New-York daily tribune., 1859-01-10
MRS. KENBLE'.S READINGS.

Shskeepeaieen reading has become institution in
this n stropolis. u vas Daoeursted by Macready in
tie Autumn Of 1873 He gave two readings at the
Stuyvesaht Institute, namely Macbe,h' aud Ham
let" auo the entertainments are memorable from hsv-
rg been the last or bis undis:urbed re formances in
New-Io,k. They Are also noteworthy, not only as
the inatory euter; srmeDts Of tbs kind but also as
beyond COMPARISON, the hest Of t1er kind.
kIr-. Kemblo followed Msc'eady's lead; and. suhse-
90. ntly, G9orgc Vaniebbof, Prof Howes, Prof
Browo, and score of cthefr, who profess crest
deel than they perform have brought the I" in
stituior" :, the present day, and down to its
preteLt condition.
1t is not necessary to expsnd macy words on
the majority Of Mscre.1y's SUCCESSORS. But Mrs
Kemble has So fac Dsde an impression on the public
mind snd in her way, has 20 far educated 1t, th,t
some aosyss Of her faults seems to be called for
TIE old snd oit-repeated remark that Shakespeare
is "a poct of ns'ure," ba, various meaaipgsi ard,
auong other thnes, It meals tat Shakespeare crea-
ted continuity Ot per Onsges wno emauete from
"ratufe" who are cTawn true 10 "n.ture, snd Who
in short are udrr eir circumstances, neither
more nor less thar human beings-men and women
WITH feelings ard passions and pecuiarites like any
other uler and sOmen-aDd who, If they could now
sDesk wout The words set down for them as any
other bumsu bsnes and any other me and W rnen 10
real life and in q same situntons wod'd utter then
1t would SEEM t. follow rOn this that the theatrical
reliesetta'ives If s. peares characters 10 duty
bound s,eo 10 utter their words hike human beings
Ano to speak Ike men sni women, when the stage
But experience tells us tbat the present day. e.pe
cisly il tTsgety, they do Iothirg o! the kindi and
Shakespeare IN Hamlet tells US thet 10 his dag they
,tr.I fFai,-
ton of the theatec from that day ~ tois tells tna
actors generally new hsve done anything oftte liud.
On the contrary, both then and now, they did aud
90 not "spesk the speech trPpirgy on tic tongue;
but "they mouth it," and rabt it, aud roar it, ard
"tssr the psssn to tsters;" ard the strange thing
is h,t educate sudisnces endure 1t.
Ard now these stsge c0ovent'orates are INTRO
duocd into The readr groom by retired sctors; who,
havips tetted their hours the stage cannot or will
lot cfooe bnt fret their houfs IF the stsge. The Ut
most ,xsvsgance Of the per Wig paed ;eloss Of the
t6eser Is reproduced and concentrated 10 the s'nse
reade ard herr sl air educated sudieocss iudare IT,
"Th.re is s0mettiog IN then natura in this, says
Hamlet; abo " vbatevsf the auo.nces IGay do, sOIno
Gre "cen tind /, ou'.'
When one person undsrtakes to read play OF
Shakespeare dramatically ris her duty is To play
the several characters with bis or ner best abi'-
tie sid ia his or her ra'ura voice. The tone ard
style sboud indc. be odapsd to the Doivdaai chac-
ari.r end 10 the current sus'ion aud passion. Tue
utterance os Otheio before tue Senate should not 40
fsr HE Rc-ergo's tone In expo't1sting With
I.go that enc cou'd be m.tssen for the otberi but
the sexual v0os impuse should in escn ctse proceed
from tue reader orgsus toey are; aud tae dtsr'
" situaioo n Any tso eases. sil ot necessity
exhibit is-if Il the words read appropriately and
puturay 0Les voice, ~i'h It's fee iuhectons acd
Capacities Nll Always be the best be tue true,
medium q Conveying words t. IA sld!lor. And
herol il is that the vsrtricqu.n # Mrs. kenbe,
lie, II true tas;e "f her grea est faults. II isa
low ambition t5st exhibits part OF an intellectual
epte,taru,nt ssri.s of trcss sith the Tsicei
which. howe yer cl-ve-ly performed, still nothing
Int trcte and trcts too t-at are vssty better dole
by any s,roIlirg sni professional veut'ilolo'st.
1t isy.rv well for Mrs Ksuble 10 be masculine
as possible in Lady Macbeth; in that paiticuar-the
maseuoe-nO wom.n could easily ov-rdo the char
ter. But sfer she has thus, IN her own proper per
son, developed her utmost power, she enteavcrs 70
be still moie masc aliue in Macbeth hmself; and then,
the folly Of the experimeot is exhibited r is failure.
For, uo matter how oulrs geous . woman may be IN
ettenptinc 10 pcrson.'e . msn-no m.,ter, even,
how mrch she may eYcee,i what man coud do-she
is still but q woman; and the difference between q
masculine woman and man is just Is pslpa'e aud
lust as psrful TO 81 sndtor patdfe loog ago or
dsined it should be. Mac ,etas own comment on
OVERRIDING the Ian, though made for different pur'
poee, is exactly applicable here:
81 Id.rc 90 al th,, may become .
Who a.r do ncne.'
And thus Nrs he -.be cannot be Macbeth; yet her
sitemliip, 1t is uss ABSURD 10 the re scns-Io 1m ss
II would bs on the sage ste dressed for tue part
std ,sssypg to psy il Independently, with OTHER
setors around and supporting her. This thing was
II ed lcrg age by Mrs. Sddons, 10 II Hsmlet-an IN
fiely greser sctres in far more feasible character
but shat, too, failure. Ard certainly, IL
woman eanuot appear TO be man on tue stage
where ccst1me and sssccste actors aud al tue tne
atca accessories contribute to the illusion, worse
than useless 20 make the experirisnt without
factItous slos. II reads tragedy Of Snakes
reae let heT present tSe female srscersa females,
end tno-e OF the noa I" becomes . womsn"-nst IN
init stion VI q msh
A nrero serious f.nlt il Mrs. Ksmbe as q reader,
which was eSuAly Der fsut actress is eer mouth
I.b~. .,l .,t,. E.ah