Los Angeles herald., 1909-02-07
In the Spotlight
BYRON BEASLEY will appear
as MephiStopheles in Oliver, Mo-

% KUN bEASLEY Will aDD6ar
n as Mephistopheles in oliver Mo-
rosco's production of Faust"
tC be given at the Burbank theater this
week. This is not Mr.. Beasley's first
appearance in the role of the proprietor
Of Hades. Last summer he took the
part of the devil in Franz Molnar's
drama of that name with decided sue
cess. While there is nothing Machiae-
vellian about Mr. Beasley it may safe
ly be predicted that he will do himself
credit as the venerable imp which made
so much trouble for old DR.. Faustus.
The devil seems to be rather dis
credited just now, with reform waves
sweeping the country, but even when
he is unpopular Mephisto always is in
teresting, especially so in appearing at
once in the two widely different con-
ceptions of Christopher Marlowe and
Franz Molnar-Marlowe because he
had the call on Goethe by about 200
years in his Characterization of the
prince of evil. His play, written in 1889
and produced in London, was the first
production in which Satan was starred
as the leading heavy. The drama grew
out of a tradition relating to a real
person who died in 1888, and during the
century that followed a number of
plays in which the devil figured were
produced, eliminating in Faust"
Perhaps we of this thoroughly disil-
lusioned age cannot vizualize the evil
one so clearly as the more imaginative
Elizabethians, and his vivid physical
semblance is of less interest than his
psychological and artistic aspect.
'T am here" says Molnar's devil,
tapping his forehead significantly.
Marlowe's devil is instinct with vivid,
malignant personality. Had 1 as many
souls as there be stars, I'd give them
all for Mephistophilis,'' says his victim
Each is typical of his period and dis
tinctly the creature of the time In
this they are interesting as an epitome
of the progress of thought. Doctor
Faustus,' Marlowe's play, embodies the
religious conceptions of the age. The
moral aim predominates. To tamper
with the inscrutable means certain
damnation. The devil is a reality, and
the significance of the play is almost
entirely objective. Molnar's devil is
symbolical, or rather aIlegorical. The
terms good and evil have lost their
significance, except in a relative sense,
and the devil becomes the refinement of
hedonism, perhaps not entirely to be
execrated, If you have the Nietzche
point Of view-which seems to be the
Molnar outlook. The play is brought
decidedly into the realm of the sub
Jective.
Mr.. BeasIey has rare opportunity in
portraying his conceptions of the two
different princes of darkness.
los Angeles will be on the itinerary
of Madame Nazimova, who is to make
a tour of the larger Pacific coast cities
this spring. The news that this star
is to come west will be of great in
terest to those who have followed her
work in New York and have read so
much of her in the magazines. Nazi-
nova has for two years played steadily
on Broadway and has given the intel
leetual drama an impetus such as it
has seldom known. She came to Amer
lea three years ago with the Orleneff
players and appeared in plays in her
native language, attracting so much
attention that Lee Shubert induced her
to sign contract and study English.
Her mastery of the language in less
than six months was a notable thing
and her triumph at her first perform
ance in "Hedda Gabler" was so as
tonishing that she was at once estab-
lished in the Princess and later in the
Bijou, where she remained for two
years, offering Ibsen plays, and has
been received with enthusiasm every
where.
The reduction of prices at the Empire
theater has proved highly successful
The house is filled at nearly every per-
fornance, and the gross receipts are
considerably greater than they were
before the change was made. The in
crease in the number of moving pic
ture shows is largely responsible for
the keen competition among the small
er theater. Within an area Of eight
blocks there are thirty-five places of