Albuquerque morning journal., 1907-02-11
ACTOR HAS PLAYED
SHAKESPEARE
q YEARS
HANF0RD THINKS ROLES
CALL FOR ONES BEST
Believes Two Years Spent in
Other Work WaSted--FindS
No Parallel for the Problem
Play,

NO Pafalel Tor the PROBLEM
Play,
Charles b Hanford. who appears
here tonight in Elks' theater as Mare
Antony" in Julius Caesar" arrived
in the city yesterday with Mrs. Han
/ ford and is stopping at the Alvarado,
registering from Philadelphia.
Mr.. Hanford is an enthusiastic de-
votee and admirer of the Bard of
! Avon, having spent twenty-three out
of the twenty-five years OF his stage
career in Shakespearean roles. He
talks most interestingly of the Ameri-
can drama as it is today. When asked
as to his opinion of the trend of the
drama. musical comedy and problem
plays and the rest, Mr. Hantord said:
I'm afraid I'm too biased TO give
an unbiased opinion.
81 have been on the stage for TWEEN
| ty-tive years and in all the lime | have
spent but two years outside of
Shakespearean roles, and those two
years l count as wasted. OF course,
man will easily fall into rut, get to
seeing things one-sided and all that,
and that's the reason | tried other
| roles, but | was never satisfied. There IS
that about Shakespearean work that
continually drives an actor To better
effort for he feels that his best work
doesn't fully bring out the great dra-
matist's characters as they should be
given,
"An actor is never satisfied until he
has played Shakespeare, and he Is
never satisfied that his best effort has
done Justice To the subject"
/ s'Put Mr. Honford - IL was Sup-
gested, "the majority of people who
I form audiences are there primarily ia
/ be amused. and does Shakespeare
/ amuSe-is it what they want OF
I course. it's the thing for the student
( and those who are honestly or affect
! edly patrons of art. but do the general
/ theatcr- goers want Shakespeare ?"
! THAT YOU can figure out for your
self. Managers are. above all else
/ business men. and they give the peO-
/ pie what theN want. because it is bus
1 mess, Follow that idea with the num-
I Der of successful Shakespearean re-
vivals chronicled during the past two
/ years and you will see that the peo-
pie are wanting Shakespeare. And
why shouldn't they? Is there any field
of dramatic writing he has not fully
| covered, and are not the successful
dramatists to a great extent working
! over his themes? There are none OF
his plots. barring of cQuse his histor-
zeal works. which could not be bod
ilv redone With modern speech. scenes
and costumes. and be entertaining
In tragedy, Shakespeare is OF
course. the master playwright OF time
In THE Comedy of Errors" and
Tanning of the Shrew," he has done
far better than Hoyt or Ade have
even aspired to do. In Much Ado
About Nothing" he has done the type
of society drama which Fitch Is knowr
for, and in Midsummer Nights
Dream" we've the progenitor of mu.
steal comedy, an eXtravaganza, minus
of course, the topical song, but ney'
ertheless prototype of the thousand
and one things in that line which
deluge the stage today.
81 am not sorry to saw that ! fine
no parallel i'm Shakespeare's writings
for the problem play. | am opposed
to the treatment of social problem,
in the drama because no good can be
accomplished. Dramatists give no so
luton throw no light on the matter
and no new knowledge and end BY
only creating a morbid curiosity in the
subject Those who are familiar Will
diseased social condition, are famil,
lar with the effects Of that maladN
and they learn nothing Of profit by
seeing II. one need not live the life
of the socia! outcast to know thai
there is such in life. little but misery
and if by chance there are among
those who see such drama, or whC
previously knew nothing of the con
dition depicted. in that one is aroused
an unhealthy interest which Is regret
table.
# remember a case year or two
ago, had attended play given un-
der the title THE Absinthe Drinker,'
and the author asked me what
thought of the production i think i
is 4 bad thing, | answered because
there are amonP those who. seeing
the absinthe drinker in a.! his Joyous
delirium, observing such brilliant
brain pictures and experiencing new
iand abnormal sensations, many who
having no previous knowledge of abb
sinthe. will he seized with a curiosity
to try for themselves this new thing.
80 | think, IT Is with girls an(
young women and the heroines O
+ checkered caieer. Such characters ar,
; portrayed with a glamour and ro
nance which Is entirely a fgment o
the writer's brain. but the matlne,
devotee does not realize that. There
Is in every human brain a desire fol
H excitement, the UNIQUE. the different
and because the lives of most prop
erly reared and conditioned younl
woman are so nearly alike. there L
danger in the appeal to the garish III
Of he eourtesan or her less pro
! nounced prototype in the societ.
| drama.
"But the church can do mucii il
this line Whenever the churcl
| ceases to condemn the stage indis
/ criminately. and vet positively con
demns that which Is morbid. and un
wholesome. and commends that whlcl
Is pure and good and uplifting. thel
we shall see better things on tn
stage. Managers are not 20 blame, 70
| they cannot be expected to lost none
forcing on peonle what the people d
not want. and | can say this for them
that | never knew a manager from
/ the ""eatcst and hest down to tn
/ keeper of the lowest variety hall. witt
EkNouldnit rather give his audience pooi