New-York tribune., 1905-04-16

ers who know how 20 recite blank verse and TO
make themselves felt. Each Of the thirteen
scenes was enacted with vigor and fine variety.
Symmetry was the characteristics feature OF the
performance. There was true sense OF pro-
portion. and the subordinate parts were not
Thrown OUT or balance
ME-. Irving was perhaps overanxious TO avoid
anything like imitation OF lis father. He adopt
ed frankly enough NIr. Forbes Robertson's
theory that Hamlet was weak and irresolute,
but entirely sane throughout, and he exagger-
ated the evidences OF feigned insanity in the
scenes with Ophelia, POlonius and the Court,
even Affecting caTelessness and disorder in his
dress While he did not neglect the gentler and
more amtable traits, ne cOntrasted them more
sharply than Is usually done with what was
less attractive IN the characteristic wantOn
cruelty, the ruthless brutality. the vacillation
OF purpose and the parOxysms of rage which
took the place OF strength Heredity. however
claimed its due. The son was like the father in
voice. face. stride and little mannerisms AS
he appeared in the traditional makeup OF the
first act there was striking resemblance be-
tween him and Mr.. Longs portrait Of Sir Henry
Irving Hamlet which is now In the Burdett
Coutts mansion; and in voice and gesture he
was his father over again. The correspondence
In method was closest in little bits OF byplay
such as the evidences OF a highly strung, ner-
vous organization. an irritability almost hys-
terical at moments, the reflective. absent
minded manner in sOlilOQuy and the use OF the
fOils IN the final act Imitation there none.
for the son has taken pains TO emphasize the
fact that he never saw his father Hamlet;
but the younger actor has studied the part thor
Oughly and worked out bit by bit consistent,
artistic impersonation; and that was what Sir
Henry did In his time. Such resemblances as
there are may be considered natural and unpre-
meditated: and the sons work as a whole has
marked characterist'es 3 Of its own and has been
thought out independent lines.
Compared with recent representations this
Hamlet lacks the sonorous eIocution Of Mr..
Forbes Robertson's and the ingenious byplay
OF Mr.. Trees; but in temperament it is perhaps
better than either. Il is weakest in the great
passages on life, death and Immortality. and
there is no suggestion that the effect Of the
ghostly revelation and the mission Of vengeance
may be that of unhinging the mind and drawing
Hamlet in a frenzy OF despair into the border
land OF madness. AS a work Of inspired, poetic
imagination IT fails as so many other Hamlets
have been found wanting. Yet it has many pas
sages OF great beauty and as a whole is a close
and thoughtful study OF temperament. Mr..
Irving was an amateur when first saw his
Hamlet years ago in the provinces. His method
has broadened and deepened during the interval
OF sustained practice in stagecraft and his in
depreciation of the part is no longer crude but
finished. He plays with exquisite sensbiity and
fine variety, and at times he shows much OF his
fathers subtlety in expressing what is inherent
in Hamlets nature. 1t is an intensely earnest
and a genuinely human Hamlet; and If it misses
what is most profound in a study OF destiny and
despair, il is a digni1ed work OF art worthy OF
the best traditions OF the English stage.
I. N. B.