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

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were in general i^re.ment on Miss hen?n»s acting. Its lesson
for the English theatre Icy in grandeur of conception - thd
notice in The Illustrated LondonH Nev{8. observed:
We have b~en painting miniatures too long, and it
would be well if some of our ectors and actresses
would take up a 1 rgur canvas and c broader brush.
The company returned many times to London, until Daly's death
in 169V, and, although its artistic policy wes in most respects
very conservative, the continuing popularity of its Shakespearean
revivals and contemporary ropertoire kept Ada Rehan before
the public: the troupe combined efficiency and lavish staging
. ith the talents of a forceful actress. At the s^mc time, it
counted for little in the debate concerning st;ge scenery:
Shaw complained thst Daly conceived of Shakespearean or ma
"as the vioct artificial of all forms of stage entort innent"1^,
Not only the new criteria of colour-harmony ;;na consistency of
scene and costume, but those of common-sense appecr from shr-.'.'s
review and the evidence of other witnesses to IK- vo be n ignored
by Daly.
ii. Miss Wallis's As You Like It.
On October >X, 1868 the new dhaft^sbury Theatre, in 6heito_bury
Avenue, opened tith t revival of As You Like It, in which
Rosalind wa.o played by fti^s ^allis, viiie of Lancaster the
lessee of the house, ullen v.allis had rn^ce her ooout at the
Queen's Thertre, Loh^ ^cre, in 1^72 and hrc since been seen as
Cleopatra (Drury L;ne, lt?3) and horni.me (It7c). A representative
notice 01 ^llen ollis f s acting is Dutton Cook's
ace junt oi ht;r oorforn nco in The inter T s Tele:
Possessed of cert&in ualifications for the&trical
success, the lady :-.ecries by iicr redundant artifices
of gesture and attitude, and the ar.r..lin^, oomoousncss
01 her elocution; regard for simplicity and niure
seorio v/holly banished from her method of representatior
in her hands hermione loses all matronly vrece tnd
dignity, rssulng instcac the serabl&nc, of r ti 0htlaced
hysterical scho )l0irl.^^
In 1676, at Drury Lcne, she plrycd In^on, and rs given
better notices than for any of her jrovious parts: in The
Illustrated o jort.iji^__rjndpranatic_ ".ewS. she \,LS ^rciseu for "a