The Sun. — 1846-01-17 (London, England)

JAMES'S THEATRE. FRENCH PLAYS. M. Laferriere, who made a most successful debit here last evening, is perhaps the greatest, certainly the most versatile actor of France. His fame is European, and in Belgium, Germany, and Russia he is as great a favourite as he is in Paris, and as he will be in London. He is a remarkably handsome man, with features the most expressive, and an eye that is as fine as the late Edmund 'Kean's ; his voice is rich and sweet, and his elocution beautiful. He first of all appeared as Sir Bernard Harleigh, in Meltsville's drama Elle est folle. This drama is founded on one of the tales in the" Diary of a Physician," published in Blackwood's Magazine, and Sir Bernard Harleigh is the fond but jealous husband, who having met the, as he supposes, devoted lover of his wife, hurls him into the sea. He becomes mad, and his madness consists in the idea that it is his wife who is mad. He endeavours to persuade the physician that this is the case, and actually at first succeeds. The wild look of exultation which Laferriere gave when he heard the Doctor (carefully acted by Cartigny) declare that his wife was mad, was terifically true to nature. The Doctor, however, is speedily undeceived, gets from the madman his secret, and determines to effect a cure. The nephew of Sir Bernard, however, anxious to get possession of his property, tries to circumvent the benevolent designs of the Doctor, and by touching on his delusion, brings on a fit of delirium. The acting .of Laferriere in this scene was harrowing. Never has the ungovernable fury of delirium been more truthfully, more awfully depicted. The nephew goes to seek a magistrate, and the magistrate, who appears with him is the very man who Sir Bernard fancied he had murdered. He had been secretly married to the niece of Sir Bernard's lady, and hence his frequent visits which had excited the jealousy of Sir Bernard. ,Laferriere'a conception of this scene was magnificent, and his acting superb. He casts a look on the magistrate, recognizes him, and reason and sense return. He looks at him, and at his wife, the expression of his features, and the position of his body betokening the most painful feelings of shame and humiliation, until gradually bowed down to the dust at their feet, he utters in the most thrilling tone of anguish the word "pardon." The applause was rapturous, and from that moment M. Laferriere took his position in England as the greatest of tragedians. Scarcely had the audience recovered from the emotions of his magnificent delineation of Sir Bernard Harleigh, before, as the Debutant in the farce of that name, he convulsed them with laughter. The Debutant is a stage-struck youtlf, a sort of French Sylvester Daggerwood, who imitates in the most ludicrous, and vet most unmistakeable manner, all the actors of the day—Lemaitre as the Gambler, in Trent. ans, Mademoiselle Rachel in the high, stiff, classical tragedy; in fact, all the great stage notabilities of France were admirably hit off. His crowning effort, however, was his imitation of Macready, as Hamlet, in the scene with the Ghost. It was perfect, so like, and yet so ludicrous. His exclamation, " Oh, papa," as he first sees the Ghost was superb. The tomb scene in Romeo and Juliet was admirably burlesqued, and the audience were perfectly satisfied that his comic powers were as great as his tragic, and that they had before them the French Garrick. The house was crowded, and never was an actor more rapturously and more deservedly applauded.