THE THEATRES.
Tim reception of the young tragedian at Drury Lane, on Monday, was most tlatterine; and if the tumultuous npplauses of an overflowing lion:e were sufficient evidence of a successful debit, then assuredly Mr, deserves the manager's epithet, " a triumph." The elder KEAN iu the height of his glory was never greeted with more enthusiasm than welcomed his son's reappearance ; but with this difference, that the ex. etternent, lunette of increasing with the progress of the play, rather dim:Ili-lied. The cheering at the close was by no means so vehement as at first : in fact, the audience seemed rather warmed by hearty good. win towards the debut:ant than %yolked upon by the cunning of the scene.
Cll.:IMES KEAN, it is said, chose Hamlet for this first essay of his nivtur..d powt rs, because it was one of the few principal parts which he had never scent his father perform. If so, the reason was not a good one ; for the points of resemblance in many peculiarities of mariner, ink:tensed by the family likeness in voice and person, are so obvious as to make it apparent that he had studied in his father's school. More- ov.a., the character of Hamlet is, we conceive, far less suited to the sun's style of acting than it was even to the father's. CHARLES KEAN relies on physiral energy and adroitness for producing his effects, more exclusively than his father ; as indeed he needs must, wanting the getting which inspired the elder KEAN. He appears to belong to lent class of players who regard the drama as a medium for the display of their personal address and accomplishments; confining the mental process to what is technically termed " the study of the part ;" not car. ryieg their feelings and imagination into the action, but thinking of their attitudes instead. Now, there is only one scene in Hamlet—the fencing bout with Luertes—where an opportunity occurs of exhibiting this kind of skill apart from the exercise of those high intellec. tual qualities in which, we fear, Clieeses KEAN is deficient. He handles the foil with the dexterity of a professor, and plays his past in the passage of arms with a fire and elegance that may well cbelleuge the compliments and admiration of the King. So far as the sword.pluy is concerned, his personation of the Prince of Hem- med( is perfect ; but beyond that it fails lamentably. The profound abstruction amid oerwrought sensibility— the moody waywardness of temper, whose sadness breaks off into melancholy mirthfulness, while the passionate outbursts of indignation and grief lapse into idle specu. laden — ull the delicate lights and shadows that make up the charac- ter, in short, are wanting. Mr. KEAN assumes a grave air, and drawls out the soliloquies in a funereal tone of affected solemnity, which is not only monotonous but becomes insufferably tedious : by way of relief, he occasionally exchanges lugubrious for muting declamation ; but his sorrow is a mere parade, and his passion explodes like a cracker. The sportive sallies are delivered with a measured formality; and the sarcastic rebukes are either given with a matter-of-fact hum. no's, or else enforced with a course sneering expression, any thin but characteristic of the delicate and high-minded prince. In short, Mr. KEAN'S ilarnlet is an elaborate piece of artifice, overwrought in every pure—cold. tame, and lifeless, in spite of the energy and vigour ex- pended in the performance. Every look and gesture seems studied beforehand, and the whole action is mechanical ; but at the same time, so finished and forcible, as to excite the admiration of those who re. gard the externals of ,stage-playing merely, and can be pleased with a perfect specimen of a bad style. CHARLES KEAN'S voice is thick, and not apparently susceptible of delicate modulations and inflections,— defects that exaggerate the abruptness of his transitions from one tone to another, and make more evident the effort with which he draws forth the plaintive note employed in pathetic passages : his level conversational speaking is also heavy and ineffective. This was par- ticularly remarkable in the address to the players ; which fell flat, be- cause there was no " point" to be made, and the passage could not be wound up with an " attitude." The prodigiously long pauses in the dialogue, and the time he remains in one posture, increase the automatic character of the representation, and lengthen it out to a
wearisome extent. On Monday, the tragedy was not over till
nearly eleven : Prince Hamlet was so long in yielding up his last breath, that we began to fancy that he was expecting some "cue" to die at the proper time ; and the King had to stand for two or three minutes waiting to be killed, the courtiers who surrounded him oblig. ingly opening a way for the deliberately impetuous Prince to give him the death-stroke. Were the stage Salisbury Plain, and the audience at such a distance as to make it necessary for the actors to keep in po- sition till the sound of the words reached them, this prolonged panto- mimic exhibition might be necessary.
In characters of action, and in melodramatic plays, where there is
plenty of bustle and situation, requiring activity, energy, und proficiency in the business of the stage, CHARLES KEAN may shine ; but not in such as require passion and pathos, dignity and grandeur. He does not seem to possess the power of touching the feelings or elevating the play is otherwise very indifferently acted ; and the scenery and dresses are inure showy than appropriate. The opening scene, for instance, where the Ghost appears, is a frost. piece !—a new reading, by which " the morn in russet mantle clad " is made to walk " o'er the .1 snout of you high eastern hill." Mr. Cooren, as the Ghost, instead of having his chie tied imp like a corpse, as he used to do, properly wore a beard ; a tartlet uddition that the pointed allusions in the text render no less essential to old Polonius. Miss Boaten sang Ophelia's wild snatches of songs us if she had been in a concert-roust : her madness had too much method in it.
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