3-053-830 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Scene from "Antony and Cleopatra" at Drury Lane Theatre, 1873. London stage production. '...the great Shakspearean revival...does equal credit to the adapter, the scenic artist, and the manager...Perhaps there is no man on the boards so fitted to be the representative of Antony as Mr. Anderson, whose person is cast in the very mould of the noble and voluptuous Roman, and whose training enables him to realise the "high Roman fashion" of the antique hero, such as the traditions of the stage have exemplified for the benefit of the modern artist. The representative of the Egyptian coquette, though a clever performer, has not those advantages of personal appearance and of special genius for the part that we have seen displayed in Miss Glyn's personations of Cleopatra...The other characters are, on the whole, respectably enacted. One small part in particular we have already noted - that of Eros, by Mr. Howard Russell, to whom the scene of the death of Antony is indebted for most of its impressiveness...anything more dramatic, heroic, and pathetic cannot be conceived. Our mute Engraving will recall the eloquent rendering by the two competent artists engaged in the tragic action, and remind the spectator of the palmy days of the legitimate drama.' From "Illustrated London News", 1873.