The Sun.
London, England, 1838-10-05 00:00:00

COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE.

Othello was produced here last evening for the first time
this season, but with a prospect of being often repeated, if we
are to judge by the warmth and enthusiasm of its new recep-
tion. The tragedy was strongly cast— Macready performing
the part of the Moor. Vandenhuff playing lago ; Mr. Ander-
son, Cassio; Miss Helen Faucitt, Desdemona ; and Mrs.
Warner, Emilia. Mr. Macreadi's Othello is a noble and
finished performance, much in our humble judgment excelling
in merit either his Hamlet or Coriolanus, It is true that the
acting is in some measure unequal, and that many passages in
the play which do not require either deep fervour or the full.
ness of passionate energy, are tainted with a monotonous
mannerism that falls sadly upon the ear. Occasionally,
too, there -is an infelicity of attitude and demeanor ;
but, upon the whole, the bearing of Macready is lofty,
dignified, and graceful, and full of most striking im-
press of the character. His speech to the senate
is perhaps too coldly classical and declamatory ; but
there are pares of it which are very effective. His is one,
however,
_chose genius warms visibly with the inspiration of
the-aenie it has to ibustrate, and thus it is that his most glo-
rious burets as an actor crown ever those passages upon which
the poet has poured the most of brilliancy acid power ; and
it is by no means a poor compliment to Mr. Macready to
say that he is ever greatest where Shakspeare is greatest too.
His conception of the whole character of the Moor is true and
beautiful—his impersonation of it animated, vigorous, and
sometimes even grand. He is triumphant in the jealous ex-
pression of the eye--and he pours new life, and' truth,
freshness, into all the magnificent delineations of human pas-
sion, and all the powerful displays of high-wrought conflicting
emotions, stirring stornifully the very depths of the soul I
His delivery, at one crisis of doubt and anguish, of the sen-
tence—

" If thou dost slander her, and torture me,
Never pray more ' • abandon all remorse;
On horror's head horrors accumulate;
Do deeds to make Heaven weep, all earth amazed;
For nothing canst thou to damnation add
Greater then that,"
was a resplenee it and unsurpassed triumph of genius—so
thundered forth fr)m the very throne of passion as to form a
wide but glorious contrast to the subdued and grieving
eloquence with which he had just before uttered the
beautiful episode of poetry which ends with the me-
morable words " Othello's occupation's gone." All
the latter pass :,(ges of the tragedy were given by
Macready with equal mastery of mird, and his death
was a fine crowning icene to a very admirable performance.
In speaking of Mr. Y indenhoff as lago we are quite reedy
to award him high praise for spirit and cleverness in giving
us the character such as he thinks it ought to be; but we must
earnestly protest against his conception being the correct one.
On the contrary, we think it robs the part of its finish, and
wraps it in an cute ard garment of villainy which Shakspeare
never intended it to wear. lago is not the open boasting
scoundrel of a melodrama—he is the "honest, hon-eat" gentle-
man who is quite satisfied with knowing that he is full of all
manner of vice, without being at all anxious that it shculd ap-
pear in his tone and bearing. We, theret. re, think that the
passages which Mr. Vandenhoff gave in his best style—and
which would have di.played the actor to the greatest advan-
tage had they
been true to the meaning—were in reality but
so many misreading% of the poet. The point, however, is
one of opinion ; and we cannot disparage Mr. Vandenhoff's
style of sustaining his own, although we think it gayse a
coarseness and indelicacy to one of the moat finished of the
characters of Shakspeare. Let us repeat, however, that Mr.
Vandenhoff played well in the style in which he thought it
well to play. He allays spoke and acted effectively, if not
correctly. Mr. Anderson played Cassio with care and
spirit, and Vining Roderigo moderately well. Miss Helen
Faucit's Desdemona was not a remarkable, though a very
creditable, performance. Mrs. Warner as Emilia was trium-
phantly suecersful. Her acting was powerful, impressive, and
even original. All the appointments of the tragedy were
attended to in the full spirit of Mr. Macready's promises, and
the scene of the Senate was especially beautiful and appro-
priate. After the play Mr. Macready was called for, and
came forward amid clamours of applause, and the waving-of
hats and handkerchiefs. Then Vandenhoff underwent a similar
ordeal ; and, finally, Mr. Anderson led on Mrs. Warner and
Miss Faucit to be complimented after the same absurd fashion.