The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-27

Gynt." The play came to Birmingham and was presented at the Jefferson thea ter last night, preceded by an expectancy that was keen and was not destined for disa ppointment MT. Louis James proved himself a really great actor in play which requires the rarest sympathy of in- depreciation and the skill of a finished and painstaking artist. MT. James made Peer Gynt figure which will not be for gotten by those who witnessed his splen- did performance. Peer Gynt and Peer Gynt's mother and Solveig are three char acters who stand out vividly in the play, and all were presented well.
 Peer Gynt'' is the story of a mans life, from it's resistless youth to it's curb ed and broken old age, picturing his dreams of power, his conquests. his sell fishness, his retrbution, and his regener- ation by a series of events which blend the natural and the superinatural. It has been said that there is much of the auto- biographical in Peer Gynt." Whether or no. 1t is a remarkable allegory It puts in what may be described as tangible and visible form the panorama of life. The good and the bad, love that reaches to high heaven and down to hell, the dreams. the ambitions. the feverish quest of gold and power, vainglory and re- morse-all are woven into this wonderful play. There is the love of Peers mother and the love of Solveig, both sublime In their day to shed a radiance and glory over the grimness of the story and the horrible comedy of the trolls.
 Peer Gynts career is shown from youth to old age. In the first part of the play he is a lad consumed by wild dreams of power He would have the world at his feet Even the love of his mother cannot curb his spirit, nor the devotion of Sol veig, pure and constant. He would sac- rifice everything to his ambition and his self-seeking stops at nothing short of be- coming troll. His mother dies, he leaves Solveig and goes out into the world, where fortune comes to him. He boasts his heart swells with pride, he wants more and more. confident, in his pro- found egoism, that no harm can befall him. The blow comes, as a fortune teller has told him-Antra, the dancing girl, in a palm grove on the coast of Morocco. Peer Gynt is robbed and shipwrecked and, at last old, ehastened of heart and sad he comes back to his hut in Norway and in the abiding love of Solveig, who has waited for him through all these years, he finds his true czardom. It is beau tiful illustration of the power of woman S love-
 There are so many impressive scenes in the play, so much of human insight, and so much of imagery that it would be difficult to give the play the resume 1t deserves. The death scene of Peer Gynt' s mother is particularly powerful. and the scene in the hall of the Dovre King could not be surpassed for grotesque humor.
 MT. James gave an admirable perform ance playing a difficult role with repres- sion and sympathetic effort which pre- sented him in a new light to the friends who have known him in the past. Miss Aphie James made Solveig the sweet and womanly figure she was intended tobe while Miss Laura Frankenfield was fully equal to the part of Ase, Peer Gynt g mother J. Arthur Young did fine piece of grotesque acting as the king of the trolls The remaining members of the company gave good support.
 The staging was well done throughout some very elaborate effects being re- quired.