The Washington times., 1911-02-28
MRS. F|SKE GIVES
IMMORTAL BECKY
Thackeray Heroine Fur
niShes a Memorable Role
for Actress.
LARGE COMPANY,
CAPABLE SUPPORT
Difficulties in Staging and Recreat-
ing Character Make Achieve
ment Notable.

A few persons in the audience at the
National, last evening, may have watch
ed Mrs. Minnie Maddern Fiske recreate
Becky Sharp through the medium OF
Langdon Mitchelrs dramatization Of
Thackeray's novel more than a decade
ago.
To the vast majority Of her admirers
her portrayal was a new creation. To
these it must have marked the climac-
teric achievement of a career that has
bIazed many new pa hs in the dramatic
field and successfully climbed other lit
tie trodden ways.
The undertaking seemed venturesome.
To convert the quiet, numbering vanity
Fair" to a dramatic vehicle, that could
run with reasonable speed through three
hours, presented some of the difficulties
of rearing a hOt-house flower in COM
mon garden soil. Langdon Mitchell ac-
compIished the feat in which other
adapters had hopelessiy failed or only
half succeeded. Just how great meas
ure of his success was due to Mrs. Fiske
can hardly be gauged. because her name
is indeIibly associated with the way
ward heroine.
Gallery of Characters.
II the original has little action il does
afford generous opportunity for char
aCterization. With her characteristic
trait of subordinating Mrs. Fiske, the
star, when Mrs. Fiske, the producers
Judgment dictates, she has made the
most of these opportunities And though
her own impersonation, with a clever
ness almost akin to genius steers care
fully astern of our emotions, We are
allowed TO laugh at Sir Pitt Crawley, to
admire the sturdy loyalty of William
Dobbin, to drop a tear for the faithful
Rawdon Crawley and cordially to de-
spise the Marquis of Steyne.
The difficulties of portraying a Becky
Sharp are even more appalling than the
mere detail of dressing her up in stage
clothes She has no love TO redeem her
shrewishness, she has no Illusions TO
excuse her 1irtations. she has no ex-
tenuating motive for her misdeeds, size
Is full of the little meannesses that
tend to make her more repulsive than
some woman-sized fault. Therefore, fell
to Mrs Fiske the task of making her
presentabIe without incurring our re-
pulsion and at the game time not smoth-
erfng our morals by arOusing sympathy
for her.
She does this by the dangerous ex-
pedient of appe ling not at all TO the
emotions. the accepted medium of
artistic appreciation, and making Of
Becky a psychological study-nothinE
more. She achieves the top height of
the much vaunted immortality of true
art. The dissenters from the Fiske
school might claim that Becky is not
an artistic creation at all but
scientific study, d sort of thesis on
Vanity Fair.
A Vivid Creation.
But anaIyze the creation as one will
il will remain. after being seen, as
one of the most Illuminating. satisfy
ing and vivid stage portraits of many
years 1t is not a single impersona-
tion-it is A gallery of creations, for
Becky was an actress as cOnsummatc
as Mrs. Fiske. The first scene In the
third act alone is an epitOme of tn"
novel and furnishes a field for the
widest range of impersOnation. There
Becky alternately is cajolinG,
badgering cocOtte: a fearful, repent
ant wife: a wheedling charmer;
stormy. direful shrew; a cool, calcu-
lating scheemer, and half a dozen
other variations that so to make up
her versatile ego. With her rare SYM
pathy and splendid technical equip
ment Mrs. Fiske sounded these deli
cate nuanceS with skill that seemed
10 leave no doubt in the minds of Lass
nights audience that it witnessed a
work of COnSUmmate art
What IL her lines were at times al
most unintelligible. 4 step, motion II
the hand, a toss of the head. are in
teEral parts of a Fiske impersonatiOn,
and if her enunCiation is not always
so clear as might be wished one loses
| little thereby.
Support Adequate.
| Mrs Fiske's support was adequate.
| The Manhattan Company of olden days
of course has disbanded, and the or
ganization last evening held no legiti-
mate successor to John Mason or Ty-
rome Power
| But in the Pitt Crawley of Robert v.
Ferguson, a former Washingtonian, and
| in the Rawdon Crawley of Henry
Stephenson were found two character
studies of high merit. Lord Steyne
was played by Leonard Shepherd with
| enough verify to win fair amount of
Cpprobrium.
| Next to that of Mrs. Fiske che most
artistic impersonation was the Miss
| Gre wiley of Florine Arnold. The play
calls for the appearance of the irascible
| old lady in the first act only, but she
| left an indelible impression amid I
wealth Of other characterc.
the psychic study Of ErCky the battle
scene at the Duchess of Richmond's
/ ball provided the relaxation of genuine
action.