The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-12-31
AmuSemeHtS.

-
The play known to the world as
Henry VIII was written BY Shakes
peare under the name Of "AIl Is True"
In way the title was euphonious. For
o. all his plays the great bard boosted
that unto this one more than any other
his quill had bequeathed the virtue If
historical accuracy. He regarded the
taE of Wolsey. the trial and divorce of
hGtnerine and the execution Of Buck
lEgham when his pen had finished, as
exact historical reproductions And
probably for that reason Henry VIII"
is considered the greatest piece of char
acteT-drawing in Shakespeare, albeit
that the picture Of King Henry is far
milder than the mass Of lust and blood
that cold history brings to our atten-
tiCn.
Shakespeare would have been faith
tul TO his scheme until the bitter end
bu. for the Circumstance that the
maiden presentation of his play was
To be before Elizabeth, Henry's daugh-
ter and there was a yawning doubt as
TO how that woman might have re-
ceived charcoal prototype OF her an
cestry. So, in the play, we find a blus-
tering, noisome monarch, whose chief
crimes were susceptibility to craft and
cunning and insatiate selfishness, but
not the monarch upon whose log sew
erat thousand bloody events were
chronicled, nor yet the gormandizer.
The bard, indeed, dealt mildly with
Henry.
The play covers only about two years
of his black and almost interminable
reign and catches him at the age of
about 40. 1t principally concerns the
slnuous Cardinal WOlsey, that cunning,
avarieious traitor. and the imperious
bu- womanly Katherine. whom Wolsey
sought to divorce from Henry at the be-
hest of his royal master The play
might be called a chronicle history with
thee eatastrophes, varied By a mar
riage, a divorce and a coronation. and
terminating with the baptism of
child
Katherine's majestic pride and her
tremendous struggle against the fate
she knows 20 be inevitable: the rise
and fall of WOlsey, her implacable foe:
the execution of Buckingham and the
hnal triumph of the kings seIhshness.
provide some Of the most remarkable
scenes in Shakespeare. These scenes
occasion many of those sublime
speeches which have become so IA
miiiar, WOlsey's Farewell. a long fare
we'll to all my greatness" being a
brilliant case in point. It is the beauty
Of the lines, rather than the dramatic
situations. of which there are virtually
none, that appeals to the listener, and
particularly the student.
OF the production witnessed last
night with Madame Modjeska and
10 I "a in he Arr-rr
Katherine and Wclsey, too much could
not be said. tt was a performance
such as one witnesses only too seldom.
The madame, who these many years
has stirred audiences to mingled tears,
terror and admiration, falls not a hairs
breadth from the rare picture of the
divorced sharer of Englands throne.
In the trial scene and again in the
subsequent interview with Wolsey and
CampeiUs, she rose to superb heights.
Her reading of the denUnciation is
thrilling.
And what good may not be said of
Mr.. James conception of WOlsey. His
art in this instance manifests itself in
repression. Even in the stormy scene
between the cardinal and the lords.
leading up 10 his farewell to ambition.
he swerved nOt a particle from the
I A4ACAAAtu W MN GIVES ~ Ills EttiltS VI
sanctification such fine effect. 1t is.
indeed, one of the greatest things Louis
James has done.
Norman Hackett. the conscientious
young actor who has heretofore Gre
ated much favorable comment by his
Shakespeareau work, is an interesting
study as Henry. From year to year his
work shows marked improvement MI
Cooke is in all ways a satisfactory
Buckingham. The company as a whole
is much better than the support given
Modjeska last season which was to be
hoped and expected
Wagenhals and Kemper are noted
for their elaborate stagings. The
Theatre stage has rarely been the field
of more scenic grandeur than is put
before the public in Henry VIII"
Tonight Macbeth" is the offering
and there is every indication that an
other brilliant audience viii greet the
two stars. Mr.. James will do Macbeth
and Madame Modjeska. of course Lady
Macbeth Mr.. Hackett viii be seen as
Macduff. Henry VIII" will be re-
peated Wednesday night. Mary
Stuart is tomOrrows matinee bill.
For Her Sale ~ pussiaD ,,,aIO-