The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-05-02
SOCIETY.

As announced yesterday in these col. umns the ladies who were asked to be patronesses for the open-air production of "As You Like It" were compelled to abandon all Idea of any presentation for this season, as they were limited in time and sufficient number or subscribers could not be secured in so short a time only one day. But the interest already inspired indicates that Birmingham, like several other cities in the south, fully ap- preciates the educational opportunity pro- vlded in these exquisitely pastoral repre- sentations of Shakespeare and the ladies | who talked with the representatives of the Benn Greet company have been given the assurance that this company of English players will include this city in their next | southern tour.
 l It is the success of the Benn Greet com pany in America that has called particu- 1 lar attention to the possibilities of open l air theaters in this country. A recent writer goes so far as to say that if the idea of open-air theaters continues to be intelligently developed, in a few years there will not be summer resort which does not possess one, and the fine weather months, instead of being a dead | season for dramatic artists, will be the occasion of renewed activity in higher and healthier branch of their calling. | This same writer, in a recent article in the Metropolitan magazine, gives the early history of the open-air theaters. He says: Recent experiments in this country with theatrical performances giv- en in the open air, with natures glorious foliage for sole stage setting have been so successful, both financially and artfsti- cally, as to encourage their continuance and render likely their adoption as a per manent feature among summer amuse- ments, Benn Greet and his English play CTS have been attracting fashionable crowds to their pastoral representations of Shakespeare, and in California Greek tra gedy has been given in the open-air I amphitheater of the university. In Eng 1 land and Germany open-air performances are rapidly becoming very popular. But l it is in France that this picturesque audi torlum, with no roof other than the blue vault of heaven, has assumed the dignity of an important institution. In size, gran deur and interest of historic association, the great open-air theaters in the souuth- ern provinces are equaled no where else in the world
 ''The open-air theater, indeed, may have said to have originated in France, and
  One is the fine weather that generally prevails in the southern provinces in the summer months when sometimes weeks pass without a drop of rain falling; the other is the large number in those parts of colossal arenas, relics of the Roman occupation of Gaul, and the majestic ruins of which are today in a state of perfect preservation. These arenas were originally modelled upon the antique thea ters of Greece and Rome, and at the pres ent time they practically in as good condition when the theater fourished in the days of the Caesars
 "There are certain effects obtainable in an open-air theatre, especially when performing antique tragedy which can not be obtained with the same intensity in the glare of the footlights of a closed
 in theatre It is also a fact that the tastes of the public, especially in France. where the love of the drama is more cul- tured than in other countries. is grow ing in favor of this kind of spectacle which at least presents the attraction of novelty Certainly. never has here been such widespread interest in nature the atres' they termed at the present time"
 It would seem that in America the natural home of the nature theatre would be in the southern country. Our summer begins early. and continues so late, and nowhere outside of sunny France could there be found more riotous gar dens and more luXuriant foliage for the | pastoral plays. Could anything more pie turesque be imagined than the lovely | tropical park about the Country club as | a setting for As You Like It?"