The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-14

here. trinmpn
 Ills Hamlet is dissincslv .r,~,,., :.
 this: there is no trace Of insanisv tv. {,
 Hamlet IA shown on the same risrc ~
 reason ana good sense with Horafio. Do
 you ekcteim at thikr We know fFarnlcf
 moved on the border line betvreo., '. ,,st.s
 and insanity. crossing back sr,a r,-,s
 Every aiienist who has studied the cner
 acter has pronounced him a st irrnate
 at times for nnadhouse. This. tbor~h
 IS the Hamlet of the closet and thr hn,s
 Staged, he Is reduced always in the vol
 tune of his speech and his feii6r-actnrs,
 speech, while the scenes underoo cnrtain
 ahiftings at the hands of every artist.
 Booth had hts version; Irving has his.
 Mir. Forbes Robertson has his and he
 chooses 1t shall be one denoting a bal
 anced rather than an unbalanced wilt
 and mind. If you would protest let me
 admonish you to wait to see the Prince
 of Forbes Robertson. You will not ind
 the spirituai gloom to which you have
 heen accustomed. You will not see q
 young and highly cultured nobleman
 shaken like reed, as he Is played upon
 his fnfirm purpose. You will not hear the
 violent and despairiHg outbreaks that
 mark the soliloquies of the unahridRed
 drama In short if you rine for the con-
 ventional Hamlet you win be sorely dis
 appointed. Robertson shows us gai-
 lant, thoughtfui. winning young fellow,
 deeply attached to the friends, ike
 Horatio. that he leves. polite to the gen
 eral world. his cynicism at the expense of those who, like lSold Poicnius or Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, would play upon him as they might upon d child, is seasoned with laughter rising Into gayety almost at times. He is charged with q solemn and bloody duty, This does not prevent fhs natural man yielding itself to the charm ophella had for him and he all but succunahs to this charm in the scene where Peionius had devised an encounter between the young people. Our actor has a striking bit of business in this very scene, that dc not recall ever to have met hsferc and 1t aids materially to interpret the text. Tn the first scene of the second act where Hamlet declares to ophelia, 'T loved you not" she Is overcome. T was tho more deceived" she says. and rests her head upon the table. He moves round the table and at the rear struggling within himself. is about to raise his hands to lay them affectionately upon Ophelia,s s head. when his arm giances upon an ob- ject behind the curtain. He stiffens in- stantly and Is not suspicious simply but iuolHnaDon aHaAuo mixed WlGh cunning as he breaks out upon the girls head, Get thee to q nunneFy.' etc. There is much novel business in the performance and some of 1t may be confessed sadly meretricious as when Hamlet Is made to die upon the throne of Denmark and Horatio to place the crown in the lte- less hands. Fortinbras' speech is re- tained too and Hamlets body as in the l play is borne out on the shoulders of men-at-arms. If these jar, they are easily forgiven when one recalls how swift has been the action and how intelligent, how l beautifully the noble words have been l spoken, with what fine denotelnent'A we are shown the young prince foifed mo- mentarily by temper or by circumstance, | yet sweepingfOn to his revenge.
 It sounds a trife absurd to be advising at Montgomery that one should see a play in New York. It is not altogether I foolish, however. One has to live on the line of travel between a Southern city and New York to realize how much the
 habit oe travel has grown with us. And
 may be doing good turn to sundry | of the Advertisers readers in begging | them when in New York during the next l few weeks to go to the Knickerbocker l for an evening with Forbes Robertson in | Hamlet. It Is not in the first rank of ! theatrical performances, but it is most 1 excellent. Lincoln dlsclaimed being a | descendant of one of the first families | of Virginia. He rather thought he came | of one of the first second families. This performance is assurediy entitled to rank | as one of the first seconds.