Evening star., 1901-10-26
STAGE COMBATS.
weII-KnOwn Lights of the Stage Who
Delighted in Fencing.
From the Boston Transcript.

From the Boston transcript
western student of the drama.
prompted" as he says, "by the inspirit-
ing earnestness with which Marguerite
sylvia fights a duel in The Princess Chic
now playing at the fremont Theater" has
written the following interesting reflection
and "reminiscences on the subject of stage
combats: 1.-TWO things were especially
priced by the audience of the past;
speech and a combat. For Gods sake,
George, give me a speech and let me go
home cried from the pit the wearied
country squire of Queen Anne's time, to his
boon companion Powell. the actor, doomed
to appear in part deficient in opportuni-
ties for Oratory. But Mr.. Bayes, might we
not have a little fghting% inquiries John
son in the burlesque of The Rehearsal,
for l love those plays where they cut and
slash one another on the stage for whole
hour together
1.-THE single combats that occur in Shake
speare'S plays are very numerous. There
is little need to remind the reader, for in
stance of the hand-to-hand encounters of
Macbeth and Macduff. Posthumus and
Iachimo, Hotspur and the Prince of Wales,
Richard and Richmond. Romeo has his
fierce brawl with Tybart. Hamlet his fav
orite fencing scene and there is serious
crossing of swords both in Lear and
OthelloT Long after the wearing CT
swords had ceased to be a necessity or q
fashion in England. the younthful actor ac
quired the art of fencing as an indispensa-
bic step in his theatrical education.
sword was one of the earliest properties
of which he became d poSSeSSor. He al
ways looked forward to impressing his
audience deeply by lis skill in combat.
Charles Mathews, the elder, has re-
corded in his too brief chapters of auto
biography his passion for fencing which
nothing could overcome AS an amateur
actor he paid the manager of the Richmond
Theater seven guineas and half for per-
h. s,,e, III -fxN,l
part of Richmond which doesn't appear
until the fifth oct of the play. The Rich
ard of the night was a brother amateur
equally enthusiastic. one Litchfield by
name. 4 cared for nothing, wrote Mathews,
except the last scene of Richmond, but in
that l was determined to have my fun
swing of carte and tierce. | had no no.
tion of paying my seven guineas and
half without indulging my passion. In
vain did the tyrant try to die after decent
time; in vain did he give indications of eX
haustion: l would not allow him to give
in. l drove him by main force from any
position convenient for his last dying
speech. The audience laughed; L needed
them not. They shouted. / was deaf.
Had they hooted I should have iunged on
in my unconsciousness of their Interrupt
ton. / was resolved to show them all my
accomplishment. Litchfield frequently
whispered enough but l thought with
Macbeth. Damned be he who first cries
Hold. enoughr" 1 kept him at it and l
believe we fought almost literally long
hour by Shrewsbury clock. To add to the
merriment matter-of-fact fellow in the
gallery, who, in his innocence took every
thing for reality, and who was completely
wrapt up and lost by the very cunning of
the scene, at last shouted out: why don't
he shoot him?'
"a Where shall 1 hit You, Mr. Kean?' in
quired provincial Laertes of the great
tragedian. Where you can, sir was the
grim reply. Fer Kean had acquired fenc-
ing under Angelo and was proud of his
Il n ~, II ln4sx "a
longing his combats TO the utmost and in
vested them with extraordinary force and
intensity. On some occasions he so identi-
fed himself with the character he repre-
sented as to decline to yield on almost any
terms Hazlitt censures certain excesses
of this kind which disfigured his perform
anee of Richard. He now actually fights
with his doubled fists after his sword Is
taken from him. like some helpless in
fant.' The fight, writes another critic
was maintained under various yicissftudes.