The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-05-07
MUSIC AND THE DRAMA

At the HOLIDAY STREET, Miss CUsHMAN's engage
ment is rapidly drawing to close. On Monday
she played to crowded house her great role of
Neg Werrities, which she repeated on Tuesday and
Wednesday nights. The work of adopting the plot
of Guy Mannering to the stage was performed by
Daniel Terry, personal friend of Sir Walter Scott,
and so badly done as to draw from the latter the
remark that his novel had been Terry-fed into a
play" Anybody who has seen Mr.. Terrv's "musi-
cal drama in three acts will admit the Justice of
the criticism. 1t has neither head nor tail-nether
beginning, middle nor an end. 1t lacks both
continuity and interest, and neither in in its dia-
ogue nor its action does it afford the slightest scope
for good acting, in the true sense of the word
That Miss CUsHMAN should have been able to make
such play popular, or to gain reputation by its
representation is remarkable. Yet this she has DONE
In Ednboro', the original Dominic Sampson, old
Mackic we think it was, expressed to Miss CUsHMAN
his regret that Sir Walter should ma haze seen her
Neg WerriIies;-he had ony idea o the capabili-
ties o the part" The further compliment paid to
the actress by the actor one, the force of
which can only be appreciated by those who have
witnessed Miss CUsHMAN's impersonation of the
character. aye quite TAX the breath out O. my
body wi yer acting" said Mackie, and we do not
doubt it. In many passages, Miss CUsHMANs
acting is quite as terrific as the play Yet as we
have said it snot acting least, not such acting
Miss CUsHMAN has shown hersefquite equal to, as for
example, in her Queen Katherine, which we are free
to say we think incomparably her best character
Guy Nannering is rather succession of grotesque,
and sometimes striking taJleamc rironts, in which
the wrinked old beldam, Neg lNeraies, is the prin-
cipal figure, while joval farmer in a scarlet waist
coata drab top-coat eccentric pedagogue in
ty black with pewter headed cane, a pratica look
ing smuggler, ''haf devil, half Dutchman,' and a
motley crew of gentlemen, ladies, soldiers, gipsies
peasants, &c. fill up thepicture. Meg MerriIes her
self atitudnzes rather than acts In the third scene
OF the second act, when she makes her first appear
ance, while Bertrom and Dinmom are seated at a
table in the gipsey camp eating and drinking, ac-
cording to the stage direction, she merely "darts
from behind the tent, when Bertram speaks advances
softly step or two, and gazes intently on him. -
This is her cue throughout the play. In the fifth
scene of the same act, when Bcrtrant and Dinmont
are attacked by HHeraick and his crew, Neg Mer-
rifles suddenly appears upon an eminence between
the parties, and waves off the gpsies, who shrink
back at her signal" Then, when the sculle is
over, "Weg disappears" 1t is the pantomime
of Miss CUSHMAN's impersonation of an old bag,
rather than any artistic delineation of human life
and passion, that makes impression upon the all-
dience and marks the performance of the actress
Yet we do not deny that the pantomne is perfect,
and that Miss CusnMAN does the Gipsey bag to the
life, and structures therefore apply not to
her acting, but to the play itself. She does all
that either Mr. Terry Sir Walter Scott have given
her to do. What wish to combat is the popu-
lar but the most mistaken notion that Neg MerrHes
is MISS CUsHMAN's greatest character. 1t is nothing
of the sort. Miss CUSHMAN is something more than
mimic;-shc is an actress. She can not only
"look' and ''dress" a part, but play one. Take
her Queen Katharine, for example, and compare
or rather contrast it with her Meg Me,riiies. In
the former part she has great author to interpret
the play, and conflict Of human passions, and the
outraged feelings of a woman and queen, to define
ate,-and the terrible spectacle of natural death
slow, lingering, and painful, to portray-and she
does it all, artisticay and grandy The trial
scene, or the death scene in Queen Katharine are
either of them worth the whole performance oil
Meg Werrihes, and if there be any of her charac
tiers which should like to see repeated for three
nights, it is the former and not the latter.