The sun., 1905-11-05

no horse racing, and which is furthermore
the source of healthy life in any human
activity, most of all in dramatic art,
II fares hard with the artist in mob
ridden Democracy, which hates anything
above its own conventional JudSmentS'
No artist is truly an artist who docs not
depart from tho rigidity Of accepted types,
who does not str us from the mort acqui-
cscenoe in habit and custom, who does not
incite US to revolt from the tyranny "f the
standards OF the past. The classics Won
their position In the world by establishing
new truth and new beauty. Bot the public
so little understands them as to make them
bludgeon with which to check further
progress All the forces Of stupidity ana
hypocrisy are eXerted in preventing
dramatist from doing anything different
from what has always been done,
The intelligent world is well agreed
that Mr.. Anthony Comstock is an enemy
to true decency and the proper freedom
of art. But he has limited his activities
for the most part to what strikes the eye
or the ear There is no question OF vulgar
or external indecency here Mr.. McAdoo
has put his ban on the exposure OF the
motions of the mind and the soul. he
has attacked the dearest liberty Of our race,
the liberty to think for itself and give
public expression to its thought. lie has
dealt vital blow at the sacred the invalu-
able instinct which prompts able play
wrights, actors and managers to extend
the province Of their art. He has made
himself the arch representative Of those
standards OF stupidity and bigotry which
have kept our drama on the lowest plane
of intelligence.
1t Is the sort Of thing that always happens
when questions Of eethetics or Of belief are
meddled with by even the best intentioned
policeman. Somehow or other 1t recalls the
tune of an ancient song. Oh, keep it going,
MoAdoo! Intelligence Is sin. Let curfew
ringing Dooley run Mrs, Warren inl The
naked truth shall not be told As far as
eye can scan, we'll hang a moral figleaf
on man and superman. So, Anthony and
McAdoo. don't mind the peoples roars.
Go make that shocking Maeterlinck buy
Monna Wanna all the delicate luxuries OF
the season. DO everything you can, in fact,
to write II down in the books Of public
opinion that Dogberry and the law is an
ass.
You may now have your Shakespeare
as you like it, ladies' and gentlemen at least
as regards the question of scenery or no
scenery. The Marlowe-Sotllern produo-
tion Of Tho Merchant of Venice has been
praised as exceedingly rich and beautiful.
! suppose it is, though personally l got
no pleasure except from the rich and varied
harmony of the color schemes Of Portd' 8
gowns-and just one effect OF lgn ting.
This was the Rembrandt glow that suffused
the singer who stood at the back of the
stage in a gondola during the carnival
scene There was something infinitely
satisfying in the interplay Of glow and
gloom, the varied warmth Of rich gold and
brown.
For the rest the production Sc emel so
much paint and limeig ight-scant recon-
pence for frequent and lengthy waits. A
lady in the audience remarked that it was
like a horserace. where you shivered half
an hour to see a two minute scurry which
after all is more than likely TO prove dis
appointment. Somewhat, too, it reminded
one of the Chinaman's description of tobog
ganing-"Zip walk back a mile Worse
than this. however, was the merciless
cutting of the text to make time for the
scene shifter. | defy any one who does not
know the play to fnd out what Lorenzo
and Jessicd are up to. In the last act those
matchless lines of the runa way lovers,
stepped in the glamor of music and moon
light, were sacrificed entire. With the labors
Of the scene painter and the gas man be-
fore our eyes, of course. their floods of
poetic suggestion become dim and pale.
And it may be that the rather negative
81, Q
them. Yet that does not make one miss
them less.
Mr.. Sothern's Shylock is intelligent and
vigorous. Especially commendable is his
manifest intention to keep to the clear and
simple outlines of the malignant usurer.
This is the jew that Shakespeare drew" In
spite of the allegations Of sentimental mod
ern critics and tragedians. Only once did
Mr.. Sothern del art from good sense in the
exit from the trial scene, which was senti-
mental to the limit and weakly overelabo.
rate.
That he should fail to realize the full force
Of the spirit of grotesque and truculent COM
edy in which the part is largely conce ivcd
is of course inevitable. The rough and
savage Eizabethan attitude toward the Jew
is as absolute as the spirit of bull batting
and bear whipping, of which it is own
brother. No audience uneducated in the
sports Of the Bankside could quite fall into
its mood of Jew batting. Yet there is still
more comedy in the part than Mr.. Sothern
got out Of it. That aside of Shplocks,
o Father Abraham what these Christians are
Whose own hard dealings teaches them suspect
The thoughts OF Others,
did not crack a smile. In view of the fact
patent to the audience that the dealing
.Sh ylock is at this moment planning is of the
hardest, the speech should give the effect of
vigorous comedy and mordant self-satire.
For the rest Mr.. Sothern's performance
may be placed close behind Mr.. Mansfield's
and may be expected to improve vastly with
time. Already he has created voice of
unusual force and varied color not of-but
bygones are bygones.
Miss Marlowe's Portiq is likewise un-
affected and intelligent, and, needless to say,
has full measure Of feminine grace and
charm. The love of trivial stage business
which took conviction and imaginative
force from her Shrep, is again in evidence,
with similar effect Of establishment.
In the trial scene when Nerissd oraned
her neck at her renegade husband Portid
beat her back into her seat with a volume