Kemble's Hamlet
is perfect;--but Hamlet is not Nature. Richard is a man; and Kean is
Richard. Now to my own concerns.
Went to Waite's. Teeth are all right and white; but he says that I grind
them in my sleep and chip the edges. That same sleep is no friend of
mine, though I court him sometimes for half the twenty-four.
[Footnote 1: Edmund Kean (1787-1833), after acting in provincial
theatres, appeared at the Haymarket in June, 1806, as "Ganem" in 'The
Mountaineers', but again returned to the country. His performance of
"Shylock" in the 'Merchant of Venice', at Drury Lane, on January 26,
1814, made him famous. He appeared in "Richard III" on February 12, and
still further increased his reputation.
In the 'Courier', February 26, 1814, appears this paragraph:
"Mr. Kean's attraction is unprecedented in the annals of
theatricals--even Cooke's performances are left at an immeasurable
distance; his first three nights of 'Richard' produced upwards of
L1800, and on repeating that character on Thursday night for the
fourthth ('sic') time, the receipts were upwards of L700."
On March 1 the same paper says,
"Drury Lane Theatre again overflowed last night, at an early hour.
Such is the continued and increasing attraction of that truly great
actor Mr. Kean."
After the retirement of John Kemble (June 23, 1817), he had no rival on
the stage, especially in such parts as "Othello," "Lear," "Hamlet," "Sir
Giles Overreach," and the two already mentioned.
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