New-York tribune., 1868-03-17
MRS. KEMBLE'S MACBETH

Mrs Kembe closed her second series OF
readings Saturday afternoon, with the play Of Mac
BETH commonly reputed one OF her great successes We
listened TO IL many and came away with the
conviction that splendid 1t the play was not the
best calculated TO bring ont Mrs Kcmbe's peculiar
powers This partly for the that it stamped
all with the traditions OF the stage and especially
with the traditions Of her familythe faces of the
Kembcs peerng behind the chief characters and the
voices OF the Kembles resoundng through all the lines
so distinctly their neal descendant could hardly
bring individual genus to bear the text; and
partly because tragedy rs, are persuaded, not Mrs
Kembos strongest point She does the comic better and
we must say better proportion it is not elegant or
refined. She Is admirable IN plays like "As You
Like It," "BIuch Ado About Nothing" but as the nurse
in Romeo and Juliet" Dame Quickly in the merry
Wives" as Trinculo and stefano in "lhe Tempest
she is inimitable. BY general consent, 1t seems,
ihe Merry Wives" her most successful per-
iormance last week The Measure for Measure"
Su Friday evening, interesting; IN parts thrill
ng in parts noble and exciting. But the madcap
Luco seemed to her fayOre character, aud him She
Ovcrdid the supposed interest OF comedy The com
mon expectation Is always on tiptOe about Macbeth.
The fame Of the drama, the fame Of Mrs Sddons, her
owu fame too the spendor Of her physical endowmcnts,
combine to raise expectation high And certainly the
performance grand One-the grandest we ever had
arc likely to have If Mrs Kemble does not read
Macbeth perfectly must bear in mind that she is the
only woman man either who reads IT at all Her
wonderful voice-pOwerfu sweet. various full Of pas
sion full Of soul, trumpet and lutte tOgether-has room
here for every Of its tones aud cadences Her eocu
tOn is magnificent and is singulary fauess. consider
1ng formed for the stage. and formed accord
ing TO principles of the old English school She
mouths more than Is well. but far less than
she might, and not much as to be dis
agreeable. Her mobile cOuntenance expresses every
shade Of emotion; her eye flashes and molstens dates
aud uarows freezes and burns at WILL and her delicious
sgaile breaks over her face like sunrise She Is Sc
Serely trained artist and faithful student But all this
quite enough here. 1t enough in the plays, which
read with unembarrassed mind and after the
manner her genus prompts; but here her mind, as we
have intmated is unembarasSed and her genius Is
ftttered by NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. TO be sure, but s
traditiOns-the more glorious the dangerous Nor
IS thus ALL Mrs Kembe has theory OF her own about
the character Of Lady Macbeth, which evidently dom
mates her as she That theory shall not crit
size here, though the task would be pleasant one II
xp,ce permitted We only remark that IL gave mono
tony and an inhexbllty to her Interpretation of the
part, which took from 1t its charm On tho
suppOsition that Macbeth, in the murder or
of Duncan, did such violence his conscience that 1t
never recovered but gradually eXtnguisbed by the
weight Of ambition and the accumulation of crime
while his wife, conscience was at first IN allegiance
swept away by sudden flood Of passion, and aiterward
that food subsding, resumed its sway over her, uH
fnally It crushed ber-roOm is allowed FOR strongly
marked graduation OF character and for nice dehnea0n
nj ascending and descending feeling But on Mrs KEN.
les theory that Lady Macbeth had conscience but
was destitute Of moral feeling from first to last all devei
opmen OF character her part at least, becomes i'm
possible. She remains unchanged and unchangeaDle-
the same hearess sOuess mercess, desperate, fatal
creature from the moment when she mstlgates the muir
der TO the moment when she is crushed by destiny by
this theory we think We we're cheated Of fine
points In the reading. An instance OF this occurred IN
the second scene the third act where Macbeth and his
wife come in together-he moody full of dark thoughts,
seeing before him river OF blood he had made mp
his mind cross she calm, quiet, selfpossessed com
placent satisfied that the goal OF ambition had been
attained and that they had nothing to do but ENJOY the
dignity they had won With her the conflict Is over;
with Him it is Just commenced. She thinks they have
killed the snake he Is they have only scOtched IT,
She apparently does not share her husbands dread OF
Banquo and Feance and fails 10 take his hint that they
are assaabe" Banquo and Fleance will not live for
ever Of the most delicate points OF Interpretation
reeuts itself here as it seems to u.s. But Mrs KemDe
does not avail herself Of it, According to her rendering,
Lady Macbeth must always be deadly. Bloodhirstness
Is natural TO her She is the evil genius instgating
Guurder SO here, in the OF the first crime ~e
Ihggess the Of Banquo and his son in the seem
incly hafconscous words in which she replies to her
husbands mention Of them living The reader thr ew
into that single line intense magny. Each syllable
was drop OF poison let fan into the blood OF her pnr
p1seless covering spouse, whose attitude toward her
and toward destiny IS supposed 10 remain precisely as
IL was at the beginning Of the play All this would be
much moro evident the stage than 1t at the read
Ing desk but It evident enough there 10 mar the
artistic beauty of the rendering Mrs. Kembles read
ings the finest dramatic readings we ever listened TO-
but may be questioned whether too much is not
,,ectcd from dramatic readings 1t is common remark
that Mrs Kembe passes intellectually from char
cter into another completely to become for the
moment the parsonage represents This not So and,
from the nature Of the could not be So The ieat
~,Sould DO psychOlOgicaly impracticabe No imagna-
Sion Is nimble enough for such gymnasc performance
Nv means OF her wonderful voice and countenance she
s able to diversity the dialogue TO remarkable De
Gree. but 20 preserve the individuality OF several
interlocutors through a play through a single
ACT OF a play, or through several scenes Is
thing anachieved and probably uninterrupted The
art shows itself in the rendering OF separate
messages as they occur with little regard to the
other utterances Of the same speaker The reading Is
display Of elocuOn rather than OF chardctell~'.ion
Mira Kembles elocuton exquisite II never falls short
OF its AIM In tOne harmony, and cadence IL Is peIec"
The defamation Of the assassination scene ana the
a,rnm of the morning was surprisingly hne' Inc
,tcbe, ncautaon which she was kind enough 10 read
In f,ll WAS gwen with a sustained and easy power that
.nmnletely satisfied both and mind. The mingled
and horror OF the closing scenes ran naturally into
zach other and when the storms OF passion suDsided the
reader rose from her seat quietly as II she had been
reading pleasant stories hour She is one to listen
10 and study II she cannot do all things equally well
h does nothing badly and what she does WELL she does
so snrpassingiy well that wish she might live TO DO
them forever Oh that NewYork could offer her better
room
MRS KEMBLE IN PHILADELPHIA.
NJ rELEaRAPH TRIBUNE
arch --Al ~ n