Mr.
Sothern's Hamlet curls himself up in a chair, exactly as sensitive
reflective people do when they want to make their bodies comfortable
before setting their minds to work; and he lets you overhear his
thoughts. Every soliloquy of Shakespeare is meant to be overheard, and
just so casually. To render this on the stage requires, first, an
understanding of what poetry is; next, a perfect capacity of producing
by the sound and intonation of the voice the exact meaning of those
words and cadences. Who is there on our stage who has completely
mastered those two first requirements of acting? No one now acting in
English, except Julia Marlowe and Edward Sothern.
What these two players do is to give us, not the impression which we get
when we see and admire fine limitations, but the impression which we get
from real people who, when they speak in verse, seem to be speaking
merely the language of their own hearts. They give us every character in
the round, whereas with our actors we see no more than profiles. Look,
for contrast, at the Malvolio of Mr. Sothern. It is an elaborate
travesty, done in a disguise like the solemn dandy's head of Disraeli.
Pages:
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160