A FRENCH ACTRESS AS HAMLET.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1908, 17 November 1913, Page 7

A FRENCH ACTRESS AS HAMLET.

■ ' 3 - REMARKABLE PERFORMANCE IN PARIS. "Hamlet" Was produced at tho Theatre Antoino, Paris, recently, _ tha performance being an extremely interosting one. Lugnc-Poe and Suzanne Despres w'e.re rewarded for their long and careful, It is ail old ambition of theirs to play tlio parts of Hamlet aiid Pokmiu®, iiflel they havo been studying them for some years. "I have seen a good many actors in tho part of I'olouiUs (writes the correspondent of tile "Maiiche&teJ Guardian"), but iion : o who more completely realised the character than does LuguePoe. Indeed, lam inclined to go sa : far as to say that he- is tho best PoluBins in my experience. Ho is «Sa6tly the garrulous and doddering old Chamberlain who imagines himself to bo a master of tact and diplomacy, PolOnius is a comic character, and LugncPoe makes him. one, hut bo never overdoes ths humorous sido of tho part., Tliis success in striking just the bappy tiieaii is a note of the whole performaiioe, with tho possible exception of tho acting of Jean Toulout ill the part of. Claudius. At times Toulout makes the character a comic one* and brings it dangerously nc-ar to a king 'of comic opera, "Suzanfio Despres has a remarkable success in the, part of Hamlet, all tbo more remarkable sinoo she has to contend with tho difficulty of never looking tho part. In that respect she is inferior to Sarah Bernhardt, who sUcsceded in giving a more masculine impression. o.ue Hevor thought of Simnno Despres as S particularly short woman, but she looks very' small and youthful in male sttiro, and is even slightly shorter than Ophelia. ; But her conception of tho part fe, it seoms to me, much nearer to that of Shakespeare tlron Sarah liembirdt's, and it shows great psychological insight; Many French critics havo held that Hamlet was really mad, but Suzanne Despres rightly makes it plain that ho is merely simulating madness. In tho crucial Scenes—such as tlio appearneo of the Ghost* tho pky scene, ■ tho interview with the Queen, the scene ift tho churchyard- she. always stands tho test. She never errs in the direction either of over or under acting, aiid no action that I have seen has given a more true rep.te 1 Suitaium of the character. Sb» must havo saturate.} herself with it. Je.'mno Fusior is a perfect Ophelia. Tlio part is, of course, a simple one, osecpt in the mad scenes, which may easily bo mado melodramatic or ridiculous, but which were played by Jeanno Fusior with an exquisite and pathetic charm, just in tbo right note without the small* est exaggeration. Gomiftr is naturally admirable in the small part of the First Gravedigger, and the other parts are well played. ••The. staging of the play ra estretnely simple. There is only one scene, which is altered merely by tlio use of different backgrounds, but it is quite sufficient. The ghost Scones, which art? often ridiculous, are quite impressive, being' played almost in darkness, so i that tho ghost is barriy visibfc. M-. ; 'Duval's translation is hardly so fi».o : as that of tho late Marcel Sehwob, but it is simple without being too literal, and runs smoothly. Thoro iVoro, after all, a few cuts, but tlioy are quite jitdidoMs. - The Most important in t.lio omissinii of the quite superfluous fourth scoii.n of Act TV" ir.i the usual arrange- , mfttifc. As. played at the Antoino, ; "•Hfiitilot" is divitlod ini;o four acts i onlj/'i 1;