Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-05-01
MIR. BARRETT,s HAMLET.
A Profound study OF the worlds
Greatest Tragedy.

Greatest Tragedy.
The greatest mental faculties with
which human being was ever endowed
in the full ripeness Of their genius
penned the sad story Of Hamlets love
and death. For full two and half cen.
turtles that noble tragedy in its severe
classic diction, grand rhythm, burning
passion, thrilling incident and terrible
denoument, has held sway over the
minds and hearts of all the most intel
lectual peoples of the world. 1t is the
very flower and crown of all mental hu.
man effort, and wherever produced by a
cast at all adequate, the "Hamlet night"
always calls out the most select and
thoughtful. as well as numerically, the
largest audiences of the season. The
ablest critics of the world have devoted
volumes to the study Of this play, and
the elucidation OF its meaning and pur-
pose. The most able physicians of
all the years since it appeared
have spent large spaces OF their lives in
trying to decide If Hamlet were really
mad or only feigned madness. The
doctors differ" still so evenly that lay
men will hardly decide.
Hamlet has been attempted several
times before in Los Angeles, but one will
hardly meet contradiction in the state
ment that it has never been played be-
fore The interest Of the play so CEN
tiers round the mad and melancholy hero
OF the tale that all the others are as
pawns upon a chess board compared
with the towering majesty of the
Queen. II is like constellation where
there is one star of the frat magnitude
and all the others are comparatively
nebnia.
Outside of the title role the most
exigent is that of Ophelia, one which in
any other play would rise to great inn
portance. 1t requires a careful.
experienced actress of decided talent.
In the hands Of Miss Eugenis
Blair last night, the reading was decid-
eddy new. Her Ophelia is less violent
in her madness, more sadly, tenderly.
calmly demented over the death Of her
father and the loss of her lover than
any the writer had seen before. The
first impulse was one of disappointment,
but quickly the mind was Won and the
verdict rendered-tbis is Shakespeare
Ophelia. Most womanly, most deli
cately, tenderly, lovingly was the char
acter interpreted by this lady of decided
talent, Miss Blair.
Miss Gales Queen was. as has been
all the work the young lady has done
hereof really rare merit.
Tlo Dol1,s,,. of NJ D1~a,. ..an .tarx,
acceptable to very intelligent and crit
ical audience, and the Laertes of Mr..
Mosley shows an apprehension Of the
lines which indicate that the
head places of the profession will be
called upon to make room for this rising
young actor. His stage presence and
voice are excellent.
MR.. BARRETT
In the title role gave to the packed
house, where there was scarcely standing
room to be found, of most intelligent,
critical and refined people, an intellee-
tual and emotional treat never before
experienced in this city. His reading is
in many respects new one. 1t is the
warmest, most human and sympathetic
Interpretation Of this great literary and
psychological study the writer has seen.
1t goes without saying that it is deep
and careful study, where every word OF
the great poet has been weighed with the
utmost accuracy, whtre every minute
detail is important. 1t is as needless to
say that the rendition is finishedly ar
tistic and classic. 1t is to its new
phases attention should be turned.
These are first observed in the ghost
scene, where the terrible shadow Of the
supernatural is so grandly painted by
| Mr.. Barrett. There is none Of the dar-
| ing that amounts almost to nonchalence
in his reading here. He is profoundly,
terribly affected by the vision of his
dead father. He follows the reckoning
of the mailed spectre, but it is with a
heart rent almost in twain.
Again, in his dealings with Ophelia
there is most touching tenderness in
the great love so evident in spite of his
struggling efforts to conceal it. Then
when he stands with drawn sword be-
hind the King at prayer, and also when
the guilty man betrays himself be-
fore theIplayers Hamlet's vengeance
blazes forth in whirliwind Of passion
ate hate that stirs the very soul to be-
hold. The scene with his mother when
the dead king appears the second time,
is terribly grand.
The play sounds the keys of all hui
man passions from their lowest note to
the top of their compass. In The whole
range the actor is at home. He is sick
with sadness at the death of his father.
He is distraught to the profoundest
depths of his soul, because of the terri
BILE duty laid upon him to revenge that
death, at the shame of his mother, and
the loss Of 0phelia. But throughout
the passions that tear his heart to
shreds, be is living, warm. friendly,
loving, tender human being; studi-
GUS, reflective, interpretive, infrm
of purpose. only to the one
great act. He is in Mr.. Barrett's hands
a Hamlet to wonder at. to respect. as he
is in all hands, but in his he is Horatio's
Hamlet-one to love as well as revere.
The HERALD critic ventures the guess
that Mr.. Barrett does not think him
mad. In all he seems to be Shakes
peare's own conception of the "melan-
choly Dane.
At the matinee Francesca holds the
boards. The bill for tonight will be
found in another place in the HERALD.