Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1858-01-20
M. MURDOCH AS HAMLET

In the whole range Of the drama, there is no
character which so tasks the powers Of actor to
produce a real living, present picture, as that Of
Hamlet Prince Of Denmark This creation Of the
immortal bard of Avon,-abounding in beautiful
images, terse and pointed aphorisms, pithy sen
fences, ''familiar as house hold words to every
reader and embracing in its range Of passion love,
tender, gentle and confding, suspicion, creeping
slowly round the heart Of the betrayed prince till
it warps his feelings into uncomfortable hate, aDda
wild thirst for revenge, and finally the remorse #
sensitive nature hurried on to the commission Of
crime by a destiny which it cannot resist,-can be
effectively impersOnated only by one capable Of
comprchending the intricacies aud seeming iucon-
gruilies Of this character, Of understanding and
approaching the metaphysical philosophy in which
the author delights to indulge and Of realizing In
his '.heart Of hearts" the emotions Of sorrow for
departed father Of affection for a living but sinful
mother and Oflove for pure and gentle maiden;
and yet in obedience 10 still stronger passion Of
revenge he must yield the assent of both his heart
snd Judgment to the immolatiOn Of them all.
In this, Dir MURDOCH, of all the actors whom we
have seen in the part and we have seen most Of
them according to our conception Of the charae er,
has no rival With full, rich, and effective voice,
graceful elocution and pleasing person, he unites
discriminating, chaste, and elevated appreciation
Of every relation and position Of the parta digni
fed bearing under all its vicissiudes, and nsural
ness Of manner voice intouatiOn and emotion, that
evokes the hearty and involuntary symPathies Of his
audience. So complete is the illusion, that for
get the actor to weep over the fate Of the noble but
unfortunate Dane, TILL when he falls victim to the
perfdy Of his 'uncle-father," we feel relieved at
the thought that in the sleep that knows no waking
his agony-spent soul viii at last find rePOse.
We regard Mr. MUHDoCH's Hamlet as a transcend
emily great piece Of acting; and it was with no
small degreeof qualification that his first appearance
or Monday night was before the finest audience
ever gathered within the walls of the Nashville
Theatre. Il was a well meritei compliment from his
hosts Of admiring frien ds 10 who uni es in his
person the characters Of accomplished actor,
finished scholar and thorough gentleman.
During the stay Of Mr.. MURDOCH, which, for the
sake of the many admirers Of good acting in our
lit G city, we trust will be somewhat extended, our
citizens viii have the opportunity Of seeing him in
genteel comedy, in thePerfOrmance of which he has
ELECTED the most IN bounded admiration of the prs
and people on both sides of the water. We shall
take occasion to speak Of his performances in this
line when We have had better opportunity OF heal'
ing than we have yet enjoyed.
There is a single point in Mr.. MURDOCH's per
Torrance of Monday night in which before we leave
the subject we respectfully venture the suggestion
thatan Improvement might be made We allude to
- the scene at the grave where Hamlet and Laertes
grapple over the body Of the "fair Ophelia," and
Hamlet says as the attendants separate them
"Wby, / will fight with him upon this theme
Until my eyelids will no longer wag."
In the succeeding portion of the scene, com
rpepeing-'Come, show me what thOu'lt DO the
enuuciation Of Hamlet was so very rapid that, not
Eitbstsnding its accuracy, it was difficult or even
one who is familiar with the text, to follow its ut
terance With this single exception, We regard the
performance Of Monday night, so far as Mr.. MUIR
pocH was concerned, a fsutless personifcation Of
a most wonderful conception.
The new stock company at the Gaiety, though
not quite what we mad reason to hope from the we'll
known liberaliy Of Manager Crisp is yet, taken as
4, whole, passable. But Of these we shall have &C.
cssiou TO speak hereafter. We were gratided, how
ever. among so many strangers to observe the plea
SAINT and familiar faces OF MT LYereti, MT daInll-
ton. and Mrs. Bernard-all well known here, and
the first longestablished favOrite Of our theatre
gOers.
MIR Nurdochs Claude Mellnottc last night was
an admirable conception Of that character, and eli
cited the enthusiastic applause of the very large
and intelligent audience present
Tonight Mr. Murdoch appears Charles Sur
face, IN Sheridan's masterpiece, The School fo'
Scandal, a character in which he recently appeared
for fifty consecutive nights at the Haymazket Thea
ire, in London.