The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-04-10
SHAKESPEARE STAGED AS
 WHEN SHAKESPEARE LIVED

Cambridge, Mass. April 9.--Shake- epeare's Hamlet" given in a playhouse environment that approached closely to the conditions of the stage in Queen Eliz- abeth's time as modern research could effect has been seen in Sanders Theatre this past week. It. was given by Mir. Forbes Robertson and his company of players under the auspices of the Harvard department of English literature. Tho performances will doubtless long remain unique for the combination of playhouse and players is unlikely to be duplicated. ME. Robertson's Hamlet, on the one hand, has been called by many dramatic crit les the greatest since that of Edwin Booth, and the Harvard department of English has on the other hand had val nable preliminary experience in reproduc- ing the picturesque characteristics of a typical Elizabethan theatre.
 In this case, furthermore, the depart has outdone all previous efforts An EliZabethan apprentice, wandering into Sanders Theatre last Tuesday night. might perhaps have expressed surprise at some of the properties, for an absolutely cor rect reproduction of every one of the de- tails buried under the dust of centuries is obviously impossible. And he would doubtless have marvelled as much to see Hamlet clad in the sables with which the modern playgoer is familiar as we of the present day would wonder to behold the melancholy prince 6lad in the contempo- rary Elizabethan costume worn by all players at the time when Shakespeare was writing his tragedies. But, except for some few incongruities, 1t is safe to say that the interior of Sanders Theatre was very like the playhouse of the late 18th and early 17th centuries Many of the points involved in the reproduction are the result of recent discoveries in theatrical literature; and the stage itself was built by Professor H, Langford War ren of the Harvard architectural depart |, ment, from contracts that were made for the building of now vanished and almost forgotten London theatres.
 What the distinguished audience-a term that may here be applied with very exact nicety-saw when 1t gathered in Sanders last Tuesday night was a rush Otrewn platform extended well into the pit, or orchestra as we should now call t, hanked by stage boxes and affordInr room for auditors on three sides. Partly over this stage extended roof. supported by pillars at the sides and topped by A small towerlike structure from which A trumpeter stepped forth to announce the - beginning of the play. These pillars. or corner posts, 1t must be understood. were not at the extreme sides of the stage and between them hung curtains which thus enclosed a part of the platform leaving the front and sides for the use of the players in one scene while the few acces- sories of another. chairs. tables. etc, were being arranged behind the curtains. The drawing of the curtains therefore reveal cd a second scene, while yet third place -s9r the action of the play was provided y e balcony at the back of the stage . Practically there were three stages, for ] in the old Elizabethan theatre this ball cony at the back was used for various scenes, more or less in the air, so to speak. such as the balcony in Romeo and Juliet, the ramparts of a castle. Or the stage within a stage. on which, as in the players scene in Hamlet" a secondary performance-or play within the play"- was given nominaly for the benefit only of the persons on the stage. Tn the tower above was stored machinery for the op- eration of various stage devices, for the EliRabethan stage, although bare of scen- cry fin our modern sense was neverthe- fess capable of producing many effects which we now class as spectacular
 This arrangement, as 1t has been work cd out by the Hayward authorities, Is the most regent translation. of the hints that have come to us from the drawings and Descriptions of the Elizabethan theatre,