Faksimile

Text

Fruene Kakadu
9.3. Der
a — A. K ene en une en e enen unn enen ene e
Mrs. Fiske Revives
Hannele“ at the Lyceum.
The revival of Gerhardt Hauptmann’s
THannele.“ ab ihe Lyccum Theatre, last
Thieht, was witnessed by a large audience.
Hannele“ is a pathetic and touching
dream lay, blending the fanciful, the
realistie and the spiritual, and written in
terms of symbolism which ortray the
pitiful and’sometünes beautifül halluela¬
tions of a dring child. The character of
Hannele is a peculiar one for Mrs. Fiske
to undertake, but she succeeded in mak¬
ing it highiy impressive.
box 15/3
u umgr Vor E Saite Aenhinr.
17- Andiate.
The Eveni

NEWPLAY
Mrs. Fiske Misses
the Child Spirit
0
of“ Hannele“
S

5
SNNN
BYEHARLES DARNTÖN.
FHIIE any one who has the best interests of the stagé at héart must
sympathize with the earnest, and usually brilliant, efforts of Mrs. Fiske,
W tlic regrettabie fact remains that Hauptmann's“ Hannele“ could Hot make
ier à child again Just for last night.
A franklg disappeinted audience was left to grope its way through the
lo-called “dream poemn“ at the Lyceum Theatre not only because the stäge manss#
igement failed to lend a helping hand at times but because Mrs. Fiské did not
ring out the shining spirit of the child and the Manhattan company generally
seemed to be coinpletely in the dark.
The performance was falrly shrouded
in abmosphiere“ that begän with a pre¬
lude by the orchesträ which was cär¬
ried to such lengths that the audience
lost its patience and its manners beföre
the music had run its course.
The pity that the play awakens as
vou read it was not felt wihen Hannele
was carried into the almshouse and
placed on her deathbed last night: In
her first half-frightened utterances Mrs.
Fiske, türnltig oncher pillow, might
have been a child for all one oauld séee
or hear, but her eries of terror ät the
apparition of the brutal stepfather were
the cries of à woman. Still thé physical
obstacle was not the real stumbling
block in Mrs. Faske's way. It was ihe
spiritual side of the rolé that she was
unable to reallze. This was all the
möre surprising for the resson that she
probably chose thé pläy dut of Sym¬
pathy with its protest ägainst cruelty
to children qulte sas much as for1t
poetry.
Whether dreams and visions can be
shonen on the stage without sacrificing
much ef the poetry and even möfé of
638= auas
the elusive quality is à questlön thät
rémained in the balänce last niglit:
Mrs. Fiske as Hannele.
This sordid, pitiful täle of the pöor.
stärved beggar child that tries to com¬
mit suielde to escape the brutallty of
a drunken stepfather is so tinged with the superhuman that it is difficult to
make it objective. Thé play shows Hauptmann bothas a realist and a symbollst,
and the delirlous visions of the dying child, thé confused medley in which her
dreams of her dead möther and the héaven to which shé is longing to go are
mingled with terror when she imagines slie sces or hears her stepfäther, maké
the acting, As well as the stage mallagemenit, an unusually difficült täsk.
It was imposslble, of course, for Mrs. Fiske to look ör speäk like a child
of fourteen. Miss Mabel Taliaferro is
che one woran on our stage who is
physieally aufted to the role. The noté
of quivering fear was missing in Mrs.
Fiske's first ery,“I am afraid!“ and,
while the later feverish exclamations
were cauglit with more truthfulness,
she never really touched the heart. One
merely felt cold when Hannele was
placed in her erystal coffin äfter the
coming of the Angel of Death. The
angels of light made che shining stair¬
way to heaven a beautiful pleture and
flled us with a spirit of forgiveness for
###he sins of some of the actors.
The almshouse crew was not önly
47
##fcial, but almost unintelligible. As
5
7 0
#ister Martha, however, Miss Allce John
C 9—
auve a bcautiful performance. Hol¬
brook Blinn, as the schoolmaster who
###romes merged into The Stranger, was