In A Word Mlle Mars
Reigns Unrivalled As The First Comic Actress In Europe.
I have seen too, Les Plaideurs of Racine and Les fourberies de Scapin
of Moliere, both exceedingly well given;
Particularly the scene in the
latter wherein it is announced to Geronte that his son had fallen into the
hands of a Turkish corsair, and his answer "Que diable allait-il faire dans
la galere?"
I have seen also Andromaque, Iphigenie and Zaire. Mlle Volnais did
the part of Andromaque; but the monotonous plaintiveness of her voice,
which never changes, wearies me. In Iphigenie I was more gratified; for
Mlle Georges did the part of Clytemnestre, and her sister, a young girl of
seventeen, made her debut in the part of Iphigenie with great effect. The
two sisters supported each other wonderfully well, and Lafond did Agamemnon
very respectably.
Mlle Georges the younger, having succeeded in Iphigenie, appeared in the
part of Zaire, a bold attempt, and tho' she did it well and with much
grace, yet it was evidently too arduous a task for her. The whole onus of
this affecting piece rests on the role of Zaire. In the part where
naivete was required she succeeded perfectly and her burst: "Mais
Orosmane m'aime et j'ai tout oublie" was most happy; but she was too faint
and betrayed too little emotion in portraying the struggle between her love
for Orosmane and the unsubdued symptoms of attachment to her father and
brother and to the religion of her ancestors. In short, where much passion
and pathos was required, there she proved unequal to the task; but she has
evidently all the qualities and dispositions towards becoming a good
actress, and with more study and practise I have no doubt that three or
four years hence, she will be fully equal to the difficult task of giving
effect to and portraying to life, the exquisitely touching and highly
interesting role of Zaire. She was not called for to appear on the stage
after the termination of the performance, tho' frequently applauded during
it. The actor who did the part of Orosmane, in that scene wherein he
discovers he has killed Zaire unjustly, gave a groan which had an unhappy
effect; it was such an awkward one, that it made all the audience laugh; no
people catch ridicule so soon as the French.
What I principally admire on the French stage is that the actors are always
perfect in their parts and all the characters are well sustained; the
performance never flags for a moment; and I have experienced infinitely
more pleasure in beholding the dramas of Racine and Voltaire than those of
Shakespeare, and for this reason that, on our stage, for one good actor you
have the many who are exceedingly bad and who do not comprehend their
author: you feel consequently a hiatus valde deflendus when the principal
actor or actress are not on the stage. I have been delighted to see Kemble,
and Mrs Siddons and Miss O'Neil, and while they were on the stage I was all
eyes and ears; but the other actors were always so inferior that the
contrast was too obvious and it only served to make more conspicuous the
flagging of interest that pervades the tragedies of Shakespeare, Macbeth
alone perhaps excepted. I speak only of Shakespeare's faults as a
dramaturgus and they are rather the faults of his age than his own; for in
everything else I think him the greatest litterary genius that the world
ever produced, and I place him far above any poet, ancient or modern; yet
in allowing all this, I do not at all wonder that his dramatic pieces do
not in general please foreigners and that they are disgusted with the low
buffoonery, interruption of interest and want of arrangement that ought of
necessity to constitute a drama; for I feel the same objections myself when
reading Shakespeare, and often lose patience; but then when I come to some
sublime passage, I become wrapt up in it alone and totally forget the piece
itself. In order to inspire a foreigner with admiration for Shakespeare, I
would not give him his plays to read entire, but I would present him with a
recueil of the most beautiful passages of that great poet; and I am sure
he would be so delighted with them that he would readily join in the "All
Hail" that the British nation awards him. Thus you may perceive the
distinction I make between the creative genius who designs, and the artist
who fills up the canvas; between the Poet and the Dramaturgus. I am
probably singular in my taste as an Englishman, when I tell you that I
prefer Shakespeare for the closet and Racine or Voltaire or Corneille for
the stage: and with regard to English tragedies, I prefer as an acting
drama Home's Douglas[46] to any of Shakespeare's, Macbeth alone
excepted; and for this plain reason that the interest in Douglas never
flags, nor is diverted.
In giving my mite of admiration to the French stage, I am fully aware of
its faults, of the long declamation and the fade galanterie that
prevailed before Voltaire made the grand reform in that particular: and on
this account I prefer Voltaire as a tragedian to Racine and Corneille. The
Phedre and Athalie of Racine are certainly masterpieces, and little
inferior to them are Iphigenie, Andromaque and Britannicus, but in the
others I think he must be pronounced inferior to Voltaire; as a proof of my
argument I need only cite Zaire, Alzire, Mahomet, Semiramis, l'Orphelin de
la Chine, Brutus. Voltaire has, I think, united in his dramatic writings
the beauties of Corneille, Racine and Crebillon and has avoided their
faults; this however is not, I believe, the opinion of the French in
general, but I follow my own judgment in affairs of taste, and if anything
pleases me I wait not to ascertain whether the "master hath said so."
It shows a delicate attention on the part of the directors of the Theatre
Francais, now that so many foreigners of all nations are here, to cause to
be represented every night the masterpieces of the French classical
dramatic authors, since these are pieces that every foreigner of education
has read and admired; and he would much rather go to see acted a play with
which he was thoroughly acquainted than a new piece of one which he has not
read; for as the recitation is extremely rapid it would not be so easy for
him to seize and follow it without previous reading.
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