiltS DdCh- Inc NlIo TeaFrangeQ her
hair so that her head would cast a
shadow like her husbands on the pa
per, and lay down TO await death
while the husband slept safely. She
was shut in from our sight. The ban
dit returned. If you imagine that the
minute he occupied in locating the
pane was not tense with suspense.
then you are mistaken. And there was
no happy ending to this play. The
sword pierced the paper, and the death
vail Of the Flower of Yamato brought
down the curtain.
| Otis Skinner and Olga Nethersole
| have come to town with fervid dramas
from the French, dressed in French
/ fashions when fanciful clothes make
the wearers' valorous deeds pictur-
esque, and authorized by such names
as BalZac, Scribe and Legrove. These
plays have been carried through the
country in their present casts and
mountings, so I won't describe them, or
the performances, although myself in
terested by the changes in the matter.
! Do nj FL