New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-12-09
Music AND THE DRAMA.
youN MCCULLOUGH.

-. The,tre will close tonight. This after-
A'e".o -, rsn..t his well-known personation OF
r..,,or and this evening he will appear as Damon
cement has lasted four weeks, and IL Is
ne e., yerv creditable to the taste OF the play
onhio that he has been greeted oy great
s,d;ences The parts that be has PLAYED are "S."
a., spartacus Ingomar. Claude Me'no''e' naS".
War,ey Bratas King Lear and Othetto IL Is nei'ue-
.'n,a nor desirable, IN recording the
achievements Of an actor " "prt of
a. performances each year. q sort OF
mental tape-measure. with the view 70 "'oo -
"a chmuicle shades of modification and degrees .,
~ Noman can change much in his essential
-har.cter from youth to age, and no actor. now
Ter he natures or howsoever be may advance
a., aex, biljty of usage, ever escapes from 'n
,;mi,a,ions prescribed to him by Nature. DIT. me-
Cnllouch's greatness was long since undeis'o' "Nu
,acocnzed He no longer stands III the poS''''i, "a
on ACTOR who is called upon to prove us o"so II
rorforman IS are not given for the purpose VI
;ng ssojeut opinions as TO the question "ue'nei Nv
a. ohio IN act He long ago took bis RANK Ny
che notent and irresistible right OF conquest MS
,mpersonatons of VirgniHs. BrHt''' L"C"S DI "."''
Coriolapas Damon, and Spdrtacns are AIMING VIZ ~
yoost MAGNIFICENT achievements oil the co".u', =
che line of heroic acting; and II Is az 'ho No. y
fins line and as the monarch OF tDiS ueiu' '"''
has won his renown. Almost 'no
-aS therefore that Mr. McCuliougn
nroyides for disquisition upon MS "o',D ',.aI
s.,a.d when he turns aside from tne na'ula'
.N"e,,on Of bs faculties and temperament Inc
~.ators which arouse bim-wh'ch ehaoie
,o,ror INFO subllmity, or dissolve In teh0er-
go ,bose which have their springs III 'he
- heort He gives the frantic passion
- ,ba desolate misery of Lear. because
G., Of all and setting the ac'ors
ct aside which, of course. he possesses
30 can feel tho love which. in that ssnlle oreaKne
,,ant is the source of all the ensuing woe ne
TITS The jealousy the delrium, the shipwrecK OF
r,n.io because he has perfect comprehension OF
.hs smue no bleness and infinite passionate tehuer
,oss that ara at the basis of Othett0s LIE. In the
Forpm scene of "virginius." and in the lud lment
.esne of brutus." be predomiDates oy SUN 'he
80 nouer-tbe power of the human heart. Upon
AZ haautv of his mechanism.-that superb ana ex-
ou;s,te physcal polse and grace which statuares
40 iustlv admire. that aiiluent and sonorous
socialism. and that seeming spontaneity OF
,,nison between words and actionS,-thefe Is
mn need here to pause. Of the techncalitleN
~ acting Mr. McCullOugh's command is mar
xs,lonsly free and ample. Through all the
xr;,dues, of the Curse scene IN Brutus'
through the aw iul tempest scene IN Lear "nhe
seemiuciy surrendered TO the full torrents OF emo
zion. he can hold his feeIngs-and consequently
Che feelings of his audi Ors-wth hand oil IRON
and no actor does this without beng great artist
But il is the aptitude for great human situations
fhe large view Of what Mr. Mccullough Is as an
actor upon which alone II seems
sppropriate now to remark. We know not whether
MS mpersonaton of OheilO is better, in this month
of December than it wasin some previous February
but what we do know is that it Is great perform
ance, in the true spirit OF Snakespeares
nort,cal tragedy, with 10 barbara
sn,malism in it's love and DO
smell of the saughterhOuse in its closing actions
of saer,teial murder. 1t was seen bv great audi
ence last night, and 1t evoked a splendid reSpon'e
of svmoathy and acclamatIOn. In parts like this.
wa ,ay Mr. McCu ugh's eHl ylscrntred. When he
firms 10 Hamlet he must contend against bls own
nature He played that pat on Thur day night,
and he audience liked him 80 well IN it that they
called him before the curtain no less than SIX
times Many beauties of execution might be
named in the perfOrmance-the finished elo-
eution and the total absence of ornament
and frppery being conspicuous fehcltles :;
but these are of little avail, without the
Hamlet spirit and this. in MIR. Mccullough, exists
only as an abstraction or theory not as satura-
ing passion. He understands Hamlet as fully and
asexactIy as any other person understands It, and
he makes the meaning clear; hut there l.
lack of Identification, so that the sub
feet is analysed from without, instead Of
being IN ierpretod from within. We do not mean to
say that Hamlet is higher part than Lear. or that
the actor is deficient in that fine intellectual quality
which Hamlet involves; The sole point is that his
nainiues are with the LOVING father
whose Ia, art is broken and whose mind Is crazed by
unkndness and not with the mOrb d ,gnef-strlcken,
melancholy morallzer whose favOrite subject
lbefore he has seen or heard any Ghost at all Is
suicide and whose whole hein is dry rot OF soT-
row and misery. In temperament, person. voice and
method Mr.. Mccullough showed himself to be dis
Cordant with Hamlet Yet, by the symmetry of his
arr aud by his magnIfc mt delivery of the text
not to speak of his perfectly defnite expression o
a distinct ideal, he makes such performance OF
The Dane as scholarship must always re-
spoct, and as popular taste Is certain to approve
His treatment of the Ghost scenes, his mOurnful ten
derness in parting with OPheiia and his delivery
of tho great s0lilOquJ on suicide are henceiortl
treasures i'll memory. All the same. our preference
must continue TO be for Lear with his sceptre OF
straw and Brutus upon the dread tribunal OF JUS
tce whenever We think OF John Mccullough.