New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-05-16

] ne Fa1ff OF tEe fhniuN.t. Ni'.'a u - '
Granville Barker and Lillsh Nectar
thy opened their season Of Greek
plays with Performance" - "lphlgenis
I'M Tauris" yesterday afternoon IN the
Yale Bowl AZ New Maven. The wide
spread interest this venture IN Attic
tragedy has aroused was evidenced by
the huge audience that gathered. an
audience Of nearly ten thousand per
sons, which. with very few exceptions,
and these exceptions consisting entire
Is Of school children, remained spell
bound throughout the performance.
The wisdom Of inviting children n
a prcscntation Of Euripides may VOL
he doubted. but their elders found yes
terday a drama which. for all its three
thousand years Of existence, rs to-day
very much moro modern than re-
vival Of Scribe or DEnncry. II Scribe.
like EuripidcS. used the long arm OF
coincidence. he failed 10 use his poetry
or his sense Of character. AriStophancs
accused Eurpides Of lowering the moral
tone Of Greek tragedy and OF bringing
his heroes and hcroiueS into the light
of common day; and yesterdays pres
cntation Of tho "iphIgcnia must have
proved to all who heard II that at least
i'm the latter particular Aristophancs
was right. OresteS and his sister are
as human and as poignant as any hg-
ures who ever moved upon the stage.
I'm speaking Of the performance at
Yale all else must bow before the name
Of Gilbert Murray. Happy Is the hng-
disappearing world to have obtained at
last poet whose TRANSACTIONS Of the
Greek tragedians recreate their works
I'M all their majesty and beauty. their
sense Of rhythm and OF life. Professor
Nurrav's translation of the "lphc-
ceria" is a masterpiece. rich IN color
throbbinC with feeling. sublime IN It's
fights OF imagery, ever graceful ard
flexible ~ diction. Exquisite were the
choruses. hauntingly musical, fun, as
their translator said they should he,
of "sea light and the clash Of waters
As Edward Fitz-Gerald became crca-
tor through his translation Of Omar
khayyam, So has Gilbert Murray
through his Of EuripiGcs.
Mr. Barker might have been expected
10 90 Euripidcs one better, A. he pre-
viously did Shakespeare in "A Mldsum-
MGR Nights dream; but. 10 be fair TO
him. he left the Greek tragcdian to him
,clt near until the very end. Then. M
deed. he did break forth and propelled
a set of barbarians upon the scene
whose costumes and headgear we're
futuristic art in eKcelsis.
Thus did Mr.. Barker end kurpldes on
comic note. He probably would ADD
in defence that none of US knows how
Thoas and his Taurians dressed and
chat inasmuch as tho "lphigenia. is
ono of the few Greek plays with a
happy ending. it might very well be
made as happy as possible. At all
events. King Thoas got laugh and IN
Greek tragedy laughs were not fire.
quent not even in Euripides.
But the exquisite poignancy OF the
scene Of ccognition between Iphlgenia
and Orcstcs was left untouched. This
scene was given by Miss Mccarthy and
I Mr.. Maclaren with beautiful simplicity
and when al the end lphigenia throws
herself into her brothers arms, a pm
could have been heard to drop through
out the vast assemblage. That scene IS
one of the supreme moments IN all
drama. and Professor Murray, in his
nervous. incisive, yet musical English,
proved himself in II writer OF rare
dramatic power
The acting almost without excep'
ton was pitched in key OF high no
bility and sustained with great dignity
/ of mood. Miss McCarthy's lphlgenis
was far and away the best thing she
+ has done i'm America. II was bcautl
/ fullv feminine, yet informed first with
the sense Of her high dignity as a
pricstcss Of Pallas Athena and later
+ with exquisite sistcrly love and sur
render. Nh Maclarcn's Orestes was 4
worthy companion, regal IN bearing
and graceful in movement, while hi:
voice and diction would have done
credit to the actors of the "granC
, STYLE" The other actors were all OK
cellent. and if Mr.. Braham at one time
went up in his lines he covered It vi
most skilfully.
The chorus music was composed bl
Professor David Stanley Smith, on 4
4 Greek model Il did not aid the chorus
i'm making ineligible the lyrics, though
the acoustics Of the Bowl were remark
ably good and the actors lines were
heard as clearly as they would have
been in any theatre.
Mr.. Barker IN these performances II
the various stadia throughout the coun
try is doing a splendid work IN giving
10 American audiences the Greet
drama i'm the exact conditions most ia
vorable for its presentment. In {
closed auditorium Sophocles or Euri
pides is an anomaly Under the blue
skies, as was the "lphigenia' yesterday
afternoon, some ghost at least of the
Attic spirit drifts 10 us across the
centuries.