New-York tribune., 1900-03-04
PART II.
EIGHT PAGES.
LONDON NOTES.
SHAKESPEARE IN 4 NEW WAY-WINTER
ART SHOWS.

has opened with large measure of public sup
mort which offers assurance of a satisfactory
ending Henry W was the first play present
ed and it will be followed this week by "A Mid
summer Nights Dream" and in due course by
Hamlet" The Rivals" Twelfth Night" An
+onv and Cleopatra" and "The Tempest" Mr.
Benson has been making Shakespearian tours
in the provinces and in Ireland for many years.
and is the director of the annual festival at
stratford-or- Avon He has received the sup
mort Of influential committees in provincial
cities and has been aided in the way in
London. There is no other actor-manager who
has done so much TO raise the standard of pub
lie taste for the drama in provincial England,
for he has produced about twenty-seven of
shakespeare's plays and four five old Eng
Iish comedies. He has earned the approval of
London playgoers, and has no reason TO COM
plain of the support which he is now receiving
at theatre identified with the fortunes and
fame of the greatest English actor, Sir Henry
Irving
Mr.. Benson is actor with high ideals and
noble ambition. and he has the Incompatible
gift OF inspiring enthusiasm among his associ-
ates His own career an actor opened at OK
ford where he made his mark in Greek plays
before academic audiences. In adopting the
stage as q profession he resolved TO devote him
self exclusively TO Shakespeare and the old COM
edies and year after year he has persevered IN
his undertaking. struggling to interest the edu-
Gated and even the religious classes in the thea
+ra and irnparting his enthusiasm for good
drama to the members of his company His
veal and painstaking scholarship have not been
rnrevarded In Glasgow, Edinburgh. Belfast
dublin Cork Liverpool. Manchester. Birming-
ham, Newcastle, Oxford, Cambridge and other
rities the Benson season has received the pat
ronage of the clergy and of people of refinement
and education who not ordinarily drawn
into the theatre; and members of his company
have played with him year after year, declining
ether engagements and contentedly following
his leadership. Mr.. Benson has done much 10
aienifv the theatre by the constancy with which
he has labored for the promotion of public in
-arest in the masterpieces Of dramatic htera-
ture.
The production Of Henry W. at the Lyceum
Theatre has illustrated Mr.. Bensons leaolns
motive in the presentation Of Shakespearlah
drama This is the symmetry OF the WORK ne
aims TO present play whole. without eX-
sggerating the importance Of any single part
and without violating the true sense OF propoi-
.ion and values in the composition. This pur-
nose has been well carried out at the Lyceufn
Theatre When the curtain falls upon the last
sct the audience retires with an impression Oh
the play as symmetrical work OF art Inc
part of the King has not been masnlned anu
distorted at the expense of other characters 1t
has nO
worked I'D with excessive ingenuity of bypiay-
The comic scenes are played with spirit and
srotesnue hunor but are not rendered either
fantastic or broadly farccal The costumes are
not neglected and the battle pictures are pro-
duced with realism and picturesque effect; but
sfhe plays the thing and II is not overloaded
with scenic extravaganza. Every part and ele-
rnent is kept in the right relation to the drama
as whole. The performance is perfect in pro-
no
parts are played with intelligence and pains
taking care.
This method of producing Shakespeare is
unique in these days Of overelaboration OF lead
ing parts. when actor-managers are not con-
spicuous for self-restraint The effect upon the
players is promote a combination Of efforts
and resources in the Interpretation of the play
as whole The audience is impressed with the
tgmogeneousness of the play, and retires with
rev sense of the power. dignity and beauty Of
q great drama of English patriotism. If there
has been no acting OF exceptional power, there
has been an evenness Of performance from be-
ginning to end which broadens the entire out
look upon the play. The actors have been AM
mated by common purpose Of supporting one
another in an artistic, well proportioned inter
pretation Of q dramatic work. Shakespeares
motives and methods in dramatic composition
have been revealed in the symmetry of the per-
London public ought TO be grateful him for
illustrating It with such vividness and intelli-
gence. He allows Shakespeare to tell the story
with fine variety and with cumulative force, and
does not throw the drama out Of gear by any
artificial readjustment of artistic values
There four FIVE water color exhibitions
in Pccadiily and Pail Mall every year, in which
new drawings are produced by the hundred but
tne nigh class work is always about this
time at the Agnew Gallery, in Old Bond-st.
This is because the works Of the masters of the
English school Of water color painting are con-
stantly coming into market through the death
or collectors and the emptying of towns and
country houses for the settlement of estates or
IN consequence OF reverses OF fortunes. Nearly
al these drawings find their way into the Old
Bond-st. gallery through Christie's by pri-
Vate sale; and every year, with the help of a
few pictures. which are borrowed from recent
purchases, there is q show which cannot be
flValled either IN London anywhere else. The |
collection Of 252 drawings. old and new, now to
De seen in this gallery. is a revelation of the |
resources or the art Of painting in water colors
There is group Of Copley Fieldings here |
which shows complete mastery OF subtle prob |
lens of light and shade land and sea. These |
are drawings remarkable for elasticity OF at |
mosphere. Landscapes and marines in other |
galleries seem fat and empty in comparison |
with them There is lovely pair of drawings |
by David Cox Crossing the Moor and Bolton |
Abbey" which perfect examples of the art |
There is broad. restful drawing of picturesque |
Lincoln by De Wint, which is in the grand style |
Of the Old school and cannot be rivalled by |
workers Of the present day. There are drawings |
OF picturesque architecture N |