Page:Adelaide Ristori. Studies and memoirs (IA adelaideristoris00rist).pdf/69

Rh the circumstances which Jed to my acceptance of the part, and of the events which preceded the appearance of the work, and the gratifying result of our labors on the night of the 8th April,

Medea ran for nineteen evenings, and it might have gone on for a greater number, if I had not been obliged to alternate it with those dramas in which I had appeared the year before.

From Paris we went to London. 1 gave my first performance in the elegant Lyceum Theatre on the 4th June, 1856, selecting Medea as the opening piece. The English public were so greatly prejudiced in my favor by the French, German, and Belgian newspapers, that they gave me the warmest welcome, and came in crowds to hear me, showing me the most flattering signs of sympathy and esteem.

Many of the most distinguished literary men in England were surprised that I had not added Macbeth—in my opinion the greatest work of Shakespeare—to my répertoire, I urged that a foreign, travelling company, could not undertake such a play, because of the want of scenery, and of the necessary number of actors. I was answered that in England, at that period, it was often found necessary to adapt such works, not only to the capacity and numbers of the actors, but also to the state and requirements of the audience, who were not able to criticise justly the times, the places, and the conditions under which Shakespeare’s dramatic genius was developed.

I objected to this, as it seemed to me a sacrilege to adapt and mutilate the work of the greatest English poet. We Italians would not venture to touch a single line of our classics.