The National Register.
London, England, 1815-05-28 00:00:00

TTIE NATPONAL REGISTER:

DRURY LANE.

On Wednesday, Mr. Kean, played for his benefit, Zan ow,
in Dr. Young's Tragedy of the Rt%•enge, and on Friday we
had the good fortune to witness his repetition of the cha-
I

It is impossible not to consider this play as a duplicate of
Othello. Jn both, the catastrophe is founded upon the mis-
taken j, alousv of a noble-hearted but credulous soldier—in
both the suspicions ate conceived of a wife entirely his, and
with whom he has but recently been united—in both their
stiliicions are ini.tigated by a dependant loaded with his
layouts and on whom he thinks he can entirely rely; and if
in one, he attempts Ow life of his ft lend, and takes that of
his wife, in the other, he t .kes his wife's, and attempts that of
his ft lend- In each too the hero is a Moor, although 'placed,
it is true, in a ditnient situation in the two plays• as in one

`MAY QS.

he is the victim, which in the other he snakes. Zamiza, in.
deed, seems a compound bull of Uthello and /ergo, uniting to
the ardent and noble mottle of :he furmer, and the thirst fnr
revenge of the latter. Even in the conduct of the plot the
similarity continues to exist, and more particularly in the
means by which the jealousy of the abused husband Is named.
In short it is no injustice to the author of the Night Vioughts
to say, that whatever merit his Tragedy may have he owes to
Shakespear, and that then only he fads where Le could not
imitate him—in the beauty of his sentiment and tire sweet.
ness of his lines.

Although in appearing in r'anga, Mr. Kean has not stepped
out of his proper line ; it is not a part which, like Nhyluck
and lap, offer the advantage of possessing no other ade-
quate representative. In this charatter Mr. Kethl,le and Mi.
Young are truly great, and possessing, as these gentlemen do,
so many natural advantages for the part, it is a strong proof
of the potency of genius that Mr. Kean's performance has
no reason to shrink from a comparison with theirs, With
him the fiery soul flashing forth in every look and ' gesture
communicate a corresponding dignity to the person, and the
warmth and passion of the voice lend an interest to its tones
which do not allow the spectator to •be sensible of their
hoarseness and occasional want of pov er. Miele
,he pourtrays the smothered- hatred Of the vindictive
African--in his workings upon the confident natUre' oY
'the 'moments where he despairs of revenge, and
in those where he savagely exults at having partially attained
it, the actor was equally successful. We have not'space to
particularize all the passages in which he most deserved, or
matt obtained applause; hut his masterpiece. appeared to us
-to he the scene in which, throwing off his maA,-.tranp.a-strikes
Alonzo to the earth by the full convieticn of his guilt and
-wretchedness. The taunting and triumphant 'elation of his
villainy was particularly striking, and when he utteas tht

•

0 my den countrymen ! look clown, and see
How•I bestride your prostrate conqueror !
I tread on liauglay Spain and all her kiegi."
there was something its the attitude and manner of the acts
that was terrible almost to sublimity.

After so much praise, we can with a better grace venture
to censure. The frequent use by precisely the same action.
sometimes mean, and of the same tone, frequently a disagree
able one, stamp him somewhat of a manncriq. In searching
after poiuts too we think that he occasionally makeS, rather
than finds them, and that if he seldom altogether mistake"
the meaning of his author, be frequently does it great

We have seldom seen Mr. Rae more effective than in his
performaece of il/onzo. It always appeared to us that this
actor shone more in moments of passion and in bursts of
agony than on any other occasions, and with such this part
abotinds. In Lconora. Mis.s.L. Kelly was sadly wisplacedi
she wales an infinitely better Rosiner.