Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-11-01
In Stage Setting of Own Crea-
ton, Transports Audience
to Distant Past
Il ,pecial--star Balletin corres.ond.a.nte]

y
NAHU COLLEGE. Oct ia rare
neat In the nature Of the reading Of
an ancient Greek play. "Iphigenia. i"
was awarded a large audience at
Charles r. Bishop hall last night. The
reader was Miss Dorothea Spinncy.
guest OF Mrs. ". r Frear Her last
evenings program vas the concluding
one OF series that she has given in
Honolulu recently.
Al interpreting the Greek plays and
characters Miss Spinney is. unusually
capable and versatile. For years she
has been studying the Greek subjects
and absorbing the spirit and the life OF
the classics Both at her home in
London and for the past few wears
in Australia has she devoted herself
TO the study and Interpretation Of
these compositions She has also en-.
joyed several successful recital sea
sons in the United States, to where
she Is sailing on Wednesday. Her
first engagement on the mainland is
a Series of recitals in the Paul Elders
assembly in San Francisco.
Play Of Interest
The old play, ''Iphigenia, written
by Euripides and played in Athens
some four and a quarter centuries
b. c. is one OF the most interesting
of the many OF this type that are re-
turning to recognition end favor. The
play is romantic and most vivid in
its every situation. IL has the vfgor
and the exactness of the old Greek
expression, as well as the beauty and
rythm which none but the classics
can display. 1t at once portrays dis
tinctly the heroic in the Argi man
and woman and reveals the depths of
human sympathy and love without
wR.cAs the glory of Greece had been
pr.7sible.
R9 ante these widely varying mo-
tHes and to accomplish simple plot
einbodying them all, is work that
only a master joiner like ,Euripides
could perform. To read the old play
so as 10 bring out all these great mo-
tives-and more--is task that few
would care to attempt in this day
yet Miss Spinney succeeded in COM
pletely transporting her audience to
the very old Taurian temple and she
made her hearers as delightfully."- init
mate with the characters of the play
as If the action had occurred indeed |
before their ye.y eyes.
effective Stage Setting
Miss Spinney's stage setting was
her own idea, and 1t proved most sim
pie and effective. Draperies of dark
blue formed the background and walls |
IA small stage. at the front of which. /
on left and right were white soil
tary candlestiek and a fern. Miss
Spinney herself wore Greeian cos
tune, very becoming and very effec.
tive in heightening the inspiration !
which she showed in her countenance I
AS an introduction to the play Miss
Spinney reviewed the ancient story
Of the delay of the Greek fleet, as. it I
was setting out to bring Helen home /
from Troy. To secure favoring wind +
Iphigenia was doomed by the sooth- I
sayer to be sacrificed by her own
father, Agamemnon, leader of the
Greek hosts. But even as Agamem-
non would have struck the fatal blow,
Iphigenia was caught away by the
goddess Artemis, who substituted a
deer Cor Iphigenia and carried the
maiden to Tauris, where she became
a priestess at the shrine of Artemis.
For years Iphigenia served Artemis,
her chief duty being to purify ship
wrecked mariners before the Taurians
should sacrifice them to Artemis. At
ld ~0restes, brother of Iphigenia,
prFnted by the furies OF his mother,
yi4'Ai the wre.ched son had slain be-
cause she had murdered 4gamemnon,
lands on the Taurian shore, after flee
ing yainly from the torments of the
f1ries. He has been told that only
by securing the statue of Artemis-so
sacred to the Taurians-and by es-
tablishing il in his homeland, can he i
ever be at peace.
The story of his falling captive to I