“Londres, le 16 Juin, 1899.”
Madame Bernhardt made Hamlet a man, and a strong man—there was nothing of the halting, hesitating woman about her performance, one which she herself loves to play.
It was a fine touch also when she went into her uncle’s room, where, finding him on his knees, she crept up close behind, and taking out her dagger, prepared to kill him. She said nothing, but her play was marvellous, her expression of hatred and loathing, her pause to contemplate, and final decision to let the man alone, were done in such a way as only Sarah Bernhardt could render them.
Another drama took place on this memorable first night of Hamlet. Two famous men when discussing whether Hamlet ought to be fat or thin, struck one another in the face and finally arranged a duel—a duel fought two or three days later, which nearly cost one of them his life.
Opposite is the programme of the first night of Sarah Bernhardt’s Hamlet.
| LA TRAGIQUE HISTOIRE D’ | |
| HAMLET | |
| PRINCE DE DANEMARK | |
| Drame en 15 Tableaux de William SHAKESPEARE | |
| Traduction en prose de MM. Eugène MORAND et Marcel SCHWOB | |
| |
| Mᵐᵉ SARAH BERNHARDT | |
| HAMLET | |
| MM. | |
| Bremont | Le Roi |
| Magnier | Laertes |
| Chameroy | Polonius |
| Deneubourg | Horatio |
| Ripert | Le Spectre |
| Schutz | Premier fossoyeur |
| Lacroix | Deuxième „ |
| Teste | Le Roi Comédien |
| Scheler | Osric |
| Jean Darav | Rosencrantz |
| Jahan | Voltimand |
| Colas | Bernardo |
| Krauss | Marcellus |
| Laurent | Guildenstern |
| Barbier | Fortinbras |
| Stebler | Deuxᵐᵉ comédien |
| Cauroy | Francesco |
| Lahor | Un Prêtre |
| Bary | Cornélius |
| Caillere | Troisᵐᵉ comédien |
| Bertaut | Un Gentilhomme |
| MMᵐᵉˢ | |
| Marthe Mellot | Ophélie |
| Marcya | La Reine Gertrude |
| Boulanger | La reine comédienne |
| Prêtres, Comédiens, Marins, Officiers, Soldats, etc. | |
