New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1909-09-20
LEAR AT HAYMARKET
Artistic Production-Norman Nc
KinneI IN Tragedy.
London, September IL.


has designed costumes and scenery for King
Lear and he is artist of imaginative power,
who knows how TO suggest the primitive SIM
plicity Of barbarism. The primal hints for Lear's
palace, GlOucester's castle and Albany's palace
he has found in the massive remains of Stone
henge. These stone structures are rough, rude
and strong and the coarsely clad BritOns Of the
sovereign's wildwood court equally at home
in them and in the dense forests and among
silent cliffs Druidical palaces and courts, wood
land and heath. howell camp and cliff follow one
another in quick succession during the progress
of the five acts: and while the contrasts are
more conspicuous than the blends of color in
Celtic costumes and scenes there is a sense of
completeness and harmony In the representation
of primitive barbaric grandeur. COlors are
massed in rough hewn palaces and gloomy for
ests with elemental crudeness in accord with
the spirit Of tragedy. Mr.. Norman O'NeiIls in
cidental music with weird refrain and clashing
notes, accentuates the impression Of scenery and
acting. Mr.. Herbert Trench has succeeded with
the help of artist and musician in illustrating
the play most effectively 1t is not an expensive
production; vet the solemn heath, with its gigan-
tic monoliths. and the sloping chalk cliffs. with
their tranquil verdure and rich mists of sunlight.
linger in the memory as perfect pictures of
austere beauty
The tragedy is enacted with simplicity and
cumulative force as denotement OF human
misery There is no actor manager TO convert
il into a one-part play. The ensemble is more
noticeable than individual work. Subordinate
parts are not sacrificed for the sake of putting
the leading actor in the centre. There is old
man with human weaknesses dividing his king
dom and wranging with his daughters over
trihes; and the play goes on and ingrates
become tigresses and there are outbreaks Of
4
the heath is filled with the war OF elements the
King finds out what his daughters and loses
his reason. 1t is not much a psychological
study Of the breaking up Of a mind as pathetic
revelation of the widest reach OF human an
guish and despair Every player acts earnestly
and has thought his way into his part: but there
are few theatrical poses. no lines are over
accumulated. and every one is content with con-
tributing something to the symmetry and com
pletcness Of the work as an artistic whole. II
there are no passages OF fervid eloquence. no
inspired moments for either Lear or Cordelia.
the balancing OF values and sense Of tonality are
perfect In the acting In the stage pictures.
Seldom are Shakespeare's works enacted in this
way. The harmonious effects must de due 20
Mr. Trenchs influence. for the majority OF his
players are accustomed to modern drama, with
its artificial conventions. and have not been
trained on the Shakespeare stage.
Mr. Norman McKinne is the Lear not per-
haps. great one as the traditions OF the English
stage run but a highly Intelligent and deeply
affecting one He has the stature. physique and
voice requisite for the part, but lacks the touch
Of inspiration with which Sir Henry Irving and
Edwin Booth Illuminated their approximations OF
the mad King and commanded pity and sym
patty for unmitgated misery. A; the outset
Lear is portrayed hale. robust man. with
steady gaze motionless hands and every indi-
cation OF sanity Petulaut and irritable. he re-
sents COrdelias silence and the ingratitude and
heartlessness Of Regain and Goneril. but While
his wrath - furious the voice IS under control
and reason is not unbalanced II the cursing
scene, IN which the great Lears have produced
a tremendous effect by intensity OF emotion and
outhursjs - frenzied anger. seems defective in
power. the intimations Of coming insanity and
the Kings own consciousness OF the impending
horror Indicated with remarkable subtlety.
The homely. human traits and weaknesses are
brought out with unaffected skin. and toward
the end senile helplessness and a semblance of
royal dignity even after the downfall OF mind
are finely expressed. His inpersonation has
lacked tenderness and poetic quality. yet 1t is
stagecraft OF exceptional merit and resource
especially in the tent scene with Cordelia and
in the lamentations over the faithful daughters
death
The supporting players on the opening night
Co-operated Loyalty with Mr.. McKinnel in this
most complex and difficult production. Miss
Ellen OMalley lacked the electric personality
M Miss Ellen Terry. yet WAS sweet gracious
and sympathetic Cordelia, with more charm
than power Miss Ada Ferrar. the cruel.
fierce relentless Goneri and Miss Marie Polini.
as the more flexible and serpentine Regain.
brought out plainly two strongly contrasted
characters. Among the men MFR. Fisher White
was particularly effective the nervous. high
strung Cornwall; Mr.. Charles V. France acted
with naturalness and manly force the exiled
Kent; and Mr. Quartermaine and Mr.. james
Hearn played with intelligence and versatility
as the mock mad Edgar and Gloucester. Mr.
Hignett made the Fool mailman. and that de-
prived the mordant lines of their acrid humor
and took away from the character much of it's
picturesque and poetic quality. Mr.. Dawson
after a protracted apprenticeship in
modern drama, found himself cast for Shake
speare part. and succeeded in making the treach-
erous Edmuns plausible and interesting. All the
players seemed to have caught the cue that they
were to look and act like overRrown savage
children living in the primeval simplicity Of the
youth OF the world They belonged in the plct-
ure Of monoliths and forest wilds with the white
cliffs reddenng at sunset and the lightning set
ting the barren heath afiame
The production OF king Lear has been fol
lowed by the usual criticism that IL is a trag-
edy 10 be read i'm the library and not To be
enacted on the modern stage There were sim
liar comments when Irving tried the experiment.
at the Lyceum. seventeen years ago. and when
Salvinl and Booth enacted the principal part i'm
America and England Barry, Kean. Garrick |
and all the great masters of the stage in heir
time have been reminded of the limitations OF
human endurance when the most tragic of Eng
fish tragedies had 10 he witnessed from the |