El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-03-17
Stratford Players Give Fine
Performance of Merry Wives

If anybody had doubt that Shaks-
pere could be funny, 1t was only nee
essary to witness THE Merry wives
of Windsor" by the Stratford-On-
Avon players at the Ell PasO theater
Monday night to dispel the doubt In
cidentally it goes to prove that Shaks-
pere cannot be done by mediocre &C
tors. 1t takes real actors TO produce
Shakspere Understandings and when
this is done, Shakspere is for all the
people; while the student could and
did appreciate the performance OF the
StratfOrd players, the gallery couId
and did get as much entertalnIlen emf
out of it as from any of the modern
comedies.
The Stratford players are real ar
lists all of them. Even in the smallest
roles the characters are, wei cast; IL
is not hard to believe that they nave
been selected from among the best
qualified in the British Isles to pro-
duce the plays Of the great bard. Every
performer is capable, every role is
we'll cast and every actor reads his or
her. blank verse with understanding
and clearness. It was a real treat
that the StratfOrd players gave the
comparatively small audience-au too
small for the worth of the perform
ance-and it was not only an intellec-
tual treat, but one that afforded many
a hearty laugh and sent everybody
away from the theater feeling better
for an evenings clean enjoyment.
William Calvert as the Sir John Fal-
staff of the cast, was a jolly old rogue
and his Interpretation was Iu1 of LIE
and reality In the first place, he is
naturally built for the part. and his
makeup was fauItless. His manner
isms and his actions were all true to
life and it was not difficult to imagine
him living instead Of acting the part
of the vain, conceited, foolish old man,
who took the foolish pranks of two
women seriously and believed them in
love with him. His discontinue and
the innocence with which he fell a
prey to their efforts to teach him a
lessOn-one that was hard for him to
learn-brOught many ripples and often
shouts of laughter
Murray Darlington as Ford, the
Jealous husband, was immense. His
voice is good, his facial expressions
fine and his whole acting of the part
is splendid. His jealous RACES. his du-
plicity in intriguing with Falstaff to
get at the truth about his Wife's af-
fections, all were splendidIy done. and
marked him as an actor with thor
Ough understanding Of Shakspere and
a true conception Of stagecraft-
F. R Benson, reputed to be one OF
the greatest living authorities on
Shakspere, made of the rather minor
role of Doctor Caius, s. French phySi
clan, a part that breathed real art in
every line. A character easily over
done, he made Of it one of reality; he
was the living, breathing, impetuous
F'renchman in every word, every move,
and his acting lent much enjoyment to
the evening and reflected the real pos
sibilities in a Shaksperean role that
is properly studied and presented with
understanding. Tonight Mr.. Benson
will appear in the role of Shylock, in
'The Merchant of Venice" and a treat
is expected.
Miss Dorothy Green as Mistress Ford
and Miss Ethel Mcdowell as Mistress
Page were sweet, WOmanly women.
and both lent much life and vivacity
to the play Their plotting against