The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-02-05 00:00:00

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MR. MACREADY'S FAREWELL
PERFORMANCES.

The play selected by Mr. Macready on Tuesday night
was " Richelieu," Zone in which itihas always been thought,
and justly too, that he was unapproachable. His concep-
tion of the character of that astute statesman is histori-
cally correct; .and the impersonation is one peculiarly
suited to his figure, his present reduced physical powers,
and his style of acting. On the present occasion we ima-
gined that he outshone his previous efforts ; and imparted
a more even and natural tone to the character than in his
earlier days, when his manner was frequently somewhat
over boisterous. The indomitable will, supporting the
decaying frame, was finely displayed, with the fertile
conception in emergencies of danger, and the self-
deceiving delusion that, as the moving cause of
his struggle with the enemies by whom he is sur-
rounded, the love of France in his breast is
stronger than the love of power and wealth. The scene
in which he consents to the marriage of his ward to .De
Mauprat was a masterly one, as was that in which he
confronts the sword of De Mauprat, when lifted to mur-
der him, and by the majesty of a superior mind converts
him into his guard and preserver. The last scene, how-
ever, in which—having defeated the machinations of his
enemies—he starts up from apparently a state of utter ex-
haustion and approaching death—to the possession of all
his wonted energy, on being again invested with the reins
of authority, was, as it has ever been, Macready's most
splendid effort. Nothing can be imagined more grand in
conception and striking in execution. Mrs. Warner played
Julie de Mortimer very finely in the later scenes in which
she appears ; but the opening ones do not suit her voice
or her powers. The whirl and tempest of passion, the
portraiture of ambition, or remorse, are more her forte
than gentle passages of love. Mr. Chamberlain, we can-
not omit observing, played De Mauprat with considerable
judgement, and without ranting to catch the applause of
the gallery. The other characters, with a few exceptions,
were well sustained.
On Wednesday, the piece was " The Merchant of Ve-
nice," a play in which we cannot remember having pre-
viously heard Mr. Macready, and cannot, therefore, com-
pare the Shylock of his closing career as an actor with
that of his earlier days. His conception of the character
is one of a very high order; and some of his renderings
strike us as differing somewhat from his contemporaries
on the boards. The scene in which he makes his com-
pact with Antonio is one of these. The laughing tone in
which he proposes the terms of forfeiture is truly diabo-
lical, as is his demeanour when informed of the loss of his

debtor's argosies. The whole performance was one of
striking power ; and the Jew of Macready is far removed
above the old clothes-bag character depicted by some of
our inferior actors, as Shakspere himself is above the per-
petrators of second-rate melodramas. Mrs. Warner's
Portia was a correct and clever piece of acting; but the
character is not of the class in which she is seen to most
advantage.

On Thursday Mr. Macready played lago, to Mr. Barry
Sullivan's Othello, Mrs. Warner undertaking the charac-
of Emilia, which she rendered most striking and effective.
This performance was one of the greatest treats of the
series, and will be remembered with gratification by every
one who witnessed it. Mr. Macready's lago is in many
points different from that of the most eminent actors who
have preceded him. The jealous and crafty ancient in his
hands is a more subtle fiend than he appears as depicted
by some actors ; gifted with power to command, as well
as to betray his victims to destruction. The scene in
which he finally succeeds in implanting distrust of the
fidelity of his wife into the breast of the credulous moor
was a magnificent piece of acting. Not the plausibility of
the tongue alone seems to effect the object of the remorse-
less plotter; but the eye as well discourses, and a shrug,
an attitude, a pause in the devilish suggestions of evil
seem effective as words. " I think he is honest," says as
much or more than would "I know him to be false." The
closing scene, in which his perfidy and its consequences
are disclosed, is one of fearful power, and realizes in the
person of lago the concentration and sublimity of wicked-
ness which Shalcapere evidently intended to paint. The ,
mode of his very exit puts the finishing touch to the cha-
racter.

The effectiveness of the play, and the beauty and effect
of Mr. Macready's acting, were materially enhanced by
the fine portraiture of Othello by Mr. Sullivan. We are
scarcely saying too much when we express our opinion
that the character of the moor, confiding and generous,
and yet revengeful, was ever more truthfully or finely
given on our boards. There was not in the whole por-
traiture the least straining after points, or dwelling upon
hacknied passages, to catch the ear of his audience. The
character was developed gradually and naturally, as the
poet meant it to be. The unhappy man fell into the snares
of his fiendish betrayer, and his nature changed impercep-
tibly, and not with the abruptness which we have seen in
some impersonations. But, :when at length fully per-
suaded of the guilt of his Desdemona, the intensity of his
passion was fearful, and, as given by Mr. Sullivan, drew
down enthusiastic applause from a discriminating audience.
The scene in the bedchamber, after the discovery of his
rashness and lago's baseness, was one of the finest pieces
of acting we ever remember to have seen. Although we
have said that Mr. Sullivan never seemed to dwell upon
well-known passages in the play, it must not be inferred
that he did them less than full justice. His delivery
of the address " Most potent, grave, and reverend
seigneurs," was a most graceful and dignified piece of
elocution.

We have not space to remark upon any other of the
characters ; but may state that, throughout this engage-
ment, the casts have been most creditable to the manage-
ment.