Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1882-11-21
LANGTRY'S ROSALIND.
THE JERSEY LILY "CRUELLY.'
CRITICISED.
u Beauty, hut Not an Actress.

She's u Beauty, hut NOT an Actress
New York Sun.
The appearance of Mrs, Langtry in thepari
! of Rosalind, which took place at Wallack's
last night, had been anticipated by the
public with an interest probably ut least az
great as that which attended her debut
last week. The fret appearance satisfied a
mere superficial and popular curiosity. 1t
told the public what ann Of woman
Mrs. Langtry is to the eye, how she moves,
speaks and smiles; it gives a general i'm
preston of her personality, which. in her
case, must stand responsible for q pre-
ponderating share in the public interest
in herself and her career. 1t also in some
distant way suggested at least some traits
of the actress as well as the woman. On
this showing it was clear that the lady
had, in the French phrase, not stolen her
fame. Very evidently she il, as the CON
current voice Of our English cousins pro-
claims her, a very charming person
comely to the eye, easy in movement and
utterance, gentle in manner, and ali her
personal manifestations pervaded with IL
delightful atmosphere of ~kindliness, re-
fnement and good breeding. In the
realistic elements of the role of Hector
Grazebrook these qualities found adequate
expression, and they properly and right.
fully charmed the taste of her auditors
while they conciliated their sympathy and
good will.
1t was still an open question, which last
Mondays representation did little to settle
positively, whether Mrs. Langtry was
much-or anything more than a graceful
and well-bred woman of the world
whether behind the lady we should look
for the artist.
In essaying the character of Rosalind
Mrs. Langtry had to face a very different
problem, and attack a far loftier theme.
In its illustration the mere conventional
graces of modern society are of slight
avail. The actress cannot RELY on the re.
quired arts and habits of everyday life,
but must step at one bound out of the
present and actual into the vaguer realm
of the imaginative and the ideal. She
must forego to act and speak as she has
been in the habit of herself doing or see
ing others do, in order to act and speak as
she has presumably never seen any one do.
Both act and speech must cut loose from
simple copying to fashion themselves on a
conception, and be guided by an inner
law OF essential verify which no conven-
tional rule can dictate or correct. The
artist must cease to initiate. She must
create.
The part Of Rosalind, too, offers some
difficulties for an untried per-
former-difticulties which, as they may
well stagger the trained artist, can hardly
to be insuperable to q novice. All
women, unkind satirists have been wont
to remark, are made up of inconsistencies,
but Rosalind has a larger dose of the
quality in her composition than falls to
the lot of the average woman. At bottom
brave, clear headed, spirited, large
girl, with a large share of ready
and much of something very like
knowledge of the world, she is the victim
Of her own temperament, and pays the
of what is really her first quality
her impulsiye warmth and intensity Of
affection. Once having seen Orlando, her
fate is fixed. She s~hilly-shallies for no
instant, but plunges headlong in
love, once and irrevocably.
Not for this, however, is she silly or
There is no trace about her of
Laura Matilda sentimentality. Hers is
not the gush of a signing school girl, but
the awakening sympathy and passion of a
and womanly woman for a brave and
mail. fltWeu III lUlS llBut, lue
play is one Of the most charming, consist.
ent, and wholesome bits of idyllic creation
n literature, but it needs exquisite treat
ment. Weakness or c%oarseness must be
One secret of the sympathy awakened
by the heroine is what We may take leave
to call by a popular expression her
pluck" Hard hit as she is, she struggles
valiantly against her tyrant. Some of the
most delightful traits in the drawing are
by the mischievous satire and
with which she mncks at her own
condition. Unable to free her.
self, she takes her revenge on Orlando by
the unwilling cause of her
while at the same time, like a
'hrewd and determined girl, she takes the
most efficient steps toward the troubles
She is comically conscious that
he is making a goose of herself, but she
her exousable weakness to a most
and satisfactory conclusion.
These somewhat extended preliminaries
the necessary criticism on
Mrs. Langtry's performance last night.
Judging by anything like Il fairly eXacting
as the lady herself would think it
complimentary to be judged by-that per-
'ormance must be briefly, If kindly, pro-
ituiASCu AbuuoIt"NV II iSStioioSbSA |
Its deficiency lay in two easily sepsrablo
the conception and in the
means to its delineation. 1t would be too
to say that Mrs. Langtry's concep-
ion of the part is wrOng-she has none.
the mingled sweetness, strength, wit,
humor, yet real wisdom and dis
Of Rosalind, hardly a trace seemed
have dawned on her intelligence. Of
dignity, her unwilling yielding,
ner self-conscious struggle, she gives us
little or no sign; she falls in love like q
ooarding-school girl of a weak pattern,
such she remains unto the end.
In the delineation OF this imperfect ideal
II was hardly to be expected that Mrs.
would display a well-developed
symmetrical technique, which her
short experience would render little less
than miraculous. 1t was last night, how
ever, even more imperfect than her first
appearance might have led her friends to
hope. Shakespeare must be not only
acted, but read. The exquisite harmony
and fitness Of every line and phrase must
have its corresponding grace and fitness of
1t is an unpleasant duty to
record that Mrs. Langtry reads her lines
with little sign Of imaginative APP
probation, with an almost affected thin-1
ness in quality of voice. and a plaintive
inexpensive monotony of intonation
which, while it e~nforces the school girl
ideal above limited at, nearly or quite
empties the character Of its dignity and
its charm. The grace of movement which
attends her in the costume and appur-
tances of modern society largely fails her
in the free. untrammeled surroundings
OF the Forest of Ardennea, and her facial
expression. which should express the
sparkling hnmor and warm feeling OF a
but passionate woman, too often
varied between the insipid and the ex-
aggerated.
In brief, Mrs. Langtry's Interpretation
last night showed that in all really artistic