Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1886-10-20
SILENT HAMLET.
Entertainment by a Deaf and
Dumb Dramatic Club.
Novel Spectacle Witnessed at KensinE.
ton Park. London-A Lovely hut
SPeechless OpheiIa An Intelli.
gent Representation.
TINndou Newa1


ILondon Newsl
A curious entertainment was given the
other nigh. at the theater attached to the
Home Assembly Rooms at Ken sington
Park OF the passers-b by in the street with
out whose attention happened to be ar
rested by the printed posters beside the
door. probably the greater part learned for
the first time that there existed in this
neighborhood a society calling itself the
South London Deaf and Dumb Dramatic
Club. The members of this institution had
ventured to invite the public to q peform-
anco by company composed entirely Of
deal mutes, and therefore incapable of de-
livering the dialogue otherwise than by
the movements Of their fingers Naturally
il would be expected that the projectors Of
the enterprise would have selected somc
piece of slight and lively character suited
to the necessary slowness of such q mode
of Interpretation. aud congenial to the ps-
culiar vivacity OF the deal and dumb. The
ambition Of the club however, had taken q
higher fight. There had been, as we
understood q formal vote taken Of the
members, the result being that the choice
fell by an overwhelming maj )rity upon
the play of Hamlet" Considerable COM
preston had, we need hardly say, been
found necessary. But though the five acts
werc reduced to four, and drastic methods
OF abridgenent had been applied, even to
scenes and passages with which the play
goer's eye and ear are familiar. the whole
constituted q consecutive and Ineligible
presentment Of the story. Some six hun
dred people assembled in the theater, the
greater part of whom were deaf mutes Of
both sexes, who kept up q constant ex-
change of ideas, or chatted with the at
tendants, who were also deaf mutes, until
the curtain rose upon such primitive indi-
cations Of the ramparts of the castle OF
Elsinore as the limited nature Of the re-
sources Of the little theater afforded.
When it is known that the whole of the
dialogue was interpreted pdrI passu by
word of mouth by the treasurer of the
club who stood upon a table on the right
side of the proscenium, it will perhaps be
imagined that the whole thing was inex-
pressibly tedious. As fact however, the
speaking portion occasioned no DELAY, but
had on the contrary, to measure its pace
by the digital expreSsi on of the per-
sonages.
The ghost of Hamlet's father, it may be
admitted at once, had little of the weird or
supernatural about him. His black helmet
was too like the familiar head gear Of the
metropolitan police to awaken stra nge or
romantic ideas-not to speak of his gray
garments, which somewhat resembled the
costume Of a Highland gille 1t is only
fair to say, however, that the actor, Mr.
Wells, maintained a certain regal port and
manner. More remarkable still was the
Hamlet of Mr.. Mcguire, a young gentle
man with a COOL figure aud an expressive
cast OF countenance whose customary suit
OF solemn black was thoroughly orthodox.
and was' moreover, worn by him with
princely air. Many a Hamlet Of fair stage
experience might have been sa lily discon-
oerted by the little accident which befell
the dumb Princ9 of Denmark at the outset.
owing to the sudden giving way of the
scat on which he hal intended to deliver
his first soliloquy, but tho actor was fully
equal to the occasion. Truth to toll, his
acting, both here and in the first colloouy
with tho ghost upon the platform OF the
castle, and, indeed, throughout, was dis
tinguished by excellent action and by
much subtle play OF features
In order to fully appreciate these merits
it is necessary to bear in mind the peculiar
difficulties of the deaf muts dramatic stu
dent. There arc words, and. indeed, whole
passages, in the dialogue which are beyond
the range of ideas of the deaf and dumb,
and OF which they can therefore only OBJ
tain some dim comprehension. A more
noteworthy difficulty still is the fact that
their fingers are always engaged 1t is a
common complaint against amateurs that
they rarely know exsctly "what to do
with their hands" The performers Of last
night were certainly under no difficulty of
that sort. Their chief embarrassment, on
the contrary, arose from their being COM
PEELED to make their hands do the double
duty OF speaking for them and serving the
purpose of gesture. How much the Italian
pantomlmist can convey by movements of
the hands is well known, but their express
sive art would undoubtedly be paralyzed
IL they we're compelled at the same time
to keep their fingers busily employed in
forming the letters of the deaf AMI dumb
alphabet. The deaf mutes get over this
difficulty partially by suspending the dia-
logue now and then. while with great ra-
pidity they clap a hand ferveptly to the
heart or thoughtfully to the forehead, or
otherwise.
The stage direction 'noise Without was
Interpreted by startling inarticulate sounds
behind the rude contrivances which served
as wings. 1t was common to see the inter
prefer between the acts conveying explain
htory information to the audience with |
his fingers. and even carrying on an ami |
mated dialogue over the heads of the as |
semblage with a visitor at the far end of |
the room Curious again was the compar- |
ative silence between the acts, in the |
place of the busy hum and murmur which |
run through the ordinary theater at such |
times. though during the performance fire. |
quent laughter and applause testified to !
the keen appreciation of the spectators. i
On the other hand, the proceedings of the |
baby" which never fails to turn up among |
the audience Of a suburban theater, elected |
last night none OF the customary cries of |
"Hushp' or "Take il out" We must not |
omit to mention a graceful and winning |
Ophelia in the person Of Miss Clarmoute. |
who even delivered the ballads with some |
effect, and rendered the mad scene with |
more pathos than might be thought posi- |
bic in an Ophelia who can not throw her |
arms about save when her share in the dia- |
logue is temporarily suspended for that |
purpose
The representation was essentially an |
intelligent and in many respects was ex- |
tremely interesting.