New-York tribune., 1899-07-18
LONDON NOTES.
A SANSCRIT PLAY IN THE ROYAL.
BOTANIC GARDENS-PUBLfsHE
AND LITERARY BROKERS.


| London, July &
The final work OF exceptionally fnterestin,
season OF the Elizabethan Stage Society has
been the production OF one Of the most ancient
dramas in existence. Native tradition assigns
| to Kaldasa as remote a period as the nrs,
! century B. c., but German scholarship has dIa
| puted this claim and referred this Sanscri,
: poets writings TO the third century OF IN.
Christian era. While less poetic in form and
! spirit than the Vedic hymns, KAlidasa's dramas
enriched with Oriental ina gnation and re-
fnement of feeling. "sakuntaiA" has been de.
scribed by Goethe Schlegel and Humboldt an
one Of the chief masterpieces OF Oriental ltera-
aure after the great sanscrit epics. and It has
been repeatedly translated and enacted in Ger
many 1t has been produced century after GEN.
tury IN india before kings. chiefs and native
audiences in Calcutta. Bombay and the cities
Of the Northern provinces While the Eliza
bethan Stage Society has revived it as dra-
matte antique and one OF the curiosIties OF
Oriental literature, It is play which may be
said 10 have had run Of sixteen centuries In
India.
AS "Sakuntala" is essentially a sylvan drama
characterized by keen appreciation OF the beau
ties of nature it's first production In England
has been appropriately staged among tropical
flowers and palms in the conservatories Of the
Royal Botanic Society in Regents Park With
an environment of green iumned by Chinese
lanterns and with Eastern costumes, some OF
them worn by natives of India, this Sanscrit
idyl had beautiful scenic setting In theatre
where the genius loci could be wooed by the
Oriental muses.. The music was under the H.
rection OF Mr. Arnold Dolmetsch. and the bards
chanted their verses in the original sanscrit.
The text was an artificial amalgam OF the trans
Iations made by Sir William Jones and Sir Monier
williams of the Bengal and Northwest ver-
sions. The play was arranged for eleven scenes
but was virtually continuous, with single
pause of Ave minutes. A curtain as primitive
as the drama divided the narrow stage into
inner and outer sections. so that few simple
scenic effects could be arranged behind It. II
ought to have been dispensed with altogether.
as the entrances and exits were most awkward
ly managed, with princes. hermits damsels and
officers Of the court either crawling under or
lodging behind 1t.
This Oriental story opens with hunting
scene, in which King Dushyanta pursues an
antelope into the refuge Of the hermitage Of the
Sage Kanwa, and falls in love with the fair
sakuntaa, whose attendants. Pryamvada and
Anasdga, leave them together. He confesses
his passion, gives her a ring and marries her.
All goes we'll until the great Sage Durvasas Is
offended, and in1cts upon Sakuntala the curse
that her husband shall forget her face. The
Kings memory fails him, and he abandons his
bride and returns TO the Court. The foster
child Sakuntsla is sent by the hermit to the
Court, where the King cannot recognize nor re-
member her. When she searches for her ring
l,l
it. and is driven in disgrace from the Court. A
son has been born, and the mother is carried to
heaven by shining apparition A poor nsher-
man finds the ring in the mouth OF a carp, and
at sight of It the Kings memory returns and
he is overwhelmed with anguish. He takes
counsel with a nymph, meets his son in the
groves of Kasyapa, and by an act Of divine IN
tervention sakuntala is restored to his arms.
So ends the ancient Hindoo drama as happy
as any modern comedy of manners.
A HAZARDOUS ATTEMPT.
Mr.. Poers attempt to reproduce this Eastern
idyl with borrowed costumes. amateur actors
and actresses real Indians. stuffed tigers, ante
lopes and horses was a most hazardous one
His success could only be measured by the dif-
fcultes to be overcome without any effective
sense Of illusion. The lovers. Mr.. Dyau and
Miss Surrey were handsome: the hermits and
court attendants were austere and dignihed;
the cynical lines Of the Jester were well recited
by Mr. W. A. Mackenzie, and the acting OF Miss
Virginia Carlyle as Pryamvada was spirited
and graceful. Something more than success
of curiosity might have been secured II there
had been more thorough rehearsals and the
general stage management had been as good as
the costumng. The story is analogous TO but
more poetic than the theme OF "Genevieve ce
Brabant" of which so large use has been
made in the literature Of the French stage.
With a translation as free as the one which Mr.
FITZGERALD made Of Calderon's Life Is
Dream" "Sakuntala" could be enacted with
equal success and II would have the unique
distinction of superior antiquity. Another "ag-
ner-alas! there will never be one!-could ma
in It the theme for art work of exquisite
beauty.
Mr. Poel has had the ordinary fortune OF en-
thusiasts who devote themselves to an uhusu"'
line Of professional work At first he was re-
garded as an eccentric idealist incapable OF oo-
ing useful work for the stage by producing
archaic or unfamiliar dramas without scen''
accessories. His work passed almost without oo-
servation. and the dramatic critics either neg
lected or snubbed him. He has persevered IL
the struggle until at the close Of season during
which he has produced. mainly with the AID OF
amateurs, plays by Ben Jonson, Algernon SWIM
burne, CaIderon and Kalidasa. he commands
recognition for his earnestness OF purpose ana
artistic skill Mr.. Benson has been doing
similar educational work year after year III ue
provinces, with no encouragement from 'h'
metropolitan press: and he has been so success
full by virtue OF his enthusiasm and energy tna'
he now has the satisfaction Of being aole 10
make arrangements for season OF Shakespeare
at the Lyceum Theatre during the next winter
He began his career on the stage In Greek drai'-
as an Oxford student. and has persevered year
after year in his struggle to raise the standaru
Of theatrical performance and to educate puonc
taste by presenting the greatest works u
sbakesneare and the best OF the old English