New-York tribune., 1874-10-26
THE DRAMA.
BOOTHS THEATER.

l
| Many elements combined to make the per.
formance at Booths Theater Saturday night bots
| sadly and grandly impressive. The psay was Mao
BETH" which the awful flower Of shakspesrss imsRns
| ton and which humbies the mind even viase It
frances. Miss Cushmsn acted To yet another OF ths
great parts which her fame has been acqarod and
she thus deepened the regretul sense that the first
tragic genius Of country and time Is passing
away from stage. Mr. Vandenhof bringing the radi
tons OF elder school. the luster OF an hOnorcd his
toric nane and the Of ms abilities and fe
seemed likewise mutely TO suggest the glores OF tho
past the OF all genius and OF flame.
The theater crowded TO Its utmost limits with an
assembage OF thoughtful persons typical OF the vrtue
heart INTEL OF the American people and tho
significance OF the occasion seemed to have touched
every mind with dignity and every cOuntenancs
with wstfu tenderness The performance one OF
great excellence, and IL received In spirit OF
appreciation and intense sympathy commensurate with
It's work. Demonstration was not vehement but the
pageant OF genius intellect, emotion and art was
with and deep delight and 1t will long be re-
membered.
Miss Cushman acted Lady Mae5eM-with all her
former aud famous power. and with more than her
softness OF wOmanhood. The lifelong defect OF
this impersonation has been its masculinity Lovers
students OF Shakespeare have always crayed larger
admixturo In IL Of the Intoxicating genteDess OF per-
sonalty by which fascinates the affections Of
and Of the soft humanity anS delicate moral sense
which must nature understood to lie beneath tho
misery OF who langushes in rcmorse and ends
by suicide. Miss Cushman nmassive, regal and darkiy
tragchas generally sunk this aspect OF the character
overwhelming 1t with fierce, implacabe intensity and
presenting a Lady Macbeth who seemed to hold her
partner of greatness, through anities OF the intellect
more than through the affections This time-possiby
because her mind has been naturally Dged with the
deep sorrow occasion OF final areweshe sufused
the part with glow OF mournful gcntleness,
that brought to Shakespeare and closer TO
oil hoap was ly
scene OF Banguos dismissal; the attempts to comfort
the suffering King and those moments Of terrible gony
and desolation which follow upon the broken feast
Now always, no Miss Cushmans Lady uac1eta
was to be marvellous for urd lights OF horror and
for the perfect embodiment-meDtal spiritual, ana
physca-of conditions Of tragic passion. Her figure.
towering above Macbeth, and pointing beyOnd him to
the coming Duncan, who must be provided for,' or
crouchng against the doorpost OF the chamber which
the midnight murder is afoot. is awful beyond the
power OF words describe; and 1t never pass from
the memory OF the living who have seen 1t. or from
the most glo wing page OF the annals Of our drama.
Electra of the Greek tragedy was not more atefui
and dreadful Miss Cushman was all the Queen.
in the banquet scene. and she narrowed The nears
in depicting the anguish OF the involuntary sleep
walker when guilty conscience is bounding
into death and hell. Ali the old points were made. and
made with superb spontaneity and perfect precision
unity OF the personation was as fixed as that OF
the diamond giving all cOlors and keeping one form.
The point Of oftest greatness TO our thought Is the
moment when, in this wonderful performance, Lddy
Macbeth herself to tear the bloody daggers from
the hands OF distracted murderer and to enter with
them into the cham OF death. IL is 10 herself that
Miss Cushman her speak the reassurng words
The sleeping and the dead but pictures" and.
during this whole passage, the wOmans natural good
in conflict with her iron Will aud the blended
horror and pathos Of this touch surpass all language
Miss Cushman is needless say the recipient
in fhnafp
such as their lasting echoes in the memory of man
| kind
The chief burden, after all, rests on Mdcbeh. Mr..
yandenho bore it with eotire competence Of intel
| ectuai character and with delicate imaginaton He
was physically. somewhat feeble, 1t Is truoand his tone
OF polished culture and bland modern refinement was
not consonant with the haunted narrowed. fenddriven
chieftain portions of the performance the mechan-
ism of his method of acting was clearly vi'be-party
because long out OF practice, and partly be-
cause his springs from the intellect rather Than tho
SOUL and lacks that glow OF inspiration which alone can
the effect OF sponanelty. During the whole ter
ribe scene Of the banquet he seemed to possess It's
emotion and TO be possessed by it and IN his dely
cry the dagger-speech there OF artistic self
control and of finished elocuOn than OF spiritual en-
thralment by Internal destiny and murderous purpose.
Suchart isibeauul. and it 10 most essential; but 10
needs the tumult Of aroused impetuous, and ire
| sistDle soul, to give 1t wings and make 1t mag
| netic and victorious Mr. Vandenhofrs ideal Of
| Macbeth however, seen to be entirely
| Shakespearean, and therefore massive majestic,
| royal with imaginative splendor and awful with the
ravages OF most affecting anguish The granGest inter
pretation that be put upon Shakespeare Is always
the truth The student discoces greatness in
these marvellous works he does notendOc them with
it. Macbehis OF noble mind splendid Imagination.
tender heart, ndomabe vaor, and imperial indiyidu-
aty, and he Is seized, possessed dragged down. and
despoed by those dark and tremendous forces OF evil
which contend with goodness throughout the essence
of universal e The crimes that he commits are not
the crimes Of cruel man, but Of man whose nature
has been inverted, polluted and partly crazed. Tne
tortures begin tear his heart before
he smes the king and afterward his life is horrible
| delirium. Flecked here and there with clear mo-
ments of settled misery and pathetic dejection-upon
q lonely and awful eminence of evil To present this
personality is strike the soul with terror, pity
! and ave. to thrill the imagination and TO ex-
| alt the whole mortal being lower ideal
would rob the play OF all its investiturs
of sublimty In the fall OF star OF heaven there
is vast and nalneless grandeur aud pahos but nobody
surely, was ever yet impressed with the tumble OF
squash from garden wall. Mr.. Vandenhof taxes with
him the spontaneous admiration OF every intellectual
person. for rhe loftiness and the truth with which he
has apprehended the conception OF Shakespeare. He
may lack, times. the requisite frenzy and he may
show times certain pedantry. and a certain artb
fciaity Of method but his acting OF Mlcbeh has the
crowning glory OF ntuitive intelligence which rises
to grasp the largest IDEAL seizes with minute, unerrna
perception subest shades Of meaning, and culmt
mates portrayal OF form that is perfectly symmetr'
cal and of language that Is without nav.
sense Of completeness rather than OF special points
fingers in recollection OF ths achievement. Next to
poetic elevation and imaginative color, tho prominent
| attribute was humanity. gentle quality-iks
| TO sunset light that Is swallowed up oy
the rolling masses of impending storn