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

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At times this approach leads the author into detailed and
sensitive analyses of passages of the text, at times into paragraphs
of self-satisfaction and self-congratulation. After
observing that the performance of Rosalind allowed her to
-ive "full expression" to what was best in herself, as well as
in her art, she continues:
It was surely a "trange perversion which, we
read, assigned Rosalind, as at one time it had
assigned Portia, to actresses whose strength
lay only in comedy. Even the joyous, boyant
side of her nature could hardly have justice
done to it in their hands; for that is so
inextricably mingled v.ith deep womanly tenderness,
with an active intellect disciplined
with fine culture, a,', .veil as tempered by a
certain native distinction, that a mere
comedian could not give the true tone and
colouring even to her playfulness and ;:it.
(p.236)
The implication that Helen Paucit possessed all these gifts is
clear.
In her accounts of performance Helen Paucit often claims
that her degree of identification with the character was so
great as to nove not only the audience but fellow-actors and
the actress herself: best-known among such passages is that
describing her playing Herraione to Macready's Leontes, but
similar reminders of her involvement with the heroines are
found throughout the book. Thus, among general reflections on
the art of acting, towards the end of the letter on Beatrice,
the author argues against the taking of calls during the
performance of a play:
It was ever my desire to forget ny audience.
Little did they, v;ho only meant Irinclness, know
how much they took fro,, my oov;er of workin ; out
my conceptions when they forced nc in this v;ay
out of my dream-world. /^ 332-3)
Realistic staging was another obstacle to the v.-orking out of
the conception - an "ideal" theatre was preferable to a realistic
one. She does not go so far as to propoae a return to the
techniques of Elizabethan staging, but prefers scenery to be
kept in its plrce:
...oh how refreshing- it i- to have your thoughts
centred upon such h.j-nan beings as oh,:kespeare
drew, each phase of their characters