Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-01-30

whether they came To see Shakespeare or
not. they saw n show, the audience at the
Garrick, gorgeous show. And fortu-
hately they agreed that the play might
pass; for pass It did the play that Shake
speare wrote leaving many OF his lines in its
wale and great deal Of scenery and
costumes, pageantrY and business" Sir
Herbert Trees speaker OF the prologue
raised the two short hours' TO three;
and Sir Herbert himself cut out enough text
SO that his picturesque trimming and neces-
sary intermissions brought the play only
little short of four. Thus was the prologue
fulfilled, whatever may have happened to
Shakespeare.
Now, of course, It Is n very grave ques-
tion whether critic has any business at
ell telling an artist how he should have
done his work; II IS .safer for him to study
what the artist tried to do and to judge how
much of it was accomplished. II is also a
grave question, not alone whether Shake
speare wrote Henry VIII" but whether it
is worth preserving in the quick and simple
state to which IL was born IT Is a long,
dull piece Of reading, shot with occasional
great moments Would Il fine, simple and
artistic production, which permitted It to
run swiftly without intermssions, be wasted
on it? Is it better to prunc away yards of
verse and capitalize the spectacle Of It IN
the good old-fashioned manner OF the nine
teenth century theatre?
Sir Herbert Tree follows tradition and
1OIlOWS II lEluIuINhullN. ne tItHltS DUSl-
ness" Shakespeare never dreamt of and adds
n few lines of dialogue where needed He
builds settings of spaCiousness and color
and fills them full with the gold ard red
and green of Tudor times lie marshals
an army of extra people" and sets them
pTocessoning in a way that has never yet
graced Shakespearean production in Amer
ica. Some might say he has raised the
familiar Manifestation Shakespeare to the
nth power, yet where are ther front
scenes? Everything Is large and seemly
Much of it shows wear and not all Is SO very
fmaginativcly painted. but three scenes one
at the climax of each act give us the best
of gorgeous and elaborate scenic spectacle
Wosey's banquetIng hall, Biackfrlars and
the Abbey are splendid in color ana rich i'm
human decoration. The coronation may be
something of which Shakespeare never
thought. but 1t has a fine originality OF
treatment The red and gold Of church
and royalty throng it; youth kneels in
Anne Bullen, and the blur king, high in O
cuTtained box has a jolly, splendid time of
1t looking on. So did the audience last
night
Whether you applaud its thorough-gong
luXuriance or scoff at its papier mache
boar's head, its electric candles and it's con-
venient spotlights, this Henry VIII" does
Enthusiastically supply acting. Tree himself
Is very far from the whole show" as with
our American producers of Shakespeare
He reserves his own big moment the down.
fall of the Cardinal and he plays it to the
full as the ptiful awakening of a broken
man; for the rest he is content to picture
a sort of grandmotherly hypocrite, whose
curious snisterncss sets off the bluff King
and tragic sincerity of Katherine. More than
that Tree gives us two fine artists i'm King
Henry and his Queen. Miss Edith NVynne
Matthison's art is familiar. lovely and con.
slant. Mr.. Lyn Hardlng's is something ever
new and ruddy with life. The last three
seasons have brought no fuller or more en-
joyable impersonation than this blond brute
with the tiny swIne's eyes and beefy head
the splay legs and rolling stomach, fun Of
the easy vugarty of the feshly man and
rising to the business of kingshlp and the
emotions of a husband with a curious. mat
ter-of-fact seriousness which is vastly hui
man and touching. All in all, it is great
acting and the best thing in production
full of great things and small X NJ