TWO NOTABLE ACTRESSES.

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1324, 16 November 1883, Page 2

TWO NOTABLE ACTRESSES.

' The Lqildpn co-respondent of the Age wriifes ;•—',,.,,',.';,.., After ail negotiations were broken off more than -6nce, Miss Geuevieve Ward lias at length been induced by Mri Arthur GraY-nec, "who is . still iv London, to accept a six months' Australian engagement. Miss Ward, will be abcoinpanied by Mr W. H. Veraon, a sterling actor, who has of late years always been her " leading man " at the Olympic Theatre. This lady's position on the stage is so high, and he,r private history so.peculiar, that she i-eally merits niore than a mero passing paragraph.. SJ. nee. Madame Ristori vißii;ed yovirshpres you have not had any actress whose .English reputation can be compared 7 with Miss Wards. For many y^arS p&kifia both England and America, slip, has been accepted as among the very, foremost of histrionic artistes. Her acting as the heroine in " Forget- Me-Not,^ like that of Irving as Matthias, Jefferson as Ij^p Van Winkle, and .Sai'ah/Beruhardt'as^Dona Sol, may be .described fitly as fam^|. Those who have seen MisVGeiievie.v'e Ward ih ? thls i tr ; iify terrific character, as \yell as in almost every other in which she has made any real impression, must be struck by the predominance of fierce tragic intensity in her acting, and the absence of all that sweet pathetic tenderness which makes such a performance as Miss Ellen Terry's Olivia a thing of beauty. Perhaps the central story ot Miss Ward's life will throw some light' 6n this artistic peculiarity. Before she took to the stage she had the misfortune as a young Jady to meet in her native New Itork, of which State M£JEather was at one time Governor, onßMof^tnose fas-. cmating European scampV are but an additional lure, to the daughters and aspiring folk in demoappj^r-lards. He was a Russian CouH*iManCl held a position at the Court of |fag - late Cza|. .".Miss Ward married him, hut alniosi immediately the Russian Lothario calmly left h>h saying that he was returning native country, where the marriage ceremony, according to which they wore man and wife in America, had no effect. In Russia he told her plainly he would still be regarded as a single man. His young wife, however, was hardly the kind of woman to put up with such treatment without a murmur — one has only to look at her to see that her character is strongly marked by firmness and determination. So, accompanied by her mother, she shortly afterwards appeared in St. Petersburg, bringing with her such introductions as procured for her an audience with the Czar. To that great autocrat she told her tale, and Pegged that her marriage with the Count should be duly recognised in Russia. The Emperor appointed a day at which she was again to present herself at the palace, and he then sent for her husband to be there on the same day. Upon the Count's arrival he was shown into a room where he was confronted by the Emperor, who rose and said, "Permit me to introduce you to your wife." Without more ado th^y were, by his Majesty's commands, promptly married according to the rites of the Greek Church. It was then Miss Ward's chance to act on her own responsibility » So she informed the Count at the close of the ceremony that, having gained her point, and having compelled him to> recognise her as his wife, she would then and there leave him for ever. For a Woman who in her youth had passed through such a terrible experience I there was only one profession, one future — the stage. There she could act on the mimic stage the passions she had so powerfully felt in her own life. When oue gets this glimpse into her startling history, one begins to understand : why --she can enact with such overpowiug force the role of a wronged heroine, who in lien of being crushed, mrns against her enemies, and dares them to the death. Such a, woman is th 6 adventuress in <* Forgei-Me-Not,"

the earlier portion of whicihmght have been based on foe actress' own life. * rona s «ch a glimpse of her history, too, we learn the source of the deficiency of her acting in that tenderness and pathos which is perhaps the great chary of the feminine character. Miss. Ward knows her own deficiencies and her limits as an artiste. « I cannot do justice to your heroine/ she said one* to a London playwright ; " you make her repent and forgive theman who has ci'uelly wrongear her j there is not enough of the tigress in it for me " iss Ward is, perhaps, the most accomplished scholar and linguist on thestage. She speaks French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, and, I believe, Polish. According to her great literary friend and admirer, Vir George Augustas Sala, she speaks these languages with hardly a perceptible trace of foreign accent or idiomi Following this- great actress you will; have on your shores ike greatest of professional beauties— Mrs Langtry. That lady, having made a small forturne in a very brief white in America is anxious, like Alexander, for a nev.world to conquer. She has just re- [ turned from America, where Bhe has been the object of more eulogium and scandal thari has ever fallen to tbMpt of any one human creature in? this .much vexed world before. From my own experience of the lady as an actress, I am by no means disposed, to join the ranks of those carping critics* who can discern no merit in her stage attempts. Her beauty .is undeniable^her intelligence great, and her «Jiartn: unsurpassable. So far as -her behaviour was noticed in Londbri, It wa< the very perfection of good taste a'hd: breeding. From the moment, Bhe\, determined to quit the expensive role* of a society queen for the moneymaking profession of a star actress, she settled down to hard work with a will,. The other actresses at the Imperial . Theatre in Westminster noticed witbi blank astonishment that she came torehearsals plainly dressed and without jewels or ornaments. Greater still 1 grew their astonishment when they saw tlikt she actually obeyed the stage manager, and strove to profit by his. instruction. " Was this." they asked, in utter wonderment," the great beauty whom everybody, from the I'rince of Wales down to the young men in. Howell and James,' raved about incessantly ?" There must surely be a mistake ; this could not be Cleopatra, but one of her handmaidens. But Mrs Langtry knew the uphill fight before her. She knew that she had desertei the society where her position had been recognised to go into another where she had none, and where, notwithstanding the platitudes of Murger and his Bohemian disciples, there ia innch malice, hatred, and uncharitableness. She knew her professional tirocherfc and sisters would be to 3 apt to regard her as au amateur Who would •year their laurels, not by- reason of her genius, but by. her social position, • and whom crowds would follow, not b( j caus«i she was a great actress, but because she was the Jersey 1i1y.,, and admired by H.R.H. the Prince- of Wales. You will see Mrs- Lahgtryr a u-tly for yourselves* and if you tail to d [&.; .over that she is. a lady of really ;r at intelligence as well asbeiuty, and has a decided talent for retined comedy acting, then 1 am nwich mistaken. Her visit to Australia be of very brief duration, and her i^ent will be Mr Keogh, a son o£ the lateIris nuige. .