The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1899-04-24
EVENING WITH THE GREAT
POETS HANDIWORK.
Janet Waldorf and Her Company
Night at the Opera House.

to- and so many have enjoyed. Some
where about 1901 the first trip was
made and the gallants and masked la
dies of that time laughed many a mer-
rY laugh and dreamed many love |
dream during and after the visit |
Where is Illyria? Everywhere. 1t was |
in the great hall of the temple build |
ing once, as young templar of that |
year 1901 noted in his commonplace |
book, which you can now see in the |
library of the British museum. We can |
find 1T on the map, but the poets lily |
ria is not on the shores of the Adriatic. |
Tt is a fairy realm, lowered with pal |
aces, and handsome mansions and very |
beautiful gardens 1t may have its
home in a magnificent theater, or in |
| tawdry barn, or it may be by any ta
BILE where l conjure it up by the light
of my oil lamp. No matter where 1t is
| the trees are ever green, the skies are
cloudless, the birds sing, the atmos
| phere is fragrant of flowers, and l see
| Viola, Orsino, Sir Toby and Feste, and
Malvolio, and Maria, and Fabian,
| and Sir Andrew, q sweet and merry
! company. l love to see them in fam
! cy's eye, or visibly on the stage, and l
am happy that l enjoyed a few hours
| in their society.
Twelfth Night as Miss Waldorf and
| her troupe presented it TO a Honolulu
! audience on Saturday was a distinct
|
managed and no liberties were taken
with the text, except the necessary
! compressionS and eXcisionS. The COM
! pany was so good, that there was no
| centerlng the attention upon one star,
| but each and every person in the cast
fitted into his or her proper place in the
play exactly, neither thrusting forward
| unduly, nor being lost in vacuous ia
| tuity as so many a time have seen in
| Shakespeare's representations over
thirty years ago. The very fact that it
is difficult to praise any particular
player, shows how thoroughly harmo-
niously and well the players played. 1t
was genuine and thoroughly artistic
treat.
The reading and interpreting of the
exquisite rythm of blank verse is very
different from rendering the slipshod
English of the average melodrama and
the sloppy stuff that makes up the av-
erage society play. What lines do you
remember from Forget Me Not"
"Magda." "A Woman of No Import
ance," ct hoe genus omne. None. What
gems of thought come from Twelfth
| Night what graceful Wooing, what witt
ty war of words. OF Shakespeare's
thirty-two plays l have seen twelve In
various theaters, and l enjoyed the
reading on Saturday as keenly and
with as high an esthetic pleasure as
ever I did when life was younger and
blood more eager.
Miss Waldorf's Viola was sweet,
what it should be. Bright and arch
when she saw into what quicksands
her disguise was carrying her. Humor-
Gus where humor was needed, as in the
: admirably played duel scene, and win
: ming, as in the love scenes with the
: duke and wooing of Olivia by proxy.
| How eXqusitely and sweetly were the
line:
"She never told her love,
But let concealment, like worm i the bud, ETC.
; rendered. How the modulation of the
i voice, the pauses, the slight actions
put life into the passage, clothing the
words with life and sentiment.
! Again how beautifully read was the
I monologue of the ring in the second
! act, commencing 81 left no ring with
: her." test speech in Viola's part, and
read with grace and purity. The scene
in Act III, between Viola and Olivia
was fine. 1t rose to all the strength
required, when Viola exclaimed:
n "By innocence swear, and by my youth,
= have one heart, one bosom and one truth,
u And that no woman has"
and received the applause which il
!. merited. Space forbids a close analysis
y but enough is said to show how thor
n oughly-. imhned with the true spirit O.
/ the poet Miss: Waldorf is. And theI
S how graceful she was. Each change
}. of pose was only one more added toucl
n of grace to the pretty picture.
o Ellen Boyer made good Olivia anC
to Virginia Cranna must be given tn,
highest praise for her rendering of Ma
ria. What mschievous, gay, spright
ly little creature she was. The very
life of that wicked conspiracy made III
9 against the peace of mind of Malvolio
Her very step brought brightness oil
the scene and her merry laugh wal
= catching.
h Norval McGregor's Malvolia was
! pefect study of very difficult charact
err. He realized the best ideals of tn
character. Malvolio is no mere buf
foon. He is man with ambition, witt
u an inordinate opinion of his own tai
& ents and worth, and having a stroni
n spice of vanity. This makes him al
If easy prey to the plot against him. MI
= McGregor read him well. He brough
II out all these characteristics clearly an
= he never descended into the bunoOn
u His entrance in the garden scene wa
D. most artistic, The dance which h
a went through by himself betrayed hi
% bent of mind without a word. 1t wa
" comedy of the highest and most refn
Y, ed. And there was latent power toe
~ The scene at the prison window wa
~ finely played, and Malvolio's exit in tn
~ last act eliminating with "I'll be re
w venged on the whole pack of you,
v was dramatic.
" McVey's Sir Toby was built on tn
IL true legitimate lines, and called fort
m memories of many a Sir Toby. 1t wa
,o broad comedy. which is very differen
. from the low comedy of the presen
day. 1t was akin to many a Falstaf
as Sir Toby is theater-kin to that joll
knight. l felt myself back at the Prir
cess in it's palmy days, or at the Roys
i'm Newcastle, where Calvert and tha
ne sterling old actor Sidney Davis playe'
V. Sir Andrew Aguecheek was a skillfl
representation of the Shakespeare
dude, the brainless fop who appears
often in comedies. Allan Dunn's reT
r. derng was scholarly in it's attention
IL sllsht uetalls' ana pictured sir Ahure
|