The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-01-23

azasSkMELf nALL---JAEAUbEHECKs AS skkDEEf
IKATHAKINE.Last night 6hakespeare's great
play of Henry VIII. was presented at Assem-
bly, Hall. There was quite sarge audience
i In attendance, and Madame Janauschek ap.
peared to very great advantage 81
Queen Katharine was reDroduced In ia,
nanschek, Cardinal W0Isey in Mines lie
wick, and Henry VIII. in FL. B. Noonan.
Jananschek In this character was all and
more than she has been said to be. 1t Is nc
exaggeration to call her Queen of Tragedy
Leyick and Noonan supported her most
worthily.
/ We have no time to give an inventory Of
the merits Of her personnel, but we can say
with all, sincerity that in her whole appear.
dhee,in every look, gesture, tone, and bearing
she was just what we would suppose that the
daughter OF king-herself the queen, and
| that queen the noble wife and woman, such
as Shakespeare and all history tell as that
Katherine was-would be.
A remarkable feature Of the exhibition
| was the total absence Of the stage manner
and tone. An entire concealmeut of all art
of every sign of it save its perfection and
| success.
If we shut our eyes, there was not an in.
tonation by which our hearing could detect
that it was acting, not reality. If we could
have shut out from view all the modern sur.
roundings, and have seen nought but the
scene and the actors, our eyes would never
have told US that it was all counterfeit,
and not the reality of 1521-'3O.
In this Junauschek shares the special gift
| OF Ristori and of Jefferson, so rare even In
the best.
The play .Yas as familiar to Us as mere
reading could make it, but we never so fully
realized it-it was like new revelation.
her accent, slight as it is, was natural in
Katharine,
| !" stranger
| , Born out OF Your dominions,''
- not such truant since her contno
AS motto KNOW the language she had Iiy'i fn -
For time we were made to lose conscious.
| ness OF being IN the nineteenth century, in
| house heated by steam and lighted by elec.
! in the flesh the bluff King, the subtle VOL.
sey and Campeius, the noble Katharine,
illustrating in the midst Of her wrongs and
misery the dignity, the virtues. and the ex
ceeding kindness aud fidelity of her sex-to
believe that we were hearing their very
voices and were priyy to their secret Thoughts
and utterances.
We were made to
| - t01Qk we saw
The very persons Of the noble story
AS they were living; thiuk we saw them great,
And follow'd with the general throng, and sweat
| Of thousand friends; then in moment see
! How soon this mightiness meets misery
Though the performance be long, yor
know no weariness while given up to the
| fascination of
-"this W oman so complete,
Who IS enroll'd 'mongst wonders, and when we.
Snell-bouud with IaviShd list'n1ng, could not nG
| Her hour Of speech minute.
Her conception and adoption of the cha
racter of Katharine is so perfect (such as
none but a true woman could be capable OF
that she appears to lose all sense of her own
individuality, and SO fully to feel herself tc
be the injured Queen that she repeats the
motions, tone, and words Of Katharine .as
naturally as if they were her own, sponta.
neous utterance. So unfefgneats seems Tine
sincerity Of her feelings. that She! at once
Establishes the electric circle between :herseli
and YOU. and her auditors Quiver with the
same emotions of admiration, and reverence
of pity aud Indignation with which 1katha-
rine's own hearers must have been filled.
# Shakespeare painted the living in grand
nerfection and with unerring accuracy OF
detail even in the most delicate lines, ia.
nauschek turns the picture back into flesh
and blood, conceiving the poet as thoroughly
as Shakespeare conceived the men ana
| women whom he makes to move and speak
before us. No man can see Katharine D
without increased reverence for the sex OF
whom Henry's- pure and4nahl wife g Of
rare qualities and sweet gentlenesS,' was the
| type and representative woman.
Tonight, Adrienne, the Actress, Wall be