What we meant to say is, stated very simply, that
you do not consider yourself better in either of them
than in the other?"
"Not at all," said the Actor, as he put out his arm with
that splendid gesture that we have known and admired for
years, at the same time throwing back his leonine head
so that his leonine hair fell back from his leonine
forehead. "Not at all. I do better in both of them. My
genius demands both tragedy and comedy at the same time."
"Ah," we said, as a light broke in upon us, "then that,
we presume, is the reason why you are about to appear in
Shakespeare?"
The Great Actor frowned.
"I would rather put it," he said, "that Shakespeare is
about to appear in me."
"Of course, of course," we murmured, ashamed of our own
stupidity.
"I appear," went on the Great Actor, "in _Hamlet_. I
expect to present, I may say, an entirely new Hamlet."
"A new Hamlet!" we exclaimed, fascinated. "A new Hamlet!
Is such a thing possible?"
"Entirely," said the Great Actor, throwing his leonine
head forward again. "I have devoted years of study to
the part. The whole conception of the part of Hamlet has
been wrong."
We sat stunned.
"All actors hitherto," continued the Great Actor, "or
rather, I should say, all so-called actors--I mean all
those who tried to act before me--have been entirely
mistaken in their presentation.
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