Omaha daily bee., 1909-10-28
At the Theaters

"Knssa" at the Boyd.
Mrs. Leslie Carter in 'Kassa," a Drama In
Four Acts by John Luther Long. The
cast:
Prince Bella Balvanessi. imperial chan
cellor Of the dual Monarchy. .........
]. Radcliffe
zickross Varsova, imperial chancellor
of the court of Austria. John Glendinning
Father Lovak. chief priest of the con-
vent of st. Laul5a. e. Frank Mccormack
Janos, a student of Ordan. Joseph Graybill
Noel, Of the Wallenwold mountains.....
Louis Myll
Lieutenant Varvas, of the Austrian army
William E. Shay
Father Kapi, cantsr of St. ~Lauka.......
Boska, servant Of Zickross V~arsova....
Myll
Lacy Allsco .:'..;."'""".".LiIy, Cghtl
Lady Jazel Madoesi.. -. .. Florence Malone
Chase, maid servant of Kassa. Alice Butler
mrs. Leslie Carter. ....... Kassa Of Kemisvai
Viewed generally "Kassa" leaves the mind
in the attitude OF questioning just how
much value to place upon a play which
rubs the emotions raw without gripping
the sympathies sufficiently to give SINGER
fly, without high moral purpose except to
amend the old adage "The wages of sin
is death" by adding the proviso unless
the woman is sufficiently devoted to sac
rifice her honor for the sinner and the
sinner is enough of a sinner to allow her
to do So" and without sincerity enough in
its situations to give It depth OF character
Interpretation. Some of those who saw
the presentation of "Kassa" did not leave
the theater with this question in their
minds.
"Rassa," the poem, undoubtedly has some
very strong points, but the play which has
been made from the poem has a lack Of
continuity which mars it. Not that it is
without its strong features. The various
scenes are episodes in a tragic story. They
do not carry the interest Of the audience
unbroken from the beginning to the end.
This fault is intensified perhaps by the
long waits between acts due to the heavy
scenery.
These somewhat disconnected scenes,
however, give plenty Of opportunity to Mrs,
Carter for emotional acting. She passes
from one climax to another through both
the second and the third acts. Her art in
handling these trying emotional incidents
is undoubted. She was handicapped last
night by the fact that the sympathy which
the audience ought to feel was not there,
due to no fault Of Mrs. Carter. But in
spite of this she drew frequent applause
and at the end the curtain had to be raised
four times to satisfy her admirers.
The second act contained a situation in
which Kassa is given a hard test In the
art of assembling and Mrs. Carter carries
it through with touches of p~iquancy which
give it delightful life and bouyancy, though
naturally of an artificial kind. She is here
trying TO shield her supposed husband,
Prince Bella, from Zickross Varsova, who
is seeking to trap him. In the midst of
this contest OF wits between the willy poll
tician and the frail woman the prince ar
rives and there ensues a scene of consider
able interest. When the prince denounceo
her as a wanton and even denies the
legitimacy Of their little boy she reaches
the first Of a series Of climaxes which she
gives every possible touch OF sincerity. In
the third act, where she puts her honor at
the feet of Varsova and confesses to
iniquity entirely foreign to her IN order to
save the life OF the prince who has de-
serted and denounced her she again sus-
tains herself gloriously through an intense
scene. The situation itself, like some others
in the play, is rot Of the kind that takes
a very firm hold en- one. however because
Of the utter worthlessness OF the man she
is sacrificing herself for. One is led to
ask himself whether a woman like Kassa
could love to the bitter dregs a man 50
thoroughly unworthy. The scene would
have been strengthened If we could have
been shown one slight redeeming trait in
the prince for whom she sacrifices herself
The principal places in the east are wen
filled. Mr.. Radcliffe as the prince is a
little inclined to be STACEY, as is Mr..
Glendinning as Varsova. The other parts
are minor, The staging is elaborate and
is put on with good effect.