Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-04-04
IN LONDON THEATERS.


s,ucciaI Correspondence.
ONION. March 25.-Judging
10y the storm OF controversy
which has been aroused by ire
mere suggestion that monn-
rlent To Shakespeare should be erect
Cd In London. there seems little lllIoli-
hood that the worthy gentleman who
proposed that S5oO,OoQ should ec
raised for that purpose, will ever sue
tced IN collecting anything Hike that
amount. When the leading lights Of
the literary and dramatic world OK
lbit such divergence of opinion as
to what would constitute the most ap-
rropriato memorial Co tho immortal
bard. the general public viii eagerly
grasp the excuse afforded for declln-
ing to ahell out anything.
Thus rnr the schemc has evoked
much more enthusiastic opposition than
support William Archer the pundit
of British dramatic critics, has come
out flat-footed agains, IT, ut Is abb
surd," lie says, TO raise an inert and
lifeless monument TO Shakespeare
while he lacks the living monument OF
u national thcatcr where his works
might be worthily presented" Fur
thermore, he does not believe an
English sculptor could be found cup-
able OF doing justice to Shakespeare
In marble. Sir John Hare faVors a
national theater and considers the
proposed memorial inadequate. un-
dignihed and absurd" Plncro sneers
at a heap OF statuary" II. G. Car
ton is opposed To founding Il national
theater either In memory of Shake
speare or anybody else" He is for
the statue. Arthur Symons. on tho
other hand. is of the opinion that q
statue would be "a public desecratiun
to the memory of one whose worl; Is
already his sufficient monument" Sir
Theodore Martin thinks we have the
aters enough already and wants a
statue. Zaugwill says, Nothing IS
worthy of Shakespeare except Il ne-
tional thcater' Sir Charles WYnd-
ham, who ought to know, says that u
rational theater would cost too much
and would prove unsatisfactory he
cause ii would be unable to command
tie services of the best artists owing
Ia their strongly developed commer-
ojal Instincts. Alfred Austin, the
poet laureate, has invoked his feeble
muse against the memorial scheme.
He says:
"Rear pedestats to pcrIsnaole a;uM
Gods for themselves are monume Mt
enough
That first line may be used here
after az a plea for putting marble
Austin on u pedestal some day Put
anyhow he is dead against doing any
thing in marble for Shakespeare
1t is highly improbable that the
present memorial scheme Will meet
with any better success than die ~
kindred effort which was made 50
IND
tial backing, King George ~ was
president of the committee formed to
carry the project through, while the
Duke of wellington, the Duke of
Devonshire AMI Viscount PalmerstOn
figured among the vice presidents and
the general committee included Sir
Walter Scott Thomas Moore, 5. y.
Coleridge, Washington Irving. and
Kemble Keane, Macready and Charles
Matthews Tho preliminary prospec-
tts. which was issued in 1923, stated
that his majesty, "deeming that trib-
ute alone" Ca projected mauSOleum ut
Siratford-on-AVon) 'an insufficient
testimony of the surpassng genius of
Shakespeare has been pleased to ap-
prove q proposition for erecting an
other monument IN the metropolis
worthy at once of the poet and Of the
nation" But the nation received the
proposal with Indifference and do
clined to subscribe though at thai
time admiration for Shakespeare had
rot risen 10 those sublime attitudes,
viewed from which a marble memorial
seems inadequate and absurd
Sidney Grundy says the day OF the
CLEVER play is past BY the clever
play he means any play that makes
audiences think and does more than
merely amuse. People are bored II
death with your clever playwrights,"
he declares. ''rhey come to the thea
ter to be amused and not to think
or to work out problem. Drop
your chatter about literature and cleN-
erness and let the dlanatlSts amuse
the public. Ii they do that we shall
hear no more about the public desert
ing the theater for the music hall.
To amuse is the sole object Mr., Grun
dy has had I'm view i'm the play he has
written for Mrs. Laugtry in which, nj
Easter. she win make her first APP
pearance on London stage after an
absence OF three years, JIG Is a light
comedy in three acts, conveying no les
son. containing no serious interest and
presenting no thrilling situations,
Wherefore both the author and
the actress are sanguine that
it VIII catch on. The part
to be played by Mrs. Langtry is
that of an up-to-date Wife full of mod
orn ideas. who. after trying to live up
happily with her husband. There are
only four other characters i'm the piece,
thus bringing II into line, SO far as
shortness of cast rs concerned, with
Hubert Henry Davies The Mollusc'
and Mr. GrunGy's former comedy, "a
Marriage Of Convenience" The play
viii afford Mrs Lanetry an oppurtun
sttU