Loyola University Maryland - Evergreen / Green and Gray Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

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THE REVEREND W. G. READ MULLAN, SJ. President of Loyola College.

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THE LOYOLA ANNUAL 3 fusion will reign and much of the effect of the comedy of the play will be destroyed. But identical as the “ Dromios ” are personally, in Mr. James’ clever handling, “ the merry, prank- ish, agile Dromio of Syracuse was an altogether different fellow from the “ slow, heavy and matter-of-fact Dromio of Ephesus.” The humor, too, of each character is distinctive, each within its own flavor and each within its own proper sphere. As ‘‘ Shylock ” in “The Merchant of Venice,” Mr. James presents a picture of a simple, but dignified man, whose anger is aroused by the jeers of a taunting, antagonistic race, and by the filial ingratitude of the unfeeling “ Jessica.” What is strikingly noticeable in his “ Merchant of Venice,” and what most modern actors are wanting in, is clear enunciation. As Mr. James is the only Shakespearean comedian of note, as we have remarked, since the days of James H. Hackett, so Mr. Mantell is the only really great American tragedian since the days of the immortalized Edwin Booth. Mr. Mantell is, indeed, a genius among geniuses, a man among men, an actor among actors, a gentleman among gentlemen. In “ King Lear ” Mr. Mantell attains the height of dram- atic art. “ King Lear ” is his most perfect effort. In this part he is without equal or rival. He is transformed into a feeble old man, still retaining, however, an air of loyalty. His gestic- ulations were not of the violent sort, and his starts were not sudden ; his movements were slow and languid. In every fea- ture of his face misery was depicted ; he moved his head in the most deliberate manner. His facial expressions were harbin- gers, as it were, of what he was going to say. “ King Lear ” is not a popular play with the actor, nor with the multitude, because “ the young,’ says Mr. James H. Hackett, “ who constitute the great majority of playgoers, are too inexperienced to comprehend the dotage of the aged and tender father, and to sympathize with his consequent afflic-