The Washington herald., 1908-01-05
NEW YORK THEATERS.


had already exceeded its limits 10 war
rant the inclusion of Ethel Barrymore
and Maxine Elliott. And why not bunch''
them with Mrs. Fiske and NazlmoYa.
who appeared in new vehicles this week,
and thus make a clean slate of 1t?
Neither Miss Barrymore nor Miss FL
lott has been fortunate in the choice of
material. and both of these women are
dependent upon material far more than
sundry other actresses who might be
named Neither of them has yet at
tanned the dignity Of rank 10 risk shock
ing her clientele by disregarding its
preiudices. If Miss Elliott should ever
grow so defiant as TO impersonate a
woman who lacks the attributes Of the
candy doll. sedition would be rampant in
the bonbon rows. Miss Barrymore viii
some day announce her declaration of in
dependence. but not yet She has not
done 50 In Her Sister" which Clyde
Fitch and Cosmo Gordon Lennox nodded
to ;.s~ plastic personality and insidlous
suavity with too great regard for the
nctional value Of archaic romance and
a corresponding disregard Of the sub
stantial elements of truth.
Miss Elliott's Under the Greenwood
Tree" has the same Agnes May Fleming
touch of strained sentimentality and
anemic vitality. and unfortunately. the
metropolitan public has grown too So
phisticated and world-wise 10 put abiding
faith in old standards. Neither Of these
actresses has scored more than a half
success. There is a radical affinity be-
tween the two heroines. moreover, that is
strange. Miss Barrymore plays a pro-
s0othsayer among a lot of silly
London society clients, who tells you
your fortune and promises 10 tell you
more II you come again next week.
Miss Elliott buys out a real gypsy out
ht and takes TO the woods in a spirit OF
girlish abandon 10 practice the simple
life and tantalize ones flesh in a ravish-
ing bathing suit, invisible to the naked
eye, but amply suggested by a graphic
description which We hear from others
lips Of an imaginary plunge into the
That is the Disappointing thing about it,
for in dramatic art the old axiom, "Be
sure you're right, then go ahead applies
as logically as under the circumstances
under which David Crockett projected It.
Under the Greenwood Tree" is unde-
niably a symphony OF sweetness with the
statuesque Maxine veritable Diana who
rhapsodizes the moon, the flowers, and
the bathing pool. but refuses to let us
be the Actaeon Of the occasion. The play
drifts. very much as Her Sister drifts.
without the directness which a compass
might give to its course IN the hands Of
a hardy navigator who swears and storms
and leastways let's us realize
that We are dealing with the elements
instead Of floating on a painted ocean
Yet there Is much in both performances
10 admire and commentaries EIHOtts
beauty and engaging personality and
Miss Barrymore's fexibillty and ready
grasp OF sentiment and humOr In neith-
er play. however. have we q sound vital
foundation for sustained interest
Precisely the opposite is 70 be said Of
Mrs. Fiske's first appearance as Rebecca
West IN "Rosmersholm." by Ibsen. at the
Lyric, Monday night. and Nine. Nazi-
mOva's first appearance in Owen JOHN
son dramatic maiden effort, "The Com
ct. produced at the Bijou the same
evening. A typical Mrs. Fiske audience
assembled AT the Lyric. That is to say.
a large representation of the thoughtful
element OF New York playgoers, which
Is interested In serious dramatic work
and recognizes this actress as its Ioftiest
exponent. She gave Us the result Of four
years of study IN Der delineation Of Re
becea West, and whether you like Tbsen
or not, the least that can be said Of this
performance is that the work Of the
actress was so profoundly graphic within
the scope Of subtle restraint that she car
ried the house before her and scored one
Of the greatest triumphs Of her career.
John Luther Long told me between the
acts that he regards 'RosmershOlm' the
best play fbsen ever wrote. read il
four years ago on Mrs. Flskes recon-
mendati0n Let me confess that the per
fOrmance far surpassed the pleasure
which the reading afforded me- and Mrs.
Fiske's insight into the complex nature
of Miss West leavens the drama with an
interest that casts you under an ire
sistible spell.
There was no music between the acts
which. by the way, is growing in vogue
with us-and the greater part Of the
evening you could have heard the pro-
Ferbiai pin drop. When KroU mereilesslv
prizes into Rebecca's past and the history
of the birth, in the third act, where moth
ing indicates the woman's wrOugbt-up
state of feeling but the tempestuous
heaving of her breast and the little
querulOus exclamation Of pain, and the
face pictures the agony and bitterness of
spirit which she undergoes. her art was
triumphant To such extent that the large
audience was carried away with enthusi-
asm and the actress was called again and
again before the curtain We have had
only one or two such spontaneous ova-
tiOns at a theateT this seasOn.
A few seasons ago Mrs. Fiske took on
flesh. The other night she impressed you
by her suppleness and grace. She was
rather the embodiment Of small, wlry
woman with a tremendous nervous or
ganlZauOn ana reserve power OF energy
under amazing restraint.
Ibsens characters are human Gocu-
ments with all the contradictions of hu-
man nature. They require to be inter-
preted by those who understand the pro-
cess Of shifting these contradictions and
reducing them 10 a tangible unit In the
same masterfUl manner in which she
gave the American public the first intelli-
gible Hedda Gabler. she has In "Ros-
meTsholm' dispersed the mystery OF an
even more enigmatiC conception. The
play is a drama of fate. It has no mys-
terry. It's moral is, a tooth for q tooth.
Rebecca drove Beata. Rosmer's wife. into
the millrace; Rosmer was uucOnsciously
but gUiltily her confederate, and the in
exorable logic Of this condition demands
that their destiny shall lead them 10 the
millrace, the way of the wife. This was
indicated not only by Rebecca.