New-York tribune., 1907-12-03

that have passed away? Were they Forrest,
Brooke Davenport, Booth. Mccullough, Barrett,
Waliack, Burton, Warren Gilbert, Irving. Mans
held? With Shakespeare" says signor Novelh.
L did only some cutting which was necessary to
make him. for the frst time popular in Italy"
Modest indeed notion had been current that.
whiie slgnor NovelH yet a youth, his great
leader Salvinf had, at least accomplished
thlhe py way OF making the Shakespearian alter
atoms popular" in Italy. signor Noveln
not yet to have discovered that Shakespeare great
ciaidcter1' without exception, whether they
tne faiilsht OF Denmark Britain, Venice
<N'iehs are essentially, Anglo-Saxon in their
nature the experiences may be those of universal
human life: the nature which in Shakespeare is
SUBJECTED TO those experiences is not
Inc custom among actors Of writing about act
!Is iaS oeeh carried to ridiculous extreme. Act
ing that requires diagram and footnotes bv tbs
performer OF it Is not good acting. It is becoming
especially wearisome to have foreigners who visit
o"i country instruct us not only as to the mean
-e anu purposes or art, but TO the meaning ana
iPoSes OF our own dramatic literature Tbs
provincial gratitude with which their nronounce
ments are sometimes received is sing,i,or g.
oi ule Things done by foreigners and MANY of Tho
Ni4-ss sdiu ny them would releSate an English
speaking actor 10 the regions of the tail timber
and the corner grocery.
The play of "OthelIo', i, ,o,. -, - .
the greatest play ever written-is ro+ on o,,
0Aie- II can easily be made repulsfve Unless an
pIoached IN spirit of religious since-it,, ~ ,,os
i "ottef pe not approached at all. The freouentIy
s euiiIs instruction as to what it is and what it
tS 'i3t comes from sunny Italy is becoming
uresome- We-who do not know ,-o,r ,ap,y,,,oo,
"e-ihto whose language Shakespeare cannot he
Translated; In whose language therefore Shake
speaFe ooes not exist: we-wflo regard YOUR Anglo
saxon nature as cold and formal. who do not COM
pieiehu II: we-who have proved, over and over
again. that our standard of excellence in dramatic
art is the perfection of mere photography and not
Ilo poSsesslon and exercise of great imaginative
iacuIty, making perfect perSonat,on possible: We
VINO have not grasped the obvious fact that every
great character in Shakespeare is in nature Anglo
saxon: We VIII rescue you from your benighted
sIatei We viii tell you what your Shakespeare
means: WE will teach you how to act him. ana
how TO act everything else!
A word IN behalf of the right standard of iudg-
eht and taste in English Literature and in acting
shouid not be understood either assertion or in
actor-within his limitations On the contrary he
IS an excellent actor. He possesses uncommon tai
eht ana great experience. He plays many parts
aohhrapiy we'll His Conrado is impersonation
or exceptional worth: is his Louis XI. His act
ing In Papa Lebonnard is capital: it is in THE
benencent Bear and more-it is delightful, But
his acquaintance with the conceptions of Shake
speare Is imperfect, He shows clearly and well the
ideals that he has formed of Othello, Hamlet. Shy
lock, and King Lear, but those ideals are wrong
ana they are such as do not require great acting
for their expression; those ideals be justi
ned by an appeal TO 1.-The point OF view" There is
but one way in which those great characters can
be greatly represented, and that is the right way
the way in which they were drawn by the poet
who drew them Meanwhile, all persons who like
to study acting should Signor Noveln They
VIII see him at his best, and enjoy his acting most
If they him in high and light comedy, in Louis
and The Bear