CABLE NEWS.

Evening Post, Volume LXX, Issue 92, 16 October 1905, Page 5

CABLE NEWS.

[BX ELECTEIO TELEGHAPH. — COPYHIOHT.] o BRITAIN'S PREMIER ACTOR. « DEATH OF SIR HENRY IRVING, [HtESS ASSOCIATION.] LONDON, 14th October. Sir Henry Irving died from syncope, after a performance at Bradford, A TRAGIC END, October 16, 8.51 a.m.) LONDON, 15th October. Sir Henry Irving was playing the part of Becket in Tennyson's tragedy. T2ie play was ending, and Sir Henry, who had fallen on his knees and uttered -tho last lines of his part—" In<!o Thy hands, 0 Lord, into Thy hands " — when he was attacked with syncope. He was immediately taken to his hotel, where he died in a few minutes. A UNANIMOUS EULOGIUM. (Received October 16, 9.5 a.m.) LONDON, 15th October. Tho press and loading actors throughout Europe and America unanimously eulogise Sir Henry Irving as "England's most illustrious actor, and the greatest ornament of the stage." Miss Ellen Terry suggests the establishment of a municipal theatre, where the standard line of drama would be apheld, and bo a fitting monument to Sir Henry Irving, since it would realise his life's wish. "Sir Henry Irving has gone on taking to himself all the great Shukespearean parts, like a conqueror annexing provinces. Often argued over and criticised, he has not been equally admirable in all. But into every one he has infused hi& knowledge and his genius. Irving appears the first in his art, the leader and king of his profession. He is so by the beauty and harmony of his life, by his splendid vigour, by the magnificent variety of his gifts, and by his intelligent sympathy with all other arts, and with the ideas that are the spirit; of his time. Moreover, by the gradual growth and progressive formation of his talent, and by his spirit of independence and initiative, closely bound up with a reverence for the past, he is one of the incarnations of his time — one of the men in whom the character of the English genius today is most clearly read." .... So wrote an eminent critio of the' English theatre at the time when Sir Henry Irving was at his prime.' His pre-eminence in the stage world was due to the possession of those factors which make for success— a high aim, an iron will, adaptability, and readiness to abandon lie old theory when it is proved false. Above all there was the personal fascination of the man. His face and voice, before ho passed the meridian of his ppwer, were both unique and both magnetic, and instinct with refined individuality. ■ Fate would have made him a business man, but genius amis not 'to' be denied, and before he was nineteen he obtained his first engagement on the stage. This was in a theatrical company at- Sunderland, where, on 29th September, 1856, he made his first appearance at the New Royal Lyceum Theatre. For stage purposes he discarded his patronymic of Brodribb, and was known as Henry Irving (eventually assuming Irving as an additional surname by royal license in June, 1889). For ten years he went through an arduous but invaluable training in various stock companies in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, and Manchester, amassing a very wide and diversified store of experience, as may be inferred from the fact that during this period he performed between five and six hundred parts. By degrees? (especially in Manchester, where he had achieved a marked success as Itowdon Scudamoro in Bouekaiilt'B "Hunted Down"), his ability gained recognition, with the result that in October, 1866, he was offered, and accepted, an engagement at the St. James's Theatre, London, to play Doricourt in "The Belle's Slrategem." A year later he joined the company of tlie newly-opened Queen's Theatre, Long Acre, where he acted in association with Charles Wyndham, J. L. Toole, Lionel Brough, John Clayton, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Wigan, Miss Ellen Terry, and Miss Nelly l\uren. Two years of useful work with them were followed by short engagements at the Haymarket and Drury Lane, until, in December, 1869, Irving made his first conspicuous success as Mr. Chevenix in H. J. Byron's play, "Uncle Dick's Darling," at the Gaiety Theatre. He followed this up by a masterly performance of Digby Grand in "The Two Rosea" at the Vaudeville Theatre in 1870. In 1869 he married Miss Florence O'Callaghan, daughter of a surgeongeneral in the Indian army; hi 3 two sons, Henry Brodribb and Laurence, bothafterwards taking to the stage. In 1871 began his association with the Lyceum Theatre with his engagement to support Miss Bateman there, under her father's management. The fortunes of the house were at a very -low ebb when the tide was turned by Irving's instantaneous success in "The "ells," tfbich ran for 150 nights. With Miss Bateman living was seen in "Charles ' 1.," "Eugene Aram," "Richelieu," and eventually, in October, 1874, in "Hamlet." The unconventionality of his performance as Hamlet (during a "run" that lasted for 200 nights) aroused keen discussion, nnd singled him out as the most interesting actor ■ ol his day. In 1875 ho was aeen, still with Miss Bateman, as "Macbeth"; in 1876 as "Othello," and as Philip in Tennyson's "Queen Mary" ; in 1877 in "RicUard III," and "The Lyons Mail." In 1878 the Bateman regime at the Lyceum ceased, and in December of that year Irving opened the theatre under his own managements Assisted by Miss Mien Terry, whose Ophelia was the first of a long series of triumphs for her, he revived "Hamlet" for a further run of a hundred nights; nnd after appearing in "The Corsican Brothers," he produced "The Merchant of Venice" in 1879. His Shylock was as much discussed as his Hamlet had been, the dignity with which he invested the Jew pleasing some as much as it offended others. This performance, and Miss Terry's as Portia, placed them definitely at the head of their profession. Two years later (after the production of Tennyson's "The Cup, a revival of "Othello," in com junction with the American actor, Edwin Booth, and "Romeo and Juliet"), there began a, period at the Lyceum Theatre which may be reckoned as in some respects the most notable in the hißtory of the English stage. The Lyceum stage management, and the brilliancy of its productions in scenery, dressing, and accessories, were revelations in the art of mise-en-scene. Both on and off the stage he always maintained a high ideal of tho actor's profession, and in 1896 he received tho honour of knighthood. He was also tho recipient of honorary degrees from the Universities of Dublin, Cambridge, and Glasgow. Sir Henry Irving's acting, apart from his genius as a presenter of plays, has divided criticism, opinions differing; as to the extent to which his

undoubted mannerisms of voice and deportment interfered with or assisted the expression of his ideas. So strongly marked a personality as his could not help giving its own colouring to whatever part he might assume, but the richness and originality of this colouring at its best cannot be denied, any more than the spirit and intellect which characterised his renderings. At the least, extraordinary versatility must be conceded to an actor who could satisfy exacting audiences in roles so widely different as Digby Grand and Louis XL, Richard 111., and Becket, Benedick and Shylock, Mathias and Dr. Primrose.