The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-08-16
SHAKESPEARE in SUMMER TIME

New York. Aug. 14.-Ben Greet Il an
English actor of some histrionic ability
ana great deal of business shrewdness.
de appreciates the commercial value of
the unusual, of the learnrdly superior.
ana, above all, of the implied endorse
ment OF college faculty and the i'm
pressive shadow of a university build
ing. Mr.. Greet maintains a company
OF intelligent English actors. of about
the grade of good American cut-rate
stock company, and trains them palms.
-takingly In. Shakespeare. Having ac-
complished this, he envelopes them in
the unusual. and prOclaimS loudly their
intellectual elevation. their scholastic
superiority to the Shakespearean un-
dertakings of the best of English and
American stars. In the winter he sur
rounds them with a draped stage, in
place of the usual scenery, and dresses
them, be they the Scots of old King
Duncan, the Britons Of mad King Lear
or the Roman mob of Antony, in the
garb of Shakespeare's day. The &C
curacy of Mr.. Greet's performances
Tin the Elizabethan manner" has been
argued and wrangled out with equal
vehemence, disagreement and data The
fact, OF course. is that instead OF Civ
ing us a clear and simplified view of
1.-THE plays as Shakespeare intended
them" they result in a little more than
curiosity a representation of the
manner of stage production at an ear
Tier day, in fact, the confusion of a play
within a play.
But all that is not now to be con-
sidered. II is midsummer, and Mr.
Greet has been entertaining us with a
week OF much Shakespeare, enhanced
with abundant oddly. The Greet Eliz-
abethans become, in summer time, the
Woodland Players. Thereupon, when
not acting here or there in the grounds
surrounding the country homes of the
more wealthy. they are engaged on
diligent search for colleges. One once
found, the rest is easy. The shadow
cast by university Is, to a Woodland
Player. as water to a fish. This week
the shadow has been cast by the nu-
merous and imposing buildings of CO.
lumbia university, on the upper west
eide Of New York City. and it has so
thrilled and refreshed the Woodlanders
that they have given two plays a day
throughout the week; Twelfth Night"
THE Tempest" '"The Merry Wives of
Windsor" and "As You Like It. being
those selected. Now ii happens that
this summer, here in New York, has
made itself famous-better, of course,
say infamous-fOr an unprecedented
thrush of mosquitoes-and mosquitoes,
too. of most vicious habits. They, nat
urally. wanted to see the educational
Woodlanders. So, of evenings, the more
human spectators are supplied with
Joss sticks to defend their mere bodies
while their minds are being elevated.
X x
Let us, though, go TO a matinee. loss
~frlrl
delightful play to select to see acted
beneath the clear sky among the trees.
Approaching. in the August sun, CO.
lumbia's south field. we find no crowd
of boys peeping through knot holes in
the tall wooden fence, nor are any
percned In trees to steal view over
IT. In fact, all is orderly. almost, in
deed, forlorn. We, being a little late,
wake up the ticket seller and, secur-
ing seat J29, enter. Nobody seems to
want the ticket. In fact, we find no
one at the entrance. We think il best
TO trace our lonely way past a sort of
lodge, through a maze of some trees
and many canvas screens, by following
the line of string of Japanese Ian
terms. This proves wise for, presently,
we find ourselves in an open space,
slightly enclosed at either side by oc-
casional large trees. and occupied by
numerous audience, 500 men. and wo-
men, probably, seated semi-circularly
on camp chairs. No one seems to want
our ticket: but being honest and, in
any case. our money having gone in
payment for IL, we insist upon giving it
10 some one. This detains us from i'm
khediately observing the play in prog
ress ON a grassy mound at the far end.
We observe, rather, the audience. a
- H..N1
tain age, seated with cocky Irregular
ity, due TO the somewhat unfirm camp
chairs on humpy ground, patchy with
grass. dry earth and sawdust On a
mound at the left, sitting cross-legsed
on the grass. and some lying on IL. are
twenty or so young chaps, evidently of
the college.
In the center Of the amphitheatre is
a splendid old tree Around 1t in a
square is a rope, sup
ported by firm posts at the corners
Perhaps someone there would take the
ticket for J29? We go around to con-
slider the several persons seated on the
other side OF the enclosure. facing the
natural stage. We find them to BE-
ehree ladies seated behind numerous
Ind nervous array of young Rooscvelts
The presidents sons are hanging on
the rope, showing admirable repression,
barring. perhaps, the youngest who
having found joss stick still capable
of burning, appears 10 fin1 II more di-
verting than Shakespeare. Mrs Roose-
welt, with the impersoual charm and
serene manner Of a British royalty
opening a baZar. holds a large bouquet
Of red roses, very handsome and very
formal
Having at last. and 4 little later,
found someone who would consent to
take our tickets, let us observe the play.
A natural. broad, grassy mound serves
for a stage. A tall tree
rises on either side. and for the rest. a
hedSe of bushes and
fresh branches has been arranged. |
Here and there in the foliage are
breaks broad enough to serve as en-
frances. Two tree stumps are on the |
stage for seats and, when required, 9th |
.r slight furnishings. necessary to the |
scenes. are brought in and ouu by for |
rosters. 1t is all very pretty. That is. |
L is II one looks at only the right spots |
Behind the stage. ana. also. To the |
rorth, the handsome buildings of the
college form background almost as eff /
'ective as the truly sylvan surround |
ngs in which one sometimes sees the |
Greet players. But to the south are |