New-York tribune., 1911-12-07
THE DRAMA
NdzinOva in "The MariOnetteS"
at the LyCeum Theatre.

nettes" at the Coincide Francase. and
there were reasons quite az plentiful. hut
not Identical. for its success at the COMEDY
Theatre in London. \ few Of these reasons
may have endured the voyage to New YORK,
but If the play meets here with the sue
cess it's projectors desire, and no doubt
expect the causes will be somewhat
apart from those that governed the fort
uues Of the play on the other side or the
Atlantic. II was more than year ago
that Pierre Wolf. the author and part au-
thor of many plays. some of which are Well
known here. had the felicity OF seeing the
Marionettes' win the approval OF us
tinguished audience in the national theatre
of France. II was two months ago that NJ.
Wolf saw the production, and according
10 all accounts It was successful produc-
tion. Of this play in London, version pre-
pared by the well known and ingenious
adapter Miss Gladys Unger. But at the
Comedy Theatre In London the affair was
interesting chiefly because It brought back
to the stage the ever-delightful comedian
Sir John Hare, and on that occasion the
play had as tho delineator OF its principal
female character the very lovely very
Miss Marie L6hr. Miss L0hr gave to Fer
nandc Marauise de Monclars, certain quail
ties which made the part and the play
plausible enough. These special qualities
Nine. Nazimova does not impart, far cleF-
erer though she is I'm most OF the artihces
of the stage. For in this piece the power
of feminine beauty, sheer physical attract
iveness combined with the youthfulness OF
the ingenue, Is responsible for the turh
Of the play And 1t will not be said that
Nazimova (she seems 10 have dropped the
prefix "madame') relies upon or lends 10
the part entcing physical qualities or the
winsome airs of ingenious youth.
ON Monday night Nazimova used Miss
J'neer's version of Pierre Wolff's play for
her return to the New York stage after
some weeks of excursion with the piece
among the theatres of the road. II Is one
thing to Use play for the purpose OF eX-
one OF John Hare's delightful ana
irfmltable old men, II is not quite the same
thing TO use the same play for the purpose
Of starring ALA Nazimova. But each use
serves it's own purpose In its own way and
can. no doubt. be made acceptable for those
who Ike the use. Marie L0hr, with all her
lovellness, Is not Continental and cannot
well suggest tie Continental qualities which
are essential to the portrayal OF the Mar
uuise de Moncars, but all the other quail
ties she can I'm ample measure give TO the
role Nazmova7 no one need be told, mas
all these Continental qualities I'm her b!ood'
and she has them in her stage training so
far the Wolf play is safe here, but there
are other belongings OF the part which
Nazimova does not suggest. certainly not
In this drama. She does suggest, in the
first act. a demure hypocrite, so demure
and prigsish that Il is impossible TO believe
i'm her. But here she is, so 10 speak, over
staged. she is impossible, even for a coun-
try mouse. that is, for a country mouse
who becomes what she becomes Nazimova
makes her not only plain, but gawk and
stupid. whatever she may be In
other directions. AS the girl is wealthy.
we'll educated. we'll bred and has had the
entrGe to polite society, IT Is impossible TO
believe in her extraordinary timidity, awk-
wardness and lack OF social sense. But
these unlikely and unattractive attributes
are marvellously depicted by Nazmova.
For all that, the very skill with which she
draws the character in the first act makes
Il impossible to believe either in the char
acter or I'm the play.
For, I'm two months or less, the ugly,
awkward country girl, who does not know
how - sit or walk. or talk, or dress
who IS, indeed, 10 others, person of rather
painful presence-becomes a dashing figure
in Partisan society and acquires all the
. h. NJ
the smartest set and the reputation Of a
fascinating notwithstanding, OF course,
especially 10 men.
This is altogether too much like a trans.
formation i'm a Christmas pantomime. The
six-months bride, acted, and acted with
extraordinary cleverness, by Nazlmova In
the first act Of The Marioncttes, could not
have become in six years, or sixteen years,
the gay, or supposititiously gay, character
Of the remaining acts. II is here that
Nazimoya's perceptions fail her. She makes
the woman impossible. She overdoes the
first part which cannot be reconciled with
the second.
Roger. Marquis de Monclars is a Young
gallant and spendthrift To retrieve his
fortunes he has married this Fernando de
Ferney. The marriage has beep arranged
for him out of hand by his mother. i'm the
typical French way. In fact, it has been
decreed for him The girl loves him, ac-
cording TO the lines Of the play. and ac-
cording 10 the behavior OF the several
actresses who have played tho part. Nazlm-
ova clearly makes this Understandable.
But the Young Marquis has an aversion for
his wife. 1t is easy 10 understand this
aversion easy even To sympathize with it,.
tho niece. There she is. let 1t be repeated,
an impossible creature. Her husband is.
and has long been. attracted by more
dashing lady. Of whom the wife has more
than common cause 10 be jealous. The
wife undertakes 10 change all this. and
while her husband is absent IN Switzerland
with the dashng and attractive creature Of
his choice Fernando blossoms suddenly
into "a flower Of fashion, attractiveness and
She firts outrageously TO
make her husband jealous. This ancient
and well-worn trick of dramatists is con-
modified for English and Ameri-
can audiences. All YOU see here is Fer
nande's method Of bringing her husband
hack to her She affects Indifference 10
him, even aversion. lie, upon his return to
Paris. is. Of course. astonlshed at the
becomes amorously en-
chanted. then furious, then enchanted
again. and at the end wins what he has
not really lost. and YOU are left TO suppose
that ne remains fixed in his new enchant-
mcnt
You have seen all this before in a hun
drcd varieties iu a hundred plays. and
YOU have seen it displayed with more con-
viction than Pierre Wolf lrings with It. or
than Miss Uneer's version is permitted to
convey. or than the actors al the Lyceum
Theatre impart TO their telling Of the story
In NaZimova's acting there Is much 10
admire-a great deal 10 admre-but II is