Omaha daily bee., 1908-12-13
At the Theaters
"Hedda Gabler. at the BOYD.

"Hedda GabIer' at the Boyd.
Nine. ALA Nazimova and company in
"Hedda Gabler," a play in four acts by
Henrik Ibsen; under direction Of the
Shuberts. The cast:
George Tesman. Mr.. Perry Lyndel
Judge Brack..............Mr. Dodson Mitchell
Ellert Mr.. Brandon lyman
Mrs. Elvsted. .........Miss Florence Fisher
Miss Juliana Tesman Mrs. jacques Martin
Bertha. Miss Evelyn Welding
Hedda Tesman. ........,"..uMme Nazimova
Again, with your permission, we will
waive the discussion of motives and con-
Germ ourselves with methods. Hedda
Gabler-Tesman is not so much of an alb
normal woman as a lot of folks would have
us think. 1t Is the fact that she was a
normal woman, surrounded by a lot Of nor
maj men, perhaps, that made her act as
she did. To have a husband of the quality
OF Tesman, to be pursued by a beast of
the aspect of Judge Brack, and to be dis
appointed in a former lover, like Lovborg.
is reason enough for a woman of spirit to
wish to be rid of the world. "A word fitly
spoken is as apples of gold in pictures OF
silver" and that word at the right time
might have turned the current of Hedda's
life and made her happy and perhaps con-
tented, put it was not spoken.
Nine. Nazimova is so different In Hedda
from herself as Nora that one wonders If
1t can possibly be the same woman. The
Indifference that marked her as Mrs
Helmer falls away from her as Mrs. Tes-
man. and she strives earnestly and sue
cessfully to give the effect on which her
triumph depends. From the bored languor
of the first act to the alert despair of the
last she is keenly alive and her every
movement shows she fully appreciates the
task before her. Hedda is not a pretty
part, nor one that appeals from any other
reason save its acting possibilities. It Is
30 much easier to present a woman who
can win the sympathy of all and who will
die amid the general regret of a weeping
multitude. But Hedda is not that sort:
from her entrance. where she studiously
snubs and a minute later deliberately in
suits the simple old aunt of her husband
to the final exit. where she seeks in death
relief from a husband. who only bores hel
because he has no capacity for real de.
votion, and a man who processes TO love
her, but who only seeks to use her TO
crafty his vanity, Nine. Nazimova neg
lects nothing that would make the role
more Impressive. And In the third act,
when she realizes her own failure and
sends the one man she might have loved
away to shoot himself and revenges her
self on the woman Of whom she is jealous,
she sounds the depths Of tragedy.
II she is great any time, she is great
when she hands Lovborg the pistol and tells
him to do 1t beautifully" and she is great
when she kneels before the CRATE and
throws the torn sheets of his manuscript
into the fire, Revenge is not a noble pas
sion at any time; Hedda might have been
a more inspiring figure, perhaps, had she
resigned herself to what Judge Brack re-
fers to as 'the inevitable" and in her abne-
cation have hidden Lovborg and Mrs. Elv-
sted go end live happy ever after. But sh
wouldn't have been human-not even a H.
man woman. All of this has been aseribe
at different times to her neurotlc condition
to climactic insanity, and several other
things, but 1t was merely the elemental ma
ture Of the woman forcing itself through
the husk of conventionality and taking ac,
ton. And Nine. Nazimova does not OBJ
scure it by any mystery of art; she does
il as naturally. and consequently as effec.
lively, as she takes her breath. When Il
comes to the end. and she realizes how
completely she has failed with Lovborg-
who shot himsel in the bowels instead OF
the temple or the breast-with her nus
band, who is concerned with the adjust
ment OF Lovborg's notes and the assistanc,
OF Mrs. Elvsted. and with Judge Brack
into whose clutches she has fallen, sh,
moves piteously to the only escape tina
seems open to her. Here the right wore
from her husband might have saved her
But the loving encouragement she had
right to expect was not forthcoming, AM
her philosophy OF life was not stronl
enough to support her. Poor Heddal
The famous Nazimova poses are on ex
hibition in this play. She understands thor
oughly the value OF a picture" and shI
affords ever SO many during the four act!
Of the play. Curled up GA a lounge, seateC
before the fireplace, standing by a window
clinging to a curtain, or merely standing
with one foot behind the other and he
gown wrapped 30 closely about her as {
reveal perfectly her slender figure, she 4
reproducing the several attitudes in whiol
she has been made familiar by photo