The Hawaiian gazette., 1909-07-13
SUMMONS ELVES
BY MAGIC WAND


Hotel to hear the farewell recital of
Marshall Darrach, and, 10, the air was
peopled with sprites and elves, with
the most delicate fancies of the Eliz-
abethan magician whose wand was his
pen. The hoarse growing of Caliban
mingled with the plaintive love tones
of Miranda signing for her Prince
Charming, the noble Ferdinand. The
solemn, majestic voice of Prospero dom
mated the twentieth century audience,
and the trembling words of old Con
zalo, the faithful, awoke the affection
of the people of today as it deserved
that of his ancient friend of story.
Jolly, drunken old Stephano aroused the
| same merriment last night that his i'm
personation undoubtedly did some odd
| centuries ago when he made his appear
ance in buskin and unreal makeup on
| the open-air stage of the outskirts of
London with one Will Shakespeare as
| stage manager.
The selection by Marshall Darrach
| of The Tempest for his farewell re-
cital last night was a happy one, for
this most delightful of Shakespeare IS
| comedies gives the impersonator wide
range for the display of his talents
while the great dissimilarity of the
characters of the drama tax to the limit
the fexibility of his remarkably per-
| suasive voice.
Mr.. Darrach IS interpretations and in
terpretations as he proceeded with the
rendition of The Tempest were not
the least interesting part of the pro-
gram. His naturalness and avoidance
of stiffness and of posing combine with
the charm of his rich voice to delight
his hearers.
The character of Caliban, said Mr..
Darrach in one of his explanations of
the play, is one of the most significant
of all of Shakespeare IS characters. 1t
is the only one that the dramatist alb
soluteIy originated. All the rest-Por-
tia, Shylock Hamlet, Macbeth and the
host of others-are portraits either from
the life of Shakespeare IS time or from
history. Caliban has no prototypes; he
was born in Shakespeare IS Imagination.
One other observation of particular
interest, though one not original with
Mr. Darrach, the impersonator made in
the course of the program. Referring
to Prospero's farewell incarnation to
the spirits and his abjuration of his
powers over them, Mr.. Darrach stated
that this has significance greater
than appears on the surface. The
Tempest was one of the last, if not the
] last, of Shakespeare s plays, and this
farewell of Prospero to his familiars is
believed by many of the Shakespearean
critics to be also the farewell of the
Bard of Avon to his art.
The best received impersonation of
the program, one that won the hearty
applause of the audience, was Mr.. Oar.
rach's vocal portrait of Caliban the
monster of the isle, whose strange con-
tortions, wild strivings against the
bondage in which he was held by
PrOspero, vain efforts to understand the
cursed fate that forced him to obey
where he would rather have strangled,
beastlike growlings and mutterings it
took an artist to portray.
To change suddenly from the dulcet
tones of Miranda to the hoarse
grumblings of Caliban must have been
a severe tax on the vocal chords of the
impersonator, yet he shifted from one
to the other without apparent effort,
and then to the rich, low voice of
Prospero, the light gibbering of Trim,
culo, the maudlin popularity of Stephano,
, the age-weakened tremulo of old Con
zalo. The characters of Ferdinand, Sc.
bastian, Antonio and the other lesser
characters of the Tempest were natur-
ally much less difficult, and it some
times took quite an effort of the imag'
ination to transform the big, hearty
man in evening dress on the platform
into the airy fairy Ariel-though, as
to that, Mr.. Darrach explained that he
made no attempt to impersonate the
sprite on account of certain physical
defects that rendered him unsuited to
J the character.
All in all, Mr.. Darrach delighted his
audience with his recital of the play
He concluded by reciting three lyrics
of his own composition that were moi
the least pleasing portion of the enter
tainment. Two of these, ga Shell ano
a Song" and 81 Was Asleep" were
delicate love songs, while the third
"Two Ways of Looking at Things,
was humorous. Mr.. Darrach said il
I, was and he ought to know, for hi
; wrote it. Really, however, it wal
good, so his word may be taken for it
J. Mr.. Darrach leaves today on tn,
. Hilonian for the Coast, whence he will
:, go East to conclude his engagements
!. Later in the year he starts on tril
I. around the world, to the westward, tina
!, may bring him to Honolulu again. o.
d this, however, he cannot speak witt
!. certainty now. He says, however, tina
I. he hopes some time, at least, to be abb
:. to visit again this city where he ha
J. been SO well received.
!. Q . . . o Q I
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