New-York tribune., 1919-06-15
LOzadOn Sees q
ReuiuaI of Hamlet

Inc second channel, he SAID, would
be an intense Indulgence in realistic
detail; and here he foresaw the Theatre
Llbre, Antoine, the Art Theatre of Mos
COW, Granville Barker, etc.
He made the discovery that nobody
can look at a tableau vivant for more
than one minute without feeling miser-
ably bored; and that therefore no seen
cry, however gorgeous or various,
would suffice unless it was in perpetual
motion (the cinematograph The log
lcal conclusion, which is proved to-day
by the old Vic. and by Abraham Lin
coin at the Hammersmth, is that if
the play and the players are interest
ing The scenery does not matter one
fig; because no audience looks at the
scenery for more than a minute (unless
1t changes), and the moment the play
ers interest them they forget the seen
ery-they become unaware of its ex-
istence. If managers could only realize
this they would save themselves mill
ions of money, and we should have
some interesting plays, Because both
the developments that Theophile de
Banville foresaw have proved failures,
the spectacular theatre has made
Shakespeare spell ruin, and has been
easily outrivalled by the cinema; the
realistic theatre has only been sue
cessful if its plays have been inter
esting, the mounting has never mat
tered. 1t matters not two straws if
Ibsen is acted, with every match
Swedish match, on the stage or in
barn all the care of the Art Theatre
didn't succeed in making you think you
were looking at a cherry orchard in
the dawn Gas the mechanical birds were
not the least like real birds), and
it was the play, and the actors, not the
mounting, that held the audience
$50 now. perhaps, the time has come,
or will come shortly, when the theatri-
cal world, in a wholesome wave of
realisms~ will go back to plays and to
acting. There is the old Vic, and there
is its production of Hamlet a per
formance lasting five hours with the
briefest intervals, holding a huge audi
ence breathless, to prove that the thing
can be done.
Now that | have delivered myself
of this perilous argument, I can say
something about the play and the per
formance. In the first place, the mount
ing, which was reduced to the simplest
terms, was far more effective than
any Shakespearian mounting | have
ever seen in London. Effects were
suggested by small details. A jester
gamboled about in the court scene
Act ~, and stood looking ghastly
with his painted clowns cheeks while
Hamlet fought Laertes. The play scene
was a revelation. 1t was done with
the dumb show first, and one felt the
suspense and the gradual ghtenment
of the audience on the stage. Russell
Thorndike, who played Hamlet,
achieved an effect which | have seen
no one else playing Hamlet achieve
save Sarah Berhardt. He carried on
the excitement of the play scene into
the following scene with Rosencrantz
anu bul4ueHSlclH IOu 1elL (LnOuSH
less acutely than in Sarahs perform
ance) that Hamlet was still vibrating
with excitement; that his nerves were
all tangled and tingling; and Mr..
Thorndike's delivery of 'can-you- play
upon-this-fute' speech was one Of the
triumphs OF the afternoon; and the
audience felt this and unanimously ap-
plauded. Mr. Thorndike's performance
was satisfying throughout, never
STACEY and never exaggerated, and at
times quite admirable. What struck
me most OF all in the production was
Charles Warburton's King, who, instead
of giving US Maclise's scowling card
board counter of melodrama, gave us
human, energetic, dignihed King, which
made Us thoroughly sympathetic with
the arrangement he was making for
the dispatch TO England (and further)
of his troublesome, talkative nephew
Miss Cameron's Queen was equally
good Campbell Fletcher's Horatio was
an ideal performance. Polonius mot
cut), Orlando Barrett, became as life
I like a Cabinet minister, and Opheia
(Miss Saunders) was really mad and
not just pretty. All the parts we're
we'll played; and Shakespeare's ghost,
who | am sure must have haunted
many actor managers, will now, am
sure, be appeased
"He is an honest ghost"