Year: 1875

LbnAN BOOIA AS hlN0 LEAR


notwithstanding the unpleasant weather a hne au.
dlenee assembled at the Fifth Avenue Theatre last
night, on the occasion OF Edwin Booths appearance
a. Lear II not until years amer his fame had been
established and he had made nearly all OF the
great characters Of Shakespeare his own that Mr.
Booth has seriously essaycd this grand and terrible
ross' ms Hamlet Otheo and Iago celebrated hf-
Teen years ago. but Lear, to Richard H. is tho
latest addition to his gallery OF shakespearan portraits
II IS true that he played IT long while ago but we be-
leve that he abandoned il on the ground that he
was TOO young. and perhaps the objection was well
taken But the tragedian IS now In the
prime OF life, his powers are matlred
and physical and mental development equally
h HIM for the personaton of this majestic Character
which, think il is hardly within tho scope Of youth
to appreciate present Age is an element of great
importance in the character OF Lear. Shakes
peare continually brings it into the foreground,
ana the most pathetic appeals OF the King are based
upon the many years that should have his glory
but had become his misfortune His prayer to
the heavens 10 make his their own
is based upon tho theory Of sympathy
because they themselves old, and all through
the play the pltiful refrain Of 81 am very fool
ish, fond old man. fourscore and upward" To act
such part thoroughly and well requires experience
we'll genius


The performance last night had faults and merits;
but the merit eclipsed those minor bIemishes which
must always accompany lrst presentation Of such
a character Lear We astonshed that Mr.
Booth could assume it with such ease and carry the
tragedy so high, especially when all the disadvantages
which surrounded him considered His concep
ton Of Lear is lar different from that of all
the other actors remember and particularly
original in this-that the affection and grief of the
father are made more emphatic than the wrongs
of the monarch Forrest whose Lear stood alone like
ruined tower, expressed finely as they ever
be expressed the majesty and pride of the
crownless King; but he touched those depths of
pathos and feeling which Mr. Booth displayed The
tenderness, the noble anger, the wrath which was
founded upon the ondes affection were exqustely re-
veaed by Mr. Booth.


The close of the first act we have given
with more feeling, and the famous the nat
ural climax of parental anguish, of actual hate
In the second act Mr. Booth superb in the
ih which he revealed the alterations of tenderness
rage astonishment and distraction which rack
the mind of Lear when his daughters ngratitude
is fully proved. The supplications by which Lear
tested Regan and Goneril to the utmost were beauti
fully contrasted, and he delivered the lines


I will do such things


What they are, yet know not; but they shall be


The terrors of the earth


with amazing intensity and effect. His acting rose
WIN tue py anu was greatest IN the greatest In the
storm the madness of Lear has Its climax and
there the audience felt the full of the power of the
tragedan The last scene of ALL when Lear bends over
the dead Cordea, touching in the extreme
The faults TO which we have referred were
the comparative codncss of Mr. Booth IN
some of the philosophical dscourses which
the mad monarch holds with Edgar, and a
want of force in certain passages. But
these may easily be corrected. Tho wonder
is that Mr.. Booth could play Lear well
with such imperfect support But he has created
role Lear must hereafter stand OF his grandesL
nobcst characters worthy to cassed with his Hamlet
and his Iago.