The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-08-07

Anew YORK. July 6ENOt all the
IN theatrical summer gardening in
broadway is devoid of dramatic Gull
ture. Four miles above the clump OF
roof gardens nOrtherly, measuring
along the street level, but more than
that higher by literary grade Column
bia university deVOtes patch or IT'S
ground 10 the growth of things intel
lectually good for the stage As the
program puts IL, Columbia UNIVERSE
u. department Of English. presents
the Coburn players Primarily TINS
is done for those cOlleg ans VINO con
tinue their studies through the sum
mer. Just now. however the enter
prise takes ON a business aspect with
seats for whoever Will buy at three
quarters Of dollar 10 a dollar and
half apiece. The actors are hired
especially for their Evolutionary SKI.
SO as 10 let the audience hear the
English or standard pays spoken cor
rectly. The repertOry has four
Shakespeare comedies. translated
Greek tragedy and new piece.
Percy MacKaye. son OF the steele
MacKaye who was the Colonel sell
Iers of the theatrical profession ana
business thirty years ago. wrote
comedy with Dan Chaucer, England S
nrst poet laureate, for its hero. The
younger MacKaye, in his fiction unc-
tured with history made Chaucer
dreaming idealist, a romantic roamer
incognito, who stole away from Lon
don 10 Canterbury at the time of a
church WEI come 10 knights returning
from Palestine. Mackaye's amDluoh
was 10 t,rn out a composition mat
scholars would admire. and in that
respect he did not fall IN negative
proof OF which no dollar-eounung
manager WOULD put The Canterbury
Pilgrims on the stage and its appre-
ciatOrs hcVe been its readers only, eX-
cepting when several scholastic inst1-
tutions il has been acted quietly.
As saw il at the Columbia unlver-
sity's theatrical summer garden, The
Canterbury Pilgrims" would have
tickled the people just then assembled
at any one OF the ''revues' geOgraph-
ically and metaphOrically lower IN
Broadway, for they would have guyed
its mishaps. which made the univer-
sity folk merry without affecting their
consideration OF the plays own quail
Ties.
OF Course, il Rained.
This garden is neither on nor IN
der a roof. A stage is set on a wood
ed slope. with foliage only for scene
~. And il rained. Oh, of course, II
rained. Not so heavily as TO drive
the performance into an adjacent
hall, but in SCATTERING little showers
that sent part OF the mOdish women
10 cover several times. for their toll
lets sake. while mothers raised UNI
brellas that hid the stage and left the
actors 10 be heard. bur not seen once
the play was stopped. I'VE think it's
a mere sprinkle" said Dan Chaucer,
coming out his pOesy into the dis
turbing prose. and that we viii fin
ish out here in the open air"
The rain ceased in five minutes,
the whole audience reseated itself
and Chaucer resumed an imaginative
passage about the April beauties OF
nature. At that instant the final and
heaviest rain of the evening suggest
ed April showers so aptly that a roar
OF laughter silenced the poet. Yet
nothing funny turned this cultured
audiences regard for the composition
into Fidicule.
IS -The Canterbury Pilgrims
then. a masterpiece OF dramatic writ
ing? IN my Judgment there is no call
for rhapsody over il. Its merits are
uncommon, though, and the best or
them is its appropriate diction, with
Gull wit for yOkels, keen wit for the
lords and ladies and flights OF char
acteristic fancy for Dan Chaucer.
But indiscriminate people would see
no more than an imitation of Eliza
bethan drama. with clOds like
Shakespeare too obtrusive and
sentimental complication that would
do for q musical farce Of the present
day The company. 1 guess has been /
imported from English provincial
practice under some rigid master; |
for an equal number of unframed YET
proficient American elocutionists /
couldnt be assembled; and the !