New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-03-12
|REINHARDTS "HENRY ~"
Concerono His Production Of the Play That Delta Epsilon
Fraternity VIII Act Here.

At the Dcutsches this play proved
FULLY as interesting as the better
known FIRST part" and FAR more thrill
ing in its chief scenes. Fa!staf >
comedy is quite as good as in its TEL
low. and the two big scenes that
Of the Kings add cation and that OF
Prince Halls rebufing OF Sir John-arc
more powerful than any in the earlier
play.
In the Reinhsrdt production two
qualities impressed the foreign spec
.ator One was the speed Of tae en-
semble. the other the simplicity Of the
stage setting. There were none Of
those deadly pauses between speeches
which are so often permitted by Eng
llsh producers on the theory that they
are "impressive." The pace was moro
rapid than in any Shakespearian play
America has seen except the MIG i
summer Nights Dream by Granville
Bankers company-so rapid, indeed,
that with a less finished troupe OF
actor. II might have seemed hurriei
and fustered. The prose and comic
scenes were. OF course, boisterous IN
the good German manner. The more
exalted passages were played rather
Tor romantic effect than for the mo
stress in the tragedies. The dscon-
nected character Of the play became
rather agreeable than otherwise. for
il offered infinite variety of episode.
l. seemed TO have been written On the
modern formula Of the movies-"some-
thing doing every minute"
But il is Reinhardt'S stage settings,
and especially his manipulation of his
revolving stage, that have chiefly car
ned his fame across the ocean. And
in this respect he has never worked
more skilfully then in the second part
of Henry "" His aim was 10 run
the fifteen or more scenes through so
that there should not be more than
forty-iive seconds wait between any
tvo except in the one long intermis-
sion"), and yet not 10 scrimp any
single scene. Part of the problem was
IN artistic onc--to make a single cur
iain, for instance. so sumptuOus that
j, could seem 20 pass for room in
ne palace" The rest OF IL was me.
chanicsl The revolving stage requires
that all the scenes, so far as possible,
be set complete before the perform
arce, each occupying one-iifth of the
circumference of the circle. TIL. stage
rs then revolved so as to bring any de-
3lIpO scene WlAlli INC plWNNtHlbiAs
For this play, the main features Of the
final Cathedral Square" scene were
SIT in the centre. and this was Blocked
of By the FIVE minor sets these being
mostly changed in the long in.ermis-
sion"1. In some cases the back Of one
set had 20 serve as the front OF an
other. The street scene was 80 set
hat the cathedral could be seen down
an alley in the distance. When IL
came time for the cathedral Scene,
when needed all the stage space pos
sDle. the forest" was cleared away
in few seconds and the trick was
done. The back Of the "tsver1" APP
reared as one of the majestic buildings
adjoining Westminster. The tower
fanking the scene before the Castle"
appeared as an imposing bat'lement
on the left The whole performance,
seen from the wings, revealed a multi
tude Of such doubling devices used
with the utmost economy.
Some Of the German principles will
lie used by Director Richard Orlynski
in the Delta Epsilon performance,
especially those OF rapid pace aud sim
plicity OF setting. This simplicity.
how ever, will not mean Elizsbethsn
barrennesg, but clever use Of artistic
suggestion for the maximum Of
dramatic illusion. All IN all the Delta
Epsilon performance will fairly illus
rate the German method which redis-
covered Henry ", Second Part"