Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-03-04
kellerd, in Shakespeare's Ham
let,' at the Newark, Sets
New Standards.
THROWS LIGHT ON MUCH
THAT WAS DARK BEFORE
Is Unrivaled in Scholarly Con-
ception and Interpretation
of Wonderful Role.

A Hamlet with coal-blacl hair
this is not the only novelty with
Which John e. Kellerd. who is play
ing at the Newark, has invested
Shakespeare's immortal masterpiece.
Other innovations he introduces are
Enthusiastically of the highest merit.
and contribute not little To make
many otherwise obscure passages as
clear as crystal. But the black-hair
feature is, perhaps, too radical. 1t is
hard to imagine just why a Dane
should be pictured thus.
However, where there is so much
excellence it may seem ungracious
to drag in a fault, so to speak, by the
hair.
Here is one of the remarkable
points wherein Mr.. Kellerd's concep-
ton of the part differs from that of
other great Shakespearean players:
In the scene wherein. after uttering
the soliloquy ITO be or not to be-"
Hamlet bids Ophelia Get thee TO II
nunnery,' there are other words so
harsh and seemingly unjust addressed
to the unfortunate girl that one is
Hamlet's character except ON the as
sumption that he is actually a mad
man.
Kellerd teaches us better, He
catches glimpse of Polonius,
Ophelia's father, eavesdropping, and
when. in reply to the question Where
is your father" Ophelia says AT
home" the melancholy princes illu-
sions concerning the grandeur of her
character are blasted She stands re-
vealed to him a liar. And from that
moment on his demeanor toward her
changes and he inyeighs against her
and her entire sex.
Other actors also manage ii 50 as
to get momentary view of Polonius,
but at a different part of the scene,
thus leaving the sudden outburst Of
indignation unaccounted for.
Clears Up Knotty Problem.
Another respect in which Mr.. Kel-
lerd, who, by the way, is unquestion-
ably one of the most scholarly inter-
prefers of Hamlet the writer of this
article has ever seen. shows himself
a SURPRISINGLY greats artist. is the
manner in which he exchanges ra-
piers with Laertes in the fencing
scene. Probably no other player ever
makes il clear just why or how the
made it clear Just why or how the
exchange occurred, except on the
basis Of d sheer accident.
Mr.. Iellerd does not leave the spec
tator in doubt. When the point of
I,aertes's rapier plerces his side he
grabs the weapon, feels the end, looks
at it closely. and makes it absolutely
clear that he realizes that the button
has been removed. And then, with
the ferocity of one who has detected
the base treachery of his adversary.
he returns to the fray with re-
doubled keenness knocks the weapon
from Laertes's hand. picks it up be-
fore the latter can stoop. and. with a
conspicuous openness, which is APP
parent to all, hands his own rapier to
his opponent, while retaining the
buttonless one.
But mot all is gold that glitters. 3"
There are some respects in which
Mr.. Kellerd, like Homer. is caught
mapping. In the ghost scene when
he is being told of the manner Of
his fathers death, he remains
as motionleSs as if he were
listening t. a recital concerning the
weather This is too pflegmatic for
one so sprightly- witted as Hamlet
For. with all his melancholy, Ham
let is intensely human, and so thrill
ing a story of murder as the ghost
unfolds could never have left him SO
ungesticulatingly cold as Mr.. KEEL
lerd portrayed him last night
lie Has sheathed His Sword.
Another point wherein other actors
have pursued better course: While
following the ghost Mr.. Kellerds
Hamlet has, for some unaccountable
reason, sheathed his sword. This,
surely, is positively impossible.
Other actors, notably the German,
Morrison, have used the sword to
better advantage Morrison, in par
ticular, laid the greatest stress upon
it, not so much as a physical
weapon of defense as of a spiritual
one, holding up the hilt as a cross
between himself and the spectre.
But these shortcomings in Mr..
Kellerd's conception of the play df.
indeed, they are shortcomings are
more than compensated for by the
wealth of excellencies with which
his performance abounds.
OF the other players, Miss Isobei
Merson merits especial praise. Her
Ophelia is exceptionally sympathetic.
Miss Dorothy Dorr, as Hamlet's
mother, is perhaps trifle too
young. This may seem to be an
oddly in the way Of fault finding;
but when one considers that, ac-
cording to the grave digger's COM
putation Hamlet's age is 30, it is
scarcely to be expected that his
mother should look less than 40.
But that she is, moreover. exceed
ingly handsome is rather proper, for
it serves to make the infatuation of
Hamlets uncle for her more intelli-
gible.
Many lines and some scenes were
cut out of the play-judiciously. But
there was one excelsior which all
lovers of Hamlet must have re-
GREETED. That was the line uttered
by Horatio Immediately after Ham
let's death, There cracked a noble
hearth
These words serve so aptly to sum
up the feelings of the spectator that
his heart is left with a void with
out them.
ssTLE TAI HEpu AnkhIpApI