The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-11-22
Misplaced Actresses.

when Miss KATE FIELD first undertook
to be an ac,rcas. ut an age which 10 would
toe uucallaut even to hint. she csslyed TO
! play one of the most difficult parts IN the
| whole list Of dramatic characters. The
part Of vtJ lIonngton demands Tor
1T proper depicting, youth, beauty. and
| delicate art, or else a dramatic genius
| nj error to The necessity Of advcu-
! utlous aids Miss FIELD Of course made
a failure, almost a. complete a full
uic a. If u village choir niger should ur-
dortakc to compete in opera with PATTI OF
NILSSON, or Il college dchatcr to sound
| tho depths ofour present political troubles
We are liad to hear that She has discover
! od her error, ana Is now content TO take
minor pa't and 20 through the schooling,
cut of which it l. pos bic shc may emerge
a. a FAIR actress in "a limited Lac OF clarlo-
tors But such eucc' as N.a- FItLD might
have won lass been rctIrdedly her vain
/ attempt To do what nothing hut her own
couco.t could aavcadiudgcd her oqgnl 90.
Mir. pOAllHoy tried 10 play Jnid. and
! IUil .hc IN tie " Lady at Lyons she also
is mature in years, "a novice to the stage,
lumfted with remarkable dramatic abh-
| ily, To say nothing of dramatic genius.
she foolishlv c,slyei to leap where others
must climb by slow and painful stnps, be-
gun in youth, aud continued until tine am
| biuou IS trained to not overlap Itself IN
der the impulse If vanity.
Ms ANNA DIcK1NsDN, after a success on
the platform largely due TO her beginning
as Il lecturer when women were new To
tie rostrum, and to the excitement Of a
/ / E
! iit TO compete with RisroRI. CHARLOTTE
! CrsHMAN, and JANAU~,UFK. Hers was
| daring sclf-conhdCncc. Though she had
| given no evidence If dramatic capacity on
the lecture platform, where. If she had
had il, slic would not and could not
have kept it concealed, though her voice
was never musical, her intonauons were
faulty, her rhetoric WAS raw aud I'M
equal, aud though She could only dis
play intensity by a long and painful
| strain of the voice mt u high and mOuOt-
onous pitch-Miss DICKINSON yet essnycd
not only to play most cXacting chanc-
ter and 10 make il II new Interpretation of
an historical queen, but also To write the
drama herself. time Boicp, Is part that
only great actress could assume sntisfac-
NlAlN hAi 'A'AAAlilrlN AiAtAA|NlA 'ilNi itNAf'l
to depict. even rs reconstructed by Miss
DICKINsON and yet this lecturer jumped
on the stage, dressed as the Maynard aud
Inflated Queen of liENW VIII, with all
the nOuChauuce OF veteran of the boards
II was q cool proceeding, but assurance
docs not seem yet tohdye made Miss DICK
INsoN great actress.
The --latest ambitious attempt to gain
dramatic llurri- ly a woman, in a cli rae
ter for which -i" l. not fttei by nature, Is
that Of Miss FASNY DAVENPoRr who Is
now trying to play that most subtle and
delicate creation Of SHAKESPEARE Rose
| ina, in As ! ON like IT," ROSdtUld is a
character Of romance, rs the Forest of Ar
den ~ "A region known only in the realms
of fancy and possible only there. TO
rightly comprehend 20 ideal u creation,
ole must have IN himself something
of the poets vision, for RoNHlHd is
not photograph Of a woman COM
mon to the earth, but % projection of
womauhood into romance. so poetic is
this character that the stage has had few
HoSdIHdS worthy TO DE mentioned as sat
isiuctoly, though Il good number who
have gwen pleasure to tie observers of
thor attempts to realize SO ideal "A figure.
Now, az all women ON the stage, Miss DAv-
ENroWr Is espccially debnrrrd by her
natural limitations from playing Rosdiind.
she Is destitute Of puotical feeling, is Lack
ing III reilnem Mt, and il ne far removed
from romance rs painters sisn from
high art, o. bread and butter glrl from u
hero no OF tragedy. Miss DAvENPORT can
play pert dashlug woman 10 satisfaction,
because she IL fully equal 10 the pnrt-
Is herself pretty, lively selfconndent
smart, dashng, and rather shallow. Her
place IS in the characters Of our mode n
society drama which do not task the
lmaslnation-s something not given TO all
aCtresscs- not in romantic drama, or IN
amy drama that calls tor fine, strong, in
tense emotion or the delicate play OF wit
ana fancy. She is an unusually hand
some woman, bnt her physical beauty
is not of tho RosdIind sort. II shows "a
best advantage in bail dross and amid