Cymbeline - eTheses Repository - University of Birmingham

She has a good conception of the part,
draws a ;}ust outline of it, but is incapable
of filling up the difficult and
tremendous character of Lady i-Iaebeth . . .
we fear she is acquiring a bad habit of
declaiming when she should feel , and of
studying to produce effect, when, if she
yielded to the impulse of the moment, she
would achieve her object without effort. 1 3
The recurring criticism is, in Levy's phrase, that her
"points" were"well conceived, but feebly executed."
She is a clever actress, with a very laudable
intelligence of the character, but with natural
powers completely inadequate to its
just exhibition.
109.
Thus it was decided that, for the moment at least, the
formidable qualities of Lady Macbeth were beyond the range
of Laura Addison. But the similar qualities which the
critics sought to find displayed in the character of
Imogen at certain points of the play, were also beyond
Miss Addison. The Morning Post, in its review of August
26, 1847, censures her for this inadequacy, but still holds
out hope for her histrionic career:
Imogen /~"is__7 a character, though full of
gentleness and womanly devotion, that has
points of passionate emotion, and moments
of tragic energy, which require the combination
of the loftiest tragic powers and the
rarest skill. Miss Laura Addison was gentle,
and subdued, and low-toned, and sweetly
feminine; but the fervour, the strong will,
andi the mighty heart - mi^ ty in its love,
and its truth, and its devotion, and its
courage - were assuredly faintly set before
us. There is a monotony of cadence that
fatigues by its constant recurrence, and a
preparation of the sentences, which destroys
the spontaneity which gives the heart and the
life to dramatic delineations. These are
faults which care will remove.
Miss Addison is further advised that she should 'seek in
nature, and not in stage models, the secrets of an abiding