The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-02-20
ADJUSTMENTS
Academy OF AIusic-DarIS
bi1ou-"East Lynne" matinee and
night.
a Great Hamlet.

bi1ou-"East Lynne" matinee and
night.
Great Hamlet.
yesterday afternoon, before an audi
ence That filled the gallery and balcony,
out made but little showing In tina or
ehestrn' Il. II. Sothern presented "The
Tanning Of the Shrew." and himself a
smooth, polished and amusing Petru-
chic but 4 Petruchio not strikingly on,
or the ordnary-certainly far from
brilliant.
Last night. before a great. silent
house that occupied every seat from
pit to dome and overlooked into chairs
placed in the orchestra pit. Hamlet
himself walked and spoke in tho par
son of T. II. Sothern. For four hours
the most tragic figure that the English
reading world knows was a living.
breathing reality before u.s. for four
hours we suffered ':i;h the pale, black
ciad prince in his agony OF mind and
spirit. and at thu end we bowed, with
Fortinbras, before the body from which
the tormented soul had hed-and vet
they say that Shakespeare's plays were
written for the stage, but live in the
library"
True 1t Is. that we have but few men
and women who regularly play the
comedies and tragedies OF Shakespeare
i know OF only Robert Mantell and
| Sothern and Marlowe-so that We of
the present generation have no stan
dards of comparison. but. II an opinlon
formed solely from a knowledge Of the
! play itself and from reading OF the
performances of the great actors who
nave gone before US, is worth any
thing, then Sothern is a great Hamlet
! Certainly to me, he was Hamlet.
| "Piteous in purport." yet manly
| withal. he was indeed prince-sor-
~ hrn
prince bitter and enraged. yet the son
OF hiH mother; violent IN his anger, yet
tender at another's grief: half-dis-
traught with anguish, but fe!gning
madness with cunning sanity; doubt
Ing and wondering In the soliloouy
that all the world knows with SO dis
turbed mind that Its workings could
be felt through It all 1t was Hamlet
that we saw and heard.
Forgetting Hamlet In the actor Soth-
ern, one realizes that he is a man of
| unusual grace of body, with a well
shaped head we'll SGT upon his shoulders,
mobile features. and large expressive
eyes, and that he is a rarely beautiful
reader. This takes no account of the
brain OF the man which enabled him to
enter SO completely into the very be-
Ing OF the character that he represent
+, ed.
The company was competent and the
! production good. but lack of time and
space prevents any extended comment
upon either. save to say of the COM
pany that Frederick Lewis, as Horatio;
Mayne Lynton, as Laertes. and Row
lhnd Blackstone aB the first gravediG-
ger, deserve special praise, and, Of the
production, that purple portiere cur
tain dropped between each scene and
not saved us Except once) from all view
OF our own hideous curtain. with Its
fat talcum powder baby and other at
tendant horrors. w. D. @.
Agatn-En.t Lynne.r
East Lynne" Ia at tho Bijou this
week. and 1t Will stay there until
sacas night. with regular perform
s ersnn including matinees Mary EN-
she is the Lady Isabelle, and, despite
the company, does we'll. Unfortunate
~, ,fo or fortu nately, the present produc-
Two No Weeks-here and next week in
norfolk. There happened to be a gap
IN the bookings for this house and
the manaBement thought that even
East Lynne" was better than dark
ness Therefore the inliction.
g 10 examinations are necessary. 1t
IN the same old way, with the same
old oi tears and the same little dying
willie. Sir Francis Levison is Just as
aesPicaGie as ever and-but what's the
Lynne" If you liked it the first time
you VIII want to see 1t again. SC
heres the chance. It's in tho regula.
ton number OF acts and none of the
tears has been left out.
One BiE Fenture.
). me Great Brindamour" features
the bill At the Empire this week His
particular speciality is jail breaking.
Ms HS, rival OF Houdint he stands high.
Maen 1t comes to getting out of hand
euns ana similar devices which are
supposed 10 hold man fast he is IT.
yesterday committee from tho police
VI Nichnond, headed by no less a
pc.soh than the gigantic sleuth. Pop
rate sat upon the stage while Brinda-
mour Embossed himself from mama ies
i Ia, and even succeeded In unity
ing ms hands after they had been
tas.chcu with rope, and removing his
cohi. whiie the committee occupied the
eaoihet TO which he retired To do the
W1fk, Triekery 1t undoubtedly Is. but
.rickery OF the kind which mystines
any which makes one feel like taking
ms nat off 10 the man who has mas
.eTeo such tricks. 1t Ia great enter
Iphiihnleht, and before the week Is over
4 town. ''''
4 The other acts on the bill manage
70 please tho audience Brown AM
hrown' two kids, SO they soy. sing. OF
! irS 70 sing. and year clothes. On,
n rs Boy Boy and tho other a girl Marde
1 Their sketch called Tho Crazy no.
erun, during which tho female mem
pc! PCT OF tho toam wears sonne fetch.
] i,ng G owns, Joa Whitehead. gro
talk and snss huia ars iod Of sYnns
4 tunos
4 The eren:ng number ia a rafting
4 etWnmu eyollnE net, styling Itself the