New-York tribune., 1905-02-26

AS is the custom when Mr. Tree makes a
production. the regular critic of THE Saturday
Iseview." Max Beerbohm, took a night off when
Much Ado" put recently at His
Majestys. and G. 3. Snor took his place. The
result is a characteristic article with the char
acteristic title The Dying Tongue OF Great
Elizabeth" 1t occupies than two pages
Of The Saturday Review" and whether Mr..
Tree or Shakespeare energes with the greater
discredit it would be impossible to say. A taste
of the remarks that concern Shakespeare may
be gained from this passage:
Now we are in a position 20 do Mr. Tree
justice. Here he is, confronted with q play in
a dead language. What the language is to him.
1t Is, d fortiori, 10 a public much inferior TO
MIN In culture. One has only open a spare
ear to hear the occupants OF the stalls, pre-
sumably not the least literate section of the
audience, giggljng at such phrases as fair and
softly" and the like. evidently taking them to
be Dogberrytsms. as if John Gilpin himself
was too archaic for them. What can the man
ager do, playing TO please such an audience at
the huge hazards that vast theatre involves.
but treat Shakespeare's language as a draw
back only feebly counterbalanced by its reputa-
noh Ihe consequences are startling to those
VINO nave not analytic faculty enough to under
stand how much of Shakespeara's magic is
created by the beauty and fancy of his word
music. ParaphraSe the dialogue of s'Nuch ADO
IN mere Utilitarian prose, and YOU will fnI
speech after speech awkward, superfuous
dragged N by the ears. and consequently irri-
action The characters lose their glamour: one
sees that the creator of the merry lady with
her barmaldenly repartees and the facetious
pache4or with his boarding house funny mans
table talk was no Oscar Wilde. The three gal
!ant companions in arms no longer bear think
ing Of IN comparison with Atnos Aramis and
oArtagnan. Dogberry is seen to be a cheap
performance in comparison with the best comic
ngures OF Cervantes, Scott and Dickens The
subtler strokes OF character are wasted because
they could be made amusing and ineligible
only by the method OF comedy: and Shake
speare, great at drama" farce and fairy ex-
LIdNdgalza, mad no Idea of comedy For instance
CLAUDIO IS well observed and consistent char
acter; childfshly selfish, cruel and affectionate:
without Judgment or reflection: ALWAYS r1lshing p
at word OF suggestion from one extreme Of
lnfatuation and credulity to the other I.abiche
would have made him irresistibly amusing and
interestingly instructive by the modern conedic
LL4eInoo .o Shakespeare. for want OF comedic
IacuIty, gets no dramatic value out of him
Whatever and falls to convey TO the audience
anything except disagreeable impression of a
conventional hero who is driven by the mere
letter OF the plot into unconvincing mis-
understanding and q dastardIy revenge in the
meanness OF which his gallant friends groveI
as vulgarly as himself. The story is a hopeless
one, pleasing only to lovers Of the illustrated
police papers. It was all very we'll for Shake
speare TO 'It does not matter what the story
Is. provided tell it; and it does not matter
What the characters say, provided I turn the
phrase for them" He could make that boast
good only TO people with an ear for his music
and born habit Of thinking IN his language
withers: Much Ado" becomes what Don
Giovanni" or Die Zauberfl0te" would become
If Mozarts music were burnt and the Hbretto
alone preserved.
Mr.. Tree has to find substitutes for the lost
charm; and he does so with a fertility that
would do credit to a professed playwright
Much ADO is not only bearable at His Ma
3estys. 1t is positively pleasant to the disillu-
stoned, and. ! should think, enchanting to the
young All the lovely things that Shakespeare
dispensed with there in bounteous plenty
Fair ladies, Sicilian seascapes, italian gardens
summer nights and dawns compressed into five
TnlQuIeEC, RenQSCential CIV,
ing. masquerading architecture. orchestration
tastefully culled from Wagner, Bizet, and Ger
man. and endless larks IN the way Of stage
business devised by Mr. Tree, and carried out