The Sun.
London, England, 1849-01-16 00:00:00

HAY MARKET THEATRE.

Hamlet was performed here last evening with the
same cast and from the same text (wiih one exception),
as it was peformed at Windsor Castle before her Ma-
jesty last week ; that exception was the restoration
of the grave-diggers' scene, which was omitted when the
tragedy was represented at Windsor, solely because,
from the absence of traps, &c., it was physically impos-
sible to represent it. The part ofllamlet was represented
by Mr. Charles Kean, that of Ophelia by Mrs.
Charles Kean, and that of Gertrude by Mrs.
Warner. The Hamlet of Mr. Charles Kean, in
whatever point of view considered is perfect—from
the first scene to the last it is the great
work of a great artist, and a most remarkable
fact, all the critics are for once unanimous
in deciding that from the beginning to the end of his
performance he has not left a weak place. Mrs.
Charles Kean has done the cause of the Shaksperian
drama much service by undertaking the part of
Ophelia. Never again will any mere singer be tole-
rated in this part. Mrs. Charles Kean gives the songs
with much sweetness, and with infinitely more t athos
and truth to nature than we have ever heard them
given by any professed " singing lady," and her act-
ing, was surpassingly beautiful. Mrs. NVarner,s
Gertrude was majestic and queenlike, and Keeley '+
Gravedigger quaint and Shaksperian. Mr. and Mrs.
Charles Kean and Mrs. Warner were called before
the curtain at the conclusion. The theatre was
crowded to excess by a delighted and most attentive
audience.

(From the Times.)
Through all the range of Shaksperian characters
there is none which Mr. Charles Kean has made so com-
pletely his own as Hamlet. This is unquestionably his
best part. He has elaborated it from beginning to end,
with the manifest determination of not leaving a weak
place. From the melancholy contemplativeness of the
first scene to the protracted death at the last, the whole
is wrought out with the greatest care. The tone which
he gives to the character is decidedly the pathetic. The
expression of feeling is his peculiar forte, and when he
' can show sorrow for his father's death, a repining at
the unkindliness of his uncle, an affection for his mother
while he upbraids her, and a tenderness for Ophelia
amid the taunts which he heaps upon her, he .is
completely in his element. The compassionate sor-
row which be infuses into the address " Go to a nun-
nery-, go," makes this speech one of the most effective
in the play. Indeed, the little touches of natural feeling
which Mr. Kean is so often able to introduce when least
expected, are his most powerful means of enlisting the
sympathy of the public. On the other hand, the reflec-
tive speeches have been thoroughly studied, and are deli-
vered with the most sedulous attention to every phrase.
As a specimen of his by-play we have the whole of the
play-scene, in which he gives the greatest possible effect
to the anxious watching of the King's countenance.
Last night was the first occasion of his playing Hamlet
I in public for many years, and altogether he produced an
impression which he has not made in any other part.
Mrs. Warner's Gertrude is in every way worthy of that
accomplished actress. Thoroughly entering into the
character with all its solicitudes and pangs of con-
I science, she ever renders apparent the internal in-
fluences to which she is subjected, but does every-
thing as quietly as possible. She prefers an
indication to an obstruction of the dominant feelings.
Ophelia gains an unusual value with such an actress us
Mrs. Charles Kean to sustain the part, The first ques-
tion will naturally be, " How did she get on with the
songs?" It may be answered, that though she did not
sing like a professed vocalist, they were given in a clear
mellifluous tone, and with a perfection of dramatic ex-
pression that made them exquisitely beautiful. It is
long indeed since the madness of Ophelia, with its
transitions from mournfulness to wild hilarity, has been
rendered with such finish and with such marked variety
as by Mrs. Kean. Mr. Keeley's Gravedigger, shrewd,
sophistical, and rejoicing in his own acuteness, may be
added to the admirable comedian's list of Shaksperian
triumphs. The theatre was crowded to excess, and the
tragedy went off with the most decided applause. We
need scarcely add, that it was a repetition of the per-
formance at Windsor on Thursday last, with the ex-
ception of the Gravedigger. whose scene was omitted at
the Castle, as unsuited to a private theatre.
(From the Chronicle.)
Hamlet was revived at this theatre last evening—the
cast being, so far as the Haymarket actors are coneerned,
the same as that with which it was represented the other
night at Windsor. The part of Hamlet is one to which
Mr. Charles Kean has devoted long and deep study, and
one on which he lavishes a great amount of artistic skill.
The character is, indeed, indentified with the most bril-
liant triumphs of his professional career. It was in
Hamlet that Mr. Kean first appeared before a London
audience, with results so remarkable as to be in one
respect unprecedented in dramatic annals. Alter his
first appearance in January, 1838, he acted Hamlet—if
we remember well—twelve nights in succession, and
afterwards twice a week—alternating it with Richard
the Third, until twenty-one nights of Hamlet had been
completed, a run unparalleled in the known his-
tory of the tragedy. During the period in ques-
tion the enthusiasm created in the play. going world
was such, that making due allowance for the difference
of prices, the monetary returns at Drury-lane Theatre
were very little under those realised by:the early triumphs
of the elder Kean. Since his debut at Drury-lane, Mr.
Charles Kean has played the part at the Haymarket in
the years 1839, 1840, 1841, and 1842, and last night a
crowded and brilliant audience assembled to see him re-
pelt the arduous character in which he won his early
laurels. With one or two exceptions, Mr. Kean's Hamlet
is not one of "pointy." In a just and thoughtful con-
ception of the character, and in an interpretation full of
poetic tenderness and refined artistic skill, lie the great
and striking merits of the performance. Without
losing one jot of the passion, Mr. Kean flings over his
whole impersonation a dreamy grace which is re-
markable in his first entrance, and which is pre.
served, with a thoughtful consistency throughout.
The scene in which Horatio announces the appear-
ance of the Ghost Mr. Kean manages with great
effect. He is conversational in his tone, without being
prosaic—startled, hurried, and shocked, without for a
moment falling from the lofty poetical vein which runs
through the character. In the satirical dialogue with
Polonius, the despairing exclamation which closes it—
" Except my life—except my life—except my life !" was
given by Mr. Kean with fine purpose and feeling—re-
calling the audience, as it were, to the mental key-note
of the man who utters it. The first interview with the
players was also exceedingly nicely managed. The
representation of the efforts of memory to recall the
half-forgotten speech about Pyrrhus, being, indeed, in
its way, quite a masterpiece of art. The third act, how-
ever, was, of course, Mr. Kean's great triumph. In his
interview with Ophelia, he allowed a deep and tender
pathos to struggle by fits and starts through the rugged
surface of his assumed dislike, so as skilfully to give
the clue to the hidden passion of love which Hamlet
is striving to control. Iu the play scene Mr. Kean bore
himself with a picturesque intensity of purpose, and
started from the ground in a burst of triumphant feel-
ing, which fairly roused the audience, and served well
to lead up to the passionate energy, and the repeated
bursts of filial affection and anguish, which mark the
scene with the Queen. The usual " point," " Is it the
King ?" was made with true artistic feeling. In the last
scene, Mr. Kean's fine fencing produced its usual effect.
He handles the foils with as much grace as skill, show-
ing in this merely- physical portion of the performance
the same polished, easy, and gentlemanly bearing which
distinguishes the entire impersonation. Mrs. Kean
made a fascinating Ophelia, full of gentle beauties
throughout. Her attitudes, when not speaking,
were models of timid grace ; and iu the mad scene
she gave full effect to the various currents of
thought which flow disturbedly through the
darkened mind, keeping up all the time the fixed, yet
intelligent stare which is a symptom of the ma-
lady; even while crouching upon the ground, she sings
her snatches of songs to herself. Mrs. Warner made
her first appearance at the Haymarket for four years as
the Queen, and played the part with all her accustomed
energy and truth. Mrs. Warner's performance is marked
throughout with sweet womanly touches of maternal
tenderness towards Hamlet; and her exit after the second
appearance of the Ghost is so managed as to be signi-
ficant and impressive in the extreme. Tilbury was a
reasonably good Polonious, making up for the part with
great skill; and Keeley gave the Gravedigger with all
the hearty unction which he loves to bestow upon
humourous Shaksperian " bits." Mr. Howe played
Horatio carefully and intelligently; and Mr. Wigan
gave colour to the little part of Osric. At the fall of the
curtain, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kean, and afterwards
Mrs. Warner, were summoned by the audience.
(From the Post.)
The throng of fashion which last night visited this
theatre was naturally attracted by the circumstance of a
tragedy having been selected to which a few evenings
before the intellect and the majesty of the land had been
the delighted auditors within the circle of domestic pri-
vacy. The tragedy has been placed upon the stage by
Mr. Webster with even more completeness than accom-
panied its representation at 'Windsor Castle, for the cele-
brated scene of the gravediggers was, as a matter of
course, restored. The omission at the Palace arose from
purely mechanical causes, as the flooring of the Rees-
ben's room did not admit of the construction of traps'
and hence the scenic effect would hare been. destro,t4,le
and the consequent continuity of interest brao:
excellent
distribution of the characters of the tragedays"Hamlet and
comprising Mr. and Mrs. Charles
ged specially to
Ophelia; Mrs. Warner, who has beesnl
eizaitign a
ravedigger. The
the general company,
enact the Queen; and MaKeeley a
Hamlet is by many
rest of the parts were well
tilled by
and the ensemble was exec
scholar-
ship; e
h a
degrees the finest effo.rt
poafrltsMtro. Ciht aarletisngleieoafn
studied it deeply,
s thoughtful and passionate,
which in nowainsed 'retracts from the dramatic. in-
It is by turn and,
tensity.
what we esteem as a very great merit, there is no seeking
for strained readings or crude originalities. The text
is rendered with clearness, force, and elegance, and there
is no exaggeration to catch the eyes or the ears of the
groundlings." It is throughout essentially graceful'
and consistent in its inconsistency; and th
abiding tenderness and touching pathos) thatneervaer issuffaenr
the feelings of the audience to wander from the sorrows
and the ruling intention of the poet. The filial love is
the predominant sentiment, rather than the vengeance
for the murder of his father, and the mental oscillation
seems to sway him to and fro—the brow now crimsoned
with the full desire of a bloody sacrifice—the
eye now melting with sorrow for the committed
crime. The scene with Ophelia (which was wont to
repel, from the insane cruelty burled upon the loving
II girl) was last night infinitely touching in its grief—the
sympathy is thus fairly divided between the brain-be-
wildered Prince and. the heart-crushed maiden of his
love. The conventional ruffianism has been wisely abate
'cloned, and thus, what seemed •a gratuitous cruelty is
skilfully changed to an affecting incident. Amongst the