New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-02-01
THE DRAMA.
sHAKEspEARE AT pALrs THEATRE.

AM, rroSnction Of ono of the great plays Of Shake
speare "A Midsummer Nights Dream was brought
forward last night his theatre mounted and clothed
IN ,cencry and attire as rich and beautiful as any that
has over been used dress play npon the American
stage Viewed as pagcantry alone this prcscntmcnt
\, delightful: but It s by no means upon pageantry
alone that the reliance has been placed Tho great
company that filed part of Days Theatre, on
this occasion-an assemblage especially notable for
mind, refinement, tasto. beauty and fashon-saw a
sight the like of which has not been visible since the
stored days Of Burton thoroughly successful effort
to interpret the most ethereal, evanescont and IN
tangible Of comedies. not as q spectacle, not as an
opera but by the Legitimate Of the art OF act
ing There wero, II Is obvious, formidable obstacles
In the way Of this endeavor How completely ana
how well they have been surmounted the reader VIII
understand and truly appreciate only by becoming
also spectator OF the felicous and brilliant arr oil
Mr.. Days comedians The representation, notwth-
standing occasional weak place In tho CAST was
entirely competent and full OF charm.
Because "A Midsummer Nights Dream is swathcd
In an atmosphere Of poctIca and groesque fancy 1t
commonly has been Stunned by theatrical adventure
The feeling with respect to 1t was-and 1t Is feeiing
which still existsthat this play is in the Air and not
upon tho earth that u moves with wings and not with
feet Yet the moment Is examined without respect
to the adverse presumption of It's being impractcable
IL Is found to possess substance form, artistic sym
metry, and q perfectly distinct practical dramatic
utility. That eminent critical authority, William
Hszlitt, many years Dramatically announced that
tho poetry of this piece aenates It from the stage
and this Judgment has, In the main, been accepted
as final 1t Is a doctrine which would deprive the
theatre of ono of the noblost influences which IL
exercise and It Is doctrine that Mother reason nor
experience viii sustain Tho delicate ground Is OF
conrso tho Fairy Land Shakespeare, first In many
things, tho first author that ever, In drama,
associated tho proceedings OF fairies with those oil
human beings This play 1t is thought, was written
NV i'm "a Inn Wh his m
with his friend and benefactor, the Earl OF South
aDpton who about to he married obviously
tho poet have rejoiced in his largo and generous,
and golden ptOn of tho happiness OF every Rind
that awaited those lovers In the days of Eliza and
James" poets did not think It virtue to ahect
cynlosm or pretend to be ashamed of their natural
emotions The mind and heart that arc revealed
through I" A Midsummer Nights Dream are all ablaze
with passion and sensnous pleasure, and mirth' ana
reckless fancy and yet behind all this exuocrancc
feeling Is the calm, grave, ceareycd creative
faculty the dominant design, the poetic will of Shake
speare- wonderful, self poised genius, which, at
oven the topmost height Of inspiration, mover aban-
dons purpose loses control mover faters into OBJ
scurity wanders into delirium. Nothing could DC
more NATURAL felotous than the poets ascrp-
ton OF spiritual guardianship, typi6ed In Tiiaha
and Oberon to the fate and fortunes of the lovers
whom he loved but when no introduced sprltes and
elves when imagined this tissue Of sweet and merry
entanglements when he mado his Fairy play, he oid
not omit to construct perfectly practical dramatic
plan and 10 crown his work with the ono word whloh
Is its.com pcte calculation. He called II a Dream
There Is abundance OF goSsamcr In the COMEDY
abundance Of airy picture and ethereal imagery, over
which the fancy whether of a reader or an AUDITOR
may far and wtdo but. after ALL Shakes peares
Fairy Monarchs very human The same web In
which hc entaugles the four lovers Is cast over
sOberons and Tania.n They also are implicated
in lovers quarrel and each side the motive is the
same-the human motive of Jealousy. Even Puck"
tho most fantastic person in tho piece, is very ike
mischevous. but good natured boy there Is nothing
of my delicate Ariel" here. The main requisite
accordingly to a suitable performance of this piece Is
that the concerned In 1t should while treating
1t as a dream, and not striving to make the literal
CODY of some preconcevod aspect of actual llfe DO
earnest enough to maintain Interest without becoming
prosy and thereby despolllng Illusion "obcron' may
be like an earthly prince but we must not be made to
fool as We behold him. that he habtually walks In
broadway and dimes at Dclmonico's. Puck" may be
like a boy, but no must not, for the spectator, be
actually boy he maintain his clvish character
1t is a question Of personal capacity ana OF a'nos-
phcrc Poetry, 1t freely be admitted IS allena'eo
from the stage and must remain So If wo expect that
IT can be brought upon the scene by the man by the
man who brings tho chairs. The representation
last night was competent and charming because the
actors gavo 1t without the least tnSlstence upon It's
FEASIBILITY without once seeming to Consider or
TO care whether what taking place could or cond
in actual life. Moore'S phrase mlghi Wci
DO used TO describe the general effect Of the entro dis
closure It was free and wandering" The scenery,
Involving liberal and deft of dim Woodland vstas.
gliding mist gancing meteors the waning moonlight
and the pun pie blush of dawn entirely harmonlZcd
with this drifting dreamlke view and treatment OF
the theme Absolute sympathy alike with the spirit
of the piece and the GLIMPSE Of tho production was
evident in every detail OF the work and In every mo
mont OF the performance. "LysandeI" and i.nl-
etriusr Htena- and Hernia" wandering about In
" tho palace wood" lying down to sleep OF one mnd
and rising up Of quito another, seemed perfectly PROB
able and 10 one could have thought Of questioning
other the likelihood of Bottoms" trans1gurcmcDt,
or the pranls of Puck the infatuation of II
taDiaS Mr. DAILY with true d. amatic instinct has
curacd original text at the precise and only point
where 1t approaches tediousness-n the scene OF the
imminent scrmmago of the furious lovers so that not
an instant of tho pece suffered to drag SO far
indeed was this comedy from seeming TO be shadowy
and unreal that, acted and embelshed In this way,
It excited surprise at its abundance of human vitality,
its wealth of diversified materials, and Its absorbing
interest Tho stately, yet teeming pause before tho
royal nupti&ls OF "Thesous" and Hippoyta." the
restrained anger OF "Aegeus"-a sklfuly arrested
action very helpful toward suggestion OF domestic
onvlronment-tho pcrplextes of the four lovers,
bothered baNed and blessed by fairy influence tho
strife of Ttanla" and Oberon" the humorous COM
mon life of the mechanic amateurs Of Athens, and that
hilarious nterlude Of Pyramus and Thisbe,' which Is
the father Of all burlesque all these fused and welded
in a text which Is golden stream of melody, mako
the opulence of sprghtly, wise, and significant al
legory OF human life, play that comes as near to
human sympathy as anything that Shakespeare ever
wrote. II were pity indeed that this, 80 great
source OF pleasure should be abandoned and lost 10
the stage upon the theory that exquisite poetry must
necessarily be left untouched
Actors who try to interpret poetic play often spoil
It. Precisely so. There Is kind OF poetic play
which is poetic and nothing else, and that kind OF play
not tho best actor, earth mako significant on
the stage Consider, for example "Tbe Spanish Stu
dent by Longfellow, and The Promise OF May" by
TennysOn But. when the play is dramatic IS well as