The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-09-22

Grand stands had been erected almost
completely around it, and the background
was high hedge, behind which the per-
formers retired from the public gaze when
they were not ION" This encircling of the
stage shut off the wind so that the zephyrs
that played about the mimic Forest Of
Arden were of the gentlest description.
Just in front of the stage the musicians
were stationed, and people at first were
inclined to say that the Wagnerian idea of
an invisible orchestra would have added
to the illusion of the forest glade. When
the glee club sang, however, the necessity
OF having the musicians in the front be-
came apparent. If the orchestra had been
hidden behind the hedge the singers, in
order to face the conductor, would have
been under the painful necessity OF turn
ing their backs upon the grand stand.
There was no curtain to go up, but Adam
and Orlando took the stage.at the hour adj
vertised with commendable punctuality
w. g. Beach looked the romantic lover
very much to the life. He was scarcely
made up, but his looks and his gestures
were all that nine-tenths of the audience
were able to enjoy during the opening
scene.
That is the drawback of the forest as a
theater; its acoustic properties are not all
they might be, even at The best of times,
and for the first twenty minutes of LAS
You Like IT. there was continual stir
among the vast audience, made by late
corners seeking their seats
BY the close of the wrestling scene mat
tiers were quoting down again and atten-
ton was concentrated on the stage. Miss
Coghlan, the Rosalind, bore the trying
light OF day well and she looked simmer
on the forest stage than she does before
the footlights at the Columbia. Miss
Pauline French, the tall, slender Celia
attracted attention from the moment she
appeared, for she was as fresh and free
from artlfce as the natural stage on which
she was treading.
Later on there was scarcely a man or
woman in the audience who had not pro-
nounced her an actress by the grace of
heaven-one that like a poet, is born and
not made-for 1t was the first time that
TINS remarkable young woman, who bore
OFF so many Of the honors of remarkable
performance, had ever appeared on any
stage.
The "co-mates and brothers in exile' of
the banished Duke who dwelt in the forest
OF Arden were the following members of
the University of California Glee Club: B.
G. Somers, G. Z. Morse, T. n. Blackwell,
G. A. Elston, r. J. Russ, O. T. Wede
meyer, G. II. Whipple, S. L. Rawlings, F.
f. Taylor, T. A. Smith, F. S. Knight, HI.
). Symmes, Temple Smith, ]. z. Hutch
ms, d. Hutchinson, H. P. Veeder, c. H.
Harwood. R. III. Parson, G. E. PARCEL, w.
B. King.
Their singing at the beginning of the
second act aroused the first warm round of
applause, for one reason because they sang
very well and for another because there
were many people situated too far away to
hear the dialogue distinctly who could hear
and enjoy the singing. Normal McGregor
acted the part of the banished Duke with
dignity and ease, and C. A. Deane as
Amlens spoke his lines clearly and well.
The stage was so wide that the perform
ers had good deal OF latitude to roam
about and they arranged matters so as to
give the people all round taste of their
quality. The Duke and his foresters, when
they were on, generally kept to the left,
while Rosalind and Celia gravitated more
to the right OF the house.
The scene where the two cousins and
Touchstone entered tired out from their.
journey was charming one. Rosalind,
with her smashing and martial outside,
finding 1t in her heart to disgrace her
mans apparel and cry like woman, and
Celia, with her wind blown hair and
flushed cheeks, acted fatigue so naturally
that people almost forgot it was acting
and pitied them.
Stockwells Touchstone was one of the