New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-12-08
By Ralph Block

II is an unsettling thing to discover
4 that Hamlet" is still a great and
powerful play. This may be an
extraordinary statement to make, be-
cause even the poorest actor on Broad
way aspires toward Shakespeare and
humbly concurs in the worldwide con-
spiracy to keep the name Of William
Shakespeare inflated to the end of time.
There is great wrong done to the real
Shakespeare in this conspiracy, be-
cause in time it has become so huge
and the bones of it have set so we'll
that pretty nearly everyone takes
leaning on it as the course Of least re-
sistance. Shakespeare himself and all
his actual greatness remain entombed
in this she'll of public inertia, in want
Of contemporary human greatness to
dig him out.
There is some paltry picking at him
mere and there; youths and maidens
feebly hack at him through their pre-
paratory adolescent and non-under-
standing years; ceremonies are held in
his memory; second-rate actors of Sc
rious intention and high ambitions ride
him to death through the provinces.
But through all this the great Eliza
bethan stands in the distance, waiting
for great imagination and voice to
call him into the present, to re-create
for the present his lustiness, his vivid
ness, his romantic vigor, his irration-
atty and prodigal disdain of a thin
world; above, all, his despair and terri
Bile understanding of the inner logic
which dooms man forever to be seek
ing more than he can ever find.
The great plays of Shakespeare re
main therefore constantly in want Of
great demonstration. Their reputa-
ton does them a damage that is almost
irreparable; they are always being
taken for granted. In the face of the
modern temper, which is Unfortunately
skeptical of the past, faithful ac-
ceptance of this kind isn't sufficient
and will not pass the test The final
stage of the Shakespeare reputation in
this process is to make out Of it a
kind of legend, looked on with all the
tolerance that legend merits, but with
the final intellectual disbelief that is
always its portion.
The Shakcspearian vitality is not the
kind to break these bonds unaided. Rut
when it has imagination to touch it
into flame 1t leaps astonishingly across
the barriers of these three hundred
years and stands confronting the mod
ern with something that is challenging
and questioning of the schemes he has
made and the life he lives.
The Hamlet" which has called these
observations to print is the Hamlet of
Walter Hampden in the Shakespeare
Playhouse Friday afternoon presenta-
lions at the Plymouth Theatre. It is
out Of no desire to lose Mr.. Hampden
in the shadow of a greater than he
that 1t Is pointed out that Forbes Rob
ertson was the only man in this gen
Grafton to interpret Hamlet for modern
ears. Of that actors great gifts it is
scarcely necessary to speak-the reso-
nant and flexible voice, the range Of
manner and bearing; above all the
maturity which read into Hamlet an
understanding of all mans moral de-
sires, his wishes for nobility and his
anguish against the Illustrations and
thwartings that encompass him on all
sides.
But with all this understood, the
Hamlet Of Forbes Robertson had
pointedness and direction and a mental
agility that allowed it to be twirled
and shown from all sides, that was
unique and is not yet surpassed. Ham
let at his hands became d great figure