New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-01-20

THE CAST.
Hguch OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. George Graham
salvador .|eolre. q. stein
QuiricC J. Fernandez
TonaEa AAuce pdeil
Ra mon 90 tie6en
Gils FIRST appearance in EnSlsh)
Maria Rosa ..........-..... ..... Dorothy hcnnfiy
Coas mn ~ hUr
Chicote Observation-Disclosures. Charles Ashley
~ AHTHJk RUIZ.
There could be no doubt or the theatre
force Of much that was done last evening
al the Thirty-uiuth Street Theatre in the
new play. Maria Rosa" The piece It
self translated from the Spanish. is a
tragic peasant drama with the wild ami
malism Of the people or wnich ii treats
turned on full force. Mr. Lou Telleeen.
late OF Sarah Bernhardts company ana
now appearing for the first time Tn Eng
lish. was figure OF unusual vieor ana
cons tant pcturesqueness. And Miss Dor
othy Donnelly who has torn many pas
sions 10 tatters from the wild horrors
Of Madame y" up and down, threw her
self into her part with every ounce OF her
vigorous strength.
There was no lack OF thrills-such as
they were At the same time the play,
although naturalistic in its surfaces, took
its hearers into region OF feelings and
behavior that could have little more IN
innate meaning to them or relation TO
their everyday lives than would the lives
and behavior OF so many sharks or Wild
cats. And alonl side the two principals,
who we're successful most Of the time, at
least. in expressing what they set out 10
express there were a number or other
figures which were not successful at ALL
The result Vas a very curious hodge-
podge. the frequent weakness or ao-
surdity OF which was perhaps as ire
ouentlv forgotten in the sheer force with
which Miss Donnelly and Mr.. Tellegen
TANNED their roles into the spectators
eyes and ears.
The theme OF the play is the struggle
between peasant woman's love ana rev
erence for her dead husband and the over
towering Vaccinations Of another man
The husband has been accused Of muir
der and thrown into prison There he dies
and the second man, handsome devil oil
a fellow, long infatuated with the young
wife. pursues her until at last she sur
renders At the wedding party jealous
sutton succeeds in getting the bridegroom
drunk enough so that he half betrays his
secret-bUt only half.
After the others have gone the WIFE
in a scene whose complete animalism
has rarely been exceeded in our theatre
endeavors to complete by her own attrac-
lions what drunkenness has not quite
succeeded in bringing about. She pre-
tends to give herself completely 10 her
new husband, thus by completely drug
cling his senses completely TO break down
his will. She even goes TO the length OF
CRYING that II she could remove the
memory Of her first husband BY CRUSHING
him in her hand crush him she would.
The delirious bridegroom. conquered al
LAST. confesses that it was he who com
mitted the murder and threw the suspicion
on his rival to get him out OF the way
Whereupon the wife SEXES knife and
plunges :. into his heart.
II is not a very pretty mess. however
looked at At the same time one can
readily see how such piece, played In
its original language and by peasant &c
tors for instance. of type similar &c
the peasants pictured in the play-they
are all laborers IN the vineyards or OF
the public roads, and only Maria Rosa
herself can read or write-might nave
truth and spontaneity which il lacks. oil
course, in its present surroundings N
I Broadway Moreover, there are qualities
Of Imagination in the authors work.
certain sincerity TO what one fancies may
be the emotional workings OF such prlml'
tive creatures as these. which raise much
Of II above the commonplace. There Is
certain savage nobility In Ramon
ruthless fight TO get what he wants
sort OF bestial pathos in the sensua
pleasure he takes I'm seeing Maria Rosa
by the river bank washing his clothes
shaking and caressing them-"as If hf
| himself were inside them Something
OF the same sort is felt when II is learned
/ that the wine on which Ramon is getung
drunk is the wine that the first husband
trod out with his bare feet when he frs
met Maria. 4 nail ran into his foot anC
Maria pulled IL oUt for him. and he went
back TO treading the grapes-his blood
I was mixed with that wine.
Mr.. Tellegen was the only one in the
cast who gave the illusion OF foreign
atmosphere-some OF the American rura
drama Catalonians were about as bad as
! could be. From the moment that he FIRST
strobe on the scene, an extraordinary,
tall. 1.-the. gracefully sinister animal. he
dominated the play-was. indeed, male
siren. who made clear the almost un
csnnv spell in which poor Maria Rosa
presently found herself struggling. Miss
Donnelly showed less hnesse. but verN
genuine melodramatic power. and by
/ sheer physical force and sincerity gen
orally contrlved to hold her own and II
the final scene did even more than That
"Rritannicus." \ Play. in French. b!
lean Racine. The Harris Theatre.
4 Neron. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. NJ, jose kuD,.
Burrhus. ...-..-.'-'' 49,. yer,e,i
1 Narcisso. M. h,nIi 'yi n.i
IiritannicUs. ..-....- -'''' -. s-r,o,
1 I,sri Nine Georgeite Passedoi
| Anime ..............M Mime. Name Dclrane
lie Baiser." Play. in French o'
/ Theodore De Banvihe
| I.e. Fee Urgieie. ....-....-.. Nine. loIsh,
! / ierrot .....................- n Jose fupei
The players OF the French Drama -
ciety are nothing II not versatile. AT ne
Harris Theatre yesterday afternoon
Young NJ. jose Ruben was the Empei OF
! Nero one minute. in Racine's "Britanni
Gus" and the next IA chalk-faced. smiling
Pierrot in lie Baiser' OF Theodore ID