Life — April 26, 1894 — page 15: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

= RE? going to turn out” is the principal element in its success, This quality ‘‘ Margaret Fleming ” possesses toa marked degree and the spectator’s attention is firmly held through five acts entirely devoid of the usual dramatic methods of keeping the fancy excited. Attimes the spectator is apt to feel the same impa- tience of detail which one experiences at a stage pro- duction of one of Ibsen's plays, but the interest soon quickens again. If we accept Charles Reade's definition of genius, “WAIT TILL YE SEE ME KNOCK THE ROCK OUT OF THAT DAGO'S HAND.” “CASSIDY LEAVES THE FOORCE TO-MORRER. HE DO THAT.” that it is “the capacity for taking infinite pains,” we must credit the author of “ Margaret Fleming,” Mr. James A. Herne, with the rare distinction of being a dramatic genius. ‘The play is a mosaic of many little things, the fruit of much close observation and of devoted labor. The play calls for little in the way of scenic effect, but the cast is admirable. Mrs. Herne, who has the title part, realizes it per- fectly and carries with her the sympathy and admiration of the audience from beginning to end. Mr. Richman's Joseph Fleming, the recreant husband, has less to commend it. It is overburdened with the same defect which marks Mr. Herne’s own acting in “ Shore Acres "—long waits in which the patience of the audience is wearied by the efforts of the actor to express emotion by the sole aid of facial muscles, Miss Maud Banks renders excellently the part of Marza Bindley, a stolid servant bearing in her bosom a glowing coal of resentment and revenge, which at the vital moment bursts into a flame of passionate action, Mr. F. F. Mackay, who, it seems to us, never did anything badly in his artistic career, has the congenial part of the old family physician and friend, The other parts are unimportant but all are well done. On the whole, “Margaret Fleming” is a strong play, well staged and well acted, It is certainly worth seeing, even by the most jaded theatre-goer. Metcalfe, A FINE SENSE OF HUMOR. H : Miss Swansdown uses such queer comparisons, Speak- ing of you, she said your pedigree was as long as the tail of your favorite cat ? SHE: She has a certain sense of humor also. The only cat I possess came from the Isle of Man. : “HAE you ever read ‘The Bright Side of Suffering?’” No. Who wrote it?” “TI don't know, Some doctor, I imagine.”