The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-12
Shakespeare Throughout the World

mated at Baltimore"
 Shakespeare Throughout the World
 With the exception of the New Testa- ment," said E. Fl. Sothern yesterday, the plays of Shakespeare have been more fre- quent1y translated, and into a greater number of languages. than any other lit erary compositions of the world. Even Greece has it's translation of at least four of the plays, and several have been rem dered into strange languages of India Of which most people have never even heard
 For years Japan has reverepced Shakespeare and his principal works have long been known in that country in book form. The Merchant of Venice was pre- sented in Japan fully 15 years ago. Since then Othelo, Hamlet and Timon of Ath- ems have been given, the last mentioned with remarkable success a curious thing when you recall that this particular play has never made any special appeal to English speaking audiences.
 ''The Japanese also present Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar, in one-act yer sions, if such things can be imagined They, of course, adapt the plays to suit Oriental requirements, and they change the titles with the utmost freedom, to suit the new versions.
 "The Merchant. of Venice became The Judgment Over the Pawning of Human Flesh, while Timon of Athens was pre- sented as The Voice of the Bell. In any case, they treat Shakespeare with respect which is more than can be said of the French when they first tried their hand at him and used the plots of his plays for all sorts of pantomimes, pallets, and even for circus performances, giving them the most ridiculous titles. You can still see a collection of old playbills in Paris. one of them announcing The Grand Melodramatic Spectacle, The Visions Of Macbeth, or The Witches of Scotland while another is headed Hamlet, Tragic Pantomime. Interspersed with Songs and Dances Voltaire's bitter censure of Shakespeare, accusing him of coarseness and lack of art, although rejected by the majority of his successors in the critical fraternity, had at the time Of it's utterance a powerful effect Whlch was long in being overcome.
 ''ENen now S0dktSptdltb IL Nc CASSPs Gounods operatic version of Romeo and Juliet, has no strong foothold on the French stage. But for the matter Of that classic art is practically dead In France Even Racine and Corneille, the greatest of French classic dramatists, obtain only an occasional hearing in their own country. But France no longer has actors for those plays-and French au- diences seem to want only what is es- sentially modern and up to date. Shakespeare has made rapid headway in Germany. In fact, he has received almost as great recognition there as in his own country and in America. The director of the Dusseldorf theatre, in 1884, brilliant scholar named Immern1an, first gained Shakespeare a secure standing on the German stage, and in the three years from 1884 to 1S37-he presented in excel- fent fashion no less than eight of the poets masterpieces. A
 Even in Russia Shakespeare has met with far more appreciation than in France He was first introduced there by Empress Catherine II, who ordered translations made of The Merry Wives of Windsor and King John. These were followed at intervals by the other plays until the entire Shakespearean repertoire had been made known. Of all the dramas the Russians prefer Hamlet and was 1t not Ivan Turgenjiew who asserted that every man living possesses some of the character of the melancholy prince? He may have been thinking when he said it, of the riddle that Shakes peare propounded to all the world. ITO be | or not to be- "