Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1896-12-02
HAMLET LEFT OUT.
The PRODUCTION OF PLAYS WITH
OUT THE PRINCIPAL CHARACTER.

y
Ehakespear.'s Play Was Never So Given,
but Other Plays Have Been John
Brougham's Story Of the Absence of Po-
cahontas and How the Play Was Put On.
1t was Sir Walter Scott who furnish
ed the base for the proverbial express
sion, :" Hamlet with Hamlet left out. I"
In the introduction to his ''Talisman"
he wrote about ''playbi1l which is
said to have announced the tragedy Of
Hamlet, the character of the Prince Of
Denmark being left out" AS in the
case Of most modern proverbs, the fin
ished product differs in form from the
raw material.
There is no record that Hamlet" ev-
er was acted with the character Of the
Prince of Denmark left out, though the
play has been acted in almost every 9th
er way. In 1881, in London, the YER
sion of the first quarto, which was print
ed in 1908, was acted by amateurs.
They followed the customs of the thea
ter Of Queen Bess' time, using no scen-
cry or decorations, and the actors were
CARRIED as Raleigh and his friends were.
About the same time, too, Edwin
Booth and his company arrived at Hart
ford minus their trunks and gave three
acts of the play in their travelling cos
tunes. Probably, however, the effect
was not vastly different from Booths
ordinary production Of the tragedy.
Then the Count Joannes and James
Owen O'Conor acted the part Of Ham
let with two readers, man and woman,
to take the other parts; and Bellew-
Kyrle Bellows father-read the play at
desk in front of the proscenium, while
the actors moved about the stage with
appropriate gestures and opened and
shut their mouths and said no words.
But most nearly approaching to Scott's
omitted Prince Of Denmark must have
been the performances where women
played Hamlet; Charlotte Cushman,
Miss Marriott (who made a famous
prince), Adele Belgrade, Anna Dickin-
son, and round dozen of others tried
the part.
But if ''Hamlet" has not been played
without the prince, other plays have
been on occasion.
In the last century there was Han
nah Brand, schoolteacher. She
thought she could write play, and so
worked on John Kemble until he pro-
duced during the season of 1791-2 her
five act tragedy 'Huniades," based on
Hungarian history. Kemble played
Huniades; Miss Brand played Agmunda,
the heroine. The play failed; and then
Hannah Brand left out Kemble's part
and produced the rest Of the play under
the name "Agmunda. AS before, she
played the heroine, and as before she
heard the play Kissed and damned be-
yond redemption. =
John Brougham, however, really
played play with one of the principal
characters left out, though, as he says,
sit was frightfully dangerous expert
ment -
The play was his famous burlesque
"Pocahontas, produced at Wallack's,
then on Broadway, near Broome street,
in 1856. Brougham played Powhatan,
Charles Walcot, Captain Smith; Miss
Hodson, Pocahontas; Peters, the Dutch
man; and the play worked it's way up
in the public estimation. Let Brougham
tell of his feat:
Zone evening Mr.. Lester Wallack
came into the dressing room where
Walcot and myself were preparing for
the performance, with the announce
ment that Pocahontas was missing and
could not be found anywhere in the city.
= "What was to be done under the cir
cumstances we couldn't conceive. All
sorts Of plans were projected, but none
would work At last, i'll desperation,
said to Walcott, Suppose we do it with
out Pocahontas!'
Agreed, said Charley; who was
always bright, quick and witty. We'll
do it anyhow!'
"Mr. Wallack went on the stage and
announced that, owing to the absence
of Miss Hodson' (the truth was she had
eloped with somebody, the play would
be produced without her. Messrs. Wal