The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-06-28
WHEN =" HAMLET" WAS
FAR FROM MELANCHOL Y
(Chieago liner Oceanl

anecdotes relating how the tragedy of
Hamlet" was turned into a farce by
some untoward event. or how it was
presented in some freakish fashion
On one occasion the whole balance of
the last act of the tragedy was COM
pletely upset by a wag in the gallery.
Claudius had just detained the words,
And let the kettle to the trumpet
speak; the trumpet to the cannoneer
without" when an ardent god" gave
startling imitation OF a blast upon
cOrlet. which not only sent the audi
ence into commissions, but upset the
kingly gravity of the Danish court.
Probably the most amazing presenta-
ton of Hamlet" is that which took
place in the reign of George III at the
Kilkenny theatre. MI Kearnes the
Manager man evidently indisposed
TO allow his patrons TO suffer under any
sense of national grievance-announced
the tragedy as written and composed
by the celebrated Dan Hayes of Lin
erick, and inserted in Shakespeare's
works"
With fine perception of the need of
comic relief, Mr.. Kearnes, who PLAYED
the Dane, performed between the acts
several solos on the patent bagpipes,
which play two tunes at the same
time" and the Ophelia Mrs. Prior)
wove into her impersonation such emf
nently Danish ditties as THE Lass of
Richmond Hill" and Lets Be Unhap-
py Together from the oddities of
Mr.. Dibbin."
Polonius was advertised as "a COM
ical politician" and was represented
by "a young gentleman" The charac-
ters at the Kilkenny Royal were
dressed in Roman shapes" but the
parts of the king and queen were omit
ted, by direction of the Rev. Father
O'Callaghan, ''as being too immoral
for any stage" Mr.. Kearnes politely
announced that tickets could be taken
OUT in candles, bacon, soap, butter,
cheese and potatoes"
Mr. Gilbert. in his 'Rosencrantz and
Gutldenstern" travesty. has declared
Hamlet to be 'fdiotically sane" with
lucid intervals of lunacy." The latter
quality occasionally pervades the audi
ence. George Weir, a comedian of the
Benson company, related that in his
early days he was appearing as the
Dane in an improvised theatre at
Stroud, in Worcestershire, and suffered
much embarrassment from the demon
strative attentions of an enthusiastic
former schOOlfellOw, who sat in the
comment on the performance
That be Gargy Weir" exclaimed the
admirer; i knows Gargy! 1 used to
go 10 school along wi he"
After many expostulatiOns the inter-
rupter was turned out, and all went
well until the audience was hushed to
deadly silence while Hamlet was going
through his soliloquy. Then suddenly
a still. small voice came cheerfully
from the back row of seats:
Cargo! l be in again.
Over half a century ago Miss Percy
Knowles made an effort to play Ham
let" and was so bad that country
manager issued a notice warning his
patrons against seeing the perform
ance! Young Hengler, a member of the
Famous circus family, in 1851 performed
the character to the Ophelia of Mrs.
Charles BOyce and the First Grave
digger of Mr. DOel, a veteran who died
in 1902 at the age of SO. He afterward
danced the tight ropei This was an
nounced as an evening of contrastive
talent '-and the circumstances certain
ly justified it.
The tragedy has been made depen-
dent upon canine attractions as its pre-
dominant features, and at the Dead
Hole"-otherwise the queens, in Tot
tenham street, afterward the home of
the BancrOfts. and now the place where
the handsome La Scala stands-the
great Jack Matthews was at one time
strong attraction. This gentleman
was proud of the distinction of being
the only Dog Hamlet" and his faith
full hound-which distinguished itself
IN such works as THE Forest of Bon
dy' and "FOOtpad Joe, the Terror of
Charing Cross; or, The Dog of the Abb
10
ments of ElsinOTe and subsequently,
throttled King Claudius in the final
scene, amid thunders of applause. Only
80 years ago at Drury Lane a similar
incident was enacted in Andrew Halli-
days Richard Occur de Lion" where
a dog found himself the guardian of
the honor of England, being placed in
possession of the national flag. The
dastardly Marquis of Montserrat-
played by Mir. Sinclair-was pinned TO
the ground by the worthy animal the
instant he strove to seize the emblem
An English provincial COMPANY. he
ing short OF members, has been known
to play Hamlet in an Arrangement
by which Laertes did not appear until
POlonius was killed, and it was the
easiest thing in the world for the First
GraVedigger TO add to his responsible
ties those Of the Ghost. It is said that
Sothern, IN his young days at JERSEY
once appeared as Laertes, the Ghost
and the Second Actor He also PLAYED
Hamlet and Osric. In fact, the state
ment has been made that TO this lat
ter character is TO be attributed the
world wide success of Lord Dundrearv.
which, originally a small part, became
a highly colored development of the
inanities of the silly courtier in Ham
let"
The funniest of all, however. must
have been that performance at Silver's
theatre, Dublin, which Kipling de-
scribes, where the drunken soldier
broke up the show by shouting:
"Hamlut! Hamlutl Fer tn Inv of
GaWd, pull up y'r socksi"
THE VILLAGE BELLE.