The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-10-30
given in that theatre in this review

given in that theatre in this review
er's day.
| The play was "Oliver Twist; the
cast included Marie Doro, Constance
Collier. Wilton Lackaye and Edmund
Breese-four Of the ablest, 1t not the
most conspicuous, figures on our stage
j to-day-and a Company Of actors who.
| with few exceptions. but added to the
| enulgence shed by these four.
| In five acts and . hnal picture. ten
! scenes In all. perhaps the most widely
! read novel in the world was set be-
| fore the audience in q series Of pic
lures SO ingeniously painted. Of scenes
SO faithfully reproduced, Of dialogue
so nearly literally translated. as II
{. were. into speech, that one wouCo
! have imagined he was reading the
+! book again. II the appeal or the pow
, eT. or the horror Of the men and wo-
men who enacted the play. had NOS
been SO vivid. 30 real. rs to make him
feel. not that he was reading the book.
but living In It The sordid. grasping
Fagin. the unspeakable Skies. the
shuddering. loving Nance. tine crouch
ing boy Oliver, and all the sinking
figures Of tho thieves den ste6ped out
and had their being on the stage be-
fore him. while the kinditer. happier
figures Of the masterpiece sought to
Tighten the gloom Of the story.
Many of the scenes are transposed:
the chronological order Of the book
II often altered. and the plot-ths
story OF divers parentage-is dis
closed in the first few explanatory
scenes But the entity remains intact
the play is the oliver Twist Of
Dickens, wonderfully well dramatized
By CoEyns Carr. All its hideousness.
all its pathos. all its cruelty. have been
retained
And all these elements are empha-
sized. intensified and given life by the
people who depict them.
Wilton Lackaye who succeeds Nat
Goodwin as Fagtn, endows the old
ness that fingers In the memory and
before the eyes with q sickening sense
Of remembered repulsion- True to the
books description. he dresses the part
with reddish. scanty hair and beard,
and sneaks about. bent over in a
greasy dressing gown. In q snake-Iike
manner which, alone. Is almost sum
cient to create a feeling Of nausea. Mr..
Lackaye's makeup IL. in itself, . YER
liable triumph in that art
Edmund Breese. who follows Lyn
Harding In the role Of Bill Skies. also
HaAeS up the PART Win couSoHifi6tc
skill: he even goes to the length of
padding his legs to the thickness men
toned in the story, while he wears
hat. instead Of the cap assumed by
Harding. following the book to that
extent. tAoVgh not to the length Of
adopting the color. brown prescribed
by the author. A tribe IL you like.
bue Mr.. Breese's performance Is so
perfect so powerful. 10 appalling. In
its loathsome brutality that the tribe
In mentioned as standing alone by way
Of fault In the midst Of wonderful
char acteyization-
Constance Collier. OF the original
companies In London and New York
with a face Of indescribabie sorrow.
almost like that OF Lucifer in his fai-
len majes;y--and her squared jaws d.
minish the inoonGruity OF the faacfed
rescmblance-makes OF Nance a figure
OF hopeless. despairins tragedy that
will not he forg gotten liza many year.
while Marie Doro, also Of the original
New York company. looking like the
EaSies. the Souna Napoleon. breathed
the role Of Oliver Until many gazed
at her slender figure through dimTed
eyes.
And. in spite Of the many. changes
Of setting. the number Of tk. scenes.
and the diHscuit arrangement; Of some
Of shcm. the watts were % short TIE
scenery MAS handled % quickly. that
the whole performance lasted only a
few minutes longer than three hours
A crowded paper prevents the
printing OF columns IN praise OF eass
whole production. and there 10 space
only 20 urge all adults 60 see one OF
the two perfovmaocrs to-day. but not
% take their children-