The morning journal-courier., 1908-03-28
KOMISARZHEYSKAYA
Great Russian Actress Scores in "A Dolls House" at the
 Hyperion.
PRESIDENT HADLEY THERE
Appreciatiye Audience Witnesses a Fine Production of Ibscn's
 Drama.

During the present transitory period of our American stage, fortunate is the one who attends from among the chaotic shoals of dramatic products, some presentation which is really of intrinsic histronic value. When an artiste of such generous talent, as Madame Vera F. Komisarzhevskaya appears at the Hyperion, it is dis tinct pity that New Haven should not respond liberally. The audience however, among whom were a con siderable sprinkling of professors, in- cluding also the chief executive of Yale, appauded each act with thrill ing enthusiasm. They were indeed Justified, for they were witnessing the most brilliant exposition of dramatic naturalness and technique set forth in this city for many day.
 Mime. Komisarzhevskaya's charac- ter portrayal of Nora in Ibsen's "A Dolls House" was splendidly natural. She was not tainted with the manner isms greatness usually acquires, The scenes with her husband were gems in their tenderness and sweetness. Her scene with the children was not strenuous rampage under and over furniture. but more subdued, suitable for a woman of Nora's age. She was the whole hearted mother, loving her children with intensity. Her interpre- tation of this scene was vastly appeal
 ing. Her outbursts of merriment were a positive joy. Unlike many of her contemporaries she did not corrupt 1 her realistic attitude with overdrawn emotion. At the height of mental stress in the second act, she restrains i herself. making the part much more i logical. The part of Nora might easi- l y be made into a routine passage of | bombastic melo-drama. Her moder- ated stand bears witness to the depth of her insight into the actual phe- nomena of life. Every detail of her acting was truthfully worked out.
 Her convulsive grasps of the table. when Krogstad is threatening her ex- posture. conveyed in it the panting of her tortured soul At times this great actress was the merry little doll, Forwald called her, fitting about in a sweet innocent manner. seemingly ig- norant of the wayward world. In Forwald's absence, however, the brooding tendency of her nature seem- ed to weigh her down. and eradicate every vestige of her former self. This transition from a mere plaything to the revolutionary woman, when her assumed gaiety dropped off like veil, could be no more satisfactorily DOT trayed by any living actress.
 Madame Komisarzhevskaya's inter pretation of Nora is original. and per haps more probable than the other conceptions in vogue. Contrary te her contemporaries she does not sud denly become the crafty woman of the world at the very moment when i she perceives her husbands cowardly nature. but she has been progressive towards this climatic point from the very opening of the play. Underneath her signs of exterior emotion, a film a: of a second personality seemed to en- velop her. She has known Forwald' contemptible nature from the first but reveals her knowledge by trans
 lucent something which though in it.
 self indefinable. welds itself into hel final renunciation of him. From hel wonderful interpretation in "A Doll House" we do not hesitate to place Mne. Komisarzhevskaya among tht six best actresses of the modern age
 MT. Bravich. as pr. Rank, was in comparable. His walk alone should