New-York tribune., 1911-10-01
5 THEATRE 0GL 6 wv. S. M 80 - - T ~ F @

and forlorn Queen tortured with re-
morse.
In the actual stage version the muir
! der scene is enacted in front Of huge
door leading into the courtyard. and
broad fight Of stone steps in the centre
points to the royal apartments, with
pa ssages to side galleries. At the side
Of the courtyard there Is the winding
staircase Of a turret, and II is there
that Macbeth sees the dagger in air
and in whispers takes counsel with his
wife. Through the great door above
each passes from the secret lair on the
bloody business Of numbering the King
and replacing the daggers so as to throw
suspicion on the grooms. A scene Of
dramatic intensity was broken by the
knocking at the gate. the porters ribald
tests and the ciangor Of the alarm bell.
Mr.. Craig has drawings and models OF
the same scene. in which larger use ls
made Of blank spaces and dark masses,
and a more direct attempt is made 10
supply with bare simplicity the awe
inspiring environment of fateful trag-
edy. He has illustrated with immen-
sity Of wall spaces and solemnity of
shadow the dramatst's lyrical flow OF
relentless ambition and remorse. The
background for acting Of tragic inten-
sitv is supplied but the actor-manager
has not been allowed floor space and
stairway for grouping courtiers and
singers around the King or for handling
the stage crowd when Macduff tolls the
bell and proclaims the murders.
It is easy to understand why these de-
signs were not considered available for
stage use without radical changes which
Mr.. Craig was unwilling to make, and
also why the movement represented BY
the drawings for Hamlet" Julius
Cesar" "The Tempest Dido and
,F5neas" Caesar and Cleopatra ana
other plays and operas is making slug
gisb headway. The ordinary stage
manager does not believe that the art
If the actor can be stimulated by neu-
tral backgrounds, nor the sympathies
oc the audience touched by the manage
ment Of vertical spaces and masses OF
shadow He insists upon making trag-
edv as pleasant as possible by beauty Of
scene painting and by matching of cOlors
in costumes. and does not give specta-
tors credit for having either the knowl-
edge or The sensibility required for in
terureting the motives Of drama or the
psvchology of character. He is CON
WINGED by the experience Of the box
Office that there is no money in poetic
drama and blank walls, and depends
upon variegated effects Of color, vivacity
of movement in well drilled stage crowds
and the loveIiness OF stage pictures to
draw playgoers in quest OF recreation
and to nay for a sumptuous and costly
mounting.
Ellen Terry's son. with an instinct for
the theatre and conviction that all the
arts should he employed together for the
expression Of beauty, has definite ideas
of stage reform in advance OF the time
When Sir Henry Irving and Sir Herbert
Tree have taken counsel with Sir Law
renee Alma Tadema, Mr.. Hubert Won
Herkomer and Mr. Edwin O. Sachs FOR
the Improvement Of stage borders ana
back cloths and the production Of deco
rative pictures, they have been satisfied
with imitation Of nature, the accurate
reproduction Of archaeology or costum-
ing and the presentation Of battle or
court scenes with painstaking realism.
Mr.. Craig is Indifferent to details so
long as he can express the beauty that
is on the face Of the play, and he is con-
fdent that when this is done actors will
do their worl- more effectively than at
present and audiences will get more ra-
tional enjoyment out OF the theatre.
Stage managers may scoff at his designs
and assert that plays staged in this way
will be enacted before empty houses but
no harm is done when a dreamer tells
actors and critics what the theatre OF
the future will be like