, 1877-12-09
PARIS.
p.cent Theatrical and Musical
Doings in the French
Capital.
1.rra Bcrton's idea of F" Hamlet, II
and How He Played It.
7sriyal Of Victor Huge's Hsrnani" at
tie Francois.
eptridl coy-t5ponde,1ef Of The TribiIrs-

LIE fIlNCa1S.
eo,r,a, Correspondents Of The Tribnne-
p,v,s. Noy. a133.--Thc Indifference Of Frcnc,
..on,e to the doings Of their ucightors
a-,rerlisl, Look into their newspapers, an,
~, find two Of The usual four hadiy y-printc,
,x.e.s flied with French political news and coru
,.rnt. The third page is almost nonopolize.
- rary cuttings FROM the lolicc-reporLs, will
e,o,;rs of interesting suicides or bigainies, ant
c.ds and ends Of social scandal. Tie last il
rrr, up to rare advertisements aud drautati
cossin. As to the foreign intelligence. whicl
IN British or American journals occupies st
;.,,or,ant place, it is all crann,cu into thu
,nc,rrc SPACE Of about three-quartcrs of .
toluun, sometimes less.
This indifference extends not ONLY to politics
and the war III the East,-qucstionsa about wl,icl
The niass Of people here are densc1y ignoraut7
Int eycu to artistic matters You might itn,
.onc that so artistic 4 nation would wish tt
knox how It stood in the race with the rest ot
the world; yet till three years ago nobody icEc
Ind crer heard Of Handcl's u Alessiah.n Shak-
sneo-e IS almost sealed book here,-fouul,
,n1eed, on the library-shclves Of few
ycry. well-jnformed persons. but rarely
fnepcd, still more rarely understood or ap-
wecateG 81. La.nourcux, OF the Sosictc des
Concerts, managed, at last, alter i'm naeuse dill
rn},;ss Of all sorts. to Introduce Paris tt, ora
.orio: and now Z fair anu courageous cn,uiator,
Nile. Marie Dumas, has taken III hand the
sy1aous but no}tc task Of popuIariziuy Shak-
s2care Mile. Uumas-who is the sister Of the
Kitty novelist and Academ:cian has Just OPEN
ii her second season OF "Ma:inces Casavtcr-
istques' at the Theatre 1.yriquc, BY an inter-
estiar revival Of A1e1andre Dumas nere aud
Paul Mcuricc's
4DArIIoS OF "uAMLET7'
French Naa,tt.t One s,ni!cs instinctsycIy
1t the very thought Of such an anomaly, al
though many living can 1ecollect KouHcre,
whom al Paris ran to see SONG twenty years
SEQ, when he played the part ut the. old Theatre
Lyriaue on the Boulevard. But Rouvicre slauds
aa,nnt alone. In late times II. Faure has given
Us an operatic reading Of the cha1aetcr. Fech-
tss:s impersonation-"too, too solid Resh,'
blonde wig and a11-has not yet faded from
the memories Of Londoncrs; hut these are,
believe, the only French Ua,ntets rho have
n.de any mark, Tho list is small. Nor is this
to he wondered At The poor, mad ~ Prince
Of Denmark. the man OF love aud dreams, of
E1IUku mEIlkAllUu6, N0HtAS. AuN 5TfCuIl1tt43.--
Ramld 1u his whole inner Iie,-ts too far from
the COMMON experience Of Frcnchmcn to be
eyer comprehcnsible to them. 4 few have itl-
deal understood him- Hector Bcslioz did, and
doubtless tho two Hugos, Victor and Fraucois;
but these are exceptions; II I know anything OF
the matter, there is at This present moment no
actor Paris stage tunless, perhaps, lalladc)
Who could do even moderate Justice to the
part. There are, as we know, some things in
which uediocrity is intolerao1e. NJ tsic is one,
Shakspea1cau tragedy another. No actor
need attempt to play HaxlfL Il any do al
tempt, be can be excused by nothing short of
q great SUCCESS.
The Han.Is introduced to us at the Natinees
Ca1acteristiques the other day was, OF
81 men IN the world. II. Pierre
Be1tun-- he is a. capital actor Of
light comedy, has scored several triumphs
It the Theatre Francois, and is now valuable /
member OF tue Vaudeville Company; but about |
Is competent to inlay Shakespeare as-well, as
Mr. Montague, or anv other prctty-faced young |
gentleman YOU may chance to number amongst |
sour acquaintance. / have seen good many /
but such one as that presented to |
lotiee, and, to be honest, hope
1sHALL NEVER SEE SUCH ANOTHER.
The audience at tho Lyrique was in large |
MEASURE American and English. What may |
,ase been the sum Of Anglo-Sa1on agony en-
.ured during the two~hours' performance. /
mould not dare to say. Judging from my own
uatering, NJ. BeEton's recording angel must
ave chalked up goodly score against him! ]
be worst Of the affair was, too, that tue Gallic
ok in the theatre were clearly unconscious Of
heir very noses 1 recollcct having once
een asked to explain the plot IT that
licked but amusing .'Timba1e d'Argept y
, an innocent .Joung English lady,
lpeEect1y acquainted with the French tong1ie
! whose society found myself at the BouiIcs
ms rn1r oeH An+f1$He8 to /
Gus pretcxt managed to eyadc the task /
atched the lair Briton, however, aud tnund,
OF little to my relief. that she Invariably
ughed in the wrong places The people at the
J. Bcrtou did especial violence to poor Shak-
'care he was sure to be applahded; and, as he
d especial vjolence all the time, his triumph
'easurcd BIZ the applause be got) was im-
euse-
n. Berton, must mention, is the very type
4 PARIS BDELEvARDIER,
ID rejolces in the possession Of a dainty
oustaehe which might make cvcn Capoul
alous, If Caporcl could be jealous, HI has
ce, silky whisScrs, worn in the fashion, and
city short brown hair, uca1y combcd, and
rted down the middle. All these, which on
C Boulevard des ltaiens or in the Kue dc il
ris are charming, hardly fit in with the COM
notions Of Hamlet and think, |
the whole, it would have been perhaps as we'll
81. BertDN-hoHeycr p1tufui tue sacrifice |
d consented to wear wig, and shave his
liskcrs, at least! It. would hare been more
spectlul to Shakespeare This is / mere detail,
/ the rest OF the impcrsouation was Of j
.ce- It was plain from the beginning that
: actor had not the faintest idea Of his part.
E,,,3d was Prince, if be was mad man. II.
rton looked like sentimental undertaken, g.!
d, when i,e did not rant 1awncd. When he
nded Orlta|ia the love~lctter. but for the
rds that accomoauicd the act YOU would
&c faucicd him ! taycrn-NaiteI bringing III the |
;ut, perhaps the most solemn joke Of all was
Derton's attempt at madness. lie shook his :
,tty brown locks-a rather difficult thing to I {
owing tn their particular ncatncss; he
tcEcd tranticalIv at the air: tried to rotf bis |
ss-thuy wouldn't roll; swciled his voice into J
lid imitation Of thunder; and, having done ..
S, imagined he had gone mad, when in nrealty, |
had only lost his head, and was looking ! I
; hot and angry. Certainly, it Lanua (
5 mad, it was not after this fashion. Try as 9
would, II. Bcrion could not elIace the dap t
actor of the Vaudeville from our minds.
der all his false frenzy, there he persisted,
By no effort Of the will could we think Of
as o;ner than u. Rcrton,-a healthy, brill
t, and agreeable Partisan, very much at C.
nc at the Vaudeville, a
But ALL ABROAD
he palace and on the ghostly batt1ements Of
inore. Of the psychological side of Hamlet, a
tourse We got scarcely IN idea His solilo- II
Is were changed to TRADES aud his philo- h
pic mcdila1ious to- rantlng defamation. Il
u, well! The intention was good. l sup 9
6, and, though his oiIense was gsieyous, II. Il
Ton shall be forefren,--on condition that he ! 2
5 solemuiV never to repeat it. ci