The Washington times., 1920-10-24
Walter Hanpden Begins Second
Week of Repertory at Garrick

Walter Hampden begins the second
and last week of his Washington en-
gagement tomorrow night at the
a command" performance Of Ham
let" AS this tragedy was presented
but twice during the past week. IT
proved too few times to satisfy those
who desired to see it, necessitating
it's presentation three times this
week. In addition to the performance
tomorrow night Hamlet" will also
be seen as both matinee and night
performances on Thursday.
Aside from the unusual demand
for this piece of the Shakespearean
cycle, the gratifying result during
the week was the fashion in which
both critics and public responded to
Mr.. Hampden's Interpretation of Shy
lock in 1.-THE Merchant of Venice"
His breaking away from the usual
stage traditions has elicted much
comment but the breaking away is, in
reality, return to its original
presentation by the Bard himself at
the Globe Theater.
Those who have been brought up
on the traditional Shylock. so admir-
ably depicted by Irving. have man
ifested deep and genuine interest as
to why Mr.. Hampden has departed
from the beaten paths and struck out
into new histrionic fields. Their
interest has been sympathetic and
genuine in that II desires to know
why such a change in the character
ization has been made
Nobody can answer the questions,
spoken and unspoken, in their mind
better than Mr., Hampden himself
And he has excellent reasons for what
might be termed his venture. To be-
gin with, his theory is that Shylock
has considerable of the grotesque in
him. For whereas the accepted stage
traditions, as exemplified by Mr.. Irv-
ing, represented the celebrated Jew
as being a grand and sympathetic in
dividual. Mr.. Hampden's theory is
that the play itself represents Shy
lock as nothing more nor less than an
extremely willy and more than ordi-
narily hypocritical fellow whose
motif In life, IL II might be termed
that, Is one of money. BE the situa-
ton what IT may, it reverts always
to money 1t may be his daughter
fleeing with part of his riches, It may
be his attack on Antonio-all con-
tribute TO the dominant and avari-
cious side of the character, just as
Shakespeare himself intended.
Lacking totally in mercy himself,
as shown in the courtroom scene,
when he turns down all pleas OF
clemency, Shylock realizes the value
of mercy. Yet his abject cowardice
spiritual and physical-precludes
his final burst of rage against An
tonic, who has baked his purpose
through the medium of Portia. 1t
was the omission OF this one act
the splitting In Antonio's face that
brought attention to the sharp differ
enuation between Mr.. Hampden's Shy
lock ana that of Mr. Irving. Instead
of a Jew who carries his animus to
the bitter end. we have n Shylock who
knows when he's beaten and who
sinks away from those who have
bested him in the craven fashion
the lines call for.
cor course we have n feeling Of
pity for him." observes Mr.. Hamp-
den, but It Is not ths pity that one
reserves exclusively 10 the defeat Of
either n noble or prosecuted char
acter. Rather. II is the pity that one
has for anybody, however, low, who
has. been subjected to row OF hard
knocks. There is generally the
feeling at the end of the courtroom