THEATRE ROYAL.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2191, 4 March 1881, Page 3

THEATRE ROYAL.

“ OTHELLO.” a t In none of his plays, perhaps, is the master -9 mind of Shakespeare more displayed than in q Othello. For sustained energy, power of fc language, and dramatic force it stands almost t unrivalled among the works he has left ui. £ Those who appreciate the play, and went last £ night, could not have been disappointed. If r ony fault could bo found it must have been that c tfc e situations were too realistic, and the feelings r of the listeners were too painfully strained. Of the first and second acta much need not be f said. We were not altogether satisfied with y Othello’s explanation to the Senators of Venice of the course of his love, and in some parts his enunciation was not so clear as might 1 be desired. But in the third act, in which the seeds of jealousy are sown by logo, the r full force of Herr Bandmonn’s impersonation j began to be developed. In the fourth act, 0 where ho accuses Desdemona of infidelity, the c terrible nature of the position became more 1 clearly revealed, while, in the last act, it is not too much to say that it is impossible to j imagine the tragic details of word and deed more forcibly revealed. The enormous power r of the language, the beauty of the thoughts, j and the sustained skill of the master mind r that could place before us such a scene, must j have struck the most careless. As we have ] already hinted, the realism of the affair was q absolutely painful. It was not a matter as to ] whether certain portions of dialogue were g rendered as might have been looked for by in- E dividual listeners, but it was whether the con- j coption of the poet as a whole was worked out with distinctness and power. Here wo say ] that playgoers in Christchurch have seldom ; had such an opportunity of bringing home to , their minds the full conception of this marvel- , lous play. Herr Bandmaun’s impersonation , may not bo original, it may not suit the pre- , conceived ideas of all, but it leaves an im- j pression of sustained energy, and a grasp of brooder spirit of the workings in Othello’s , mind, both deep and distinct. The part of ; Desdemona was excellently filled by Miss Beaudet, who gave us further evidence of her , faculty of interesting and moving her audience. The loving and playful wife was there, while her outraged sense of the Moor’s injustice was finely shown. The same may bo said of the death scone, with her dread of death and her love for her husband. Mr Reynolds’ lago was something new: a trifle lighter rorhaps than the received version, bat very tolling nevertheless, Mr Hallos Ocasio was good ; his soliloquies respecting his failing being particularly noticeable. Mr Cathcart made the most of Brabantio, The minor parts were taken by Mr Nunn and others. Tonight will be given “The Merchant of Venice,” with Herr Bandmann in the title rOle.