New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-01-31
THE DRAMA.
THE GREEK PLAY.

vaccination OF King Gupus '" aorclusion
nicbt Of Booths Theatre, we reacn - NV old
that this venerable process was - more woe
sonhoeles. King GdipUs certainty car tbot ever
~ sorora inch than anybody else 4Io ,-er,
49, ,oor the stage And it Is woe VI '-.i ;.nort
"a without any basis OF luS'i'Gi or1
vs.. .-,.hor+ mitigation without 1-I-joi
oo'.' uoralsts Of the schooi " ~, ~.
- rooraiIv found. even over 'ne 80. Co., tur-
-, oonso atiOn-apart lr'li ~ g. ondoa and
n,xo.,,1,ont on having that ''"s'Uy - ,o,,l
i.b-in rejecting on MS ei0" ~
oVno tier all. no human malice can uei'"'. "a
WI ~, ,rcnbles and sufferngs arc Sush' "'iO
ON"s'O 400 all think them-in comparison WIN
--a"iut -. - Tbsbap King Old Lear IS allowed
IHo'' -, two Of relief-for he goes mad, ana ho
Si"n10 ~ furthermore Othello and Lear nave,
thonsslves. done no wrong; they are victims "
Srman treachery. Not so hi9 OohpHs' Oh nm lH0
cient bard has piled Gothic structure VI 'i'Nu
1a.ior gu vast that the spectator hnally per
lives no sense in II, and no eoo" 'Ha.
ro.sibly can result from such Sui1viV
- horrors He has to begin with, casually
irad his own father for no better reason IMAM oo-
conse the old gentleman. who seems to have Dceh
.onnerv and choleric. wished him to get out OF the
"a and then. 10 make matters utterly damnable
lie adyertentlv married his own mother, ana
o,ac,ated family. And it is now, after years OF
living in the royal purple, under the douDe DA8i'
NJ parricide and incest-both committed IL lSho-
once and therefore nnoceutly-that be Is presented
in the play AS receiving information OF tho horriu
truth and as putting out mis- eyes IN consequence
while emitting a small Encyclopaedia OF remark upon
&C. bideous calamities. " Hail. horrors, hall|
And when that good old 8liltonic salute has once
baer fired. we do not know that anything more re-
-nairs IN he said Reading Udipus is toleraDiy
hard work seeing it is CHASTITY.
There are. however various ways Of looking al
4la so,,e object even when that object Is funeral
nrocessiou. Some spectators will derive from TINS
Doric pageant a realizing sense, as they call IL III
Nsv-Fuelapd OF what the ancient Greeks had 10
stand in the way of tragedy The piece Is given, az
70 many circumstances, very mnch rs II might
have been given II Athens-wlth entTe snhphcty'
spd vet with a certain pomp made up OF dlgnlhedde-
meanor, classic robes well CARRIED sonorouS uecia-
nation and rich and significant choral
upsc. Here, of course, there is room
for an accession of knowledge, which is
almost ALWAYS n benefit The Greeks are understood
10 have been great people They certainly must
have BEEN in their patience, II they bore TINS hihu
of thing often Other spectators will contemplate
Eipg Fdipus in that mood of occult protundlty
aud through that spiritual fog which are invariably
seouent on the acceptance of an individual lie az
the embodiment of fate Nothing can he aVer'eu
"vhose emu IL pcrrosed by the mighty gods'"
Gdipus had guessed that famous conundrun' Inc
Snbnx's Riddle mot George who would have been
but little likely to engage the attention OF lle
monarch and the offended detles had, thereuT0H,
suortlv devoted him to ruiz; and it must be ad-
nitted that they did their retribution i'll very
4borourh manner Here is room for much delight
ful mysticism. So also perhaps 1t Is with the hu-
man race We are all one voluminous and numer-
Gus dEdipue driving blndly on to our DOOM and tie
Sphinx vii get at last, in night and tempest at
one grand rnouthful and no MacaulaY OF de
Quincy shall ever record the mysterious place OF
our final and everlasting digestion Or, perhaps IL
il only here and there favored individual-a Walt
Whitman or al Oscar Wlde-whom the great gods
select for sort of vind-coc of bad syntax and
posturing curgtation in q wilderness of dadOs, al
bums and Japanese fre-screens Sublime reflection!
sMan is bern to trouble, the sparks fly upward"
Odipus was-beyond q doubt. And what dreadful
thing il would be if Smith were to turn out pre-
destined TO marry his own grandmother. IN that
stOried potentate the Queen of the Cannlbal
Islands But those spectators who are neither stu
dlous Of the theatrIc customs OF antiquity nor
given 10 Droodng over the possibly symbolic mean
ngs of poetic literature, likely after all to find
the most enjoyment in this presentation of " Edi-
pus; since they will, unthinkngly and at ease,
WELD M their senses to the twOfOd beauty OF pic
tp-e and Of sound IN which all the charm of thus
revival resides
There is really no action in the piece, until GtipaS
puts out his eyes and this of he does not do
upon the scene The suicide Of J0'asG and the SELF
mutiation of the King, making the finest dramatic
bit IN the entire piece, only described by mes
senger Every action has been done, TO lead up 30
the catastrophe long before the curtain rises there
i, nothing to watch but the simple process of
In, Kings inquiry into his own position ana
not ing dramatic to consider but tho effect pro-
dpcad on HIS Majesty by the disclosure of the truth
There is little or no question OF acting, neh,r-for
hannah nature possesses no adequate means of eX
pressing the horrible revusion that would over
vhen true heart, the immense agony that woul
"rend and dcracinate" noble mind, when made
aware of its own pollution by parrclde and incest
The e1icenoy is too terrible for dramatic treatment
and transcends all the resources Of art expression.
The utmost that an actor could DO were be GaIrick
and Booth in ouc would be to cover his face and
collapse There is no room forfacaI play and there
isnothing to be said. The tediousness of Gdipns is
that he talks so much. The SUBMITS OF colossal
grief like the peaks of great mountains, are silent
Nobody expected Mr.. George Riddle really to act
KING Odipus The one is teacher of elOcu-
ton from Harvard University, who has acted
acccptably In Claude MeHotte. The other is
terrific ideal of transcendout if not
impossible human misery-s monster Of intclerable
and inexpress bic anguish These two types are not
interchangeable. We doubt, indeed, If anybody on
earth could actually embody the Gdipus. Such an
image should be left TO the maginaton-hke one of
Osslan's ghosts that stream across the plains of
night with stars dm-twinkling through their form
less shapes But 10 put all else aside. and simply TO
look at the Greek groupings, the architecture, the
robes and cOlOrs listening meanwhile to the beautiful
rhythmic flow of the Greek poetry-this is to get
sensation of exquisite enjoyment And this makes
usalmost willing to endure the admixture Of cur own