Smyrna times., 1905-07-26
THE Role OF HAMLET
MANY FAMOUS ACTRESSES EssAYED
1T AND FAILED.

A'Oh the UAAteu Sarah S1uuOns anu
the Brilliant Charlotte Cushman
Were Not Equal to the Task-Anna
Dickinson In the Part.
Although many of the cleverest ac-
tresses the world has known have es-
sayed the part, they have, with few
exceptions, failed in it.
Even Sarah Siddons, probably the
greatest tragic actress of all time, was
a failure as Hamlet, largely owing to
the nondescript nature of her garments,
which were neither masculine nor femi-
nine and whicn made it almost impos-
sible to forget that her Hamlet was
woman and not man, says London
Bits.
Charlotte CuShman was perhaps the
most brilliant player of male parts of
her or, indeed, Of any other generation.
She was equally brilliant and convinc-
ing as Romeo, Cardinal Wolsey or
Claude Melnotte, but when she made
the crucial experiment of playing the
unequal to the task. In fact, her Ham
let was so badly received in Dublin
that she there and then made up her
mind never to play it again.
And yet her Romeo was such a tri-
umpn of acting that James Sheridan
Knowles, the great dramatist and crit
ic, was completely carried away by it.
OF her acting of the passage where Ro-
meo filings himself upon the ground,
taking the measure Of an unmade
grave" he says: at was a scene of top
most passion, not simulated passion;
no such thing-real, palpably real The
genuine heart storm was on in it's wild
est fullness of fury, and listened and
gazed and held my breath, while my
blood ran hot and cold. am sure it
must have been the case with every
one in the house, but 1 was all abb
sorbed in Romeo till a thunder of ap-
plause recalled me to myself"
And of her assumption of the difficult
part of Claude MelnOtte in THE Lady
of Lyons" Justin Mccarthy says: 81
have seen Claude Melnotte played by
many great actors, from Macready to
Irving, but Miss Cushman eclipsed
them all She created for me the only
human, the only possible and the only
endurable Claude Melnotte have ever
seen"
Miss Julia Seaman, a once popular
actress, was so severely criticised when
she played Hamlet some years ago that
she turned round on her critics and as
sailed them in very vigorous manner
The late Miss Marriott, who had one OF
the most beautiful voices ever heard Oh
any stage, was more fortunate, al
though it was one of her least success
full assumptions, and in the fifties al
American actress, Miss Percy Knowles
made such an unfortunate exhibition
Of herself as the melancholy one that {
country manager actually issued a no
tice warning his patrons against goinl
to see her.
Ellen Tree (AIrs. Charles Kean) wa!
| the first to put on Hamlet's double
and hose; Mrs. Glover won Edmund
Kean's approval by her playing of thu
part, and Nine. Sarah Bernhardt gave
a picturesque and clever rendering Of
Hamlet, although it was not to be com
pared with many of her brilliant as
sumptions.
Charlotte Champion was noted fol
her clever acting of masculine parts
which would have been even more con
vincing If she had not been such tin!
woman. "There is a woman" Mac
ready once said, referring to her, "wh'
would startle the world if she were bu
two inches taller" She was such {
magnificent swordswoman that few
men cared to try their skill against he
on the stage, and she was undoubtedl.
a genius In her way, with a courag
commensurate with her skill
She was one of the finest personator
Of Richard III. ever seen on the stage
her Shylock was among the most bril-
liant pieces OF acting in her day, ant
she was almost equally clever as IagC
Romeo and Don Caesar de Bazan, ant
yet when Charlotte Champion chal
lenged criticism with Hamlet she fail
ed as signally as her rival, Charlott
Cushman, had done.
Probably the most successful Of al
lady Hamlets was Anna Dickinson
who made considerable reputation a
Macbeth and Claude Melnotte. -
number of women have tried Hamlet,
she said. "None, 1 believe, with an
success. Yet. in my opinion, the char
acter Of Hamlet is eminently suited 70
woman's capabilities. Hamlet wa
very young-a mere college boy, Il
fact. Besides, a fine actress is NOR
likely to bring out the wonderful VIC
manlike delicacy of Hamlet's charaC
ter than a very young actor" And sh
supported her views by giving an al
tractive and clever rendering Of th
part.