er Fruene Kakadu
9. 3 und un eenn en en uen un
box 15/3
Drteeit iner
The Eveni
—
——
SEIEN PAALE
Mrs. Fiske Misses
the Child Spirit
of" Hannele
100
—
C
EY CHARLES DARNTON
PIIILE ang one who es the best interests öf the stage at heart must
W sempathize with the earnest, and usually brilliant, efforts of Mrs. Fiske,
the regrettable fact remains that Hauptmann’s“ Hannele“ could not make
her a child agaln just for last night.
A frankly disappolnted andience was left to grope its way through..the
so-called “dream póem'' at the Lyeeum Theatre not only because the stage man¬
agement failed to lend a helping hand at times but because Mrs, Fiskd did not
bring out the shining spirit of the child and the Manhattan company generally
seemed to be completely in the dark.
The performance was fairly anroüded
in Catmosphiere“ that began with & pré¬
lude by the orchestra which was car¬
ried to such lengths that thesaudience
lost its patience and its manners before
the music had run its course.
The pity that the play awakens as
you read it was not felt when Hannele
was carried into 'the almshouse and
placed on her deathbed läst miglt. In
□
her first half-frightened utterances Mrs.
Fiske, turning on her pillow, micht
have been a child for all oné co
or hear, but her erles of terron
apparition of the brutal stepfathe
the cries of a woman. Still the
obstacle was not the real stun
block in Mrs. Fieke’s way. It was the
spiritual side of the role thät she was
unable to reallze. This was all the
more surprising for the resson that she
probably Chose che play out of aym¬
pathy with its protest against crüelty
to children quite as much as for its
poetry.
Whecher dreamns and vislons ean bei
sllown on the stage withouft sacrfflcing
much of the poetry and even mnore 6f
Sas aas
the elusive quality is a questtön that
remalned in the balance läst nighit.
Mra. Fleke as Hannele.
This sordid, pitiful tale of the poor,
starved beggar child that tries to com¬
mit suleide to escape thé brutallty of
a drunken stepfather is so tinged with the superhuman that it is difficult te
mäke it objective. The play shows Hauptmenn both as a realist and a symbollst,
and the dellrious visions of the dying child, the confused medley in which her
dréams of er dead mother and the heaven to ghich she is longing to go are
mingled with terror when she Imagines she secs or hears her stepfather, make
theacting, as well as the stage mänagement, an unusually difticuit task.
It was imposslblé, of course, for Mrs. Fiske to look or speak like a child
of fourteen. Miss Mäbel Tallaferro is
the öne woman on dur stage who Is
physically Sulted to the role. The note
of quivering fear was missing in Mrs.
Fiske’s first ery, “I am afrald!“ and,
whlle thé later feverish exclämations
were caught with more trüthfulness,
she never really touched theiheart. One
merely felt cold when Hanttele was
placed in her crystal coffin äfter the
coming of the Angel öf Death. The
angels of light made the shining stalr¬
way to heaven a beautlful pieture and
Elled us with a spirlt of forgiveness for
the sins of some of the actore.
The almshouse crew wüs not only
artifcial, but almost unintelliglble. As
31
Sister Martha, however, Miss Allce John
Gg
gave a beautiful performance. Hol¬
brook Blinn, as tlie schoolmaster who
#eccmes morged into The Stranger, was
disappolnting. He was neither as awe.
nspiring ner as gentle and tender as
###e character requires.
InThe Green Cockatoo,“ however,
an abbeared to much better ad¬
9. 3 und un eenn en en uen un
box 15/3
Drteeit iner
The Eveni
—
——
SEIEN PAALE
Mrs. Fiske Misses
the Child Spirit
of" Hannele
100
—
C
EY CHARLES DARNTON
PIIILE ang one who es the best interests öf the stage at heart must
W sempathize with the earnest, and usually brilliant, efforts of Mrs. Fiske,
the regrettable fact remains that Hauptmann’s“ Hannele“ could not make
her a child agaln just for last night.
A frankly disappolnted andience was left to grope its way through..the
so-called “dream póem'' at the Lyeeum Theatre not only because the stage man¬
agement failed to lend a helping hand at times but because Mrs, Fiskd did not
bring out the shining spirit of the child and the Manhattan company generally
seemed to be completely in the dark.
The performance was fairly anroüded
in Catmosphiere“ that began with & pré¬
lude by the orchestra which was car¬
ried to such lengths that thesaudience
lost its patience and its manners before
the music had run its course.
The pity that the play awakens as
you read it was not felt when Hannele
was carried into 'the almshouse and
placed on her deathbed läst miglt. In
□
her first half-frightened utterances Mrs.
Fiske, turning on her pillow, micht
have been a child for all oné co
or hear, but her erles of terron
apparition of the brutal stepfathe
the cries of a woman. Still the
obstacle was not the real stun
block in Mrs. Fieke’s way. It was the
spiritual side of the role thät she was
unable to reallze. This was all the
more surprising for the resson that she
probably Chose che play out of aym¬
pathy with its protest against crüelty
to children quite as much as for its
poetry.
Whecher dreamns and vislons ean bei
sllown on the stage withouft sacrfflcing
much of the poetry and even mnore 6f
Sas aas
the elusive quality is a questtön that
remalned in the balance läst nighit.
Mra. Fleke as Hannele.
This sordid, pitiful tale of the poor,
starved beggar child that tries to com¬
mit suleide to escape thé brutallty of
a drunken stepfather is so tinged with the superhuman that it is difficult te
mäke it objective. The play shows Hauptmenn both as a realist and a symbollst,
and the dellrious visions of the dying child, the confused medley in which her
dréams of er dead mother and the heaven to ghich she is longing to go are
mingled with terror when she Imagines she secs or hears her stepfather, make
theacting, as well as the stage mänagement, an unusually difticuit task.
It was imposslblé, of course, for Mrs. Fiske to look or speak like a child
of fourteen. Miss Mäbel Tallaferro is
the öne woman on dur stage who Is
physically Sulted to the role. The note
of quivering fear was missing in Mrs.
Fiske’s first ery, “I am afrald!“ and,
whlle thé later feverish exclämations
were caught with more trüthfulness,
she never really touched theiheart. One
merely felt cold when Hanttele was
placed in her crystal coffin äfter the
coming of the Angel öf Death. The
angels of light made the shining stalr¬
way to heaven a beautlful pieture and
Elled us with a spirlt of forgiveness for
the sins of some of the actore.
The almshouse crew wüs not only
artifcial, but almost unintelliglble. As
31
Sister Martha, however, Miss Allce John
Gg
gave a beautiful performance. Hol¬
brook Blinn, as tlie schoolmaster who
#eccmes morged into The Stranger, was
disappolnting. He was neither as awe.
nspiring ner as gentle and tender as
###e character requires.
InThe Green Cockatoo,“ however,
an abbeared to much better ad¬