New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-11-09
The English Stage
PRESENT SHAKESPEARE
TuE PRESENT TREATMENT HAKEsPEARE IN GERMANY.
copyright. 1918. by G. w. smaliey)

which the English DO really Try Ut hio
.,.s 20 take a serious interest. The
.rort "a en- serious as to be pathetic, for
g.. :. ,,t,,e There are enthusiasts, but
they are a pitiful minority. There are
oaors and dramatic authors and
actors who have the most practical
for desiring the success OF the
,,ovs in which they are concerned.
rrhere are audiences who are concerned
:. t,o extent OF wishing to be amused.
There is a great religious or semi-relig-
tons Puritan public who would damn
- whole business If they could. But
:. u,bat may be called a sustained
sc,entifc interest or even artistic inter
-, there is so little that it has almost
;,euence. The public do not care.
:. e. not in their nature to care as the
french care or the Germans care To
10Th those races art comes near being
o religIon; and dramatic art has It's
80 IN their religious life. Not so in
England.
II bappens that the present is one
NJ those occasionally recurring mo-
ments when a discussion of this matter
&C. going on. The discussion is not ao-
stract or philosophical-it would not
be English If IT were-but relates to
concrete matter: to the quesuoh
ubether there shall be, or can be, or
ought TO be, municipal and repertory
theatres. Sometimes the question OF
National Theatre energies. but quick
" sinks back again into fh' p''cS
,,roho of the admittedly impos@.ble.
There are prophets, but they prophe-
sy vain things. There are enthusiasts
hrt their fervor is individual or at
hast exceDtional and sporadic. Inc
Press. ever eager for topics whlch may
ctr a sensation, no matter no" IRAN
s,ent seizes hold of the SUBJECT ais
oo,,rses on II for a day or two; per-
ceives that from the mass of its read
ers there is no response. and drops It,
All the vital forces which go 10 'he
making of opinion for or against any
scbene whatever toward Matchmaking
or municipalizing the theatre are seen
10 be selfish forces. To-day's discus
sion. though it inspires Leading ar'i-
Gle or two in leading papers. Is carried
on by a playwright and an actor-mana-
ger. The playwright is Mr. Hehr!
Arthur Jones and the actor-manager
s Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, to whom
every occasion of advertisement Is wei
come.
There is, 1t appears. in Shet1eid' an
association known as the Playgoers
Societv and before this society MT.
Henry Arthur Jones delivered iecl-
ure. the Lord Mayor Of Shefheld pre-
siding, in which he put forward certain
described as definite. for the
of municipal and rep
ertorv theatres. 1t is with Mr.. Jones
q familiar topic. He has even written
q hook. as he reminded his audience
., "The Foundations of a Nauonal
Drama" Since all means are gooo IL
The end is good he strove to rouse h'N
tonal iealousies and antipathies W
the actual state OF the
drama in England with the ao'uai
state Of the drama in Germany
This brings Shakespeare at once W
fora the footlights. Professor Branoi'
A German Shakespearian schoiai'
traces to Shakespeare the present po
sition of the literary drama IN 1erihah
life Shakespeare has been ma
tionalized" in Germany. This does not
mean that Shakespeare was Ter
man. as Mark Twain or some otncr
bumorist declares the Germans main
tain. They have not naturalized him.
They have nationalized him; "h'e"
seerns 70 mean very much the same
hing They have, at any rate, annexed
him. They have installed MIN as
kind Of dramatic High Priest. ihey
have set I'D a school Of Shakespeare
criticism all 10 themselves. They AFRO
gate to themselves an exclusive rlsh'
TO the Interpretation OF him. Ihey
have written hundreds Of books about
his pIavs. a whole Shakespeare htera-
ture in German. They scoff at the
English treatment of him; which they
deride as inadequate and not sufficient
ly metaphysical. The fact that Snake
speare was an Englishman they dismiss
as unimportant and accidental; an acci-
dent Of birth; merely Typographical
while his true intellectual ancestry is
Teutonic.
can imagine that, II Mr.. Jones had
chosen 10 make It. this would have been
an effective appeal TO the prejudices OF
the Sheffield Playgoers and OF Lord
Mayor Osborne. But Mr.. Jones, VINO
probably knows Sheffield better than L
do. preferred to put it more pracu-
cally. Quoting Professor Brandt he
described the theatre AS the stronghold
Of the Shakespeare cult in Germany
He might have reminded Sheffield that
Mr.. Price Collier has chosen TO laoei
Germany The Land Of the Damned
Professor; but he does not make this
easy point The Professor may be
Professor. or even a Damned Professor.
but his figures are interesting. There
are. he says, $50 German theatre COM
panies and they maintain In their rep