Douglas daily dispatch., 1927-01-08

insula, and many times a grandee cf
Spain, who has put aside his family
titles to develop himself in life
of art upon the stage, which is
acclaimed as a revelation of genius
as fine as it is superb. remarkable
supporting company, representing the
finest that Spain can offer to inter-
| pret the best of it's dramatists, COM
bined throughout the week in pre-
| sentations that must cause ANY Amer
/ lean thinker, who still takes the
trouble to consider the matters pre-
sented by our own playwrights,
considerable chagrin at the deplorable
contrast we make in comparison with
this Spanish theater.
The entrance of Maria Guerrero on
the American stage was made in a
scene, marvellous in it's ferocious
power, enacted on a darkened stage
and received with clamorous ap-
plause which told this great actress
that amoung our public, at least, art
and genius are welcomed and honored
to the full.
Our press, in general, reflected the
half conscious embarrassment Of It's
! untitled critics; it spoke of Sonora
/ Guerrero's great voice, and histrionic
sureness, but carefully avoided any
! reference to the peculiar genre of
the, drama she was presenting, to the
| fact that Dona Maria la Bravo repre-
sented the old theater as we'll as the
! new, and that the English speaking
| stage should confess a vast falling
/ off from it's older traditions and
recognize the strength and validity
| of the national stage that refused
to surrender to modern fripperies.
On May 18, Sonora Guerrero an
swered these critical asides in a
presentation of La Malquerida, the
masterpiece of, that distinguished
man of -the-theater, Benevente, known
| to many theatergoers in America
through the production of "The Pas
sion Flower" in which Miss Nance
O'Neill played production which,
while it revealed some of the greatest
/ tragic acting that America has seen
in recent years, showed a strange
lack of sense of the real, domestic
and racial qualities which Benevente
prepared as the proper setting for his
domestic tragedy. In this latter
phase of La Malquerida, Sonora
Guerrero revealed the character Of
her ripe and marvellous art. The
fiery queen of the night before be-
came the subIimated peasant house
wife with a revelation, studied but
never meticulous, of the character of
the Spanish country woman, who
believed in honor and family decency
until, in outraged frenzy at the dis
covery Of her husbands falseness and
weakness, she heaps ruin ON his head
BY killing herself. Here was a story
and an art that even the New York
critics could not gainsay. Maria
Guerrero had showed them two sides
of her unmistakable genius, and for
all their limitations, their theatrical
bias. and Broadways affiliations, they
were swept down by the popular
acclaim and drawn into the Will of
applause. F' v~q
on Wednesday evening, in La
Locura de Amor, Sonora Guerrero
returned to the historical drama in
presenting the story of the mad
queen, Juana, daughter of Ferdinand
and Isabel. and the tragedy that de-
veloped her manias into the fianl
loss Of her mind. Here the Spanish
actress revealed herself at the height
of her powers, and her company gave
a spirited support in character acting,
nobly exemplified in Diaz de Mendoza's
impersonation of the tickle archduke,
as well as in mastery strokesi IN
the humorous scenes by the rest OF
the company which brought sign
to the older persons in the audience,
who could recall the days of Augustin
DAILY, the genius Of the Booths, Nc
Cullough, Ada Rehans Janvschek, the
endans, Henry Irving and the ira
dftion before them of the Kembles
and Sidons of remote years.
1t is a pleasure to record the
triumphs Sonora Guerrero has re-
ceived during her long career-all
Spain, it's royalty, nobility, it's popu-
lation, rich and poor, has laid its
greatest tributes at her feet-herj
name is a word of glory throughout
South America, Germany and France,
and her fame in the International
theater shines equal with that of
Rachel and Bernhardt, with Siddons
and Duso. Personally and privately
the life of Sonora Guerrero has been
admirable to an equal degree. She
sin the tradition of our own Char
lotte Melmoth, the first English
American tragedenne as we'll as the
direct descendent of the 18th century
actress Maria de Riquelme, the
sainted genius of Madrid, who blushed
and wept in natural consonance with
the characters she impersonated, and
whose tomb, where she is lying
incorrupt, is still venerated by the
people of Spain.
The theatergoers of New York
earnestly desire the return to thei1,
boards of Sonora Guerrero and her
remarkable company of actors; several
playgoers expressed a hope to see her
undertake the role of Lady Macbeth,
which has not fallen into capable
hands since the days of Mrs. Siddons.
It would be compliment to our
national theater if Sonora Guerrero
could come again and respond to this
wish. We do not know if she has
essayed this role in Spanish, but
it seems a character proportioned
beautifully to her powers and worthy
of the fine. and powerful delivery
which she holds in such complete