The Sun.
London, England, 1838-05-17 00:00:00

Til E A TRES.

DRURY-LANE.
Being prevented, by unforeseen circumstances, from writing a length-
:ietl notice of Mr. C. Kean's first appearance last night as Othello, we
ropy the following. from a Morning Contemporary (the Post) as coming
,carer to our own ideas of the performance than any other we have seen
l'he theatre was at en early hour crowded by as numerous an audience as
winie,sed his first appearance here; and on his appearance he was
,reeted with the most enthusiastic and often repeated rheerM2-
" Mr. Charles Kean appeared at this thew re last night for the first
in the character of Othello. Under any circumstances the character i 5
an arduous one, but it was rendered more so on the present occasion
from its having been considered the chef d'muvre of his lamented
father. Mr. C. Kean, however, sustained the burthen most manfully'
and achieved so complete a victory over all difficulties (amongst
which reminiscences of bye. gone days were not the least embarrass-
ing) as to warrant us in pronouncing that Othello is entitled to a fore-
most rank in his range of characters. On his first appearance he evinced
by his manner a consciousness of the difficulties he was
about to
encounter," which created some apprehension that phYsieallY 11
might be unequal to the task, but as the play progressed, and level
speaking gave place to bursts of feeling, the genius of the actor
shone Ibrth in its brightest colours, and elicited from a crowded
audience such manifestations of applause as might fairly lead to an
anticipation of the revival of the most palmy days of the drama'
Where everything was so deserving of praise to particularize may
seem invidious, but we should imperfectly fulfil our duty were we not
to select a fear passages in the delivery of which Mr. Kean
achieved his greatest triumphs. In the first scene of the third act, after
lago has first awakened his jealousy, the soliloquy, expressive of his
resolve what course to pursue in the event of Desdemona proving false
to him, was given with an alternate power and pathos, for a parallel to
which we must revert to the days of his father. The sentence cola-
mencing—

If I do prove her haggard,
Tho' that her jesses were my dear heartstrings,
I'd whistle her off, and let her down the wind,
To prey at fortune,"
was given with an effect really appalling ; and the transition from
the frenzied manner which accompanied the utterance of the above.
hues to the thrilling tone of deop despondency with which he pronounce 6
the lines:

" Haply, for I am black, &c."
drew tears in abundance from the eyes of the larger portion of b
lc
fair auditory. The concluding scene demands a word, were it only for the
death, which was true to nature, inasmuch as in such a predicament 5
man does not usually study attitudes ; and, albeit tho falling of Mr'
Kean may have been premeditated, it was hardly planned with a due
regard to life and limb. For the safety of the last we certainly felt
no small degree of apprehension. Miss Alison, a young lad/
of considerable promise, appeared for the first time on these
boards in the character of Desdemona. It offers but little
scope for the exhibition of talent ; but as far as the juvenile appearaoca
and innocent bearing, which constitute the beauty of this creation f
Shakspeare's fancy, is concerned we think Nib; young lady proved 35
efficient representative. Mr. and Mrs. Tertian sustained the character!'
of lago and Emilia. Of the former want of space compels us to reserse
our notice; but of the lady we may safely affirm that the part was neler
better performed. The play was announced for repetition on Frids7
amidst vehement applause."

HAYMARKET.
A one-act farce called Suzanne, was produced at this theatre. °to
Monday, and is repeated every evening. The chief purpose of it I'
display the mimetic powers of Mdlle. Celeste, who personates a French
girl, deprived of speech by being left, when a child, in the snow, during
the retreat across the Pyrenees. Found and adopted by an Eng%
officer, affection h as, unconsciously to both, sprung up; and St,r,,°it
emotion at his life being endangered by a deul on her account, so or".
her frame as to occasion violent exclamation, which is followed by .he
complete recovery of the faculty of speech. The story thus give! Ptrhe
priety to the French accent of the sweet tones of Mdlle. Celeste in
concluding portion of the faros, when they succeed to the exPre'„,•
gesticulation which is her pecular talent. The pantomimic excellence"ve
Mdlle. Celeste has not, it seems to us, been been generally appree, h3'ct,
as it deserves. It has no affinity with common stage pantomime, is
is at once thoroughly conventional and utterly unintelligible. llbe:set.
the language of nature, as matured by the born mute. She is t"-,..,30,tt
ress of the deaf and dumb. Not a child could be found in the 3. la
asylums and institutions for that numerous class, to whom sheAliffr:cl
not be perfectly intelligible. Her pictures speak to the eye fail
rather than to the heart. But for the eye and fancy they areosn
of pictorial beauty, and imply a much higher species of Merl'
so 0
her cachoucha dancing, which has been found, and deserved
tractive.