The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-18 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, MAY 18, 1866

THEATEE••ROYLL PRINCESS'S.

Mr. Charles Kean as Wolsey.
Mrs. Charles as Queen Katharine

In ShakEpere's Tragedy of Henry VIII.

A magnificent reception—almost the noblest re-
ception we remember to have ever witnessed—was
last evening accorded
,to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kean
upon their re-appearance, after a three years' absence
from England, before the very pick of the world of
London playgoers. Many circumstances combined
to render the occasion one of a very exceptional cha-
racter. And that it was so recognised was suffi-
ciently well attested by the in every way exceptional
enthusiasm of the audience. The house itself,
which eleven years ago was the scene of many of the
grandest triumphs achieved by our great Tragedians
—was, as a mere matter of course, crowded as
thickly as the space could permit, from floor to
ceiling. -Boxes, pit, stalls, gallery, and slips were
crowded, moreover, with their respective occu-
pants long before the play of the night com-
menced—the majority of the seats thus filled,
having been wisely secured several weeks ago
in anticipation of a more than usually numerous
attendance. An anticipation that will be recognised
to have been more than justified when we add that
many others less provident in the way of thus
taking time by the forelock, were denied admit-
tance, to their manifest disappointment, purely be-
cause of the want of room for their accommodation.
By a most judicious selection, Shakspere's Tragedy
of " Henry VIII." was the play chosen for the in-
auguration of these notable performances—that
drama affording alike to Mr. and Mrs. Charles
Kean, the opportunity of signalising once more be-
fore the most appreciative of all their audiences,
meaning of course those oldest and staunchest of
all their friends, the playgoers of London, the
possession ,by each, in absolute maturity of
the rarest gifts as historical artists, and this
simply and obviously by reason of the fact that
that same great tragedy of King Henry VIII.
comprises, within its dramatis persona; two cha-
racters, long since numbered very high indeed
amongst the very finest of their impersonations—
Cardinal Wolsey and Queen Katharine. Anything
partaking of the nature of a studied analysis of
either the one or the other of those remarkable
impersonations would, by this time, be not only
a matter of supererogation, but it might even be
said would be little less nowadays than an im-
pertinence. So familiar are all those who are
in any way acquainted with the large diversiity of
the powers no less than with the wide range of
the repertoire of both of our world-famous, ar-
tists—who may be spoken of now as artists li-
terally and not merely figuratively world-famous
—so familiar we say are the vast majority of
playgoers not only here in this metropolis, but
far and wide throughout the country, on the
one hand, with the consummate excellence, the force,
the subtlety, the passion, and the pathos of Mr. Kean's
interpretation, personification, very incarnation, so
to speak, of the form and character of Cardinal
Wolsey no less to the mind's eye than to the bodily
eye of the beholder ; and, on the other hand, with
the pathetic and impassioned solemnity of Mrs.
Charles Kean's realisation to sight and hearing of
all that is most touching in the remembrance of the
mournful history of Katharine of Arragon. Never
was either of these two truly remarkable imper-
sonations given more effe3tively than last evening—
and this in spite of the manifestly profound emotion
with which both actor and actress, the hero and
heroine of the night, came to the commencement
of the interpretation of the familiar text. The
enthusiasm of the reception accorded to each in
turn upon the moment of the first reappearance
of each before the footlights hardly admits of
exaggeration. It expressed the cordiality of a per-
sonal friendship. it implied, moreover, by its very
intensity, the poignant regret with which the
audience bore in mind at the very moment of wel-
coming back their old favourites, that their return
was merely preliminary, and that at no very distant
time, to their final retirement. When the gorgeous
pageant of the procession advanced on to the stage,
at about the middle of the opening scene of the
Tragedy—ushering in the great Cardinal, Arch-
bishop, Chancellor, and alter ego of the King,
arrayed in his pontificals, having an emblazoned
canopy held over his head, his scarlet train carried
behind him by pages, the crosses, the mace, the red
hat, the great seals, and the other pornps of his
abundant dignities born before him by the various
officers of State—the welcome given to the
great actor upon the instant of his
recognition was as loud, prolonged and
unmistakable as any welcome by possibility
could be. The roar of applause that greeted him
upon the instant of his advent was renewed again
and again, and yet again—until, in fact, had
it been renewed any longer, it could hardly
have failed to have proved simply tedious and in-
considerate. There was no mistaking its cordiality.
might
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arices—it was one capable of being fully justified by
Cardinalandtinrd Wolsey,more particularly
acts. Above
bove
al beyond
daliln the second
and byhiscond
every
his artistic performance of that one character of
look, word, and gesture, to the profoundly affecting
close of the third act from the commencement of the
famous soliloquy. In that soliloquy—what force of
wondering indignation in the Cardinal's ejacula-
tory allusion to Ann Bullen, the newly created
Marchioness of Pembroke—

. . . . A knight's daughter,
To be her mistress' mistress ! the Queen's queen

Adding thereto immediately, with a significant
muttering to himself
This candle burns not clear; 'tis I must snuff

Then out it goes!
Words so significantly muttered that they were
greeted with a burst of acclamation. It is in his
bye-play, however, more even than in the utter-
ance of any words, even though the words to be
uttered are the words of Shakspere, that the genius
of the actor is most clearly recognizable. Instance
this—when he has no words at all to utter—
his sudden alteration of manner, when Lovell
touches him—him the Lord Cardinal !—upon the
shoulder to direct his grace's attention to the fact, of
which the Cardinal is not aware at the moment,
namely, that the King is present—his abrupt alte-
ration from the haughtiest glance of scorn at the
over-familiarity of Lovell to the courtliest suavity
of loyal recognition when, upon turning round, he
beholds himself to be face to face with the Sove-
reign. Later on, when repelling the foul and
in a double sense the wanton insults
directed against his head as an annointed prince
of the Church by Surrey—the Cardinal's gaze of
lofty and withering indignation, blighting his
assailant, so to speak, from head to foot, renders
almost superfluous the utterance after wards of the
wards that come then as little else than a self-com-
muning explanation of the look preceding them—
, How much, methinks, I could despise thee
But that I am bound in charity against it.
As for the passion capable of being thrown into
articulated syllables, what could go beyond his pre-
vious exclamation to the same peer—
Proud lord thou liest,
Within these forty hours Surrey durst better
Have burnt that tongue than said so.
Or his earlier reference to Cranmer as one who
"Hath crawledinto the favour of the King,
And is his oracle."
It is in the closing scene of the third act, however,
as already remarked, more particularly in that por-
tion of it in which he communes iu tender and tear-
ful solemnity with Cromwell that Wolsey, as im-
personated by Mr. Charles Kean, is realised the
most exquisitely by the genius of the last of our
true Shaksperian actors, to our appreciation.
Just as it is in the great trial scene before
that and finally at the close of the fourth act judi-
ciously completing the tragedy as it is now repre-
sented that the more winning and affecting beauties
of Mrs. Charles Kean's interpretation of the part
of Queen Katharine are brought most vividly and
effectively to our recognition. Judiciously, as but
just now remarked, the green curtain descends
upon the apotheosis, so to speak of the sainted
Katharine—when the visible dream of the angelic
throng deacending 0 the expiring queen