The New Orleans bulletin., 1876-03-28
Communicated
MARY ANDERSON.

MARY ANDEkSON.
The signal triumph recently achieved at tn,
Varieties Theater by Mary Anderson, in th,
character Of Meg Merrilies. sets all the &C
cep ed theories of modern criticism entirel,
at sea.
chit Of girl, in all the callowness Of hel
teens, unaccustomed to society, unfamiliar
with the pettiest details of the profession
almost entirely unacquainted with the drams
outside the authors pages, suddenly comes
out upon US from the mountains Of Kentucky,
and before she has completed score of repre-.
sentatioHs, crowns herself the living Queen
of Tragedy, apparently without an tff,rt,
raising the mantle of dead Cushman to her
shoulders, and at q single essay conquering
q past which made the name and fame of the
latter ring trumpet-toned throughout the
world.
How is this marvel to be explained What
is dumb-fouaded criticism to say when it
finds that rare power heretofore accepted as
unattainable otherwise than through the
elimination of refined, expensive and artistic
culture, paltry toy in the hands of school
girl? The conclusion appears inevitable that
heretofore we have all been at fault, and that
either the English stage Of our day is barren
of true genius, or else that the difficulties of
the actors art have been vastly and absurdly
overrated.
Surely it can not be that the drama has
fallen the prey of imbscility; that its profess
sionals have generally mistaken their voca-
tion; that the long years spent in laborious
study and preparation have been in most
instances wasted upon incompetency instead
Of desperate contest with legitimate labor.
Yet upon what other reasonable hypothesis
are we to account for the high artistic finish
and dramatic power bursting upon us from
this untutored novice, who, outside Of con-
sciencious love for her art and unf agging
industry seems to have brought no extraor-
dinary aids to bear upon her undertaking?
This wonderful girl, who possesses natu-
rally such complete mastery over the passions,
did not succeed in entirely pleasing her
audiences in the role of characters she at first
essayed.
The voluminous skirts of Julia, Juliet
and Blanca hampered and sat upon her as
awkwardly as harness on blooded racer. 1t
was only in the more intense passages that
sparks flashed forth of that dramatic fire
which warmed into bisze in Meg Merri.
lies" Until then, it was genius in letters;
but when, with the drawing-room atmosphere
she cast them eff. and stood for the first time
upon the legitimate boards of tragedy, her
awkwardness and natural defects vanished like
mists. She had found for the first
time her real field, and both her conception
and enactment Of the character proved to be
as grsndly rounded and as free from fault or
blemish as possible Of attainment by the
oldes. veteran.
But Mary Anderson's 9 success has taught the
critic more than this. Il has demonstrated
the insigni6cance of the barrier which
separates the sexes in dramatic interpreta-
ton. she has given Satisfactory evidence of
ability to essay the most difficult of Slake-
speares heroes, and in Romeo, Hamlet, etc.,
to find her congenial and legitimate line OF
character Certainly Only ill-advised pre-
iudice would restrict her to feebler one.
The stage is so welded to tradition that in
its atmosphere originality is as rare ss it is
highly estimated, and this country girls con.
ception of either Hamlet or Romeo would
possess all its elements in the highest degree
Her Interpretation Of these characters, free as
they would and must necessarily be from the
mold Of the flies and echoes of the green
room, would prove treat indeed. After the
power she has already displayed, both under
adverse and favorable circumstances, there is
no longer question OF her success in them
that is assured. 81
The critics juds will be alone en-
ployed in regard to her comparative excel.
lence, and in this. if the writer does not
greatly err. she will be found threatening the
laurels of even Booth, Barrett, ct ais. This
is no idle speculation of his, as hundreds vino
have witnessed Mary Anderson's success can
testify; and he is satisfied that none will prove
70 be more astounded than these great actors
themselves when they realize their danger
rom q school girl who trips up the rugged
path it has cost them so much time, toll and
anxiety to mount, with the airy tread of
Diana. +*s