San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-01-12
A BOLSHEVIST HAMLET

Over in Moscow. a company OF players
is rehearsing a "Sovictizcd Hamlet the
Bolshevist commiSarat of education hay
ing issued an cdict that Shakespeare is
to be revised to suit the modern spirit
OF the times
In Russia they also have a state insti-
tutc OF theatrical art and the commisar-
lat has issued instructions to the actors
to produce the revised Hamlet at one
of the public play houses.
OF all the idiotic and silly things that
the Bolshevists have attempted, nothing
transcends their efforts to edit and re-
wise" the immortal works of the great
English writer. Unfortunately. because
of the movie and the general downward
trend of the stage. the public no longer
has that appreciation for Shakcspcarian
PLAYS that it once had. Nor are there
players on the legitimate stage today will
ing to give the time and work necessary
to produce these plays as once they were
produced.
Yet nothing even remotely approaching
Shakespeare has appeared in all the years
since players first began producing these
plays and Hamlet of them all, probably
once ranked first in popular esteem. 1t
is typical of the Bolshevist turn of mind
that a commisariat of education should
undertake to edit and revise Hamlet with
d Bolshevist setting. 1t probably never
would occur to a person OF BolsheVlSt
tendencies that il sovietism was the pow
erful antidotc it is supposed to be, it
should contain the essence of a great
drama in itself along original and distinc-
tive lines. In other words. it would not
be necessary to plagarizc Shakespeare to
enshroud BOlshevism with a dramatic APP
peal, il Bolshcvism contained any of the
elements that made Hamlet great play.
For sheer lack of initiative. originality
and intelligence, the commisariat OF edit
cation at Moscow deserves first prize. 1t
is not difficult to imagine the kind OF
education being promulgated under his
Iministrations, in Russia. Had he even
a sense of humor. there might be grounds
for cXcusing his ignorance but apparently
he takes both himself and his office
seriously and hesitatcs not a whit, at
working over one OF the masterpieces OF
probably the greatest writer the English
language will ever have.
We can well imagine Hamlct's solio-
guy rewritten by any other brain than
the one that penned it originally. We
shuddcr to think OF some of the mighty
passages from Hamlet's speeches. re-
phrased 10 suit an ignorant rabblc in
Russia.
As a matter OF fact, Bolshcvism with
its poverty, its mockery, its emptiness,
its dishonesty and its immortality is abb
solutely destitute of dramatic situations
and possibilities. Dramatics a plenty
might be found in the cold-boodcd muir
der OF the car and his helpless little
ones at the hands of the human animals
of sovictism. There arc even Vast pos
sibilities for dramatic productions in the
fate OF the brave men and women, schol-
ars, doctors, lawyers generals and that
educated middle class. almost wiped out
by the bolshevstic policy OF eNtermina-
ton.
But in poor. starving, illiteratc, helpless
crushed Russia there is no dramatic APP
peal, nothing but squalor and misery and
death-a great nation sunk to the level OF
a hrunan jungcs. What a travcSty.