The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1884-11-20
AP1oTuRE oE VERONA.
Splendid Stage Accomplishments Of Mary
Anderson's "Romes and Juliet In Lon

Splendid Stage Accomplishments OF Mary
Anderson's "Romes and Juliet" In Lon
don.
LONDON, Nov. lit is safe to assert
that never, even in these days of theatri-
cal splendor and scenic wealth, has 4
play been produced, upon which greater
care, greater talent, greater muniticence
have been lavished than upon the re-
vival of "Romeo and Juliet" in which
Mary Anderson appears tonight at the
Lyceum for the first time in Eng
land. No effort, no expense has been
spared to give perfect finish to the set
ting of the play. The artists who have
been employed upon the scenery are
Messrs. j. O'ConnOr, HAYES, Craven and
Bruce. Or these the tirst-named has eX-
ecuted his work in the city itself, the
squares and streets of which he has had
to reproduce. For magniticence and
archaeological correctness it is doubtful
whether such mise-en-scene has before
been seen upon any stage. The Verona
represented is the Verona OF 1900
This, it seems, is the date affixed by
the Veronese themselves to the tragic
tale, which still fingers as an his
torical tradition of the city. IL has been
the custom here to ascribe the events of
the play to l59O,a year earlier or .ater. The
custom is now departed from, and the
architecture, the dresses and the uni
forms adopted are OF the earlier cen
fury. Juliet's chamber tx faithful re-
production of the apartment, which
Carpaccio's old plate, now preserved in
the British museum, represents.
The furniture, the draperies
and all accessories have been
taken as models and infinitely
initiated. Upon the costumes the same
detailed attention has been bestowed
and the same desire for correctness
evinced Europe has been ransacked
for supplies of the fine old brocaded and
metal-tissued cloths in which our ances-
tors delighted. Julieps dresses are UNI
precedented'y rich and many of them
lovely in the extreme. From first to
last seven changes are necessitated by
the action of the drama.
Two important innovations are intro
duced into the acting of the play--One
the marriage scene, the other the funeral
ceremony. II has been usual to dis
pense with an hymeneal altar, and leave
the linking of the connubial bond to the
fancy and imagination OF the Jec-
tatOr.
"Come, come with me, and wo will
make short work" the friar was wont to
say, and the whole party disappeared
from view. Now, however, the chapel is
shown and the celebration Of this holy
rite performed before the ewes Of the audi
ence. In tho burial scene it ia Miss An
derson's intention to take az her model
a funeral procession of which she was
herself Il witness when in Verona. The
body of Juliet is borne upon q bier, COW
cred with n pail OF silver cloth, carried
beneath canopy, the purple hangings
of which are upheld by attendant triars
Priests accompany 1t, chanting low the
solemn periods of the Misericordia, and
followed by acOlytes with swinging
censers. Along the street
and at tho windows, beneath
which tho procession passes,
women are clustering, with tear-stained,
sorrow-stricken faces. Here and there
are weeping girls 10 streW the roadway
and the bier, a. IL 10 borne past them,
with flowers and myrtle i6aves. The
mourners from tho great houses file past
In imposing numbers, and soldiers are in
attendance 10 pay military honors TO the
dead. These are persOnated by men
| from the guards, whose bearing may be
supposed more solder-like than that OF
the customary "supers."
~ Is IepoIVeu lilhI MI hDOey mas spenl
little short of $1,000 upon the mise en-
scene alone. What the costumes, uni
forms, etc, etc, may have cost is un-
known, but the figures are high, even il
this age.
Tho cast comprises in all some $50 per
sons. The play has been long il
active and prot'acted rehearsal. Tn,
minor characte <, the mambers Of tn
rotinupS, PROFESSIONS, etc, have heel
most methodir0lly instructed, and tn
"supors" have been positively drilled il
sections, each composed OF eight or teI
DprsOus