The Weekly comet. [volume] (Baton Rouge, La.) 1853-1855, 1855-11-11

Fonrrsr THE AeTor-The truth
Of he following criticism, ON the act
in Of the grea. American Iragodjan,
will be acknowledged BY every person,
who has ever Witnessed him on the
"boar1s." There is q Inc Of charac
ter, in which Mr.. Forrest ! phys1g"e
to say nothing OF his rant, and tear
ing Of passion to tatters-enlrelv un-
fits him. In the whole route Of Shaks-
pearean characters, with the exception
of OthelIo, perhaps, his hurley figure
makes burlesque. As the Prince
of Denmark" it requires q stretch OF
tho imagination to recognize the
couterficlt presentnent Of tie fhllos-
ophic Hamlet. The EtpyeSs critic,
says:
Rain or shine, he has always crowd
Mr.. Forrest is, and always will b., =
pet With certain class of this and
other cGf1imunifics, whose dramatic,
literary, and critical tastes have never
been satisfactorily defined Mr.. or
rest isa IHau Of genius, unquestlon-
ably, but If is uot "a genius that has u
very wide range. In caricaturing
Shakespeare, however, we think he has
no living equal, and his mode Of tear
inga passion to tattels we have always
looked upon as something entirely aud
originally bis own.
Mr.. Forests, moreover, is an in
eepious genius, Ills metanorphosis
Of Jack Cade, from the iIliterate scamp
he is in Shakespeare aud English his
tory. into 4 sentimental patriot, is q
sleight-of hand trick which might
challenge The dextcrity Of Professor
Anderson and Signor Bitz. Ills Spar
tacus, from beginning to end, irress-
tihly reminds one Of tho bulls head
and the cattle head His airs and
facial controtions in Macbeth, revive,
ones recollection Of Burton's James
VI grim" His Claude Melnotte is a
simple preposteronsncss from begin
ming to end Think, for instance, of
q person Of Mr.. Forests colossal pro-
portions rushing upon the stage, in the
first act, giving vent to his juvenile joy
in the exclamation Mother, I've won
the prize His EIamIet---well
never mind
Al, these imperaonations are Mr..
Forrest $ weaI,cncss-but it would be
q great mistake to imagine that, on
the stage |. has not real merit enough
to contorbalanoe the perverted taste 50
painfully prominent in these instances.
In Otbello he does not altogether ex
iliblt an obliyiousncss of the real char
4cter of the jealous Moor, just as the
bard Of Avon painted aud pictured INN
In Coriolanus, he looks. if be does not
act, the character. lie will pass in
Brutus, ard We could applaud him Of
ten without compuuction as Damon
if he viii agree - let Richard the
Third, Hamlet and Macbeth alone
forever. lie has not, in our humble
opinion, the commencement OF con-
ception Of Sheakspeare's meaning, III
these immortal creations Of his genius
The Duke of Glostcr, with Mr.. Forrest,
is not the sensual, crafty, bloody vii
liqn, he was nj real life, AS Sneak
SPEAR describes hjm,-but a jolly
god fellow, "a very gentlemanly
sort Of cut throat, who rather excltes
your sympathy than your cxecration,
The dreamy, sentimental, mlsanth-
rophic Prince Of Denmark in his bands
is but burly Hercules, suffering from
an attack Of the blues. His Thane Of
Cawdor is but q series Of" making
faces" from his contab with the weird
sisters on the blasted heath, to the clay
orG Macdun' in the last act Ifthcre
ever was Macbeth in existence and
ths)bistorjans all agree that there was
1t is presumable that he was a
man Of flesh and blood, who spoke and
looked just as other men do who walk
the earth, not tie egregious, Unnatural
clown Mr.. Forrest would have us be-
Iieve he was. This is not holding the
mirror up to nature, and no acting
that is not natural is, or can be good.