New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-12-29
OUR SHAKESPEARE EPISODE.
AN OPPORTUNITY FOR STUDY.

| h cbokosrooro This fact means that the best
bind of drama and the highest order of dramatic
art are temporarily at least, IN the "90e"'" .,
Since the present theatrical season began 'nis
community bos enioyed and admired the acting OF
Edwin Booth and Helena Modieska III se'eIai VI
Shakespeare's great plays; but those enii"e"o
actors arrive and depart in the usual oroer Vi
things and there is nothing in their presence
and success that can be deemed slgnihcant III
an extraordinary sense 1t is different with vie
presence and success of three SIMULTANEOUS pio
auctions of Shakespeare of three leading theatres
of this capital not customarily devoted 70 ,ne
greatest poet Of the English race and OF the WORM.
This fact is an uncommon fact and IL Is ih'es'e'
with uncommon importance. Ihese ,hree pro-
auctions Of Shakespeare have held inc puohc
attention during the last two weeks, ana IL Is
understood that they are to remain wl'nih ,he
reach of this community for several weeks lohecI'
All of item are richly meritorious. Each OF them
il marked by specific and welldefined attributes
of excellence.
Mr. Daily has accomplished at his theatre sucn
n stage setting of "As You Like 1t" as no Amerl-
can playgoer ever saw before in his own COUNTY,
for the reason that it never before was equalled
on the American stage. The woodland scenes
that are set in this instance for Shakespeares
lovely comedy-as comprehensive and absolute
representative of his glcc and his brilancy as
Hamlet" is Of his grandeur and his gioom-are
TO an unusual degree imaginative in conception,
delicate in fabric. beautiful in color and adroit
in mechanism The intention was-and III mas
been skifully accomplished-to indicate. by grad
ual and numerous changes of view. the indefinite
extent Of the Forest Of Arden wherein the action
of this dream-like and delicious play is supposed
to pass. Such plan, involving deft use OF
panoramic machinery, was pursued many years ago
at the Sadlers Wells Theatre in London by Samuel
Phelps, but theatrical managers in the past pos
sessed no such facilities as are practicable for
managers of the present, and nothing is moe
certain than the fact that the playgoers of former
times rarely or never beheld such superb stage
pictures as are habitually shown to the present
generation Mr.. DAILY has given schoar-like
attention also TO the dressing of the characters
in AS You Like It," and he has cast those
characters to the most efficient stock company
of comedians in this country. The comedy is not
only mounted in sumptuous manner, but it is
acted with uniform ability. Miss Ada Rehan has
gained the greatest success Of her professional life
as Rosalind, and although some of the
temporary Judges of such matters are cautious
and slow in recognizing that fact, they will
doubtless all recognize it by-and-by. The alb
solute simplicity, the spontaneous gee, the sweety
natural manner, the fluent grace the woman-like
tenderness, and the incessant sparkle of Miss
Rehans impersonatiOn remove 1t altogether out
of the common order of theatrical achievements;
it is so much like life and so little like a
stage imitation of life that its supcratve excel
lence at first sight, perpleXes conventional OBJ
servers who are accustomed to a certain infieXibe
theatrical usage and habituated to Judge by it,
As soon as Miss Rehan's direct and ingenious way
Of presenting Rosalind woman Of flesh and
blood, and not as poetical abstraction, comes to
be appreciated, the uncommon beauty of her act
ing will be freely acknowledged.
Mr. Mansfield, at Palmer's Theatre, has done
kindred work. and individually has met with
similar experience. The presentation of Richard
the Third that has been effected by Mr.. Mans
field far surpasses, as well in its fidelity 10 historic
fact as in its wealth of accessories and magnt-
cence of picture, all previous productions of that
tragedy that have been shown on the American
stage. 1t would be qualification and folly to
deny this obvious truth. The paintings, the
dresses, the garniture in general with which
Mr. Mansfield has invested this tragedy
such as reproduce,-not in a photograph, bnt
with delicate eXaggcratiOn suitable TO work OF
art,-the aspect and state of actual English CIV
ization in that historic period in which Richard
lived and regned AS a spectacle alone, this re-
vival is marvel of scholarship and a gem of
theatrical art But Mr. Mansfield has not con-
tented himself with showing sumptuous and
instructive historical picture; he impersonates
Richard in n vein Of striking originality and
power. Ills theory of the character and of the
effect to be produced in acting it may not alto
gether square with those that have commonly
been held and followed. Ills method may lack
the tumultuous and propulsive expedition to which
the veteran observer Of stage Richards has been
accustomed and which the Shakespeare scholar
naturally deems essential. His delivery Of the
text may i've characterized by strange pauses and
by an untraditional cOoquialism. All the
same he has shown himself TO be an actor
Of rare and fine intellectual resources and of
startling and sympathetic force. He has stepped
out of the beaten track. He has shaken of the
letters of tradition and, in a period when pig
headed and leathcrn-s skinned mcdiocrity hangs
like a milestone on the neck of genius he has
spurned away ignoble ideals and theatrical trash
and has thrown the whole force of his energetic
character and intrepid resolution upon the accom-
plishment OF a splendid work in the field of true
art. lie does not satisfy everybody. That well.
known individual who intends to bawl out
Louder when he hears the trumpet-blast of the
Angel Gabriel is always present in a theatrical
audience and constantly writes for the papers
But such an actor as Mr.. Mansfield will not he
suppressed by the niggard intolerance of parsimo-
NOUS detraction. He, too, must wait lit
tie tor his full reward. After the
strangeness has ceased to be strange and
after the idle prattle and pother have died away
his work viii be judged by itself, and not by the
narrow standard of conventional acting. and ID
will live in the lustrc of its intrinsic worth
Ma rg
made at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, while less
brilliant than either of the other Shakespercan
productions and not characterized by originality
of plan or novelty of treatment. is nevertheless
sound and creditable achievement. Miss Vain
wright as Viola is handsome, and is by turns
spirited and demure, and by performance which
is prncinuS and NOW frnlicsnme and invnrinhl,