Pictorial Shakespeare, 1880-1890 - eTheses Repository - University ...

186
Hanry James, reporting on the state of London theatres in
the Jrnuary, 1861 issue of Scribner»a. Magazine. apologised
for an unavoidable "want oi gallantry". He wt-s obliged to
admit that none of the English actresses satisfied his
artistic criteria:
It takes more to make an accomplished actress
than the usual Englishwoman who e tbraces the
profession can easily lay \er hands upon; c
want of frankness, of brightness, of elegance,
of art, is commonly, before the footlights,
this lady's principal impediment .-i
Alter a survey of major actresses, James concluded that "the
most interesting actress in London" who came nearer than
any other to being ^mistress of her art", was uenevieve teard,
an American who had trained on the continent as ; n operasinger
and actress. James conceded that Kllen Terry possessed
"remarkable charm", but she impressed ruoro by the influence
of this natural gift, th; n by any artistic technique. Like
Arnold, James admirea the accomplishments of French ectors,
ano considered the majority oi brit ish porformers successful
more by accident than artifice. The lycuum periormtnces
were, in a sense, inartistic - Miss Terry was simply
herself, displayed in a series of striking crosses and
situations. Reviewers who disagreed , ith such an an. lysis,
and who hela her to be possessor of cal skill, v/oro
nonetheless et pains to remind readers of her pictorial
beauty. Thus a critic "of the gentler sex" wrote of . iss
2
Terry's Viola :
Clad in cret-m and gold draperies, the little
sapphire-blue c; p being her one touch of
colour, she looked - to use a hackneyed phrase
- just fs if she had steppet. out of an old
picture, and a picture such as Leighton might
paint or Morris urite verses upon*
(The Theatre, ns. TV (August lfc84J 16S.-4; p.l63/
The reviewer suggested th,'t "oict the new Viola appeal to no
other sense ut, ;,hat of sight she would still be & sue* e s",
but less sympathetic voices cl.- ined th. t there ;ms no other
ap.eal, and tii, t Miss Terry was, for ell her professional
experience, en ©'liable amateur in the interpretation of
Shakespeare, lacking range and subtlety.