The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1910-02-08
The Passion Flower" At
fordS NaZimova Wide
Range for Ability.
ROLE MADE HARD
BY CURIOUS PLOT
Story Not Clearly TOld-Cast.
With Single Exception, is
Uniformly Good.
By J. R HILDEBRAND.


slowed on The Passion Flower last
night at the Belasco by Madame Aha
@azlmova and q company Of associates,
almost without exception. qualified TO
support her.
The rsdeeming feature Of the play is
that Il gives Madame Nazimova studied
opportunities for portrayinE a wide range
Of emotions But 10 offset that lhe author
occasionally makes Il hard even for
this wonderful Russian actress TO make
Il seem that her actions are governed
ny any consecutive plan The applause
that should have been Nazimova-s was
frequently withheld, no doubt because
the audience was too peTplexed TO make
any demonstration
After all the play was not the thing
The crowd that filed the BeIasco 10 the
upPermost seat Ia the gallery came
20 see Madame Naziulova act They
saw her as near her best as she prob
ably ever could be in such an made
CUate setting
one who attempts to describe the act
ing Of NazimOva must inevitably take
refuge IN that thread-WOTu adjective
'IndehnabIe-7 Her Infinite grace IN all
Of her sinuous movements, The nervous
working Of her fingers, the meaning
shrugs OF her shoulders. the incessaut
workings Of her long arms, can not be
set down on paper And the effects she
gains with q voice that has not a wide
range, that at times IS not even distinct
and that even now pron0unces English
with a slightly foreign accent, must be
heard al first hand 20 be appreciated
Back Of that remarkable personality
which does not shine through, but
aday,ts itself 70 the character she plays
IS q technique that can more readily be
explained.
The overworked term repression
seems about the only one that dtungly
describes some phases Of her work
Madame NazfmOva Is an emotional &C
sress. and she had chances galore pro
vided for al exercise Of that art last
night Not more than three times IN
the course OF the evening did she
raise her voice above a conversational
pitch She did not scream she cid not
throw herself anywhere she oldn (
tear her hair, she diCTsL stamp her foot
On occasions where an .uOtiOual -
-trezs- as we have known them. might
have hurled themselves PROSTATE oG
the floor. NaZlmOVa sank Imply slow
y and the substitute was tremendously
effective When she was nOuncerlIls
between perpleL1ty and anger she tore
bits OF paper from a book leaf and did
not tear passion 70 Jallers.
In the big scene Of the play when she
realized a terrible tragedy had come
upon her she did not rave, rant. OF
far more daTinE-Stood stock still LOT
the full space OF a minute Probably
no one could tel exactly what mere
was 10 make the audience sit stu ana
tense even after the curtain had fallen
But the new way worked
Uniformly Good
Il did not require one OF these big
scenes" 20 bring out Nazmova's In
stfnc-5ge art As a COY, kittsuish, ire
7sp1nsiale cniIdvife, she was cute"
Women were whispering It and the men
were caT,tis ated- When the awakening
came and she realized The responsible
ties Of vvife-hood she was none the less
effective. The third phase Of her Dor
travail was that Of C. broken-spiri-ed
wife. made 5udaCisive 5y her early ire
sDonsibfIiry and lowering between the
possibility Of making q great sacrifice OF
OF telling her husband everything and
letting him shoulder the responsibility
IF the audience had not before realized
the difference between O. good actress
and g great actress, i must nave done
so then. Just one more Illustration of
her perfect aTueSsneSs which makes
her art so true was found In tire scene
before the mirror The shock of seeing
herself so changed was portrayed by
that NGzimova-llke gesture which CON
sisls of stretching her arms straight
and rigid above her head II was UNI
usual. hut so spontaneous that Il carried
the right idea across the fCotliEhts at
The right time No human being was
ever seen 20 do tLaL-Wllt be the first
N1DClcaTlDu- Examples might ne multi
plieu 10 Illustrate the remarkable power
this young woman hes FOR using sym
7lDlISw with striking results on paper
& sounds academic ard when one sees
NsZIECVl ACT ne VIII not notice Il un-
les ne IS on tho LOOKOUT for IT, The
beauty 0f the NaZimCTa method IS in
the fact that, though graceful as "a
classic dancer she never makes mo-
ton for Erace'S sake one doesn't for
get the fUuerSODa-iCu TO say That was
2 wonderful gesture
Faults Of Play.
The misuse OF symbolism can best be
Illustrated by the play. To ali appear
anCes there was no reason for the FIRE
burning low in the last act save to give
Brandon lyman. the author, a chance to
play on the words. white ashes The
manipulation Of lights was probably
intended 20 give Ibsenesgue effects but
was without rhyme or reason
To one who arrived at the theater i've
minutes late II was almost impossible 10
understand the ramffCa-iOus OF the plot
When one who WeS late tried TO get
some light on the situation from those
who had been there and failed he con-
cluded that il might not have helped
matters much had he been on time
From the play one can but conclude
that the author tried TO write a social
problem play though he knew nothing
about sociology He tried 10 Introduce
technical business detaiils and he
showed no crear knowledge of business
The little matter Of the S20.eo note
wasn't quite cleared I'D even after the
curtain fell There was great deal of
talk IN a vague way about the people
and the hungry MOB and sometimes
il was hard to believe the play was laid
I'm New York city
Two near-society women were intro
duced- evidently 20 lend Atmosphere
but they served no other purpose Mr.
lyman wearing long hair and moving
I'm poetic halo. wasn't at all convinc-
ing as president Of the Peoples Bank
With that single exception the east was
uniformly good.
on Thursday night Madame Nazimova
VIII play "A Dol House and continue
IN the role Of Nora FFe7r7e- for the rest
Of The week
r Is reCrettaoIe that the Russian
actress has been so unfortunate in her
choice Of American plays ii seems as
n She had come TO American shores
ready to be fitted into that much talked
"A -.r---