The Sun.
London, England, 1850-02-05 00:00:00

I DRITRY,-14-A

PATRE.

Last night an adaptation of Bchiller's tragedy of
eH—sTePw-ds produced at this theatre, the first time, we
are told, that the tragedy has ever been performed is
this country—if by this country is meant England,
such may probably be the fact—but if we mistake
not the tragedy has been performed, and successfully
performed too, in Dublin, where a version of Fiesco,
from the pen of General D'Aguilar, was produced
some years since, on which occasion we believe Mr.
r andenh off sustained the character of the hero.
Hoseais one of the earlier of the tragedies of
Schiller, and is written, according to the author,
" to delineate the victim of art and cabal."
It is well that Schiller has afforded us this information
as to his intention, for certainly no one would have
discovered it from a perusal of the tragedy, judging
from which alone we should consider Fiesco'
to be an
ordinary noble Italian conspirator, ( f the usual melo-
dramatic class. The fact is, that there are no indi-
vidualisations (with the exception perhaps of Hassan,
the Moor) throughout the tragedy An the ,
cha-
racters are t.) pes c t genera rather than specimens of
species, and character is throughout the play ren-
dered subservient to events ; the interest excited
is therefore rather of an epic than of
dramatic nature, and hence the play drags heavily
Mr. Planche, the adapter, has done his best to remedy
these defects; he has used the scissors freely but
most judiciously ; he has brought the scattered
incidents together, and has thus made the play act
closer; but notwithstanding all these curtailments the
performance of the play last night occupied three
hours and a hall; and notwithstanding it was splen-
didly put en the stage, and was supported by
the talents of Mr. Anderson, and Mr. \'andenhoff,
and Mr. Cooper, and Mr. Emery, and Miss Laura
Addison, and Mrs. Ternan, its success was
anything but triumphant. Schiller has kept
cicse to history in his elaboration of
the plot, he has in fact done little more than drama-
tise the story of Fiesco's conspiracy, as it will be
found written in Robertson's " History of Charles
V." The scene is laid in Genoa, during the last
years of the Dukedom of old Andrea Doris, that
brave old admiral who, having saved his country from
destruction by totally defeating her foreign foes,
completed his good work by putting down anarchy
within the city, and establishing a legal and consti-
tutional form of government. The venerable Andrea
Doris (Mr. Cooper) has the mortification to find
that his nephew and intended successor, Glen-
eettino (Mr. C. Fisher) is a tyrant, a traitor, and a
debanche—he has brought disgrace on the name
of Doria by his vices, more particularly by his at-
tempt at violence on Bertha, the daughter of the stern
old republican Verrina (Mr. Vaadenhoff), and he has
openly broken the laws and set them at defiance in
his endeavours to secure his own election to the duke-
dom, and has even entered into a treasonable negotia-
tion with the Spaniard to betray the liberties of his
country. The citizens of Genoa are exasperated
against Giannettine, and only want a leader to break
out into open rebellion against the Dories ; that leader
they hoped to find in Fiesco (Mr. Anderson). Count
de Lavagna, a young noble of high birth, of
great talents, and it was at one time thought,
of great ambition too, but who had of late
given himself up to pleasure and debauchery,
and who, although married to the loving and virtuous
Leonora (Miss Laura Addison), is breaking her
heart by his desertion of her, and his marked attention
to the haughty and vicious Julia Doris (Mrs. Ternan),
the sister of Giannettino. This outward show of
recklessness is, however, but a mask put on to hide
his real intentions—even as the idolatry of Lucius
Junius Brutus was but put on the better to deceive
Tarquin—Giannettino suspects the real state of the
case, and employs Hassan, a Moor, (excellently
acted by Mr. Emery) to assassinate Fiesco ; the latter,
however, seizes and disarms Hassan and attaches him
to his service, employing him to go about among
the people and excite them to rebellion against the
Dories, taking care to mention the name of Fiesco when-
ever opportunity offers as that of the future deliverer of
Genoa. In the meantime Verrina, goaded to madness
by the outrage attempted on his daughter, calls tc-
gether his friends, and they swear to be avenged on
the tyrant and to found a real republic. They go to
Fiesco, and ask him to join them, and to their sur-
prise they learn that he has already made every pre-
paration for the outbreak and taken every care to
secure the fruits of victory, should it be successful.
He will join them on one condition, and on one con-
dition only, that they shall acknowledge him as chief
and implicitly obey his commands. The stern old
Republican Verrina suspects—and suspects rightly—
that Fiesco aims at sovereignty, and that in merely
overthrowing the Dories, Genoa will but have
changed one tyrant for another. He, therefore,
determines to use Fiesco to overthrow the Dories, and
then to overthrow Fiesco himself. The day has arrived
on which the blow is to be struck, and Fiesco is
walking iu the gardens of his palace ruminating on
the events that are to occur, when he meets Leonora,
his neglected, but dearly loved wife. She has been
taunted by the proud Julia, who boasts of her power
over Fiesco to Leonora herself, and shows her a por-
trait which Fiesco had given her, and which is re-
cognised by Leonora as the portrait of herself, which
she had given to Fiesco in the days of their love.
She has been exposed to the advances of one of
the minions of the Court, and has with
dashing eye, and lowering brow, and eloquent
torgue indignantly spurned the miscreant from her
presence, and now she seeks her Lord to ask his per-
mission, seeing she has ceased to please him, to return
to the country, to the humble cottage from wich he
first advanced her to the dignity'of Countess. Fiesco
presses her to his heart, beseeches her to wait but two

ays longer, when all shall be explained, and she will
know why he had pretended to love the haughty
Julia, whom he had always abhorred, and why he
had pretended to slight the faithful Leonora, whom he
had always tenderly loved, and Leonora sinks into his
arms, loving and believing, and trusting and happy,
in the idea that she is still beloved. This scene was -
beautifully acted by Miss Laura Addison, who
threw an intensity and a power into the cha-
racter of Leonora which was completely the saving
of the part. The acting of Mr. Anderson was full
of tenderness and pathos, and it is not going too far
to say that this scene was perfectly acted. This
is, in our opinion, the finest scene in the play. The
conspiracy progresses : lists of nobles proscribed by
the younger Doria are discovered—the people are
inflamed to madness—the outbreak takes place—
Giannettino is slain, and Fiasco is successful ; when
`'erring, the old Republican, true to his stern princi-
ples, hurls Fiesco from his galley into the water, and
he is drowned in the moment of victory In the
original, Leonora, after vainly endeavouring to per-
suade her husband not to join the conspirators, rushes
out into the melee to seek him and to aid him, and
snatching up a cloak which she finds on the
ground, envelopes herself in it, when Fiasco attacks
and stabs her—the cloak she had put on being the
" purple" of Gianettino, for whom Fiesco had
mistaken her. The incident of her being stabbed by
her husband was omitted last evening, and in the
omission Mr. Planche has not, we think, exhibited his
usual judgment. Mr. Anderson gave a careful ver-
sion of the character of }lien°, on the whole, better
than any other actor now on the stage could have
oglidvenl etnhhaotf, i;e x a
ca
tsl y
suitedthe shte.imrn,
and his representation was faultless—the. Verriva
"erorfinai,t.hadi‘alcrharVacatnedr
of Mr. Vandenhoff and the Leonora of Miss Laura
Addison were the two great characters of the piece,
as far as acting was concerned. Mrs. Ternan made
the most of all that Mr. Planche has left of the
haughty Julia, and Mr. Emery, as the Moor (a capital
part), was:excellent ; he was indeed a right merry
villain, and was much and deservedly applauded.
].'he scenery was magnificent, the ball scene in the
first act was admirably managed, and the last scene
of the second act, " Gardens of Fiesco's palace, with
a view of the Bay of Genoa," was the most exquisite
production of the pencil of Brunning that we have
ever yet seen. The applause during the earlier por-
tions of the piece, indeed up to the conclusion of the
fourth act, was frequent, but at the conclusion the
piece was not announced for repetition, neither did
Mr. Anderson come forward, although he was called
for. The theatre was very well attended.

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He has all the power of Macready without his man-
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dsneoeeuribstsilledlmlypufolrsivehe, has attained the highest perfection of
art—the ars celare talent. Since Edmund Kean loft
the stage, we have had no such Othello as Mr. G. V.
Brooke. Ills reception was enthusiastic, he was re-
peatedly applauded during the course of his perform-
ance, and was called for at the conclusion. The cast
was very strong, including Mrs. Mowatt as Desde-
mona, Mr. Davenport as lago, and Mr. 11. 11011 so
Cassio. It would be unjust to close this notice with-
out awarding to Miss Richardson the praise of being
one of the best Emilias on the stage. The raise en
scene was perfect, and the house was crowded to
excess.

STRAND THEATRE.
A drollery by Stirling Coyne, entitled The Un-
protected Female, was produced here last evening; It
is a dramatic adaptation of the Punch series of 44
title, and the unprotected one was admirably gm.
bodied by Mrs. Stirling, who kept the audience in a
roar of laughter at her misfortunes, mishaps, rid
miseries. The farce was preceded by a revival at
Fielding's comedy of The Miser, which was capitsilY
acted, and much applauded.

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