The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1884-01-24

A Critical Estimate or tire GREAT Eng
lish Acsor-The Bells.
flor the I,;snatch.l

Among the hrst greetings thpt TeccNcu
! In New York was that OF Edwin Boom.
After brief conversation asked him bis
estimate Of Henry Irving as an actor. lie
replied: ole IL IN actor OF great genius
OF marked mannerisms certainly; but one
Of the greatest actors that has ever adorned
the English-speaking stage, and worthy
successor OF Kean and Garrick." MY sub
sequent experiences OF Mr.. Irving con-
frmed Mr.. Booths opinions. j first saw
| Irving as Shylock In the Merchant OF Ven-
ice. To me the play has never been a
Pleasing one for the stage. Its action Is
slow, it Is deficient in strong dramatic sit'i-
atoms, aud gives a great actor In the im-
personation OF Shylock few opportll-
mites for illustrating intense dramatic
power. 1t unites two actions, and. as
DIR. johnson says, "The probability OF
either one or the other story cannot be
maintained" With this estimate OF the
play in my mind, It was quite natural that
1rving's rendition OF Shylock failed TO i'm
press me with his real dramatic power. l
left the theatre thinking his power over
rated, but deemng him an actor OF fine
ability, unworthy Of the great applause be-
slowed upon him. Irving has a tall and
1.-THE frame, q long, smooth-shaven face Of
remarkable mobility, great expressiveness,
and its possibilities OF expression heighten-
ed by skilful making-up; large, dark, and
piercing eyes; voice clear, strong, sono-
rous, well modulated, and capacity for
picturesque posing and acting from atti-
tudes that is at times electrical. His
walk is awkward. his elocution often
bad, and his reading frequently married
by cultural mounting that renders
the text inaudibIe to the auditor. These
are his prominent defects; but he has
dramatic genius great aud TN questiona-
BILE. There WIS in his Shylock but lit
tie depression from stage traditions, save
when he would invest the part with that
weird and picturesque sombreness which
Imprcsses all his approximations at times.
There was rare attention TO every drama
tic detail Of gesture, movement, and stage
business, and facial power, and in the
scenes OF malicious, Unsuitable revenge and
anger, flashes of great dramatic power.
But TO my mind II was, after all,
q fine melodramatic performance, fall
ing far below Salvini's Othello. Forests
Lear or Edwin Booths Iago, Hamlet, or
Richeiieu. Ny next experience OF HIM
was us Matthias In The Bells, the play and
part in which he made his first great Lon
don success and fixed the attention of his
nation. The Bells is to Americans so I'M
familiar play that l will concisely state ITS
argument. Matthias, when the curtain
rises, is the inn.keeper OF an Alsatian vii
lage, miller, Il burgomaster, and most
highly. esteemed citizen, with marriage
able daughter betrothed to the chief local
officer Of gendarmerie. The young man
has character but is poor, and Mathias's
assent to the match provokes comment.
Fifteen years before Matthias was poor and
in need Of money, and while his daugh-
ter Annette was an infant Polish
Jew, who was a commercial traveller, had
come to his home in a snow-storm with a
jingle OF bells, and while resting there eX-
hibited his money. The next morning his
horse and sleigh were found miles away,
but nothing could be heard OF the jew.
Matthias bad murdered him and burned his
remains in lime kiln, OF the murder
Matthias had never been suspected. and in
all things he had prospered. But his fears
haunt him, the murder is constantly before
his eyes, and the sleigh-bells jingle in his
ears. Like Banquo's ghost they will not
down at his bidding. He believes that he
has destroyed all evidence that connects
him with the crime, but his fears and re-
morse are incessant, and lie clutches at
the chance that Christians proposal
brings him 10 make the chef detec-
tive of his district his ally in case
suspicion should arise against him.
The circumstances Of the murder. apart
from Mathias's connection with it, are told
before he appears at home with his we'd
ding gift for his daughter. II is the ami |
~. bn l.. ho cub
ject OF conversation. Matthias hears the |
bells. inaudible to all save himself. and |
when all Others have gone and he turns to |
90 the vision of the jew in his sleigh con-
fronts him at the back OF the stage. and he |
falls senseless in swoOn OF terror.
The second act shows room in the inn. |
the signing Of the contract, the payment |
Of Annette's dowry, and the usual dance |
Of the happy yilIager. While the festivi-
ties are at their height Matthias again hears
the bells. and to disslpate his fears throws
himself with wild, mad iollity into the
dance.
In the third act Matthias is alone-alone |
with his burning conscience, his fears, and |
his remorse. He goes to bed, and before
his eyes the vision of his trial passes. He
sees the court, the president, himself in the
dock; he hears the charge. and denies ii
A mesmerist whom he has seen
Is summoned to subdue him to mesmeric
trance. In this trance he hears himself de-
bounced by himself; he hears his own re-
alton OF his crime. He hears the presi-
lent delivering sentence-"The said Ma
HAS to be hanged by the neck" The
,rowd Of wedding guests rush In, and the
murderer, reeling and tot
ering from his bed, and feeling in his
nightmare the sense of actual stranglila-
ion, cries out in the ecstasy OF bis deliri-
I'M, "The rope! Cut the rope!" and
lies.
The Bells as play will not bear criti-
ism. It's, correctly speaking. not q play,
tut melodramatic monologue. There
5 not single dramatic opportunity for
my actor except Matthias, and he is
confined to the portrayal OF passion,
error, and remorse. II il, however, at
he end Of the second act and during the
bird that Irving's genius shines out with
iaZzling brilliancy and imperious force.
A white light is thrown upon the stage
md falls on the figure of the prisoner
lone. The hands Of the mesmerist are
eeen. while voice relates the preparation
or the crime. AS the crime approaches
he sleep-talker becomes sleep-walker.
N the walks about the stage he acts again
he murder, and the placing OF the body in
he lime-kiln. The scene is realistic to the
asst degree. There Is no restraint. He
creams, means, cries aloud, staggers, reels,
wildly throws his arms, groyels on the ,
tage. II Is q dramatic paroyxism.
nd during it his audience sit spell
'Ound, and then the theatre rings
With such applause as rarely greets an
ctor's ear. Matthias is an animal. He Is :
lot man: and in him Irving portrays
error and remorse only, and their por- @
rayal is so painful. so intense, so fiercely
cal, that the success Of the actor Is beyond