The Washington times., 1905-03-28
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SHAM[ET
AN ART SENSATION
More Than Renews Last
Years Great Favor.

The Hamlet of Johnston Forbes Rob
ertson, already known to the Capital
through four superlative presentations
last year, was disclosed anew at the Co
lumbia Theater last night. 1t more than
renewed the pronounced favor with
which it was then received. II was in
deed followed with more unaffected
warmth and viewed with more intelli-
gent enthusiasm than any other inter-
pretation OF this role offered locally for
a generation.
Succeeding performances of the en-
gagement may, and no doubt they Will
be, as well attended and as heartily ap-
plauded. But they will lack the pecu-
liar spirit of yesterday evening. when an
audience of marked distinction sought
manifestly to atone to this actor for the
city's offending nstlessness and inappre-
ciatioa a season ago.
Mr. Robertson follows great throng
of actors who have undertaken to i'm
personate this character in America
The number of that throng Is more than
1O0 1t includes-in addition to two wo-
men, a rope dancer, and scores or medl-
ocre actors-the great talents and ele-
waited inteIlects of Edmund kean, VIII
liam A Macready, Junius Brutus Booth,
Edwin Forrest, Edgar L. Davenport,
Lawrence Barrett, and Edwin Booth,
whose portrayal was SO consonant with
the nations highest Shakespearean
standards that he was estimated the
ideal Hamlet of half the population OF
the country who have any idea at all of
Hamlet's character Since the death
or,o Ntnr lCtG0
in several instances with unsuspected
skill and power by Creston Clarke,
Thomas Keane. Robert Mantell, and Ed
win II Sothern, and the last named has
developed. under the influence OF the
role. a height of artistic greatness Of
which he was entirely unsuspected.
Food for Discussion.
For each of the embodiments in the
long list thus epitomized the dramatic
critics of America have analyzed and
expounded this play to its fartherest
limits And the end of the discussion
is not yet Most of these actors have
followed the Betterton tradition of the
character which is thought to have
come directly from Shakespeare, and so
while each contributed a thread of
personality which colored the whole pat
tern-they have yet essayed to achieve
the same ideal.
This latest conner has been more in
dependent. He has condensed the play
into five acts Of little more than three
hours duration. A-r Booths version re-
uuired four full hours for the action
and was still thought to be a sad mang-
ling of the tragedy Yet most of value
of Hamlet is preserved by Mr.. Robert
son, and, by such devices as the trans
ference to the castle of the scenes set
for the house OF PolonIus. the action is
made fluent and expeditions.
II is in the portrayal of Hamlets char
acter. of course. that the greatest in
terest lies. Kean made the role essen
TALLY oratorical. Wallach was formal
and classic. Junius Brutus Booth Was
SO spiritual and profound in his melan-
choly that his influence hung sombcrly
over the play even when he was not on
strong and well fed. Davenport was
scholarly and quiet. Barrett was severe
and elocutionary. And Edwin Booth
was melancholy. romantic, magnetic,
tender, and wonderfully poetic Mr..
Sothern adds to this array the embodi-
ment OF a man of strong human i'm
pulse and deep passion, never. notably
tender, and not until this year adequate
ly introspective-
Lucidity and Naturalness.
The lteynotes of the Robertson en-
bodiment are lucidity and naturalnesg
1.-the, like Edwin Booth, with enuncsa-
tion and emphasis as just as those OF
Barrett, graceful, like Davenport, new
er anaemic. always forceful, even il
the war Of emotions which perples his
action and cloud his brain, this Hamle.
is yet SO surely drawn that the actors
conception reaches and imprints irscIi
! upon every brain in the audience.
Melancholy IS not its most pronounced
attribute. 1t is rather Il self-examina-
ticn so persistent, troubled, and bafled
| that the viii, not the brain, is unseat-
! cd and the whole tide of events car
! ried along by chance. This is not new
James Russell Lowell presented the
| same view, precisely, when he defined
| the lesson Of the drama in this wise:
That will is fate, and that-when once
will abdicates-the Inevitable successor
! in the regency is chance.
In the Robertson enactment this does
1iot cloud but rather emphasizes the
| less potential elements of Hamlet'S
| character-tis courtlincss, grace, eupe-
| riority of mind. le9p affection for his
! father. gnawing hatred for his uncle
ard mistrust of his mother His cam
! paign to affirm with material evidence
/ the ghoStly communication is studied
| and clear: his attitude toward the gen.
| tie Ophelia that of man beside him.
| self with the confic. between a greaf
| love and an appalling commission. HI
| is at all times sane. And yet Ghere /:
/ not a single Scene in the tragedy IL
| W nich Hamlet appears that does not re
| feet and iterate the unhappy princes
! fatal introSDection.
! Consonant With the Text.
| Other views of the character are abl,
defended. 1t Will not do to describe thi.
as the only view supported by the text
There is much pleasure in thinking
! however, that this portrayal reflects tn
text most satisfactorily. and gives tn
play clearncss beyond that it has at
! tanned at the hands of any other hvinf
actor.
70 this end the company contribute
| its share Ian Robertson, a brother t
the star, acts the King Claudius witt
| discretion and force. Miss Rorke'
Ophelia, while not distinctly poetic, il
yet interesting. and II is especial,
strong, as other critics have agreed II
the mad scenes. Giles Shine act
Polonius as that pottering and gar
r,ilous old man has been acted during
three centuries, and Frank Gillmor
was inoffenslve as Laertes.
A glance at the audience sufficed t
explain the unwonted familiarity will
the play, revealed in the applause. Con
spicuous in it were members of tn