The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-12-31
SOTHERN AGAIN IN "HAMLET."
SUMPTUOUS PRESENTATION
AT THE GARDEN.

Harmony. Beauty and Fidelity 10 Nature
Mark the New NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
"Hamlet" Not ~ Tender - Booths
Modern Rims In Ills Impersonstion.
Mr. E. II, Sothern played Hamlet at the
Garden Theatre last night In a production
more elaborate and sumptuous than his
last one, In 1900 Since then this admirable
actor with the sympathetic cooperation
OF his manager. Daniel Frohman, has had
new scenery and costumes made to replace
those destroyed by fire, and In every man
ner has endeavored to make this offering
OF Shakespeare's play Commensurate with
its grandeur and on a level with contem-
poraneous revivals. And he has most
unquestionably succeeded
Harmony in design. beauty In coloring
and construction stamped the scenic effects
and garbine as the product Of a delicate
taste. aided by sound judgment Several
OF the outdoor scenes and at least two Of
the interiors are memorable because OF
their fidelity to nature and their mas sive
architectural quality. The moro remote
part OF the platform before Elsinore Castle
Is charming in its evocation Of moonlight
and mystery. The large state room OF
the castle Is picturesque in its appoint
ments. and just before the play scene the
grouping about the throne appealed to the
pictorial instinct. The churchyard and
the Queens closet left little to be desired
The rather bold experiment Of beginning
at 74s o'clock had Its justification In the
hour at which the final curtain dropped
n:sO There were no long entr'actes, no
distracting going and coming Of bored
people. We really enjoyed our poet with
out being jostled or hurried.
Max Beerbohm said apropos Of Sarah
bernhardts Princess OF Denmark that
Hamlet has become simply "a hoop through
which every eminent actor must sooner
or later. jump Mr.. Sothern made his
jump several seasons ago; his performance
at that time was carefully noted. Ii II
not the commentator Of a Shakespeare
play rather than its interpreter that is to be
condoled? What new TO say? What to
repeat?
Quotations from the princes Of criticism
Will not SUFFICE, nor do new-fangled theories,
ARCHAEOLOGICAL or otherwise, satisfy.
One may only cite In despair Hazlitt, who
exclaimed: We have been so used to
this tragedy that we hardly know how to
criticise 1t. any more than we should know
how to describe our own faces" All the
world knows Hamlet" every man-and
woman, TOBIAS within him the potentially
OF Hamlet. and having said this do We not
Not too melancholy, not too musical
Is Mr. Sothern's pr sent ment Of the role.
Fk BILE, with varied emphasis upon the
feminine element in the Danes nature-of
which there is a goodly portion-his en-
slre performance s,n, revealed the acute
dnewy in action, weightier in climax
than two years ago.
Meditation IL not missing In the transit
tons from fear to passion, from passion to
2vermastering agony. or the reading
moment. 1t has all been clearly defined;
the eternal enigma Is himself satisfactorily
solved. His Hamlet Is tender enough,
though not as tenderly poetic rs was
Booths. There In a modern ring in the
impersonation. though never touch Of the
colloqiial. 1t IL natural-no article. In
eloculion despels the flesh and blood reality
OF the unhappy prince; Nor does this
by the madness OF doubt, an irresolute
groper amid the shadow Of things.
He IL too tense too 1.-the and alert in
action for that manner OF man. Without
being explosive. he is like dynamite which
There We're moments last night when the
elect rio tension produced painful feeling
and II i tribute to the splendid self-control
OF Mr.. Sothern when we say that he never
temperament, never TAVeO.
His climaxes told heavily for this reason.
Like responsive inst rument every key OF
the mood he touched sounded. The range
is not wide, tho Sothcrn Hamlet Is more a
creature OF impulse than Of imagina-
ton. Booth wa, family suggested, for the
living ,ragedian has a handsome, expressive
face, with the palor, dark curls and some
thing OF the expressive glance OF the great
dead one.
i'is speech is seldom sonorous, though
y haa
ii be that wrings the heart. II IL some
times too stdcc1to. But fexibility there is
and above all the sense of tempo, natural
tempo. SO we were treated TO no drawn
out monologues. no oratoricGl outbursts.
The suicide aoliloquy was delivered without
rhetorical flourish. simply. convincingly.
Perhaps the best effort Of the evening,
certainly the nosf touching, was the bee
chamber scene. .,erein Mr Sothern han
his auditory by the heart. He deserved all
the applause given him. He In now a full
grown art
Edwin Varrey was a Polonius to admire
We did admire him for his crusty. senile
h,irnors IL was the best bit of character
work during the piece. The Ophelio- of
Cecilia LOTUS was as might be expected
from this facile coKedienne, She looked
well she spoke her lines intelligently, and
she was never for a moment Ophehd. She
created no atmosphere, unless II was the
aura of an imitation. A capital mimic. one
discerned, though ncbulously, that there
was present some other Opheiid lowering
in the miraculously retentive brain of Miss
Lotus Hence the accent OF insincerlty
seemingly inseparable from her serious
ESSAYS.
The remainder Of the cast was generally
excellent. Indeed, the ensemble BETRAYED
conscientious stage management through
out The Queen mother Gertrude actually
displayed animation and genuine emotion
in the closet episode. Jennie Eustacc
played the part Horotio was Henry J.
CaTvill The player folk did very we'll.
There was large and enthusiastic auditory
Mr.. Sothern's Handel will he seen and en-
ioyed by all judicious lovers Of the drama.