The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor, Vol. I, No. 3, March 1810
History
The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor, Vol. I, No. 3, March 1810
Drama -- Periodicals; Theater -- Periodicals
On his Tancred we can dwell with very different sensations. Considering
the materials he had to work upon, his delineation of the character was
highly creditable to his talents. For the love part, little more can be
done by a good actor, than by a good reader;--as poetry, it is soft, and
sweet, and flowing; as a practical representation of that passion it is
mawkish: yet, in the performance of Master Payne, it was not entirely
destitute of interest. In all the rest; in every scene with Siffredi,
particularly in his warm expostulations with the honest, but mistaken
old statesman; in his subsequent indignation and despair; in his lofty
bearing and menaces to Osmond, and thence onward to his death, he was
truly excellent, seemed perfect master of the scene, and in depicting
the tumult of passions which struggle in the bosom of the lordly
Tancred, evinced that he possesses the legitimate genius, and true
spirit that should inform the actor.
For his benefit he personified Romeo. The house was so crowded, and in
all places that were accessible after the doors were opened, there was
so much pressing, confusion, ill-mannered noise and struggle, and
rudeness, that few but those who had places taken in the front boxes
could see or hear the play out. From the upper gallery, where with
difficulty we at last got a seat, we indistinctly saw what passed on the
stage, and could hear a little by snatches. What we did hear and see
induced us to lament our not hearing and seeing more, and to wish that
we may speedily have another opportunity of witnessing a performance
respecting which there is but one opinion, and that highly favourable to
Master Payne’s reputation.
MR. COOPER.
Scarcely had master Payne disappeared in his transit southward, when Mr.
Cooper followed, and, in describing his annual orbit, was seen here for
nine nights; during which he performed the following characters.
Friday 29th Dec.--Richard the Third.
Saturday 30th.--Zanga in the Revenge.
Monday 1st Jan.--Leon in Rule a Wife and have a Wife.
Wednesday 3d.--Othello.
Friday 5th.--Macbeth.
Saturday 6th.--Pierre in Venice Preserved.
Monday 8th.--Hamlet.
Wednesday 10th.--Hotspur.
Friday 12th.--Michael Ducas in Adelgitha.
Saturday 13th.--Penruddock--and after it Petruchio.
Of all the actors we have ever seen in the old world or in the new, he
who imposes the most difficult task upon the critic is Mr. Cooper. It is
scarcely possible to generalize his acting. The great inequality of his
performance, the defects of some parts, the doubtfulness of others, and
the amazing beauties which he frequently displays, forbid the critic, if
he have a due regard to truth, to give to the different parts of any one
character Mr. Cooper performs the same measure of praise or
disapprobation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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