THE VERDICT OF THE CRITICS.
"_Quot homines, tot sententiæ._"
It may, perhaps, be interesting to record here some of the criticisms
which have appeared in several of the leading London and provincial
journals on Mary Anderson's performances, and especially on her _debut_ at
the Lyceum. Such notices are forgotten almost as soon as read, and except
for some biographical purpose like the present, lie buried in the files of
a newspaper office. It is usual to intersperse them with the text; but for
the purpose of more convenient reference they have been included in a
separate chapter.
_Standard_, 3d September, 1883.
"The opening of the Lyceum on Saturday evening, was signalized by the
assembly of a crowded and fashionable audience to witness the first
appearance in this country of Miss Mary Anderson as Parthenia in Maria
Lovell's four-act play of 'Ingomar.' Though young in years, Miss Anderson
is evidently a practiced actress. She knows the business of the stage
perfectly, is learned in the art of making points, and, what is more,
knows how to bide her opportunity. The wise discretion which imposes
restraint upon the performer was somewhat too rigidly observed in the
earlier scenes on Saturday night, the consequence being that in one of the
most impressive passages of the not very inspired dialogue, the little
distance between the sublime and the ridiculous was bridged by a voice
from the gallery, which, adopting a tone, ejaculated 'A little louder,
Mary.' A less experienced artist might well have been taken aback by this
sudden infraction of dramatic proprieties. Miss Anderson, however, did not
loose her nerve, but simply took the hint in good part and acted upon it.
There is very little reason to dwell at any length upon the piece. Miss
Anderson will, doubtless, take a speedy opportunity of appearing in some
other work in which her capacity as an actress can be better gauged than
in Maria Lovell's bit of tawdry sentiment. A real power of delineating
passion was exhibited in the scene where Parthenia repulses the advances
of her too venturesome admirer, and in this direction, to our minds, the
best efforts of the lady tend. All we can do at present is to chronicle
Miss Anderson's complete success, the recalls being so numerous as to defy
particularization."
_The Times_, 3d September, 1883.
"Miss Mary Anderson, although but three or four and twenty, has for
several years past occupied a leading position in the United States, and
ranks as the highest of the American 'stars,' whose effulgence Mr. Abbey
relies upon to attract the public at the Lyceum in Mr. Irving's absence.
Recommendations of this high order were more than sufficient to insure
Miss Anderson a cordial reception. They were such as to dispose a
sympathetic audience to make the most ample allowance for nervousness on
the part of the _debutante_, and to distrust all impressions they might
have of an unfavorable kind, or at least to grant the possession of a more
complete knowledge of the lady's attainments to those who had trumpeted
her praise so loudly. That such should have been the mood of the house,
was a circumstance not without its influence on the events of the evening.
It was manifestly owing in some measure to the critical spirit being
subordinated for the time being to the hospitable, that Miss Anderson was
able to obtain all the outward and visible signs of a dramatic triumph in
a _role_ which intrinsically had little to commend it.... Usually it is
the rude manliness, the uncouth virtues, the awkward and childlike
submissiveness of that tamed Bull of Bashan [Ingomar] that absorbs the
attention of a theatrical audience. On Saturday evening the center of
interest was, of course, transferred to Parthenia. To the interpretation
of this character Miss Anderson brings natural gifts of rare excellence,
gifts of face and form and action, which suffice almost themselves to play
the part; and the warmth of the applause which greeted her as she first
tripped upon the stage expressed the admiration no less than the welcome
of the house. Her severely simple robes of virgin white, worn with classic
grace, revealed a figure as lissome and perfect of contour as a draped
Venus of Thorwaldsen, her face seen under her mass of dark brown hair,
negligently bound with a ribbon, was too _mignonne_, perhaps, to be
classic, but looked pretty and girlish. A performance so graced could not
fail to be pleasing. And yet it was impossible not to feel, as the play
progressed, that to the fine embodiment of the romantic heroine, art was
in some degree wanting. The beautiful Parthenia, like a soulless statue,
pleased the eye, but left the heart untouched. It became evident that
faults of training or, perhaps, of temperament, were to be set off against
the actress' unquestionable merits. The elegant artificiality of the
American school, a tendency to pose and be self-conscious, to smirk even,
if the word may be permitted, especially when advancing to the footlights
to receive a full measure of applause, were fatal to such sentiment as
even so stilted a play could be made to yield. It was but too evident that
Parthenia was at all times more concerned with the fall of her drapery
than with the effect of her speeches, and that gesture, action,
intonation--everything which constitutes a living individuality were in
her case not so much the outcome of the feeling proper to the character,
as the manifestation of diligent painstaking art which had not yet learnt
to conceal itself. The gleam of the smallest spark of genius would have
been a welcome relief to the monotony of talent.... It must not be
forgotten, however, that a highly artificial play like 'Ingomar' is by no
means a favorable medium for the display of an actress' powers, though it
may fairly indicate their nature. Before a definite rank can be assigned
to her among English actresses, Miss Anderson must be seen in some of her
other characters."
_Daily News_, 3d September, 1883.
"It will be recollected that Mr. Irving, in his farewell speech at the
Lyceum Theater, on the 28th of July, made a point of bespeaking a kindly
welcome for Miss Mary Anderson on her appearance at his theater during his
absence, as the actress he alluded to was a lady whose beauty and talent
had made her the favorite of America, from Maine to California. It would
not perhaps be unfair to attribute to this cordial introduction something
of the special interest which was evidently aroused by Miss Anderson's
_debut_ here on Saturday night. English playgoers recognize but vaguely
the distinguishing characteristics of actors and actresses, whose fame has
been won wholly by their performances on the other side of the Atlantic.
It was therefore just as well that before Miss Anderson arrived some
definite claim as to her pretensions should be authoritatively put
forward. These would, it must be confessed, have been liable to
misconception if they had been judged solely by her first performance on
the London stage. 'Ingomar' is not a play, and Parthenia is certainly not
a character, calculated to call forth the higher powers of an ambitious
actress. As a matter of fact, Miss Anderson, who began her histrion career
at an early age, and is even now of extremely youthful appearance, has had
plenty of experience and success in _roles_ of much more difficulty, and
much wider possibilities. Her modest enterprise on Saturday night was
quite as successful as could have been anticipated. There is not enough
human reality about Parthenia to allow her representative to interest very
deeply the sympathy of her hearers. There is not enough poetry in the
drama to enable the actress to mar our imagination by calling her own into
play. What Miss Anderson could achieve was this: she was able in the first
place to prove, by the aid of the Massilian maiden's becoming, yet
exacting attire, that her personal advantages have been by no means
overrated. Her features regular yet full of expression, her figure slight
but not spare, the pose of her small and graceful head, all these,
together with a girlish prettiness of manner, and a singularly refined
bearing, are quite enough to account for at least one of the phases of
Miss Anderson's popularity. Her voice is not wanting in melody of a
certain kind, though its tones lack variety. Her accent is slight, and
seldom unpleasant. Of her elocution it is scarcely fair to judge until she
has caught more accurately the pitch required for the theater. For the
accomplishment of any great things Miss Anderson had not on Saturday night
any opportunity, nor did her treatment of such mild pathos and passion as
the character permitted impress us with the idea that her command of deep
feeling is as yet matured. So far as it goes, however, her method is
extremely winning, and her further efforts, especially in the direction of
comedy and romantic drama, will be watched with interest, and may be
anticipated with pleasure."
_Morning Post_, 3rd September, 1883.
"LYCEUM THEATER.
"This theater was reopened under the management of Mr. Henry Abbey on
Saturday evening, when was revived Mrs. Lovell's play called 'Ingomar,' a
picturesque but somewhat ponderous work of German origin, first produced
some thirty years ago at Drury Lane with Mr. James Anderson and Miss
Vandenhoff as the principal personages. The interest centers not so much
in the barbarian Ingomar as in his enchantress, Parthenia, of whom Miss
Mary Anderson, an American artist of fine renown, proves a comely and
efficient representative. In summing up the qualifications of an actress
the Transatlantic critics never fail to take into account her personal
charms--a fascinating factor. Borne on the wings of an enthusiastic press,
the fame of Miss Anderson's loveliness had reached our shores long before
her own arrival. The Britishers were prepared to see a very handsome lady,
and they have not been disappointed. Miss Anderson's beauty is of Grecian
type, with a head of classic contour, finely chiseled features, and a tall
statuesque figure, whose Hellenic expression a graceful costume of antique
design sets off to the best advantage. You fancy that you have seen her
before, and so perhaps you have upon the canvas of Angelica Kauffman. For
the rest, Miss Anderson is very clever and highly accomplished. Her
talents are brilliant and abundant, and they have been carefully
cultivated to every perfection of art save one--the concealment of it. She
has grace, but it is studied, not negligent grace; her action is always
picturesque and obviously premeditated; everything she says and does is
impressive, but it speaks a foregone conclusion. Her acting is polished
and in correct taste. What it wants is freshness, spontaneity, _abandon_.
Among English artists of a bygone age her style might probably find a
parallel in the stately elegance and artificial grandeur of the Kembles.
It has nothing in common with the electric _verve_ and romantic ardor of
Edmund Kean. Of the _feu sacre_ which irradiated Rachel and gives to
Bernhardt splendor ineffable, Miss Anderson has not a spark. She is not
inspired. Hers is a pure, bright, steady light; but it lacks mystic
effulgence. It is not empyreal. It is not 'the light that never was on sea
or land--the consecration and the poet's dream.' It is not genius. It is
talent. In a word, Miss Anderson is beautiful, winsome, gifted, and
accomplished. To say this is to say much, and it fills to the brim the
measure of legitimate praise. She is an eminently good, but not a great
artist."
_Daily Telegraph_, 3rd September, 1883.
"There was a natural desire to see, nay, rather let us say to welcome Miss
Mary Anderson, who made her _debut_ as Parthenia in 'Ingomar' on Saturday
evening last. The fame of this actress had already preceded her. An
enthusiastic climber up the rugged mountain paths of the art she had
elected to serve ... an earnest volunteer in the almost forlorn cause of
the poetical drama: a believer in the past, not merely because it is past,
but because in it was embodied much of the beautiful and the hopeful that
has been lost to us, Miss Mary Anderson was assured an honest greeting at
a theater of cherished memories.... It has been said that the friends of
Miss Anderson were very ill-advised to allow her to appear as Parthenia in
the now almost-forgotten play of 'Ingomar.' We venture to differ entirely
with this opinion. That the American actress interested, moved, and at
times delighted her audience in a play supposed to be unfashionable and
out of date, is, in truth, the best feather that can be placed in her
cap.... There must clearly be something in an actress who cannot only hold
her own as Parthenia, but in addition dissipate the dullness of
'Ingomar.'... And now comes the question, how far Miss Mary Anderson
succeeded in a task that requires both artistic instinct and personal
charm to carry it to a successful issue. The lady has been called
classical, Greek, and so on, but is, in truth, a very modern reproduction
of a classical type--a Venus by Mr. Gibson, rather than a Venus by Milo; a
classic draped figure of a Wedgwood plaque more than an echo from the
Parthenon.... The actress has evidently been well taught, and is both an
apt and clever pupil; she speaks clearly, enunciates well, occasionally
conceals the art she has so closely studied, and is at times both tender
and graceful.... Her one great fault is insincerity, or, in other words,
inability thoroughly to grasp the sympathies of the thoughtful part of her
audience. She is destitute of the supreme gift of sensibility that Talma
considers essential, and Diderot maintains is detrimental to the highest
acting. Diderot may be right, and Talma may be wrong, but we are convinced
that the art Miss Anderson has practiced is, on the whole, barren and
unpersuasive. She does not appear to feel the words she speaks, or to be
deeply moved by the situations in which she is placed. She is forever
acting--thinking of her attitudes, posing very prettily, but still posing
for all that.... She weeps, but there are no tears in her eyes; she
murmurs her love verses with charming cadence, but there is no throb of
heart in them.... These things, however, did not seem to affect her
audience. They cheered her as if their hearts were really touched....
These, however, are but early impressions, and we shall be anxious to see
her in still another delineation."
_Standard_, 10th December, 1883.
"LYCEUM THEATER.
"Miss Mary Anderson has won such favor from audiences at the Lyceum, that
anything she did would attract interest and curiosity. Galatea, in Mr.
W.S. Gilbert's mythological comedy, 'Pygmalion and Galatea,' has,
moreover, been spoken of as one of the actress' chief successes, and a
crowded house on Saturday evening was the result of the announcement of
its revival. An ideal Galatea could scarcely be realized, for there should
be in the triumph of the sculptor's art, endowed by the gods with life, a
supernatural grace and beauty. The singular picturesqueness of Miss
Anderson's poses and gestures, the consequences of careful study of the
best sculpture, has been noted in all that she has done, and this quality
fits her peculiarly for the part of the vivified statue. In this respect
it is little to say that Galatea has never before been represented with so
near an approach to perfection."
_Daily News_, 10th December, 1883.
"The part of Galatea, in which Miss Anderson made her first appearance in
England at the Lyceum Theater on Saturday evening, enables this delightful
actress to exhibit in her fullest charms the exquisite grace of form and
the simple elegance of gesture and movement by virtue of which she stands
wholly without a rival on the stage. Whether in the alcove, where she is
first discovered motionless upon the pedestal, or when miraculously endued
with life, she moves, a beautiful yet discordant element in the Athenian
sculptor's household. The statuesque outline and the perfect harmony
between the figure of the actress and her surroundings, were striking
enough to draw more than once from the crowded theater, otherwise hushed
and attentive, an audible expression of pleasure. Rarely, indeed, can an
attempt to satisfy by actual bodily presentment the ideal of a poetical
legend have approached so nearly to absolute perfection."
_The Morning Post_, 10th December, 1883.
"'Pygmalion and Galatea,' a play in which Miss Mary Anderson is said to
have scored her most generally accepted success in her own country, has
now taken at the Lyceum the place of 'The Lady of Lyons,' a drama
certainly not well fitted to the young actress' capabilities. Mr.
Gilbert's well-known fairy comedy is in many respects exactly suited to
the display of Miss Anderson's special merits. Its heroine is a statue,
and a very beautiful simulation of chiseled marble was sure to be achieved
by a lady of Miss Anderson's personal advantages, and of her approved
skill in artistic posing. Moreover, the sub-acid spirit of the piece
rarely allows its sentiment to go very deep, and it is in the
expression--perhaps, we should write the experience--of really earnest
emotion, that Miss Anderson's chief deficiency lies. Galatea is moreover
by no means the strongest acting part in the comedy, affording few of the
opportunities for the exhibition of passion, which fall to the lot of the
heart-broken and indignant wife, Cynisca. Although in 1871, on the
original production of the play, Mrs. Kendall made much of Galatea's
womanly pathos, there is plenty of room for an effective rendering of the
character, which deliberately hides the woman in the statue. Such a
rendering is, as might have been expected, Miss Anderson's. Even in her
ingenious scenes of comedy with Leucippe and with Chrysos, there is no
more dramatic vivacity than might be looked for in a temporarily animated
block of stone. Her love for the sculptor who has given her vitality is
perfectly cold in its purity. There is no spontaneity in the accents in
which it is told, no amorous impulse to which it gives rise. This new
Galatea, however, is fair to look upon--so fair in her statuesque
attitudes and her shapely presence, that the infatuation of the man who
created her is readily understood. By the classic beauty of her features
and the perfect molding of her figure she is enabled to give all possible
credibility to the legend of her miraculous birth. Moreover, the
refinement of her bearing and manner allows no jarring note to be struck,
and although, when Galatea sadly returns to marble not a tear is shed by
the spectator, it is felt that a plausible and consistent interpretation
of the character has been given."
_The Times_, 10th December, 1883.
"Mr. Gilbert's play 'Pygmalion and Galatea,' is a perversion of Ovid's
fable of the Sculptor of Cyprus, the main interest of which upon the stage
is derived from its cynical contrast between the innocence of the
beautiful nymph of stone whom Pygmalion's love endows with life, and the
conventional prudishness of society. Obviously the purpose of such a
travesty may be fulfilled without any call upon the deeper emotions--upon
the stress of passion, which springs from that 'knowledge of good and
evil' transmitted by Eve to all her daughters. It is sufficient that the
living and breathing Galatea of the play should seem to embody the classic
marble, that she should move about the stage with statuesque grace and
that she should artlessly discuss the relations of the sexes in the
language of double intent. Miss Anderson's degree of talent, as shown in
the impersonations she has already given us, and her command of classical
pose, have already suggested this character as one for which she was
eminently fitted. It was therefore no surprise to those who have been
least disposed to admit this lady's claim to greatness as an actress that
her Galatea on Saturday night should have been an ideally beautiful and
tolerably complete embodiment of the part. If the heart was not touched,
as, indeed, in such a play it scarcely ought to be, the eye was enabled to
repose upon the finest _tableau vivant_ that the stage has ever seen. Upon
the curtains of the alcove being withdrawn, where the statue still
inanimate rests upon its pedestal, the admiration of the house was
unbounded. Not only was the pose of the figure under the lime-light
artistic in the highest sense, but the tresses and the drapery were most
skillfully arranged to look like the work of the chisel. It is significant
of the measure of Miss Anderson's art, that in her animated moments
subsequently she should not have excelled the plastic grace of this first
picture. At the same time, to her credit it must be said, that she never
fell much below it. Her movements on the stage, her management of her
drapery, her attitudes were full of classic beauty. Actresses there have
been who have given us much more than this statuesque posing, who have
transformed Galatea into a woman of flesh and blood, animated by true
womanly love for Pygmalion as the first man on whom her eyes alight.
Sentiment of this kind, whether intended by the author or not, would
scarcely harmonize with the satirical spirit of the play, and the innocent
prattle which Miss Anderson gives us in place of it meets sufficiently
well the requirements of the case dramatically, leaving the spectator free
to derive pleasure from his sense of the beautiful, here so strikingly
appealed to, from the occasionally audacious turns of the dialogue in
relation to social questions, from the disconcerted airs of Pygmalion at
the contemplation of his own handiwork, and from the real womanly jealousy
of Cynisca."
_The Graphic_, 14th December, 1883.
"Never, perhaps, have the playgoing public been so much at variance with
the critics as in the case of the young American actress now performing at
the Lyceum Theater. There is no denying the fact that Miss Anderson is, to
use a popular expression, 'the rage;' but it is equally certain that she
owes this position in very slight degree to the published accounts of her
acting. From the first she has been received, with few exceptions, only in
a coldly critical spirit; and yet her reputation has gone on gathering in
strength till now, the Lyceum is crowded nightly with fashionable folk
whose carriages block the way; and those who would secure places to
witness her performances are met at the box offices with the information
that all the seats have been taken long in advance. How are we to account
for the fact that this young lady who came but the other day among us a
stranger, even her name being scarcely known, and who still refrains from
those 'bold advertisements,' which in the case of so many other managers
and performers usurp the functions of the trumpet of fame, has made her
way in a few short months only to the very highest place in the estimation
of our play going public? We can see no possible explanation save the
simple one that her acting affords pleasure in a high degree; for those
who insinuate that her beauty alone is the attraction may easily be
answered by reference to numerous actresses of unquestionable personal
attractions who have failed to arouse anything approaching to the same
degree of interest. As regards the unfavorable critics, we are inclined to
think that they have been unable to shake off the associations of the
essentially artificial characters--Parthenia and Pauline--in which Miss
Anderson has unfortunately chosen to appear. Further complaints of
artificiality and coldness have, it is true, been put forth _a propos_ of
her first appearance on Saturday evening in Mr. Gilbert's beautiful
mythological comedy of 'Pygmalion and Galatea;' but protests are beginning
to appear in some quarters, and we are much mistaken if this graceful and
accomplished actress is not destined yet to win the favor of her censors.
The statuesque beauty of her appearance and the classic grace of all her
movements and attitudes, as the Greek statue suddenly endowed with life,
have received general recognition; but not less remarkable were the
simplicity, the tenderness, and, on due occasion, the passionate impulse
of her acting, though the impersonation is no doubt in the chastened
classical vein. It is difficult to imagine how a realization of Mr.
Gilbert's conception could be made more perfect."
_The World_, 12th December, 1883.
"The revival of 'Pygmalion and Galatea' at the Lyceum on Saturday last,
with Miss Mary Anderson in the part of the animated statue, excited
considerable interest and drew together a large and enthusiastic audience.
Without attempting any comparison between Mrs. Kendal and the young
American actress, it may at once be stated, that the latter gave an
interesting and original rendering of Galatea. As the velvet curtain drawn
aside disclosed the snowy statue on its pedestal, in a pose of classic
beauty, it seemed hard to believe that such sculptural forms, the delicate
features, the fine arms, the graceful figure, could be of any other
material than marble. The gradual awakening to life, the joy and wonder of
the bright young creature, to whom existence is still a mystery, were
charmingly indicated; and when Miss Anderson stepped forward slowly in her
soft clinging draperies, with her pretty brown hair lightly powdered, she
satisfied the most fastidiously critical sense of beauty. Galatea, as Miss
Anderson understands her, is statuesque; but Galatea is also a woman,
perfect in the purity of ideal womanhood. The chief characteristics of her
nature are innate modesty and refinement, which, though, perhaps, not
strictly fashionable attributes, are appropriate enough in a daughter of
the gods. When she loves, it is without any airs and graces. She has not
an atom of self-consciousness; she cannot premeditate; she loves because
she _must_, rather than because she will, because it is the condition of
her life. Some of the naive remarks she has to utter, might in clumsy lips
seem coarse. Miss Anderson delivered them with consummate grace and
innocence, but her fine smile, her bright sparkling eye, proved
sufficiently, that the innocence was not stupidity. The first long speech
at the conclusion of which she kneels to Pygmalion was beautifully
rendered, and elicited a burst of applause, which was repeated at
intervals throughout the evening. Her poses were always graceful,
sometimes strikingly beautiful.
"Miss Anderson has the true sense of rhythm and the clearest enunciation;
she has a deep and musical voice, which in moments of pathos thrills with
a sweet and tender inflection. She has seized, in this instance, upon the
touching rather than the harmonious side of Galatea, the pure and innocent
girl who is not fit to live upon this world. She is only not human because
she is superior to human folly; she cannot understand sin because it is so
sweet; she asks to be taught a fault; but the womanly love and devotion,
and unselfishness, are all there, writ in clear and uncompromising
characters. The first and last acts were decidedly the best; in the latter
especially Miss Anderson touched a true pathetic chord, and fairly
elicited the pity and sympathy of the audience. With a gentle wonder and
true dignity she meets the gradual dropping away of her illusion, the
crumbling of her unreasoning faith, the cruel stings when her spiritual
nature is misunderstood, and her actions misinterpreted. She is jarred by
the rough contact of commonplace facts, and ruffled and wounded by the
strange and cynical indifference to her sufferings of the man she loves.
At last when she can bear no more, yet uncomplaining to the last, like a
flower broken on its stem, shrinking and sensitive, she totters out with
one loud cry of woe, the expression of her agony. Miss Anderson is a poet,
she brings everything to the level of her own refined and artistic
sensibility, and the result is that while she presents us with a picture
of ideal womanhood, she must appeal of necessity rather to our
imaginations than to our senses, and may by some persons be considered
cold. Once or twice she dropped her voice so as to became almost
inaudible, and occasionally forced her low tones more than was quite
agreeable; but whether in speech, in gesture, or in delicate suggestive
byplay, her performance is essentially finished. One or two little actions
may be noted, such as the instinctive recoil of alarmed modesty when
Pygmalion blames her for saying 'things that others would reprove,' or her
expression of troubled wonder to find that it is 'possible to say one
thing and mean another.'"
_Daily Telegraph_, 10th December, 1883.
"'PYGMALION AND GALATEA.'
"It is the fashion to judge of Miss Anderson outside her capacity and
competency as an actress. Ungraciously enough she is regarded and reviewed
as the thing of beauty that is a joy forever, and her infatuated admirers
view her first as a picture, last as an artist. If, then, public taste was
agitated by the Parthenia who lolled in her mother's lap and twisted
flower garlands at the feet of her noble savage Ingomar; if society
fluttered with excitement at the sight of the faultless Pauline gazing
into the fire on the eve of her ill-fated marriage, how much more
jubilation there will be now that Miss Mary Anderson, a lovely woman in
studied drapery, stands posed at once as a statue, and as a subject for
the photographic pictures which will flood the town. Unquestionably Miss
Anderson never looked so well as a statue, both lifeless and animated,
never comported herself with such grace, never gave such a perfect
embodiment of purity and innocence. In marble she was a statue motionless;
in life she was a statue half warmed. There are those who believe, or who
try to persuade themselves, that this is all Galatea has to do--to appear
behind a curtain as a '_pose plastique_,' to make an excellent '_tableau
vivant_,' and to wear Greek drapery, as if she had stepped down from a
niche in the Acropolis. All this Miss Mary Anderson does to perfection.
She is a living, breathing statue. A more beautiful object in its innocent
severity the stage has seldom seen. But is this all that Galatea has to
do? Those who have studied Mr. Gilbert's poem will scarcely say so.
Galatea descended from her pedestal has to become human, and has to
reconcile her audience to the contradictory position of a woman, who,
presumably innocent of the world and its ways, is unconsciously cynical
and exquisitely pathetic. We grant that it is a most difficult part to
play. Only an artist can give effect to the comedy, or touch the true
chord of sentiment that underlies the idea of Galatea. But to make Galatea
consistently inhuman, persistently frigid, and monotonously spiritual, is,
if not absolutely incorrect, at least glaringly ineffective. If Galatea
does not become a breathing, living woman when she descends from her
pedestal, a woman capable of love, a woman with a foreshadowing of
passion, a woman of tears and tenderness, then the play goes for
nothing.... Miss Anderson reads Galatea in a severe fashion. She is a
Galatea perfectly formed, whose heart has not yet been adjusted. She
shrinks from humanity. She wants to be classical and severe, and her last
cry to Pygmalion, instead of being the utterance of a tortured soul, is
'monotonous and hollow as a ghost's.' It is with no desire to be
discourteous that we venture any comparison between the Galatea of Miss
Anderson and of Mrs. Kendal. The comparison should only be made on the
point of reading. Yet surely there can be no doubt that Mrs. Kendal's idea
of Galatea, while appealing to the heart, is more dramatically effective.
It illumines the poem."
_The Times_, 28th January, 1884.
"LYCEUM THEATER.
"Those who have suspected that Miss Mary Anderson was well advised in
clinging to the artificial class of character hitherto associated with her
engagement at the Lyceum--characters, that is to say, making little call
upon the emotional faculties of their exponent--will not be disposed to
modify their opinion from her 'creation' of the new part of distinctly
higher scope in Mr. Gilbert's one act drama, 'Comedy and Tragedy,'
produced for the first time on Saturday night. Though passing in a single
scene, this piece furnishes a more crucial test of Miss Anderson's powers
than any of her previous assumptions in this country. Unfortunately it
also assigns limits to those powers which few actresses of the second or
even third rank need despair of attaining. Such a piece as this, it will
be seen, makes the highest demands upon an actress. Tenderly affectionate,
and true with her husband, when she arranges with him the plan upon which
so much depends: heartless and _insouciante_ in manner while she receives
her guests; affectedly gay and vivacious while her husband's fate is
trembling in the balance; deeply tragic in her anguish when her fortitude
has broken down; and finally overcome with joy as her husband is restored
to her arms; she has to pass and repass, without a pause, from one extreme
of her art to the other. There is probably no actress but Sarah Bernhardt
who could render all the various phases of this character as they should
be rendered. There is only one phase of it that comes fairly within Miss
Anderson's grasp. Of vivacity there is not a spark in her nature; a
heavy-footed impassiveness weighs upon all her efforts to be sprightly.
The refinement, the subtlety, the animation, the _ton_, of an actress of
the Comedie Francaise she does not so much as suggest. Womanly sympathy,
tenderness, and trust, those qualities which constitute a far deeper and
more abiding charm than statuesque beauty, are equally absent from an
impersonation which in its earlier phases is almost distressingly labored.
While the actress is entertaining her guests with improvised comedy,
moreover, no undercurrent of emotion, no suggestion of suppressed anxiety
is perceptible. It is not till this double _role_, which demands a degree
of _finesse_ evidently beyond Miss Anderson's range, is exchanged for the
unaffected expression of mental torture that the actress rises to the
occasion, and here it is pleasing to record, she displayed on Saturday
night an earnestness and an intensity which won her an ungrudging round of
applause. Miss Anderson's conception of the character is excellent, it is
her powers of execution that are defective; and we do not omit from these
the quality of her voice, which at times sinks into a hard and
unsympathetic key."
_Morning Post_, 28th January, 1884.
"A change effected in the programme at the Lyceum Theater on Saturday
night makes Mr. Gilbert responsible for the whole entertainment of the
evening. His fairy comedy of 'Pygmalion and Galatea,' is now supplemented
by a new dramatic study in which, under the ambitious title 'Comedy and
Tragedy,' he has been at special pains to provide Miss Mary Anderson with
an effective _role_. This popular young actress has every reason to
congratulate herself upon the opportunity for distinction thus placed in
her way, for Mr. Gilbert has accomplished his task in a thoroughly
workmanlike manner. In the course of a single act he has demanded from the
exponent of his principal character the most varied histrionic
capabilities, for he has asked her to be by turns the consummate actress
and the unsophisticated woman, the gracious hostess and the vindictive
enemy, the humorous reciter and the tragedy queen. Nor has he done this
merely by inventing plausible excuses for a succession of conscious
assumptions, such as those of the entertainer who appears first in one
guise and then in another, that he may exhibit his deft versatility. There
is a genuine dramatic motive for the display by the heroine of 'Comedy and
Tragedy' of quickly changing emotions and accomplishments. She acts
because circumstances really call upon her to act, and not because the
showman pulls the strings of his puppet as the whim of the moment may
suggest. The question is, how far Miss Anderson is able to realize for us
the mental agony and the characteristic self-command of such a woman as
Clarice in such a state as hers. The answer, as given on Saturday by a
demonstrative audience, was wholly favorable; as it suggests itself to a
calmer judgment the kindly verdict must be qualified by reservations many
and serious. We may admit at once that Miss Anderson deserves all praise
for her exhibition of earnest force, and for the nervous spirit with which
she attacks her work. It is a pleasant surprise to see her depending upon
something beyond her skill in the art of the _tableau vivant_. The ring of
her deep voice may not always be melodious, but at any rate it is true,
and the burst of passionate entreaty carries with it the genuine
conviction of distress. What is missing is the distinction of bearing that
should mark a leading member of the famous _troupe_ of players, grace of
movement as distinguished from grace of power, lightening of touch in
Clarice's comedy, and refinement of expression in her tragedy. At present
the impersonation is rough and almost clumsy whilst, at times, the
vigorous elocution almost descends to the level of ranting. Many of these
faults may, however, have been due to Miss Anderson's evident nervousness,
and to the whirlwind of excitement in which she hurried through her task;
and we shall be quite prepared to find her performance improve greatly
under less trying conditions."
_The Scotsman_, 28th April, 1884.
"Last night the young American actress, who has, during the past few
months, acquired such great popularity in London, made her first
appearance before an Edinburgh audience in the same character she chose
for her Metropolitan _debut_--that of Parthenia in 'Ingomar.' The piece
itself is essentially old-fashioned. It is one of that category of
'sentimental dramas' which were in vogue thirty or forty years ago, but
are not sufficiently complex in their intrigue, or subtle in their
analysis of emotion, to suit the somewhat cloyed palates of the present
generation of playgoers. Yet, through two or three among the long list of
plays of this type, there runs like a vein of gold amid the dross, a noble
and true idea that preserves them from the common fate, and one of these
few pieces is 'Ingomar.' Its blank verse may be stilted, its action often
forced and unreal; but the pictures it presents of a daughter's devotion,
a maiden's purity, a brave man's love and supreme self-sacrifice, are
drawn with a breadth and a simplicity of outline that make them at once
appreciable, and they are pictures upon which few people can help looking
with pleasure and sympathy. We do not say that Miss Anderson could not
possibly have chosen a better character in which to introduce herself to
an Edinburgh audience; but certainly it would be difficult to conceive a
more charming interpretation of Parthenia than she gave last night. To
personal attractions of the highest order she adds a rich and musical
voice, capable of a wide range of accent and inflection, a command of
gesture which is abundantly varied, but always graceful and--what is,
perhaps, of more moment to the artist than all else--an unmistakable
capacity for grasping the essential significance of a character, and
identifying herself thoroughly with it. Her delineation is not only
exquisitely picturesque; it leaves behind the impression of a thoughtful
conception wrought out with consistency, and developed with real dramatic
power. The lighter phases of Parthenia's nature were, as they should be,
kept generally prominent, but when the demand came for stronger and tenser
emotions the actress was always able to respond to it--as for instance in
Parthenia's defiance of Ingomar, when his love finds its first uncouth
utterance, in her bitter anguish when she thinks he has left her forever,
and in her final avowal of love and devotion. These are the crucial points
in the rendering of the part; and they were so played last night by Miss
Anderson as to prove that she is equal to much more exacting _roles_. She
was excellently supported by Mr. Barnes as Ingomar, and fairly well by the
representatives of the numerous minor personages who contribute to the
development of the story, without having individual interest of their own.
Miss Anderson won an enthusiastic reception at the hands of a large and
discriminating audience, being called before the curtain at the close of
each act."
_Glasgow Evening Star_, 6th May, 1884.
"MISS ANDERSON AT THE ROYALTY.
"No modern actress has created such a _furore_ in this country as Miss
Anderson. Coming to us from America with the reputation of being the
foremost exponent of histrionic art in that country, it was but natural
that her advent should be regarded with very critical eyes by many who
thought that America claimed too much for their charming actress. Thus
predisposed to find as many faults as possible in one who boldly
challenged their verdict on her own merits alone, it is not surprising
that Metropolitan critics were almost unanimous in their opinion that Miss
Anderson, although a clever actress and a very beautiful woman, was not by
any means a great artist. They did not hesitate to say, moreover, that
much of her success as an actress was due to her physical grace and
beauty. We have no hesitation in stating a directly contrary opinion."
_Glasgow Herald_, 6th May, 1884.
"MISS ANDERSON AT THE ROYALTY THEATER.
"Since 'Pygmalion and Galatea' was produced at the Haymarket Theater,
fully a dozen years ago, when the part of Galatea was created by Mrs.
Kendal, quite a number of actresses have essayed the character. Most of
them have succeeded in presenting a carefully thought-out and
intelligently-executed picture; few have been able to realize in their
intensity, and give adequate embodiment to, the dreamy utterances of the
animated statue. It is a character which only consummate skill can
appropriately represent. The play is indeed a cunningly-devised fable; but
Galatea is the one central figure on which it hangs. Its humor and its
satire are so exquisitely keen that they must needs be delicately wielded.
That a statue should be vivified and endowed with speech and reason is a
bold conception, and it requires no ordinary artist to depict the emotion
of such a mythical being. For this duty Miss Anderson last night proved
herself more than capable. Her interpretation of the part is essentially
her own; it differs in some respects from previous representations of the
character, and to none of them is it inferior. In her conception of the
part, the importance of statuesque posing has been studied to the minutest
detail, and in this respect art could not well be linked with greater
natural advantages than are possessed by Miss Anderson. When, in the
opening scene, the curtains of the recess in the sculptor's studio were
thrown back from the statue, a perfect wealth of art was displayed in its
pose; it seemed indeed to be a realization of the author's conception of a
figure which all but breathes, yet still is only cold, dull stone. From
beginning to end, Miss Anderson's Galatea is a captivating study in the
highest sphere of histrionic art. There is no part of it that can be
singled out as better than another. It is a compact whole such as only few
actresses may hope to equal."
_Dublin Evening Mail_, 22d March, 1884.
"MARY ANDERSON AT THE GAIETY.
"Notwithstanding all that photography has done for the last few weeks to
familiarize Dublin with Miss Anderson's counterfeit presentment, the
original took the Gaiety audience last night by surprise. Her beauty
outran expectation. It was, moreover, generally different from what the
camera had suggested. It required an effort to recall in the brilliant,
mobile, speaking countenance before us the classic regularity and harmony
of the features which we had admired on cardboard. Brilliancy is the
single word that best sums up the characteristics of Miss Anderson's face,
figure and movements on the stage. But it is a brilliancy that is
altogether natural and spontaneous--a natural gift, not acquisition; and
it is a brilliancy which, while it is all alive with intelligence and
sympathy, is instinct to the core with a virginal sweetness and purity. In
'Ingomar' the heroine comes very early and abruptly on the scene before
the audience is interested in her arrival, or has, indeed, got rid of the
garish realities of the street. But Miss Anderson's appearance spoke for
itself without any aid from the playwright. The house, after a moment's
hesitation, broke out into sudden and quickly-growing applause, which was
evidently a tribute not to the artist, but to the woman. She understood
this herself, and evidently enjoyed her triumph with a frank and girlish
pleasure. She had conquered her audience before opening her lips. She is
of rather tall stature, a figure slight but perfectly modeled, her
well-shaped head dressed Greek fashion with the simple knot behind, her
arms, which the Greek costume displayed to the shoulder, long, white, and
of a roundness seldom attained so early in life, her walk and all her
attitudes consummately graceful and expressive. A more general form of
disparagement is that which pretends to account for all Miss Anderson's
popularity by her beauty. It is her beauty, these people say, not her
acting, that draws the crowd. We suspect the fact to be that Miss
Anderson's uncommon beauty is rather a hindrance than a help to the
perception of her real dramatic merits. People do not easily believe that
one and the same person can be distinguished in the highest degree by
different and independent excellences. They find it easier to make one of
the excellences do duty for both. Miss Anderson, it may be admitted, is
not a Sarah Bernhardt. At the same time we must observe that at
twenty-three the incomparable Sarah was not the consummate artist that she
is now, and has been for many years. We are not at all inclined to rank
Miss Anderson as an actress at a lower level than the very high one of
Miss Helen Faucit, of whose Antigone she reminded us in several passages
last night. Miss Faucit was more statuesque in her poses, more classical,
and, perhaps, touched occasionally a more profoundly pathetic chord. But
the balance is redeemed by other qualities of Miss Anderson's acting,
quite apart from all consideration of personal beauty.
"'Ingomar,' it must be said, is a mere melodrama, and as such does not
afford the highest test of an actor's capacity. The wonder is that Miss
Anderson makes so much of it. In her hands it was really a stirring and
very effective play."
_Dublin Daily Express_, 28th March, 1884.
"MISS ANDERSON AS GALATEA.
"Nothing that the sculptor's art could create could be more beautiful than
the still figure of Galatea, in classic _pose_, with gracefully flowing
robes, looking down from her pedestal on the hands that have given her
form, and it is not too much to say that nothing could be added to render
more perfect the illusion. The whole _pose_--her aspect, the _contour_ of
her head, the exquisite turn of the stately throat, the faultless symmetry
of shoulder and arms--everything is in keeping with the realization of the
most perfect, most beautiful, and most illusive figure that has ever been
witnessed on the stage. Miss Anderson indeed is liberally endowed with
physical charms, so fascinating that we can understand an audience finding
it not a little difficult to refrain from giving the rein to enthusiasm in
the presence of this fairest of Galateas. From these remarks, however, it
is not intended to be inferred that the young American is merely a
graceful creature with a 'pretty face.' Miss Anderson is unquestionably a
fine actress, and the high position which she now deservedly occupies
amongst her sister artists, we are inclined to think, has been gained
perhaps less through her personal attractions than by the sterling
characteristics of her art. Each of her scenes bears the stamp of
intelligence of an uncommon order, and perhaps not the least remarkable
feature in her portraiture of Galatea is that her effects, one and all,
are produced without a suspicion of straining. Those who were present in
the crowded theater last night, and saw the actress in the _role_--said to
be her finest--had, we are sure, no room to qualify the high reputation
which preceded the impersonation."