The opinion to be formed from witnessing Othello at the
Haymarket, with the two different arrangements of cast—that is to say, with the Othello. and Desdanona of the one evening as the Iago and Emilia of the other--Is something like this. Mr. C. Kean's Iago is more striking than his Othello; for the greater impenetrability which he gave to the villain's mask, making him for a while a seemingly honest man, showed an original conception of the part; indeed, lago may be set down as one of the best and most finished of Mr. C. Kean's characters. On the other hand, the passionate rage of Othello as depicted by this actor is but a repetition of what has been more powerfully done before. Still, the pathetic passages are given with a great deal of natural feeling; and the contrition of the last scene may be numbered among those successful achievements which belong to his later school of performance. It is not a little remarkable, that an actor who originally took the public by his sudden displays of violence, should now be least effective when there is occasion for such bursts, and shine most in a finished piece of declamation or the quiet expression of a deep emotion. The gentlemanlike humour of his comic characters, which are now among the best in his rdpertoire, is a striking instance of that ability to depart from the realms of rant, which lies at the foundation of his present style of acting. The Emilia of Mrs. C. Kean is, on the whole, preferable to her Desdemona, notwithstanding the many feminine beauties of the latter. The subduing of the virago from loudness to intensity was an original idea, finely worked out; whereas in the Desdemona there is a propensity to indulge in tearfulness, which after a while loses its effect. Miss Laura Addison, who has successively played Desdemona and Emilia, shows so much earnestness and purpose, that additional schooling cannot be too strongly recommended. The peculiar movements by which she attempts to produce strong emphasis, and her staccato mode of enunciation, counteract her really meritorious efforts. She must not slow herself to be misled by the high position she took at Sadler's Wells. The lessee of that house, while he has strenuously laboured to civilize the playgoers of his neighbourhood, has not collected an audience remarkably fastidious about acting; and when he receives a visit from the inhabitants of a more critical region, they are more pleased at the spirit and good taste displayed in the ensemble than minutely attentive to details. But the people who go to see Othello at the Haymarket are for the most part as- sembled to witness the acting, and for no other purpose. Mrs. C. Kean, who has brought the details of her art to a degree of finish which no actress now on the stage has attained, so that not a look or a gesture is without its grace, would be an invaluable adviser: Miss Addison has too much substantial good in her to be sacrificed for a mistake.
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