Punch (91.1886)

180

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI

[October 9, 1886.

H.R.H., AS JULIUS CiESAR., WISELY DECLINES
"THE COLINDERIES " TESTIMONIAL.

" Why there was " a testimonial " offered him; and being offered him, he
put it by with the back of his hand, thus ; and then the people fell a-shoutin g."

Julius Casar, Act I., Scene 2.

"sir hamlet esquire," at the theatre francais.

Mt dear Me. Nibbs,—You expressed a wish to learn what
Shakspeaee's best-known tragedy would be like when a translation
of it was produced in Paris. To hear with me was to obey, and like
the trusty but misguided Knights, who assisted Heney the Second,
in ridding him of an ecclesiastical difficulty, I sallied forth deter-
mined to overcome all obstacles—be they what they might—in
ministering to the wishes of my theatrical Lord and Master. 1 braved
the tedium of travel getting from Victoria to Dover, the dangers of
the vasty deep on my passage to Calais, and the terrors of illness, if
not death, at a buffet on the other side of the Channel. But I got to
the Francais and was present at the first performance of Hamlet.
And now, deeply respected Sir, you shall know all about it.

The audience was what the London papers would call a "brilliant
one." The fauteuils d'orchestre were filled with Frenchmen in
evening dress, looking as Frenchmen always do en grand tenue, like
foreign waiters at a City dinner. The loges contained a number of
ladies in the most elaborate toilettes de bal tempered with garden-/e<e
bonnets. There were celebrities here, there, and everywhere. This
in spite of the dull season of the year. " But what ? " you will say,
" has this to do with Hamlet ? " "Nothing," I reply, " save this—
the front of the house to many of those present, was more attractive
than the play beyond the footlights. Shakspeabe was triste—society
charming !" But to return. In a silence the curtain rose showing
indistinctly the ramparts of the castle. Then there was a whisper.
There was a ray of light—was this for "the spectre?" No. The
Ghost appeared and had a little glimmer all to himself. Then
came the explanation. M. Mounet-Sully, so it was announced,
had protested against giving up any of his lime-light to M. Maubant.
Hamlet was jealous of his murdered father! So the ray was reserved,
in Scene III, (VEsplanade), for the portly person who played the
Prince of Denmark.

The translation of Dumas Pere and Paul Meurice proceeded.
"We had the Scene in the Palace with the Court assembled—everyone
appearing^in costumes of very gorgeous material, but like other Paris
fashions "quite new and never before worn in England." The
audience after appreciating the spectacle, seemed unutterably bored,
until Hamlet's confidential chat with the Spectre, when the solution
of the burning question of the limelight for a moment excited
curiosity._ The instant " le Spectre" and "son Altesse" appeared
together it was found that M. Mounet-Sully, like a greedy boy,
was to have all the rays of the moon to himself, and his poor ill-
used parent not one of them!

That you may judge how very listless the spectators were, I may
inform you that the first genuine round of applause came when
Hamlet put to rest the perturbed spirit" of his A mole" of a father
by allowing the shadow of the hilt of his sword to rest upon the
ground beneath which his parent was urging him, and his friends to
swear.

The play continued. The scenery was feeble and commonplace,
and the acting: indifferent. Had I not known that I was in the first
Theatre of France, and consequently the World, I should have
imagined I was assisting at a performance somewhere in the Pro-
vinces. The Polonius of Got was not to be compared with Compton
in the same character, and Reichemberg in Ophelia was merely
the ordinary ingenue of French Comedy grafted, into a Tragedy.
Got had evidently shared with the Actress this view of the proper
reading of the part, as he treated the unfortunate " Ophelie " with a
roughness denoting supreme contempt for her sweet imbecility. Here
I may note that to improve upon Shakspeabe, MM. Dtjmas and
Met/bice caused " son Altesse " to give his " Mees " a love-letter in
the presence of the audience. The Prince with a " tiens.'" thought
for a moment with his forefinger on his brow, and then " knocked off
an impromptu" on his tablets. He tore out the leaf, folded it up
neatly, and with a courteous smile handed, it to " Ophelie," (who
received it with what the French dramatists call "a movement")
and then, evidently well satisfied with his literary performance,
sauntered off apparently to communioate his amorous manoeuvre to
Horatio. To continue my ideas about the merits of the company.

The portly representative of Hamlet produced a portrait of Fechteb
painted in hysterics. He was always gasping or fainting, and
although he had a good piece of " business " in the fencing-match—
disarming Laertes, and offering courteously his own foil in exchange
for the poisoned one—he rendered the scene utterly ridiculous by
killing the King a second time by making him drink the drees of the
deadly wine after he had stabbed him. For the rest, the King was
dull, the Queen colourless, and the Gravediggers witless. And here
let me observe that although we hear a great deal of the " equality"
of the Artists at the Francais, the First Grave-digger being played
by Coquelin Cadet, and the Second ditto by a less_ distinguished
actor called Rogee, the name of the former was printed in large
letters four places higher up in the programme than his colleague.
So much for "JEgalite" and " Fraternite " behind the footlights.

The audience were roused once or twice. The finale of the Play
Scene produced a great effect, and was rewarded with three or four
rounds of applause. Here M. Mot/net - Sully actually used a
modern fan (it looked as if it had just been bought at the Grand
Magazin du Louvre at 3/. 75 c.) to conceal his features as he crept
up to the throne of his much-hated uncle. This fan he took from
Ophelia, who immediately produced another, of a different fashion,
with the dexterity of a prestidigitateur. This was the cleverest thing
she did during the whole piece, and argued that she was not such
a fool as she looked. Again the audience were aroused to some-
thing like enthusiasm when the fainting Hamlet, after assisting at
the funeral of Ophelia, refused to be comforted by his mother. The
allusion to "ma mere" was too much for the Parisians, and they
considered it " very fine." Once more the audience appreciated
the piece of business with the foils and " Laerte," to which I have
already alluded. But after ? Nothing!

There were the usual calls customary on a premiere, but that
was all. I fancy the audience, had tbey seen Hamlet in English
played by our best Actors, would (could they have understood the
language) have thoroughly enjoyed it; but with a mutilated version
in feeble verse, played by the old stagers of the Theatre Francais,
they were, during three-fourths of the representation, simply bored.
They woke up at the situations, they applauded the sentiments,
but they had no chance of grasping the real meaning of the grandest
of our poets. Whatever gush may be written about French acting
by our home-made critics, I can confidently assert that a third-rate
English company would have played Hamlet better than the
Societaires and Pensionnaires of the "House of Molieee." And if
anyone doubts my word, let him go—and judge for himself.

Chaeles—youb Feiend.

Eiteaoedinaey Veedict.—The verdict of a Coroner's Jury at an
inquest lately held at Nottingham. A., during a drunken quarrel,
struck B., and got pushed down. Fatal accident from fall. Ver-
dict : " Justifiable Homicide." So it was; but don't Coroner's Juries
in such a case generally find it "manslaughter," and send a prisoner
for trial to be acquitted on the plea of self-defence by a Jury in a
Court of Justice P Those exceptional Nottingham_ Jurors, what an
opportunity they missed of exercising their precious privilege of
subjecting an unlucky man to the anxiety and expense of standing a
trial for Felony ! Scandalous contempt of precedent!

Reduction in Push Rents. —Mr. Lewis Pugh: Pugh has
announced a rent remission of 50 per cent, to his tenants on his
Abermaed estate, Cardiganshire. We have not heard whether his
tenants have gratefully accepted the reduction, or " pugh-pugh'd" it.

Indian Preserves.—Last week Jam All son of another Jam, was
arrested. The first Jam took refuge with a Khan. Won't Mr.
Gladstone have something to say to this ? He used to he great on
the subject of jam. i

£jg- TO CORBESPOETDENTS—In no case can Contributions, whether MS., Printed Matter, or Drawings, be returned, unlets accompanied
by a Stamped and Directed Envelope or Cover. Copies of MS, should be kept by the Senders.