The daily sentinel., 1907-04-29
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This evening at the Park opera
house Mr.. Hanford will give his mag
nificent production and performance
of the master tragedy of the Bard of
Avon. Julius Caesar A G0-foot
car conveys the elaborate stage set
tings, furnishings, etc, necessary for
historically correct and resplend-
antly beautiful embellishments of the
six acts of the great play.
The sale of seats has been extreme
ly heavy, the capacity of the house
being almost sold out and It will be
big audience that will greet Mr.
Hanford and Miss Drofnah on their
appearance in Grand Junction, hav-
ing visited this city annually for a
number OF years and being seen here
last year In "Othello.' Many theatre
parties from surrounding towns win
be in attendance tonight.
For years Mr.. Hanford has been
one of the best known and most sue
cessful actors of the country and as
an interpreter of the plays of Shake
speare he has but few equals.
Mr.. Hanford is an exceedingly
pleasant gentleman to meet and the
nov slleAN1A AAANA aAN a. . AAhA AtAAhlAA IA
meeting him. Few men are better
prepared to discuss in an unauthori-
tive sensible and clear way the pres
ent status of the dramatic world, its
characteristics, its Influence, its
teachings and its future. than MIR.
Hanford. In the course of a discus
sion along this line the Sentinel man
asked the distinguished actor, Mr.,
Hanford, what do you think of the
trend of the drama. musical comedy.
problem plays, etc, that stand out so
prominently in this day and timer
What do I think of the trend OF
the drama-muslcal comedy, problem
plays and the rest? I'm afraid I'm
too prejudiced to give an unbiased
opinion" was Mr. Hanford's answer
to the question.
Il have been on the stage for %
years and In all the time I have spent
but two years outside of Shake
spearean roles, md those two years
| count as wasted. OF course, n man
will easily fall into a rut. get to see
ing things one sided and all that, and
that's the reason l tried other roles
but I was never satisfied. There's
that about Shakespearean work that
continually drives an actor to better
efforts for he feels that his best WORK
dosen't bring out the great dramat
lists characters as they should be
given.
An actor is never satisfied until ht
/ has played Shakespeare and he IL
never satisfied that his best efforti
| has done justice to the subject
but. Mr.. Hanford," the write
suggested, "the majority of people
] 10 nYtHfnnRng tharn nri
marialy to be amused and doe
Shakespeare amuse-is 1t what the
want? OF course. its the thing 70
the student and those who are hon
estly or affectedly patrons of art. bu
do the general theatre goers wan
Shakespeare"
That you can figure out for your
self. Managers are. above all else
business men, and they give the peo
pie what they want because II 4
business. Follow that idea with tn
number of successful Shakespeareal
revivals chronicled during the pas
two years and you will see that peo
pie are wanting Shakespeare. AM
why shouldn't they? Is there an,
field of dramatic writing he has no
fully covered, and are not the sue
cessful dramatists to n great exten
working over his themesy There ar
none of his plots-barring, of course
his historical works-which coult
not be bodily redone with moderI
speech, scenes and costumes and b'
entertaining.
"In tragedy. Shakespeare is o
course the master playwright of time
In The Comedy OF Errors and Tam
ing of the Shrew' he has done farce
better than Hoyt or AIDE hav'
even aspired to do. In Much ADD
About Nothing he has done the typ
of society drama which Fitch II
known for, and in Midsummei
Nights Dream we've the progenitol
of musical comedy and extravaganza
minus. of course, the topical song bu
nevertheless the prototype of th'
thousand and one things in that line
which deluge the stage today.
81 am not sorry to say that | fint
no parallel i'm Shakespeare's writingl
for the problem play. am opposed
to the treatment of social problems II
/ the drama because no good can be ac
complished. Dramatists give no solu
ton. throw no light on the matter
add no new knowledge and end onll
/ bv creating a morbid curiosity In tht
,,b4act Tbose who are familiar will