The record-union., 1899-10-15


lends itself to noble purpose when
employed at it's best in staging and
adorning the Shakespearean drama
But there are too few of these people
in the lesser communities to justify
furnishings. And this applies to the
legitimate drama of about all author
ship, and not alone to the foremost
OF dramatic authors. Lavish expendi-
ture, then, is not made nowadays for
dramatic arts sake so much as for
the benefit of the box office, and with
the end in view of securing a class OF
patronage, lack of which is likely to
give verify to the saying that Shakes
peare spells ruin
Such attempts, however, are not al
ways successful; indeed it is probable
that as many have failed as have sue
ceeded. So it comes that whenever
of Shakespeare and the legitimate IN
the lesser communities, where the OPP
portunity. to witness the plays ought
to be most eagerly embraced because
so infrequently offered, he steps into
the task with fear and trembling. 1t
is manifestly unjust that the benefl-
thus be confined to the great centers
of population, though that the pressure
is strong in that direction is unde-
niable. 1t is not libel upon the ma
jority of the theater- going public TO
say that legitimate, elevated and re-
fined dramatic art has small invita-
ton. 1t is simple fact that there is
not that longing for the refining, teach
ing and elevating drama, amounting to
insistent demand: there is but little
thirsting for the noble drama, nor for
fine art in refined dramatic work.
in a lesser city the production of one of
the loftiest of Shakespearean creations.
1t was by a company of stock actors
with the chief characters in fairly cap
able hands and with the lead in the
cast entrusted to more than average
competency. But so unaccustomed
to, and shall we say so ignorant, was
the audience of the writings of the I'M
mortal bard that Hamlet was under
stood by so few in the audience that
it's reception was discouraging. The
unread condition of a preponderating
per cent of the auditors proved that
the feast had been spread before unap-
preciative guests. At times laughter
usurped the place Of tears and applause
wrecked the tribute silence should have
paid. The audience was Intellectually
unprepared for that which it had been
called to witness and hear.
This sort of thing is not exceptional.
1t grows as it feeds upon the tastes Of
the people. Revivals of the legitimate
simply because they are revivals, tes-
tify painfully to the fact that there is
a woful backsliding of taste, lack
of demand, preference for coarse, not
to say indelicate amusement: desire
that is satisfied completely by the
stripped drama, the buffoonery of the
clown, and the gibbering of the bur-
lesque specialist. We are by no means
decrying clean.low comedy, or the value
of the farce and the place Of the pro-
voker of screaming laughter. What we
do believe is that the very fact
that production of Shakespeare and the
legitimate is so infrequent and effortful
and SO full of uncertainty as to the re-
wards of the effort, that it justifies
the conclusion that there is declina-
tion of good taste due to many causes,
most Of which are obvious and need no
cataloguing.
What correctives can be and should
be applied? For that let time be
taken for answer It is an inquiry not
to be disposed of off hand We hope
and believe that there are remedies,
that there will come a time of return
and not continue forever a drifting
away from the sure and safe literature
of the stage of which Shakespeare is
the greatest exponent.
The time will come, it should be
prayed for and hoped for, when organ
lied society in this country will find
it to its interest to give government en-
couragement to all that elevates the
taste and promotes its refinement in
art, literature and the drama, and at
the same time stimulate by judicious
interference or regulation degeneracy
of the gross, vulgar and demoralizing
in these lines.
The span between perfect Individual
freedom and a wise censorship may not
be measured at this time, but the day
will come when regulation on the one
be found not inconsistent with the lib
critics we enjoy. 1t may be, nay it is
probable that in the fullness of time
we will have a national school of dra-
matte art, one of sculpture and another
of music, fostered and builded by gov
ernmental action and encouragement,
both national and State. Out of these
and the forces moving the people in
that direction will be born aspirations
and tastes which will warrant the full
establishment of the legitimate
drama and bring its benefcence within
reach of even the smaller communities
to the exclusion largely, if not wholly,
of the usurpers now peopling the dra-