Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-02-18
who Rules the Stage?

..,r,,.r, Ir. Crane has thrown down the
WIN. tha movers that be in the Amerl-
Uoss s.sstre. The actor, not the manager,
s.e .sserts, is the centre OF the stage
#orld. :, .ho ,baatre" he saws
-. been and ever Will be the history
nns n.,era and not Of managers" He cites
q ay. l.,,'s ''Gloster," Edwin Booths
oarrly'st Irving's "shylock," Trees
ha,aoilo." ha,il Mansfield's "Brummer and
Assn.id,s ',NfusIo Master" He contends
sniSe OF the conspicuous domination
1hnI,Id Beiasco over Mr.. Warfield-
q Ds zone of these we're managed" in
" .verday sense of the term.
nv w. tbs present pundit It seems quite as
~ that if the manager of today is likely
Ne forgotten before the actor whose
ssrts he chooses, the actor himselt WIN
Pa, from memory In favor of the play
iaSs A,sht inst as Burbage has been eclipsed
eshotssneare The author may think
nss.is much-abused creature, but the
n'a NJ ~ time has treated him very kindly
r~shana the movies will give the tram
as,, art of acting a little help by record
sy ,,s gestures and aspect, but the play
ins ,i,s.s eternally in print and action.
~ crane might have made better
- fnr the manager He might have
~s,toned that man who does something
mem s,,r ane and creative in the direction
y actors and the production of plays will
q ,ss, come fame. Wallack and DAILY are
sn,Vy ~ y,orpotten. Mr.. Belasco has built a
,...sy ~ Tenown. And as for the coming
snsgar. the synthetlo artist of the the
s,rs already Germany celebrates his fame
- a man like Reinhardt. America Will
nave such men before many years are
passed. H.,
Barker's Golden Fairies
N.u, York has seen Granville Barker's 8
.,iasd fairies in "a Midsummer Nights 8
Srsam." But New York hasn't taken
.hom in the spirit of shocked esthetlcism
.ritb which London chose to show its al
,arance to dead conception Of a living
niavwrlght The audience at Wallack's 8
rayeled In the second production that the
Enelish manager has given there, and
frankly had n good time over one of the
Lass interesting of Shakespeare's comedies.
The reason, of course, was the real
,maRination which Mr.. Barker and Nor
man Wilkinson, his scenic artist. put
into the piece. The fairies of gilded face
and conventionalized hair were only one
example of deliberate aim to create
something novel and beautiful and some-
thing fitting to this play and to no other.
The forest where Titanla ruled was con-
VerteQ INTO q SuBBGSllOl VI a. 6IGOl pOWSL
In fairyland, not a patched UP fake made
out of dead branches. The "mechanl-
calls" rloted over the "forestage" almost
IN the audiences laps, and the whole
performance ran at such whirlwind speed
that the whole text was heard, uncut and
unaltered in sequence, for the first time
% living memory.
The reviewers were uniformly pleased
with the production. The Sun says
Imaginative as the costumes and sur
roundings made this representation of "A
Midsummer Nights Dream it was In the
brlskness of the action, the humanity
and vitality of the proceedings. that the
audience found It's chief pleasure last
night. The two performances of the COM
edy most notable during recent years
suggested none of the fine freedom and
spirit which Mr.. Barker has put into the
play"
AT the same time It is genuinely anus