The Wilmington morning star., 1947-06-29

nacles off tradition and port
and his colleagues of the 49,
intended them.
T,o drama critics don't like it
.,d young Peter Brook, the d.
sac.or. has been reproached about
~ fire. violence and ''sex'' of the
Bnt this, Brook replies, is by
.ornparison with Victorian stand
ords, and the play goes on. De-
sni+e the critics panning, the
Shakespeare Memorial theater,
ss~e in the Bard's birthplace, L.
hsayjlv booked for the festival
1sason, which continues to mid
Here is how it started.
Young Brook came from Oxford
- ioin Sir Barry Jackson's Birm-
MGlam R~epertory and his produc-
+ion of King john was so outstand-
mo that he vas given a chance
.t Stafford where Sir Barry is
d;rector Of the Memorial theater.
Brook took himself off to study
Romeo and Juliet; in Portugal.
He studied the play, intensely, for
three months.
Hate and violent passion were
,e themes Brook sought to distill
.ro,, what he considered the
MAYS most telling line:
For now, these hot days, is the
mad blood stirring" He wanted
+be dry, dusty heat of Verona to
permeate the play.
Brook sought two young ployers
who could act the parts of the
"s-ar Cross'd Lovers with con-
viction. He found 26-year-old
Laurence Payne, dark and italia
nate" and 18-year-old Daphne
Slater, youthful and shy. who had
played only one professional part
On he stage.
Excitement increased through
the ~rehearsals. Reality was the
KEYNOTE. Finally, the curtain.
The next day the Oondon)
Times called it "recklessly spec
tacular." The Manchester Guard
ian said Shakespeare seemed to
be fighting a losing battle
against his determined producer"
The Daily Telegraph called Miss
Slater "a Veronese junior miss"
The Daily Express said she would
"inflriate everyone over IS who
has seen great-and much older
actresses play the part"
Said young Brook:
"Shake5peare's England was
like temporary America
bursting with virility and sex.
Romeo and Juliet" is a poem to
sex. As the Victorians saw it.
Romeo and Juliet would see a bed
and wonder what it was for.
I'VE have a mass of critics in
teroreting a Victorian life where
sex was not to be mentioned. They
are not Electrically minded, but
rather are literary folk"
Actually in the play, the bed
room scene almost leans back in
restraint. Juliet is seen asleep in
-. curtained bed on a level above
the state where her parents are
discussing preparations for her
marriage to Paris. When the stage
is emptied, Romeo, to whom she
already has been wed, appears
from the other side after their
marriage night.
Having been banished and fac
Ing death if he remains in Verona,
he sits On Juliet's bed for their
passionate farewells, romantic but
tame compared to some modern
movies, as is also the balcony
scene.
But "the plays the thing and
not the characters of Romeo and
Juliet.
Shakespeare conceived the play,
with Romeo and Juliet merely as
two characters, explains Brook,
surely therefore the important
thing is the total effect of the
whole production"
Brooks effort was to restore a
balance to the play and put Romeo
and Juliet into proper perspective,
not so much as leading characters
but as victims of a family feud.
Il am entirely responsible"
says Brook, ''for portraying
Romeo and Juliet as two children
lost in the maelstrom around
them, and l think this emphasizes
the real pathos against a passion
ate Observation-Disclosures back
ground"
Sir Barry says:
1--WE are trying to vitalize
Shakespeare and make his plays
understandable to the general pub
lie. There was a great tendency
IN Victorian days to recite plays"