uene Kakadu
Der
9. 3. e
box 15/3
Hannele the spectaclo of seeing her
playing a 12-year-old child was al¬
most too severe a strain upon the
imagiration. In the dim half light of
the beggar’s den, lying on the cot bed,
carefully draped with her rags and the
blanket, Mrs. Fiske’s volce carriedthe röle
for a single scene, but oven here vocally
her performance was by no mears
childish. Later, when in the courée of her
dreams she assumes the white celestial
robes of Hannele and prepares to onter
her golden coffin, and later,wiien with the
caleiums blazing full upon her she pre¬
pares to mount the golden etairs, she
reminded you only of a partiouluriy
buxom and precoclous little Fsa, who
was not by any mears so little at that.
After all, it is only a step from
the sublime to the Uncle Tom’s Cabin
point of view and last night the light
effects were in nearly every instance
pointed so high that all illusion was lest.
Never from an electrical and mechanical
point of view has" Hannole“ beon so
elaborately monnted, but never before
have we seen a performance of it which
carried so little conviction. Forthis, it is
true, the overlighting was partly to blame,
but at the saie time Mrs. Fiske's own
portrayal was most serlouely at fault.
Throughout there was an overolaboration
which seriously hurt the play.
sa matter of fact, Hannele“ is a
play to be read rather sthan acted. It
deals with such sacred and celestial things
that no stage management in the world
can present it fittingly; besides, the pres¬
ence of the figure of the Saviour on the
stage in the full glare of the lime¬
light is just as objectionable to many
thorisands of theatregoers as it was
It’s all very well to say that this figure is
merely Hannele’s friend, Dr. Gottwald,
glorified by the child’s fervid imagination,
but the intent and the result is to present
an actual figure of the Christ. Goltiald
is, of course, the most importänt röle
in Hannele, and here again thère was a
disappointment in Mr. Holbrook Blinn's
Intorpretation of it. That wonderful
speech in the second scene he rendered
in a monotonous way, which had no real
trace of tenderness. Miss Alice John
played the nun beautifully, and Wilfred
Buckland’s makeup as the Tall Dark
Angel was eingulorly impressive. But
or
hat there was not one moment
vhen the play really caught and held
may be as à poôtio
Grea
65
not belong by rights in
it
endid répertoire.
Irs. Fisk
B
le“ began the house was
plunged into darkness, and for what
seemed
least ten minutes the andi¬
ence had to listen to a dirge-like over¬
ture. The effect was „maddening. For
a few minutes, Tthe people that in dark¬
ness sat' behaved becomingly. Then
from all parts of the house came bursts
of impatient applause. But stillthe agony
Ipiled on. If that curtain had remained
(down another half minute there would
have been bursts of hysterical laughter.
which would have ruined the play. Even
in a Hauptmann drama there is such a
thing as exceeding the agony limite.
Mrs. Fiske, for subsequent performances.
will be wise to cut that overture.
The curtain raiser, The Green Cooka¬
too,“ seomed a great deal of fuss about
nothing. Its costumes were elaboräte
and its cast was as long as your arm, but
there was not a single character which
stood out from the others to any remark¬
able extent, and for half an hour the play
1proved a powerful bore. There wan
action in the last three minutes of it but
not enough to make it in any way dsuccess.
Mr. Blinn, Mr. Mackay and Miss John
were the only acters who bad a chance to
Istand out as individuals. Unless it han
ja remarkably powerful story, there is
Inothing on earth can prove more boring
than one of these elaborately costumed
Revolutionary plays. The Green Cook¬
atoo,’ we take it, is no relation to Chan¬
Acrox Daviss.
teoler.“