The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-11-02
GREAT BRITAIN.

IL
Perhaps two per- Sixty-six different
formances a week in compa nies playing
some of our large twenty-five different
cities. few 9TH plays OF Shake
ers In quite small speare; 1104 per-
out of the way formances OF a SIN
towns. Julius Cae- gle play, The Mer-
sar'' next week. by chant OF Venice
Miss Hornimans
repertory company.
done quite simply,
without reliance on
scenery and effects.
II am afraid that ! must ask Sir Her
berts permission TO repeat that the condi-
tion of the Shakespearean drama in Eng
land which these facts disclose is a ma
tional disgrace. / was not able to COM
pare the two years exactly. as the German
pete. 1t is quite possible that an exact
comparison for any given season would be
rather less damning to US. But Il would
not alter the underlying substantial fact.
Indeed. the figures might be very much
less damnng to us without altering the
substantial fact. which, indeed. would
scarcely be altered by an array OF figures.
That substantial underlying fact is this
Shakespeare on the stage In Germany Is
regarded IN wholly n different way from
the way he is regarded In England.
VIII ask Sir Herbert 20 read carefully the
lecture recently given TO the British acad-
emy by Professor Brandt. 1t was report
ed rather fully In your columns on it's de-
livery. and Is. or will be very soon, In
pllnt. Professor Bfanul SIld.
F." The theater is the stronghold of the
Shakespeare cult in Germany How diff
ferent II is in England. where Shake
Spearean scholars and men Of letters stay
away from the theater and have the
queerest notions about Il. There are $50
companies in existence. and they main
tain in their repertory about twcnty-fv
plays of Shakespeare How different II
Is in England, where we are mainly left
to Mr., Bensons gallant efforts III you
want 10 do justice TO the best portion Of
modern German literature YOU must so
To the thcater to hear IT,. From the time
that Shakespeare was nationalized in Ger
many. the literary drama has become
most important factor In German life "A
good theater is necessary part of the
equipment OF every German town Of any
dimensions. The people 80 TO the
theater regularly. They relish
poetical life and beauty. and despise mere
pcrvades the society OF such town.
. The blessings Of this rcpertory
thea,er. we owe principally to Shake
speare.
Charles Frohman is going TO put on
another short play by i, NJ Barrie
This time it is n skit, !'The Censor and
the Dramatists "a bnrlesQue on the
institution Of the censor. which. in
view of certain recent plays, has lately
loomed on the horizon as n much
needed damper for n certain type OF
=
latest skit is that his antecedents have
n lot to do with the efficiency of any
play censor-as a mans trade is, so
does he think, In ''The Censor and
the Dramatists there is play within
n play. specimen serious drama is
to be censored. and, quite inadvert- I
emily, the censor chosen happens to
be an architect, When the play comes |
before him for performance the censor !
is overwhelmed, not by his moral, but J
by his architectural sense of tho fit !
ness Of things: he cares not who de- !
stroys the morals Of the nation If only |
it's eeometrical laws are spared, For |
the proper playing Of the parts in the |
play which is TO be censored, the dram.
atist has called on the services of
group Of music hall gymnasts. The
parts are distributed and the play is
about to be given-supposedly it ia
sex play, with ''a punch when all of !
a sudden the music hall artists 90 on
n strike; as man and wife they pro.
teet violently against speaking the un-
holy and unwholesome lines charac-
teristic Of all modern, so-called high,
CT drama Of the miscalled "legiti.
mato stage" With the utmost diff
ficulty tho author of the problem
play persuades the vaudeville gym
nasts to continue; the music hall ar