The Indianapolis journal., 1904-05-13


Viola Allen in Twelfth Night"
o fellow. come,-the song we had last night
Act II. Scene ". Twelfth Night"
Twelfth Night" Shakspeare's sweet
comedy of love, adventure and deft in
trigue. was presented at EnglIshs last
night by Viola Allen and a splendid COM
play of players before a brilliant audience
that filled every available square foot in
the theater. Not since Julia Marlowe was
lured away from the Bard of Avon has
this lovely play beei acted on a local
stage: performance of it under any con-
ditions would therefore have been well
come novelty for Indianapolis play-goers,
but the production of last evening, given
on such a spectacular scale as the comedy
has never known before, and with IT'S
leading characters interpreted by thorough
ly competent players, was an event of
very unusual interest. Twelfth Night is
not seen on the stage nowadays enough
for theater-goers to become familiar with
1t. and last nights large assembly, i'm
pressed by the striking beauty Of the piece
as a stage diversion, charmed by its poetic
simplicity and touched by it's sweet SEN
timents, gave It absorbed attention as
1t swept irresistibly onward TO a most en-
phatic success
1t is rare delight to be given the oppor-
tunity to enjoy the lighter mood or Shak-
speare Somehow, Shakspeare's tragedies
are always much easier to produce than
his comedies, and when 1T comes to putting
Twelfth Night" on the stage in a way
that will bring out all of the beauties Of
the piece, there are many difficulties to be
overcome by the ambitious revivalists. But
Miss Allen and her brother, Charles w
Allen, who has acted as her partner in the
r1ra Canf -aFafrF hay hal ad ar in
making their production. and as result or
their enterprise. have given to the modern
TO the mind, so fascinating 10 the eye and
charming to the ear, that he who could
find fault with the performance, as a whole,
would, indeed be factious critic. Wit,
the enchanting entertainment, and it is
pleasing to record that there was more
genuine laughter and more sincere applause
at Englishs last night than that playhouse
has known for a long time.
Shakespeare was just thirty-eight when
he wrote Twelfth Night, or What You
WILL and was the complete master of his
pen. In observation, knowledge, intel
lectual richness, w.t. humor and skill at
dramatic construction he stood like a giant
above all contemporaries He was not ad-
verse to borrowing plots from other writ
ers, but who cares now where his plots
came from? Who cares to know the name
of the that provided the paint with
which Raphael produced his masterpieces?
Shakespeare is supposed to have used
novel by Bandello as the foundation of
his play. The device of parading a girl iE
boys clothes was no novelty among the
early Italian writer's. and they, in their
turn, were indebted to the incidents like
the resemblance between Viola and her
twin brother, Sebastian, and the
mistakes arising from her change
to masculine attire. to much
earlier writer's. The discovery that
Twelfth Night" had it's inspiration in
works of the Italians was not made until
ISIS, Hunter and Collier both claiming the
finding of a little unpretentious diary
| among the Harleian manuscripts of the
British Museum which cast so much light
upon the history of the comedy, and forms
one of the many fascinating incidents in
the study of Shakespeare In his history of
| fiction Dunlop says that the feature of the
heroine disguised herself in order to be
near her lover lis one of the common Incl
dents in the Italian novels. and our early
| British drama. Besides Twelfth Night
and Two Gentlemen of Verona it is the
foundation of Beaumont and Fletcher 5
| 'Plasterer,' Shirley's Grateful Servant
and School of Compliment and Maid S
| Revenge "
But what matters it if the foundation
| be commonplace when the architecture of
| the play itself Is so superb? Twelfth
| Night is Shakspeares merriest laugh-or
so it seemed last evening. 1t is the very
| essence of comedy, delicate but mirthful,
| fantaStical and yet human, vulgar at times
| and yet wholly innocent, paradoxical as
| have written their heads off and never have
| made such a delicious comedy out of their
/ material. Who but Shakespeare could have
made Viola so joyously playful and yet so
| womanly; Sir Toby Belch so coarse and
| yet inoffensive and Malvolio absurd
and yet so interesting a character? And
| all of the other people of the play-how
| entertaining they are, and how lkablei
| There is high comedy and there is broad
| comedy in Twelfth Night and throughout
the piece there runs strong current of
| human nature that compels the sympathes
| of the auditor. Who, for instance, can
feel other than an all-embracing charity,
| when witnessing the drunken bout of the
| roistering, clownish Sir Toby and the poor.
| silly Sir Andrew Aguecheek and the mis-
chievous little Maria. they merrily pro-
| pound that all-important problem concern
ing the choicest way 10 get drunk? The
| characters are so wonderfully we'll drawn,
| the lines are sparkling with such humor
that the drollery of it all is not to be re-
sisted.
Viola Allen is a charming, well-trained
actress, with thorough ur lerstanding of
| Shakspeare's meaning and a heartfelt ap-
| probation of the heroine of Twelfth
| Night" Her Viola is a most impressive
study, for she makes the character woman
| ly and lovable at all times and yet brings
out to its true value all of the delightful
comedy that lies in the part. She pre-
sented strikingly pretty picture in her
boys costume and was as graceful as she
was pretty. Her one great fault of former
years-that of listening in a conscious way
TO the sound of her own voice-was not
noticeable last evening" it seemed that she
had entirely overcome this habit Her
voice is a remarkable contralto and her
enunciation is wellnigh perfect The role
OF Viola is admirably suited TO her tenn
perament, but all credit is due her for the
complete manner in which she has mas
| tered the intricacieS of the characteriza-
ton. There was at once a delicacy, a win
someness and a tender pathos in Viola
hidden love for Orsino that proved heart
touching, and yet there was an unforced
humor about her assumption of masculine
garb that proved deliciously amusing Hers
was most praiseworthy performance
A better supporting company than Miss
Allen has got together has rarely beer
seen In a Shakspearean play. The cast has
been selected with fine discrimination. and
each player, with scarcely an exception
seemed exceptionally well suited TO the role
Craven, although a handsome and manly
home In the part. but his performance was
oy no means a poor one. The 'MalVolio OF
John Blair was a portrayal long TO be re-
~ - baw