Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1906-11-10
sneclnI correspondence.

nj could prove the uncommonness
of common sense more totally
than does popular belief In the
eccentrclty OF George Bernard sha"'
II will take at least ak plays hke
caesar and Cleopatra" produced by
Forbes Robertson and Gertrude Elii-
or last week al the New Amsterdam
together with the missionary work OF
| a hundred times as many dramtlc crit
| les, 10 persuade press-agent-beeulieu
public that shaw Is great deal more
respectable and permanent than any
fad could possibly be9 that 1t Is no'
his vision, but their own, that Is asus-
matte: that the Irish voltaire, like the
French voltalre, is a pretty earnest
| fighter against the various silly opih-
ions which humanity holds, not as
self-made. but as an inheritance
Caesar and Cleopatra" treats OF u
| Caesar and of 9 Cleopatra so radically
| different from the pair known OF Ola
to readers and theatergoers, mat the
most erudite OF our reviewers fell INTO
the error of calling the comedy q pur-
lesque. That II certainly Is not. Muoh
/ ~ the play seems so, merely because
We are so used to thinking OF Caesar
| us strange sort of deity that u be-
wilders us to have him presented as a
! human being. Shaw Introduces TO us
! Caesar not above the foibles and weak
nesses Of ordinary mankind-a Caesar
sensitive about his age and his tenden-
CIV to badness fond Of rocking his knee
while he ponders, wont to grandiloquize
| until his blunt-tongued officer, Rufo,
! afraid Of the dinner getting cold, re-
marks Now he VIII conquer AIrloa
! before we come 20 the roast boar Geo
| patra is equally ordinary and equally
| human, Shaw being, perhaps. the only
man In the world who really knows
! ANYTHING about women. ! Singularly
enough. this familiar treatment OF the
! Roman and the Egyptian does not
| make either ridiculous. Caesar IL nor
| the less great aud commanding be-
! cause he doesn't speak In blank verse
| and live with his right hand In the
| air. When shaw starts in TO be the
Shakespeare he does 1t quite success
| fully, some Of the conqucror's speeches
! M the third act being bits OF exquisite
! thought clothed IN faultless rhetoric.
There ISN'T much In the way OF what
| il ordinarily called "a story" In Gaze
sar aud Cleopatra" II there were,
shouldn't relate 1t to you, since you
| might better read the entire work In the
volume called Plays for Puritans"
| Caesar comes to Egypt and meets Cleo
| patra. He doesn't fall In love with her
| nor she with him. though the one Is
/ frankly pleased and the other quite
| willing 10 coquet. Caesar teaches the
| gIrl-auaen how to rule, gets her out OF
! a difficulty or two, sports philosophy 10
her and returns 10 Rome, promising 70
send her Mark Antony. Throughout,
| s;haw's holiness is so delightfully."- re-
| freshing and his wit so keen that the au-
| ditor leaves the theater with sense OF
mental intoxication.
Forbes Robertson's Caesar rs
| scarcely less admirable than his
| Hamlet Mr.. Robertson certain
! ~ is one OF the finest ac-
tors. if not the finest actor. on the
! English. speaking stage. His voice and
his reading alone would have made the
reputation of less literally endowed
player. Gertrude Elliott. whom l re-
| member as a rather liquid girl In An
| American Citizen has come back to
us most capable woman Her Cleopa-
ira Is touched with genius. Adeline
Bourne, Charles Langley, Sidney Car
isle, Percy Rhodes, Ian Robertson. and
A. II. Allen are the most conspicuous
examples of adequacy In the supporting
company The production is accurate,
! picturesque poetic, and imaginative.
] don't know how many people Will
| n kn. so
| only a vague idea as to how many Will
| pretend to enjoy 1t: but l am sure that
| nobody with ordinary intelligence, and
even a microscopic sense Of humor, has
the slightest excuse for not enjoying IT,.
For no better reason that | can dis
cover, than the fact that Chicago liked
the play, New York has refused to ac-
cept Lena Ashwell In THE Shulamite. Z"
The reviewers urge that the piece Is
gloomy--a fault that, with equal justice,
might be found In Hamlet" I can't
help wondering If they expected Ed
ward Knoblauch's powerful story of
Illicit passion to be eked out by an
Irish comedian and a Pony Ballet.
The Shulamite" Is on view at the
Lyric, where Miss Ashwel has made
her debut In New York. Deborah Kril-
|
the author works out his tale, Is mar
ried TO Simeon Krillet, a farmer liv-
ing in the TransvaaL Simeon is fond
OF his wife, but he has the South At
rican idea of the necessity for ruling
his women, and he has frequently beat
en- Deborah. An English overseer, Rob-
ert Warning, tells Deborah that this Is
not right-that no man has the right
to strike his wife. She swears that she
VIII not be beaten again, and, when
Simeon raises his whip above her head
| an hour later, she saves herself by the
lie that she is about 10 bear his child
The old Boer longs for a son, and his
attitude toward the woman altered at
once. IL is too late, however. Deborah
has fallen In love with Waring and he
with her Discovering his passion,
Warning starts to ride away. He leaves
behind a diary, In which Simeon reads
of the overseers struggle against his
passion for Deborah. Simeon tells this
TO the wife, who, instead OF being
cries out against the departure Of the
man she loves. She confesses to her
husband that there IL to be no child;
that she hates him; that she worships
Robert Warning. what shall I do?'
demands Simeon. A terrific clap OF
thunder Is his answer. II will kill you,''
he shouts to Deborah. God has spoken
In the thunder That lightning WIS
the judgment Of Godl"He goes for a
weapon. While he Is gone. Waring re-
turns. THE Judgment of God" has
| struck down his horse and sent him