New-York daily tribune., 1857-09-28
UALLACk.S 7WEATER.
PRODUCTION OE 1.-THE MAIDS TRAGEDY,
MISS HERON AS "EVADNE

When we heard that THE Maids Tragedy" Of
| Beaumont and Fletcher wss to be adapted," eI-
| pressly TO enable Miss Matilda Heron "to realize
the noblest poetic creation Of the suthors unsnr
"psesed in terrible grandeur by the Lady Macbeth Of
Shakespeare" wers little puzzled 10 know
| how the " "adsptsior could be accomplished. "The
Mao's Tragedy is of the coirsest of all Beau.
mont and Fletcher's playa The pot ves with
| the language in drtioe!s. Notwithstanding the
siardioquebt- the inpressively grendioquent, and
| we may say thIilDg-announceme Of the placards
above quoted we must declare tn 1t there is no more
| likeness between "Evadne' aud Lady Macbeth
than between chalk and cheese, or wine and wster.
Charles Lamb, in of his charming notes upon this
very play, concludes by saying: AFTER all, Beau.
| "moDt ard Fletcher were but an inferior sort Of
"SAakespeares and Sdneys' But the gentlemen
who construct the bills not nice, aad il was
of course necessary to Assure the public that Miss
| Heron about to portray sJmethiog very
wicked and agi,atipg Evadne is not
Sbakesperian woman at ell. She is cast in much
cheaper mold than the least successful Of the great
poets creations She lacks wovlally de'icacy, aud,
when she is not whling about her injuries Ike
street drab Size hes ro high thoushted dequsnimity,
and none of the sublime colectedness of repentent
despa. She no. eveu as all heroines are, the CEN
tra figure Of the drama Aspsta is as good az she,
wears clothes fine hers, and uses language quite
as beautiful; and we believe that Miss Heron could
make quite much Of character as of the other.
| Shakespeare constructs his women compact and
rounded, and all their speeches and actions mutu-
ally dependent. There great gaps or soecisms.
But this character of " Evadne is all fragments AT
| least, this was our impression before we saw Mss
| Heron mpersonation on Saturday evening. And it
is still strongly our impression now. Therefore
we hope that the placard designers will take Lsdy
Macbeth out Of the bilIs. Her presence provokes
| unnecessary comparisons.
| Miss Heron has If we may use nautical word
| raced The Maids Tragedy This wise for
| two reasons. To have given the tSin-authorJ
work entire would have sent al the modest women
| out of the thester, and bored all the mmodest men
| even into condition Of coma 70 be sure when we
are told Of the resuscitaon of "a fine old English
drama expect to be bored and as Kissing has un.
fortunately gone out of fas HON. always prepare to
undergo suleriugs with stern and accomplishing
patience. We wonder how many people really like a
five act tragedy and do not congratulate themselves
when Mr.. Brobdgnag, the great American tragedian
gives his final gruut and quiver AS for adap atious
of old English dramatists only say .ha. they
are experiments not to be lightly undertaken. The
blaze of Shakespeare makes the arhng candles burn
dimly. The king keeps the stage, and most of the
subjects wise witty, and melodious singers though
they are, have made their exit. OF all the
plays of its period and class, only Massingers GA
New Way to Pay Old Debts" is now stock
piece and it would have been shelved long ago if Mr.
Edmund Kean had no. taken fancy to play Sir Giles
in way which was dangerous to women in an inter-
es,ipg stuation, and which drove Lord Byron into
coLvusions. We do not remember single dram. of
Webster, Ford, Ben Jonson, Chapman or HsywDd,
which is called for by the thester.goers The comic
dramaii.ts of the Restoration have feEed better.
MIR. Wallack some years since cleaned Congeve's
Love for Love- but believe the public did not
love at allthe cleaning having taken out much of
the flavor. Wycherlys Peggy" purified by Gar
rick beautifully play ed here by Mrs. Fitzwilliam,
and Mr.. Murdoch does something, believe, with
of Farquhars characters. But, as general thing
always excepting the divine and perennial Wilam,)
people ike fresh tap And wisely. Old plays are
for the study. To be pored on. To be smoked over.
Why should not living manners upon our stage,
as courtiers and citizens saw them at the old Globe
1t is no shame to us, if we like London Assurance"
or "The Serious Family" or even "Box and Cox
better than "The Meid's Tragedy" If thousandth
part of the gapes of people who have yawned at Tai
fourd's "Ion' could be concentrated into single
cape, it would be powerful enough to dsooate the
jaws of the builiest tragedan upon the American
boards.
But we are getting long way from the unhappy
"Evadne, the lorn Aspsis, the truculent King, the
stropg.minded and military Meantiua, and the pre-
cuckolGed Amintor Miss Herons acting reminds us
ofthe dancing of the Kenwg sgrs n Nicholas Nickle
by, in which there a great deal Of work for the
arms and very little for the legs. Miss Heron acts
cl armingy with her neck bust, aims, and especially
with the latter. The predominating idea when you
leave the theater after seeing her is that OF two arms
row waving and anon tossing, and generally doing
everything of which two may be considered ca.
patle. In taking position We do not know On ac-
tress who is her equal. She ills the stage; che al
ways stands in the right place; always walks when
che should walk; kneels to perfection; and is
perfectly delicious in dying. Do we under
velue these accomplishments Not at all.
They are much-hslf the battle-but not all. Nor
s1e they by ary means Miss Heron's all. Several of
her scenes on Saturday evening very clever ecd
received deserved applause. We ssy deserved"
because if We like manneiism and sort Of pre-
Rapbaelite actualy-a kind of wooden fidelity to ns-
ture. and not large and ideslized impersonation-
actors and actresses if they be wise will give US what
we like. Tha. is the way to put money into the
treasury Who has not glowed With rapture at Brob-
6ienags deathratte Let him be praised for it, for
cost him bronchitis to attain such perfection. So
too all honor to Miss Herons exceedingly accurate
Evadne" of which il may vito justice De remarked
that it ives quite equal to her Camille, and as good
a. her "Medes." She must not be thus Lightly dis |
missed, and We shsIl take en- early opportunity OF |