The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-12-19
Miss Anglin Talks
of Iphigenia Role
Discusses Euripides Tragedy
Which She VIII Produce.

Miss Margaret Anglin promises in
her production OF Euripides' "Iphigenia
ia Aulis' Ct the Manhattan Opera
House. April 4, an Interpretation OF the
spirit OF the great tragedian whose
message Is as vital to-day as It was
centuries ago. rather than the archaic
form. She has taken into account all
there Is on record concerning the
method OF production centuries ago, and
at the same time has looked for her
primary authority in the "Iphigenis" it.
self.
Concerning the poet Euripides, whose
ife and works Miss Anglin has made
one OF her special studies, the actress
speaks as follows: THE naval battle
that the Greeks won over the Persians
on the island OF Salamis in 4s0 B. c.
Is connected with the great tragedian,
IN that he was born on the island
whittier his parents. in common with
The other Athenians, had withdrawn to
escape, previous to the sack Of Athens
cy the Persians.
~,rhe boy Euripides was carefully
educated under the best masters Of the
day and Ia said to have trained as an
athlete and to have been painter be-
fore he became dramatst. His plays
attest the fact that he was a man OF
broad and liberal culture. He brought
out HIS first play, The Pleiades,' when
hs was rs and thereafter was a fire.
uuent competitor in the tragic contests
which were held once q year. In his
long career he won the first prize but
ave times, probably because his dramas
differed so decidedly from those Of his
predecessors.
- Aba
we can see that he was in some respects
IN advance of his age and had to create
the taste by which ne is enjoyed. He
was to a certain extent the Bernard
Shaw OF the Athens Of the fifth century
before Christ. The earliest Of his plays
extant is the 'Alcestis, which is datei
3. c. 43s. and this was soon followed
by the Medea' B. C. 405. The Iphi-
genia in Aulis' on the other hand was
irst produced in Athens after the poets
death in B. G. 405.
THE stories connected with the Tro-
ian war formed a happy hunting ground
FOR the Athenian dramatists. Sophocles
Is quoted as having said that his plays
we're mere scraps from the Homeric
banquet, while the subjects Of fully one
half of the extant plays of Euripides
are from the Trojan cycle. 1t is in this
category that the Iphigenia in Aulis
belongs The theme, the conflict be-
tween reverence for deity and parental
Affection, is an old one-as old at least
Is the story of Abraham and Isaac, and
the plot is simplicity itself.
From the spectacular standpoint the
Iphigenia' offers a magnificent demon
stration. When Iphigenia and her
mother are summoned by Agamemnon
and come in state, with attendants
bearing the wedding gifts, they
make their entry in a chariot
drawn by four horses abreast. at
tended by scores OF retainers and well
coined by more than a hundred soldiers.
The spectacle Is heightened in effect by
DR.. Damrosch's musical setting, which
bursts into an exciting crescendo at the
psychologically dramatic moment.
''The privilege of interpreting the
Greek play brings back afresh the per-
feet assurance that Euripides Is not
lead but living; that his message to
mankind is insistent and immediate be-
,ausa If ia eternal"