, 1872-12-29
"GuY MANNERlNG NJ NcricHEH'S.


70 INC EaitoF o. Ihe taIcd9o I77ohnes
SIR: The audiences at McVicher's last week
were moderately lacge,-as full perhaps r could
have beon expected, in view Of the unpleasant
weather. and the fact that many OF those who
intend going to 500 Miss Cuslman prefer to
listen to her in some other play tllaa ''Guy
Alanuering,"-i Eonle play which haa it's own
intrinsic merits Independent Of Miss Cush-
mans acting.
The first act Of "Guy Mannering is e7-
planatory and stupid. It serves to introduce
most Of the characters Of the play and to
enable the audience to become acquainted with
tho amiable Lucy, the giddy julia, the gallant
1fanae'-ing, the devoted Bcrtrana, etc. But it
answers yet another purpose, which possibly Was
not intended. The neutral tints OF the
first act render more distinct the
vivid colors of those which follow,
The audience 1u1led by the dull defamation of
the young ladies', by Afanne1ing's 6tilted airs,
and Bertram's unimpassioaed wooing. aro star
tied from their languor, as by d trumpet's blast,
when Meg Me7ri|ies appears upon the scene.
moment before, and people were staring rather
stupidity at Meesrs. Power and O'Ncill, acd trying
to realize the fact that they purporting to be
-Dertran2 and Dandie Dinnlonf, and then 10!
woman flashes upon the stage, and shows how
the unreal can become real It is surely Neg
iEerrilics that they sec, and not Miss CueL:nan;
it is no actress clad in shreds and patches and
with manifest false hair, but it is tho gipsey
crono, withered and bent BY age her gray locks
hanging over her face The echoes Of the voice
Of her nursling, Of the child that had tuSged ut
her breast, had fallen upon her ear, and, rushing
from her den among tho rocks she secs him, and
stands potrifed in one awful stare. There abe
remains, with all her being centered in her eyes,
while some OF the audience are laughing at
Ddndie Dinmont's efforts to attract Eertranas
attention by kicking his ahins under the table,
and ut Berrdfn's well-bred indifference to tho
kicking in question. Finally, Bcrtran, turns
around, and then for the first timo sho speaks.
She draws higher and higher to Bertran1, and in
those few following minutes her voice sweeps
through a score of changes from the tender,
passionate, amazed accents in which she accosts
him, to the close, when ahe repeats her prophetic
thyme, not dec1aiming or singing it, but speak
ing it like the woman who knew it to be true.
She loves to touch him, to feel his clothes, his
hand. While she reads tho lines upon his palm,
| she holds sfondly to his hand ana, it she dared,
| che would press him to her heart. She is, by
turns, the dotng foster-mother, the ruler Of her
clan, and the prophecies Of the future.
There are no inequalities in her acting; she
NAoA1 law 0SA>A
| good by fits and bad By starts, and she has so
little to do, ono thinks regretful1y whom it is
| all over, that it seems impossible to pick out
this or that thing, and say, Hero WIS she chief
| II excellent" She has learncd what generations
OF actors go to their graves without accom-
! plishing,-to be able to do we'll more than one
| thing. Now she thunders out from the summit
| of the rock to her Rommanv chals not to lay 4
finger On Bertrana, and she does it right royalty,
a Queen in rags, but every inch Queen now
she croons, in quavering tones, the lullaby she
had sung over young Harry, not with trills and
| aourisheB, as 8 poorer actress would have
done, but just as many q man has heard
his grandmother sing as sho rocked back
| and forth by the fire and now she
| breaks out into q snar1, which sets
no one to laughing any moro than
would tho menacng grow1 Of o dog. What indn-
ite variety there is in her tones, when she meets
Lucy and Julia, and rejects their prorered
bounty want not your trash I I'm not
mad. have been ecourged for mad" etc. Sho
e1presBes, With equal ease, tho most differing
emotions, whether she is threatening Hatteraick
with tue certain revongo for the blood he has
| split, and which will nevor dry up, or whether
she "alls oqthor never, any, any more"
It would be well ii the actors and actresses ut
McVicher's could learn just one lesson from Miss
| Cushnan, and that is concerning the use of their
voices. Let them learn first to initiate that
whether hor voice rlBes to thunder tones or sinks
| to whisper, whether tenderness oycrcomes her,
| or anger thrills. Then let them understand that
the human voice, as Nature made it. is fully COM
peteat, without need of any distortion or raryer
sion, to fully enaboay and express all the chang
ing passions Of the 3oul. No musical instru-
meut has such compass; nothing can sur-
pass its infinite moduletons it can
II, fnt& 1f H.
rawlings OF madness. It is sufficient for Ill the
| purposes OF clergyman and actor, and it is un-
| necessary for the one to forge devotional voice
or for the other to invent variety of voices to
| artificial aud unnatural as tho masks OF acto1s
Oil the classical stage. With Miss Cishman, ns
with Janauschek, the voice is so rich aud deep,
and strong, that merely to hear that is pleasure
for which would pay we'll.
Then, at the close, wien she has received what
sho knows il fatal wound, che concentrates all
hor iron energies to fight Off death until hor
purpose is accomplished, a2d Bert'.am is &C.
knowiodged heir.
Thus DER the dying lamp, the unsteady fame
Hangs Qulveriug point, leaps of by fits,
And falls again, as 10Th to quit It's hold.
Strong through her determination, she atrug.
giles to her feet, first calla OF the bystanders tc
recognize Der:rans aud then her work done,
gives herself up to her. tenderness, and fondlef
aud careBses the f-ce which her glazing eyes car
no longer see. Hers is no ordinary stage death
with its lunS-drawn abs and obs, and the conyul
siye rollings across the stage, such as ensues
when the Rcd Pirate is killed By Harold, ard the
former dies with many groan. There is d husl
in tie theatre. and, though it is tho closing
scone, the audience keep their seats and forge
to put Oh rubbers and overcoats until ali is done
Aud ho sruo it is not every actress that car
thus charm Chicago into propriety.
There arc those who object to her rushing
back mud forth, to tho changing OF her stic[
from hand to hand, to her inarticulato e1pTos
aions Of anger, and to tho brandishing Of hcl
skinny ann. None of them arc particularly
pleasing to tho lovers Of tho beautiful, bu
they ere by no means Miss Cushman's private
invention, and thoy can bo seen nearly ever.
day by those who tako the tronblo to look fol
them. 4 couple OF old Irish women engaged il
jnwing match, or couple Of Indian hags ii
an animated argument, need not dread com
parison with Meg 4He7~iles On the score of gestic
ulation. Hiss Cushman is unpleasantly trle
in all her wild motions and her fierce ejacula
tons.
It is q little singular that tho admirable act.
ing Of Miss Cushman should not serve to incte
her colleagues, and awaken in them tho desire
to initiate her excellence, go far as in them
Emulation is the spur OF noble minds" bu
, apparently not Of the stock actors at McVickers
With one exception, they appear to DO of th