TWO GREAT SPANISH ACTORS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2529, 3 September 1902, Page 66

TWO GREAT SPANISH ACTORS.

(Elizabeth vox Hetkixg, in the Critic,

More than three ce-ituries ago. men of all kinds began sailing from Spanish ports to the chores of the distant country which they called New Spain. Warriors they were, priests and ait>*ts, sometimes ail three combined, for in those days of the Renaissance it seemed as if human nature had acquired a degree of vitality unknown btfore or ever after, a many-sidedness which makes the life of one man appeal- like that of several. They brought with them their magnificent language, which sounds like the tolling of bells; their «ident faith, their high ideals of chivalry and patriotism, their art, which has created some of the world's grandest works — they were like rich bridegrooms who endow the biide with many gifts. Churches, palaces, benevolent institutions, ihe fiist theatres and the first seminaries founded m the New World still speak of them. But they themselves have long passed away, and that wonderful over-production of valour and intellect, which found home too small, and, overflowing, created worlds across the seas, has ceased. Conqinstadores no longer sail over the ocean, monks no longer build eloisteis on Mexican .«hor?s, the poetical ties that or.cc united the two countries aie se\cierl. Yet there exists a link, a budge that crosses the water — it i» built by the common language, by the woikn of Spanish literature, and ever will those be welcome who in this young country, where matenal interests necessarily predominate, interpiet those works and recall f or a biief evening tiaditions, ideals, and greatness of longgone time«.

Celebrated interpreter* of Spanish drama have lately come over to Mexico. The great actress Maria Gueric-ro is here, she who is called the Spanish Sarah and Spanish Duse, and who combines the great art and power of the one with_ the simplicity and truthfulness to nature of the other, adding ihe charm of her own southern beauty. The great merit of Maria Guerrero consists, in her perfect good tpste; never will she condescend to exaggerations in order to obtain mere effect, and iv whatever part she appears you gain the impression that, as she represents it and thus only did the author conceive the role. She is perfectly lifelike, and even when she represents woiks of the classical Spanish repertoire, whose subjects are foreign to our modern woild. she i% always convincing and ahvuyg creates realities.

With Maria Guerrero lias come her husband, Don Fernando Diaz dc Mendoza, a first-class actor and a man with an inteic-t-mg history. He is the eldes-t son of the Count of Lalaing and Balazote, Marquis of Fontanar, twice Grandej of .Spain. As a ycung man, Don FeU. ando was one of the host brilliant leaders oi ike golden youth

of Madrid In those days (1887) one of the social centres at Madrid was the house of the Duchess de la Torre, the wife of Marshall Serrano, who has been Regent of Spain from the expulsion of Queen Isabella II to the elect-ion of King Ainadeo. Thp Duchess had organised in her palace at Madrid a stage for amateurs, and particularly for her young daughter Ventura, in whose honour it was called Teatro Ventura. There the young people of the highest society met and acted, and amongst them was Don Fernando, who ff e great talent at once attracted general attention. Together with Donna Ventura he gave that charming comedy of the seventeenth centuiy, "El Vergonzoso en Palacio" ("The Bashful Youth in the Palace"), where the heroine, in older to encourage her timid lover, pretends- to be asleep and in her dream discloses her love for him. Play tinned into reality. Don Fernando .nirl Donna Ventura were married, but then- happiness lasted only a shotl time, and he w^ soon lef; ;■, widow er.

Alone, sad, and hrvinq; lo c t his fiitune. Don Fernando hud to think of working for , a living. His thoughts turned at once to the the itre, where, aa an amateur, he had been so much applauded He made his debut on the Teatro Espanol, which is the equivalent in the Spanish capital of the Comedio Franchise at Pari>. nnd he became ;. professional net or. Then he /net ths greatest Spanish actress, Maria Gueirero, justly celebrated for her genius, her beauty, and her womanly virtue*. H? fell in love with her and married her. Maria Guer-it-ro, by the l.uik of lu-r husband, became an "Excellency" ; he. by the advices of his wife, an excellent acton His acting is full of passion and suength, built up on the courtly manners and tjood breeding of a grand seigneur of (■ mi, that home of chivalry. Since their marriage Maria Guerrero and Fernando Mendoza have ) besn acting together in Spain and at Paris-. ' where their company was christened "Le Theatre dcs Hidalgos," and they have undertaken tours to Havana and to the Spanish-speaking Republics of America. On al' th-?se journeys the> are accompanied by their two little sons, and amid their trunks and box^s, theii rehearsals, and their hard work, they lead an ideally happy fnmilv life.