The National Register. — London, England, 1816-01-07 00:00:00

JAN. 7. TILE DRAMATIC REGISTER. DRU RY-LANE. Mrs. BARNES, in Desdeniona ; KEAN, in Othello; a PITEMPIPE, recommended for the use of scenic VIRAGOES. _ _ THE Debutante oflast week, lies. Mraes, made a second trial of her skill in the character of Desdemona on Friday night. She is a very small figure ; and, though not beautiful, seems well calcu lated for the younger characters of the drama, which require the skill of a well practised performer. Her voice is clear and forci ble ; but not deep enough to give effect to th , a sublimer efforts of the art. Des'itvrtana, sweet and amiable as she is depicted by the Poet, otters littje occasion for the exhibition of great powers. It is a character in which not many entirely fail ; and they who have surpassed others, arc more indebted to nature than to art. The late !lirs. Pope, fornvrly Mrs. Spencer, was every thing which could be desired in this part ; and possessed, even in the full ma turity of her talents, a youthful figure, which suited admirably with the •leseriptien given by the Poet. Mrs. Bartley must be ad mitted to act well, but she looks to.) much of a matron ; and in this respect, Mrs. Barnes has the advaatage, merely from her size, which is also well suite,) to that of Mr. Kean, who is himself so diminutive, as to have given to strangers, on his first appearance, the semblance of a female in neas apparel. In Flores, and In Othello,. this mistake has been made by two ladies within the last ten days. If Mrs. Barnes continues to play with him, he will not now have die aws ward appearance of bullying a woman who seems capable of put ing ban in her pocket, which, were he acting with Mrs. Powell or Mrs. Siddons, as the D-sdemona, would appear probable. On the whole, we think the performance of Iles. Burnes was successful ; and to in ke a new claim on the public fur the higher department of Tragedy, after Miss O'Nein's extraordinary success, is an arduous attem i it. She who does not wholly fail may congratulate herself on a comparative triumph. Having aientioned Mr. Kean's name, coupled with his ma re markable defeat, we must in justice repeat, what all must feel, that he is a little actor only in point of size. In every thing else which contributes to histrionic deception, he is all that the greatest Poet could desire in depicting the finest character that the Muse of Tragedy has yet deigned to offer us. We overlook, in the strong bursts of passion which every sentence gives vent to, all that rug gedness of voice, which, in other parts, constitutes his only other defect. tie is, to our apprehension, the very Othello of the Poet. Whatever may be thought of his Richard, by those who have seen Cooke, we are convinced that Othello is at present the tlasterpiece of Air. Kean and we must add, of the tragic art in recent times. in Othello, the Muse of Shakspeare has -wrought the passion of Jealousy to its highest pitch. Mr. Bean's great excellence is in the delineation of strong passim of the very highest tone, of the most violent excesses of anger, rage, and jealousy ; and the "Teat advantage of Othello to Mr. Kean is, that here the Poet and the Actor play up to each other. We shall take an opportunity of illustrating the histrionic art by a critical esamination of 1:r. Kean in all his principal characters, and for the present must dismiss him with an unqualified appro bation of his Mr. Pope played lap in his usual manner, and perhaps is the best auxiliary that could be found to Mr. Kean; its an old servant of the public he has our respect, but never rose very high in estima tion as an actor. We liked him best in Othello, when Cooke played Lugo. Glover performed her part after the manner of Mrs. Litch field; that is, with a ehemence which to our ear destroys the true effect of passion ; and we must intreat her not to bawl with such outrageous vehemence when she calls for whips in every hand tolash the rascal naked through the world. The violence of Othello seems to have inspired her with a passion of rivalry in noise and fury; hat she shook) consider that the feelings of a waiting-woman are not correspondtat with the downright madness of a jealous hus bind, and that a gra . ,:t and subdued indignation comports better with the character Ora spectator ()tithe scene, even when the hus band is guilty of los most anseemly outrages. There is besides one obServation which v.T . 'enti.eilt her to bear constantly in mind : the female vaice, when raised above its pitch, is the most discord ant of all instruments. To prosOke Heidegger, it is said that a wag put all the fiddles of an Orchestra out of tune ; and the crash of the opening, when Gesso the second arrived at the entertainment, made the musicians stamp with rage, 'We think' it right easily he Sur posed by three scolds in the tone of sack Eta/Ur/sits We have lately seen; and in - the present instance the high voicCof Mrs.Gtora is so mach niche apt - to break than the fullest tones of' Mrs. Litchfield* that a cautionary pitcippipc in the Orchestra is we think absolutely - • 83P necessary to save the ears of the audience. In all else, Itirs.Glur.-r is rather a favourite actress, and looks so well, that we regret the more that our cars are disgusted, when our eyes arc in same de gree delighted. It must not be forgotten, that with all the tempta tion which Mrs. Burnes had from the applause of the galleries ou misplaced rant, she pursued her task with sound judgment at leas, a.►d never ontstepped the modesty of Nature. This is an aus picious omen, and we hail it with pleasure. On Wednesday night Mrs. Centlivt•e's bustlim comedy of The Busy Body was revived at this Theatre, fur the purpose of Mrs. Mardyn's assuming the character of Miranda. Generally speaking,. we certainly grntly admire this Lad . ) ; but we must acknowledge our expectations were considerably disappointed : her effort was by no means a happy one : she failel, if her performance be taken as a whole, personating the elegant, fashionable, and accom plished Miranda; though Fume parts of her performance, partici"- iarly in her interview with Sir George Airy, in the Park. and he pe►suading her Guardian of her affection for him, anti obtaining his written consent to her netrria!re, she showed considerable talent" The dumb scene with .sir George W 43 also conducted with a naivete deserving the :►pplausc slie received. In short, though there was somewhat to blame iu her performance, yet there was also much to praise. Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, transformed into an Opera, is about to be produced, with great splendour, at Covent garden Theatre. The parts of Helen and Hermia, with songs, will be sustained by Miss Stephens and Miss Foote ; and that of the little fairy Puck, or Robin Goodicliow, that " merry wanderer of the night." will find an admirable representative in the arch, play ful, and lively Miss S. Booth ; Conway is the Theseus; and Listua will perform the character of Bottom. We are sorry to announce the indisposition of Miss O'Netet., She was unable, in consequence of severe illness, to sustain the part of Juliet on Monday evening, which was performed, at a very short notice, by Miss S. Booth, who was received by the audience with great kindness, and sustained the character in a style that ex.- • cited uniform and well-deserved applause. A new Opera, front the pen of a celebrated Scotch Auth has been accepted at Covent-gat den Thuat- e. The Chester Theatre closed last week for the season. At the conclusion of the play. the Manager, Mr. Crisp, came for ward, and, in a long Address, after thankiug the audience for that support which he had received, gently complained, dirt the receipts of the house had not met the ex pences ; hinting at the same time, that the exclusion of Ladies of a certain description from the Theatre, in compliance with the wishes of the town. was the probable cause; and concluding with a hope, that a future season would indemnity him for his loss. A Mr. Kerr, of Ohio,cautioning the Public against trespassin; on his lands, concludes with saying" Let no one avail him self of my personal friendship! the first alli:ace Will place my best friend on the tooting of the orchard, sheep-fold, and corn field robber! the next will lay him liable to be treated ai 1 treat rambling dogs !"---( Rhode Island American.) A German being asked how old he was, replied—" Sir, I an di r ty, an d m y wife is drrtit too V' Two miserable caricatures arc circulated in Paris : the one slims the king sound asleep in his coach, De Richelieu is driving with the roast iialioool whip in his hand, while the horses, repre senting the rest of the Ministers, are kicking and pulling in all directions. The other caricature exhibits M. de Lavaleite in a sedan chair, Barbe Marbois acting as chairman, and De Cazes, the Minister of Police, is guidiag them with a torch. The wags of Paris call Lavalette's escape, La-Vedette; Anglice, the farewell. A soldier went into a shop at Brighton to purchase some trifling article, and observing some red het rings lying on the counter, asked what they were. To which the shopkeeper ie. plied, .• Soldiers, my friend !" ".Are they so ?" rejoined the son of Mars ; then take them as deserters," and walked off with his prisoners, to the great amusement of the witty dealer. A labourer in Woolwich dock-yard, a few days ago, for s trifling wager of ss. actually devoured a live rat, skin, bones, and all.—Upon this ferocious exploit being communicated to his employers, he was immediately discharged film his situation, as a disgiacc to his fellow-labourers. THE NATIONAL RECTSTER.