The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1849-03-16

| Macready's Reading of Hamlet.
We are still beneath the spell of the enchanter
our imagination has not yet escaped from the mag
circle, so that the reason is hardly prepared for tint
| analysis of the manner in which Mr.. Maereaol
read his favorte play of " Hamlet"
We were much pleased with the method selected
by the reader in his entertainment Of last evening
| Having for his main object the illustration o
Shakspeare's Hamlet, he passed over the scene.
| in which there is no special development of thc
princes character, and dwelt only on the parts il
which the poet brings his philosophic creation
prominently forwards. Mr.. Macready took cart
to join together the which he extracted: Sc
that he was able to mingle into one the ddactit
and fnely-w0rded lecture with the illustrative anG
poetic passages of the dramatist.
lie opened with encomium on Shakespeare
genius, as particularly displayed in Hamlet, re-
marking that it required preparation and reflection
the part of the hearer in order to enter fully into
the authors delineation of character and feeling
Then reading the list of the drdmatis persona, he
entered upon the first scene between Francisco
Bernardo and Horatio. This scene was given with
much significance and power. The character Of
Horatio was admirably depicted, and the basis OF
his nature was presented to us in this his first ap-
pearance The skeptical way in which the VIII
tenberg student questions about the appariton of
the late King strikingly characteristic of the
cold, doubling, rather sensualisc nature of Hora-
ito; and the transition from skepcism to trembling
faith, consequent on his seeing the ghost and the
result Of his implicit confidence in the impressions
OF his senses, was finely portrayed. The second
scene, in which Hamlet is introduced, enabled us
to get some glimpses of the conception Mr.. Ma
cready has of the Danish Prince. Let lis say that,
in our opinion, lacready as a reader did far more
justice to the prescriptions, hestatng and rather
hypochondriacally disposed young man, than was
done by Macready, the actor. There was far more
OF deJection far less of anger and sarcasm in the
former than in the latter. We know not whether
1t was the want of stage excitement together with
the comparative absence of the large crowds that
each night greeted the artist at the theatre but GER
tainly Hamlet was, last night, made much calmer
and more sorrOwful, less scornfu and passionate,
than he was before presented by Mr.. Macready.
The remarks made by Mr. Macready himself,
which were sort of running criticism on the play
and served interludes to the several scenes, re-
veaied to us the idea that the artist has of Hames
character, and enables us to Judge of the success
with which he embodies his conceptions We must
confess that if Mr.. Macready rightly described the
views he enertans Of the character, that Time has
somewhat deprived him of the higher power by
which the artist conveys to others the ideas existing
in his own mind. He disclaimed last night all be-
lief in the theory that Hamlet was really mad /; and
yet his acting certainly leaves that impression on
the spectator. The way in which we explain his
failure to execute his own idea and show the be-
holder that Hamlet only feigns madness, is by sup
posing that he over-acts the insanity which the
Princeton Hamlet had exquisite dramatic taste
acts accurately and naturally. We are disposed TO
think that this is the true explanation for in the
scene between Hamlet and his friends, after the
ghost has left him on the rampant, and when the
Prince tells them that they never to reveal what
they have seen by any equvocal mods, or Icould
an | would,' Mr. Macready makes Hamlet too
much an actor, by shaking his head and initiating
100 exactly the Inslnuatlng manner of man who
says more by his looks than by his words. In the
same way we have seen bad actors make Harry
Hospur appear fop, by giving his description of
the interview between himself and the Lord, with
the air of a modern exquisite. We were glad, how
ever to hear that Mr.. Macready does not adopt the
opinion of Hamlet's being mad; for, if we NAV
believe hearsay, he has studied the character long
and intensely, and ought to understand something
Of its real nature.
The reading last night was, we think, an excel
ent pendant to Macready's playing of the charac-
er. He selected for the reading more the contem-
olatlve and soliloquizing portions. The famous
;. 10 be, or not to be-" could not be surpassed.
The finest part of the entertainment, however was
ne scene, in the fourth act, between Hamlet and
bis mother. Never before had we lively an idea
If the Princes remorse, when he finds he has mis-
AIKEN Poonius for his uncle, and of his agonzng
lorror, when his father reappears or of the soft
less and maternal socitude that steal over Ger
rude, when she sees the strange and inexplicable
motions of him who, though cruel in his words, is
ct her only son, by one she once loved WELL The |
ard nature of the Queen is for a moment con-
uered and overcome by the feelings of the mother
Mr.. Macready exhibited more Aexibility of voice |
nd versatility of manner than we had expecfed |
he changes were at times rapid and perfect |
lough, every now and then, the weakness of the |
ody failed to fulfil the volitions of the intellect
We were, however, so charmed by the general |
rillancy of the performance, that we hardly had |
me or disposition to observe the slight blemshes,
'hich scarcely diminished in the least the delights
the enraptured audience.