New-York tribune., 1912-04-14
REVIVAL "PATIENCE" IN

strikes Desdemona To me II appears SUI
| periuous. Nothing In the shape OF physical
| force could add to the torture inflicted by
Othellos words
| In that respect" remarked. "you have,
/ at any rate, the support Of some OF the
most learned shakespearian commentators
I 1t has been aptly observed that there Is not
sufficiently overwhelming tragic feeling
| In the passage TO make IL bearable"
81 have also introduced one or two fresh
/ touches for Othelo In the bed chamber
scene Obviously / do not attach any
great Importance to these. for, after all,
they can only be but little drops in the
great ocean Of shakespeare's tragedy the
meaning and the purport Of which stand
declared in the text Itself
What Of Othello HIMSELF"
"Othello," replied Sir Herbert "is draUs
by Shakespeare on such obvious and plain
/ lines that broadly speaking, It presents
/ few difficulties in the shape Of character
/ ization 10 the actor There may, Of course.
/ be difference of opinion as to the precise
/ tint Of his complexion, as TO his exact age,
as 10 whether the terms he occasionally
/ applies TO himself were used In light or
perfectly serious spirit. l conceive him TO
/ have been a man OF about fifty; he did
not, take II, employ the phrase the vale
OF years without meaning It. At the same
time, one may reasonably conjecture that
in the present day he would have been re-
garded ss in the prime Of life"
"And his precise shade Of cOlor-what do
YOU suppose that TO have been?"
| Sir Herbert smiled. Il fancy he was not
as black as printers ink would lead US to
imagine. Anyhow. I shall not represent
him as uncompromisingy so. Perhaps oak
coIored is as near as I can get 10 It, OF
course, It may be argued that the darker
his complexon the greater Desdemona's g
virtue in becoming his wife. still, l do
rot think twentieth century audience will
be seriously disturbed by my depicting him
as d Moor, not q Rack-a-moOr"
From the point of view Of sheer physical
exhaustion. how do you compare Othello
with Macbeth?'
| There is this 20 be said on the subject :
In playing Macbeth the actor is throughout
| battling against the tide, while in the case
Of Othello he is all the time borne along
| by its headlong low. The element Of sheer
violence is more prominent in 'Othello than
! in Macbeth" but il is violence concentrat-
| ed and brought within narrower limits.
! Otbello has all the calmness Of the stately
and dignifed Oriental until the noodgates
Of passion are let loose. Yet. tremendous
as the strain upon his energies Is. 1t is Of
| comparatively brief duration. In this par
ticular respect Shakespeare seems to have
recognized the limitations Of his interpret
ers strength, and to have safeguarded him
proportionately Still, shall not give more
I - - Il
| ~, and even then l shall have TO live
wholly and exclusively for the work. II
am not mistaken Salvini found three more
! than enough.
"Iago? All, there you touch upon a very
different proposition. 1t was Coleridge who
used the expression 'motveless malignity
| I'm regard to Iago But surely 'motiveless
| is the last word TO be applied to his attl-
! tude and his actions Iago was an artist
In crime He was honest Iago to all and
| sundry. And just as perfervid laryngolo-
! aist jmagines every one to be the victim of
Iaryngitls, so Iago. morally distorted him
| saif suspected all those with whom he
came into contact Of like deformity. Fur
tber he took a perfectly intelligible delight
! IN proving his supremacy over man enor-
mously his superior. Here YOU have con-
elusive example of the hatred felt by the
ueaner. though subtler, mind for the sim
| rlor vet higher. intelligence. For the pur-
noses OF the play, the intellectual activity
! - Iaoo is absolutely essential; it provides
the requisite relief to the enormous emo
tional strain. without 1t the sense of
tragedy would be intolerable''
you have. understand antedated the
oct,on of the play by nearly a century,"
yes" replied Sir Herbert, "and can
ooor historical justification for the STEP
put apart from that I feel the change is
l ,ost and proper 1t enables us 70 give
more 19 picturesque setting to the play. And
that manifestly, is very great advan-
tage" ,,,a,.u, 4.
..,,aturalIy. But Mr.. Comyns Carr, whose
help and whose advice in many previous
nelL 5nc,ious at His Majestys | have every
Leon 10 be grateful for, holds as before.