Dramatic Review. ...Good my Lord, will you see the Players well bestowed? SHAKSPEARE. WIZA No. CCCXXVI. THURSDAY, JAN. 29, 1824. Vol. VII. Theatre-Ropal. 2 a A NEW WAY TO PAY OLD DEBTS-In our Theatro, Mr. Vandenhoff is a falcon tow'ring in his pride of place;" and we are not very apprehensive, after the demonstrations of hearty applause (equally honourable to lum and to the audience,) which have always greeted his appearance, that he runs any risk of being "by a mousing owl hawk'd at and kill'd." The audience of the Edinburgh Theatre has never appeared to us in a a point of view more estimable and magnanimous than in applauding this truly great performer, who confers dignity not upon our stage merely, but upon his profession generally. There is a strange capriciousness in the awards of Fame. Mr. Van, denhoff is almost professedly of the school of Kemble; but he possesses the qualities of promptitude of feeling, and readiness of adaptation of himself, both soul and body, to every change and modification of feeling, which belonged not to either the founder of the school or to any of his diseiples. As to Mr. Kemble, who has been deified here for reasons very obvious, we would beg leave to quote the fol lowing remarks of a critic, who was an ardent admirer of him: "From a want of rapidity, of scope, and variety, he was often deficient in expressing the bustle and complication of different interests; nor did he possess the faculty of overpowering the mind by sudden and irresistible bursts of passion: but in giving the habitual workings of a predominant feeling, as in Penruddock, or the Stranger, in Coriolanus, Cato, and some others, where all the passions move round a central point, and are governed by one master-key, he stood unrivalled." The same opinion of Mr. Kemble we have ever entertained; and are glad that we have found language which conveys it so emphatically. It was fortunate for Mr. Kemble, that he appeared at a period when the recollections of Garrick had become faint and indistinct-at a period when any advance was made be yond the Cimmerian darkness which then prevailed, in the science of acting, was hailed as the symptom of a return to better times. The frigidity and, we may say, the monotony, of Mr. Kemble's style were forgotten in the clas sical purity of his conceptions; and that he looked a part "well, and proved his antiquarian lore by giving new readings of particular passages, was considered in this city a sufficiently valid reason for presenting him with a snuffbox. The donors did themselves honour by the gift; for such a man as Kemble was, in those days, a phenomenon. But look at Kean; and consider his originality, the warmth of feeling which he infuses into every part,-the genius (unfettered by rule;) which he displays in passages of great pith and moment;"the velocity with which be flies from one feeling to adopt another, and the intensi ty of his feeling; and it may be pronounced, that Kean has surpassed all his great predecessors, excepting Garrick. But it is Kean's misfortune to be too true to Nature to be acceptable to fashionables. They would wish. Nature to be sophisticated, and pruned of its luxuriancesreduced to the uniformity of a Dutch hedge-row; and for this reason alone Mr. Kean will be ever unfashionable. Now, it is the peculiar excellence of Mr. Vandenhoff, that, though unrivalled in the Kemble school, in point of manher, he naturally possesses; or has imbibed, much of the heat of the new school; and is thus qualified to occupy a greater range of characters (and with equal success,) than either Kemble or Kean. We have been sneered at by some for pronouncing the Coriolanus of Mr. Vandenhoff to be superior to that of Mr. Kemble; but, judging by the im pression made upon the audience by the two performances, (the best possible test,) we are so far from being ashamed of our opinion, that we have a pleasure and a pride in reiterating it. We are now called to notice Mr. Vanden hoff's performance of Sir Giles Over-reach, a performance upon which we have so frequently had occasion to ani, madvert. Every time that we see Mr. Vandenhoff in this part, we observe an obvious improvement upon his previs ous performance of it. There is great originality in his style, which is apt to stagger those who have seen Kean in the part; but (as in the law of libel, we must consider particular passages with reference to the context. Ac cording to this view, Mr. Vandendhoff's Sir Giles is not to be surpassed by any actor upon the British stage. We observe aberrations from the accustomed style of acting the part, but then, they are in the best possible keeping with Mr. Vandenhoff's general delineation of the character. His first performance was certainly faulty in a few passages, which we pointed out; but, without adopting our ideas entirely, he has so much improved in the part, that we feel ourselves obliged to compound the matter with Mr. Vandenhoff, by acknowledging that both of us were partly in the right and partly in the wrong; but (like all other combatants in a drawn battle,) we are disposed to say (and we rest our opinion upon the fact of Mr. Vandenhoff having accommodated, in some measure, his style of acting the part to our views,) that we had the best of the argument. We cannot speak in too high terms of praise of Mr. Pritchard's Allworth, and Mrs. Renaud's Lady Allworth. Mr. Calcraft's Wellborn was poor indeed; and as for Mason's Justice Greedy, (a perfect picture in its way,) and Mr. Mackay's Marrall, we have already expressed our opinions at full length. Hitherto we have said nothing of Miss Halford in the part of Margaret, because we think it is not worth speaking about; but since the display of her very handsome legs in the part of Cherry has given her an eclat, we are called upon to say, that, her performance of Margaret is as insignificant as the character itself is. Young made his first appearance in Cato on Saturday evening. He has, according to the London papers, succeeded well. He was to play King Lear on Monday. We are of opinion this tragedian will injure his reputation by too large a display of his histrionic powers. Kean was to appear in Richard on Monday. PUBLISHED DAILY BY J. L. HUIE, 14, INFIRMARY ST. Theatre-Ropal. This Evening will be performed, the Tragedy of BRUTUS, OR THE FALL OF TARQUIN. Sextus Tarquinius, Aruns, The Sons of Tarquin the Proud, Mr. Denham. Mr. Rae. A Publius Valerius, Mr. Faulkner Lucretius, Mr. Lynch, V A Lucius Junius, surnamed Brutus, Mr. Vandenhoff. Titus, his Son, Mr. Calcraft Tarquinius Collatinus, Mr. Pritchard. Flavius, Mr. AikinCelius, Mr, Wynn Centurion, Mr. Hillyard. Messenger, Mr. Power--Officer, Mr. J. Stanley Est Roman, Mr. Duff 2d Roman, Mr. M‘Gregor. Tullia, Mrs. Renaud Tarquinia, Mrs. Stanley. Lucretia, Miss H. Lacy-Priestess, Mrs. Eyre Lavinia, Miss Rae. Vestal, Miss Eyre-Ladies Miss Murray and Miss J. Nicol. After which will be performed, for the Eleventh Time in this Theatre, the Dramatic Fairy Tale, entitled, CHERRY & FAIR STAR. Demetrius, King of Cyprus, Mr. Smyth. The Prince Cherry, Miss Halford.-Noureddin, Mr. Denham. The principal Vocal Characters, Messrs. Bing, and Brough Avriana, Queen of the Fairies, Miss Murray. The Fairy Papilla, Miss M. Eyre, pupil of Mrs. W. Barrymore. Celestina, Miss Rae.-Astriana, Miss J. Nicol.Zephyrina, Miss Eyre. The Princess Fair Star, Miss H. Lacy. The SCENERY, Which, with Two Exceptions, has been Painted expressly for this occasion, will be exhibited in the following Succession. 1. The Bower of the Fairy Queen Avriana. 2. Rocky Promontory on the Island.—3. The Gardens of Hassanbad, the Merchant.-4. The Forest Scene from Ivanhoe.-5. Woodland View, and Bower.-6. Exterior of Hassanbad's Mansion.-7. Sea View, altered from the Opera of the Antiquary.-8. The Harbour of Cyprus. ACT II. 1. The Bower of the Fairy Queen, as in Act I.-2. A View of the Citadel of Cyprus.-3. Saloon in Prince Cherry's Palace. 4. The Gardens near Prince Cherry's Palace.5. Sleeping Apartment in the Palace.-6. Distant View of the City by Moonlight-7. The Burning Forest, and Magic Fountain.-8. View of the Snowy Mountains.— 9. Hall in the Royal Palace of Demetrius, King of Cyprus. Dramatic Review. ...Good my Lord, will you see the Players well bestowed ?--- No. CCCXXVII. FRIDAY, JAN. 30, 1824. Vol. VII. Theatre-Ropal. BRUTUS, OR THE FALL OF TARQUIN Mr. Payne, a native of America, is the author of this Tragedy and Mr. Kean was the first representative of Brutus. The author has a mind which seems to be deeply impregnated with the love, if not with the spirit of poetry. If he cannot conceive strong poetical images, his mind is highly sus ceptible of poetical impressions; and the thoughts, tropes, and metaphors of others may be considered his intellectual pabulum. They readily assimilate themselves with the current of his own thoughts, and become integrated with it. But for this hypothesis, we would accuse Mr. Payne of being the most daring plagiary of his, age, for expres sions are perpetually occurring which are neither more nor less than travesties of the most striking, and, therefore, the best known passages in British poetry. We have not the Tragedy before us. at present, otherwise we would prove the truth of this assertion by a variety of instances; We must do Mr. Payne, however, the justice to say, that he does not furtively appropriate to himself the thoughts or expressions of others; he rather uses them, bona fide, as his own, not being able to distinguish them from his own As may well be supposed, he has a strong republican feeling, which gives nerve to the composition; and, besides, he has a correct taste, but rather bordering upon the finis cal. He has been most fortunate in his choice of a subject; and, so far as he had to depend upon the exercise of his judgment, has made the most of it. There is a pow erful discrimination of character, and much stage effect and, with all its imperfections, Brutus must be considered the best of modern tragedies, if (we make the exception in |