Evening star., 1924-01-08
John Barrymore In Hamlet

Jonn Barrymore last night carved
distinctive Hamlet, whose passions
$1,000 out In brighter highlights be-
cause of their repression. A full audi
once at Polls paid a spontaneous
tribute with insistent, reverberating
applause.
It was the theater's night in Wash
Y xngton. In that audience sat Calvin
Sooioge and William Howard Taft
resiaent and former President
~ io MrS. woodrow Wilson, the wife
dnoIner former President, and a
aeilghtful admixture of the elite of
drama eoou
1t was well worth while. To a re-
thought of the morrow it did not
seem improbable that youngsters in
.ae audience watching masterpiece
or tragedy played by a master. in
Years that will unrolI will say from
ages wisdom: Back in 1924, when
SsGolidge was President. saw Hamlet
VIII mean. hinted this wayward
thought, more than do words of tn,
AWise-aged mean today when mention
OF the name of Edwin Booth in rev.
Srential tones is made.
1t was not Danish lunatic that
barrymore gave his audience. Nor
was 1t a man borne to lifelsss depths
with melancholy. Neither was it u
santfng prince, who shouted from the
stage. This Hamlet was rather a
bnethodical thinker. with mind en-
conferred upon one design. fighting
with strategy, progressing inexorably
but slowly, accommodating power spo-
radically as he plodded irrestibly to-
ward his eoat-the revenge of his
.J Hamlet was feisned clearly in this
rendition as cloak to hide the
Workings of a superior mind. Poloni-
Us said more than he dreamed re-
1t seems that Barrymore has taken
ShakeSpeares words in Hamlet s
mouth literally when the prince bids
players to seek for repression in a
smooth and nothing will be lost.
barrymore does exactly that. His
repressed passions are all the more
Vehement because of it. 1t makes
Shem clearer, too, and easier to fol-
low.
1t was after the second curtain
THAT the audience delighted those who
already, had grown to love Barry
started mildly, like sea whipped
10 occasional whitecaps by breezes
Then it grew in volume, as though
81 gale was sweeping from the top
And finally it attained great tempest
full dimenSiC and came from
every corner--t.. hderous.
Rosalind Fuller was frail as
SopDel1a. She was sweet and lovely.
She was convincing in the mad
scene. Her Ophelia was a trifie shall
low and yet-she was convincing.
Moffat Johnston rendered II good
account of the role of Polonius, lord
chamberlain, and Horatio was a
first-ater rendition. Blanche Yurka
as Queen Gertrude rendered the high
quality of support necessary for the
success of the play. 49,
Others were fair in their various
ways. Kenneth Hunter was cast as
King Claudius and Reginald Pole
was slow toned and deep in his mon
otones as the ghost. There were
others in notable parts whose names
were not on the program-Adam
TAFT who built the lofty scenes that
in themselves spoke volumes, and
Robert Bergman, who painted them
and George Schaff who lighted the
stage.
In conclusion three things stand
out: A new soliloquy. in which re-
preston brings deep, pregnant
phrases out; a. new Il loved her.,
at the burial of ophelia- fraught
with fathoms of grief, and a chamber
scene in which Hamlet reyerts to his
love of mother and cradles her head
against his bosom.
Again is the prediction made: In
years to come it may we'll be said:
In 1924, / saw Barrymore-yes, John
barrymore himself--in Hamlet"