Evening star., 1953-04-28

works, a simple, exciting essence
of the greatest heritage any one
man ever left to poSterity.
What is intended in this pro-
duction Of the American Shake
spearian Foundation is simply
what is stated in the title, an
evening with Will Shakespeare.
It is also an evening with six ac-
tors, and a dedicated director,
all of them for once committed
to the truth that Shakespeare,
of all immortal mortals, is best
able to speak for himself.
In the performances Of Basil
Rathbone, Viveca Lindfors, Eva
LIE Gallienne, Faye Emerson,
John Lund and Margaret Web
Ster (who both acts and directs)
there is humble and affection
ate service to The Bard. They
do not merely read him-in the
fashion that has been popular
lied by Charles Laughton and
others Of late. They act him, in
dinner clothes and on the plain
est of stages, but in the way of
players with the grace not to be
intrusive.
They, too, are guests of an
evening with Shakespeare and it
is all extremely pleasant includ-
ing the undisguised American
accents of half the players.
It is a broad Jump across
Shakespeare's Imagination, and
often quite high one. too, that
Miss Webster and her company
take in the production at the
National.
It's design is to show the scope
of the playwright, his wisdom in
the ways Of men and women, the
variety of his humors. his wit,
his profundity, his playfulness
and his poetry. This is quite
target for any night, especially
one with Will Shakespeare, but
In its least rewarding moment, it
is never. farther away than a
near miss"
Structurally, Miss Webster
and her associates have put to-
gether a good show for which she
supplies bright. narrative bridges.
It begins appropriately with
soliloquies "On Plays and Play
ers" in which Shakespeare'S
own words say what audiences
are entitled to. The best of these,
not surprisingly, is Hamlet's ad-
vice to the players, expertly
voiced by Mr.. Rathbone and
we'll needed thereafter by all
others in the cast.
There follow then well-chosen
excerpts from "The Tanning of
the Shrew," Henry VIII"
twelfth Night" Julius Cae-
sar," THE Merchant of Venice"
Henry "" and Macbeth" with
the epilogue from The Tem-
pest"
X
Shrew tanning, which Ameri-
cans have seen set to music in
kiss Me, Kate" Is an anus
ingly roughhouse affair as per-
formed by Mr.. Lund and Miss
Emerson.
Its demands are considerably
less than those upon Miss LIE
Gallienne as Katharine of Ara
gon in the scene which follows.
This longtime wife of Henry
VIII is one of Shakespeare's
most affecting women, especially
in the scene in which Cardinals
Wolsey and Cameius induce her
to renounce her claims upon the
King, but not her dignity.
Miss LeGallienne makes it a
high moment in the first half
of the Nationals program, but
it being a matter of choice, this
spectator finds the most shin
ing one that which follows. This
is Miss Lindfors' sparkling imita-
ton of Viola in Twelfth Night"
It is quite all right that she, a
shipwrecked girl in Ilyria, should
speak English with an accent
so long as she can make it say
such gay and meaningful things.
\ X 4
The Shakespeare of infinite
Jest, and zest, gives way to the
more majestic one in the second
half of the evening. It is here,
in the tragic mood, that Rath-
bone reaches his best as Brutus
in the quarrel scene with Cassius
on the plains of Sardis. and as
Macbeth. Excerpts from the
latter play dominate this part
OF the program, with Miss Le-
Gallienne playing a fiendishly
ambitious wife to Mr.. Rath-
bones vacillating warrior.
Despite the accent on these,
all is not solemn in this portion