New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-04-16
SHAKESPEARE. AND SCENERY
The Drama Society Will Produce The Tempest
in True EIizabethan Style

or Tree. With a single exception
Shakespeare employed all these re-
sources. One reason for choosing
The Tempest" as the Drama Society :
contribution TO the current commend
ration is that, more fully than any
other play, IL illustrates the scenic
effects and mechanical equipment
which were at his command
The one feature Of the court Mosques
which he did not use is scenery paint
ed in perspective. Shakespeare had no
proscenium arch 70 frame d picture.
lie used set-pieces literally IN the
present example Of The Tempest" the
hard rock" in which. as Caliban com
plains. he was "styed.' and also "the
Line-groye which weatherfends' Pros
peros cell-that Is, the grove OF In
dens He even represented tempest
tossed ship. with IT'S company OF
mariners and passengers. But as his
stage was a platform extending 70 the
centre Of an smphitheatre. he had TO
show these things, not pictorially, bu,
piastically an the round
We also know that if he had preferred
q picture stage like that of the court he
could have had il. In 1913. when the
court Nasoues were al hoodtide OF pop
ularity. MS theatre was burned 70 the
ground. He and his fellows were the
richest commercial managers among
many successful companies, but they
rebuilt their house as an amphitheatrc.
and continued 10 employ plastic
scenery.
Why did the company of the Globe
thus prefer the old stage 70 the new ?
One reason, as the Drama Society be-
lieves, WAS because its stock OF plays,
and among them the complete lifework
Of Shakespeare. we're written for the
old stage. To subject them TO the re-
quirements of the picture stage was TO
impair. and often 70 destroy, their ar
tIstic and popular quality.
We come thus 20 the question OF
dramatic art, which, as the Drama So
ciety believes. is also a question OF
popular enjoyment. Shakespeare was
indeed a practical man OF the theatre,
as we'll A. poet Of unrivalled genius;
and no fact in his life is more evident
than that he used his genius through
out 20 minister 20 the enjoyment OF his
public. As Emerson phrases il, he was
"ihc master of the revels OF mankind.
When pictorial scenery is superim.
nogcd upon plays written for the
plastic stage IT becomes. a the rhct-
orleans would say. redundant Too
much is as fatal to artistic delight "a
100 little. An example or two must
suficc I have space for no more. Tow
ard the end Of the first Ghost scene
I'm Hamlet" occur certain lines Of very
notable beauty. They arc in the eX-
allied mood Of the moment. yet quieter,
more reflective. Shakespeare had no
front curtain with which 10 chop OF a
dramatic climax. and IT was his custom,
bv the use Of dramatic poetry, thus 10
graduate an emotional moment down
10 a point at which his characters
could decorously make tLoir exit. Two
lines Of Horatio's arc especially nota-
bic:
But look. n. Morn IN rH'.t mantle cal
Ws5s DER the drs of son hig. eastern Odd
To some Of us the mental image IS
classical as d. was. no doubt, TO
Shakespeare. A goddess, clad IN sober
richness. advances along 'nc dow damp
b,ilfons through the mystery Of dawn.
To Others, lcss classically inclined, the
image d. simply Of daybrcak in an open
countrywide But TO each and all those
lines % marvellous magic evoke the
mage that So nearest and dearest.
What happen now on our picture
stage Sometimes the sO-callcd gas-
man ignores the opportunity, and
sometimes throws a faint light on the
horizon. Tho hcsrcr, II he rs human -
ard 50 many Of VI are thinks first
Of tho backdrop; and, whether or not
She gasmAn is on the job, the result is
siisillusonment. The poetry OF the
lincs IL killed b. tn. craft Of electrician
scene painter.
When Duncan and Banquo arrive at
fhc castle OF Macbeth the old king
says:
Is ef.Ne hsfh risz.srf fssf Ihr g.
himD5 40 tfssiig rseqmmenls rssf
.fl our gentle .rn.rf
Gauquo adds.
INis sIe.f ~ summit.
s '.r'fs hauHflrg msffIff lHfn al1,rnfe
! - DE- iof'1 msnEon fFst no Heaven ifssih
....t... H.f.f a. Irfe Hr fJfi.. fflrff.
4 I.tus.aa rs,f ,,a.f. a. vsUfss~ hat Its d,