 Dumas felt the play and the performances provided him "what I was searching for, what I lacked, what I had to find – actors forgetting they were on stage [...] actual speech and gesture such as made actors creatures of God, with their own virtues, passions and weaknesses, not wooden, impossible heroes booming sonorous platitudes".The composer Berlioz was soon totally infatuated with Miss Smithson.His love for her, initially unrequited, became an obsession and served as inspiration for his music.