SHAKSPEAREAN CURIOSITIES 



A Post-Impressionist Production of "The 

 Winter's Tale" 



rFrom Tlt-Blts] " 

 Since the immortal bard first acted in 

 h:is own plays at tlie old tlieatre built by 

 Burbage in Slioreditch in 1576, and later 

 at tlie Globe, iviiicii stood near London 

 Bridge on the Southwark side, his plays 

 have been produced in a thousand and 

 one different ways. 



During Shakspeare's Festival and Ex- 

 hibition, organized at Earl's Court last 

 summer by Mrs. Cornwallis-West, one had 

 the opportunity of seeing Shakspeare as 

 it was played at the end of the sixteenth 

 century. An exact representation of the 

 old Globe Theatre was built, and the 

 plays presented as in the dramatist's 

 own day. When Shakspeare played at the 

 old Globe Theatre the stage was literally 

 a stage — a platform erected against one 

 side of the building — and on three sides 

 of this platform the spectators sat or 

 stood in the pit (then called the yard), 

 while round it ran the galleries or boxes 

 (then called rooms), like the galleries 

 of an inn-yard. There was no provision 

 for scenery, and a door at the back of 

 the stage was the general entrance for 

 the actors and was hung with curtains. 



The properties were of a very prlml- • 

 five character, and were pushed on the 

 stage in the calmest fashion, "the battle- [ 

 ments for 'Hamlet' doing service for the 

 balcony scene in 'Juliet.' " 



Not only at Earl's Court, however, but ; 

 at the Savoy Theatre a few months ago, ' 

 Shakspeare was presented on lines some- 

 what similar to the first production at j 

 the Globe Theatre. On this occasion Mr. 1 

 Granville Barker presented "The Win- 

 ter's Tale," the main feature of the .pro- 

 duction being that, for the most part, i 

 curtains took the place of scenery, the | 

 dresses being on the most original lines i 

 ■ — a combination, In fact, of English and 

 foreign historical dresses. It was en- [ 

 tirely different from any Shakspeareah \ 

 production which has ever been attempt- 

 ed of late years, and the critics were 

 -puzzled how to describe it. Some re- 

 ferred to it as "Barkcrized Shakspeare," I 

 others as "Post-Imprcsslonlst Shak- 

 spcarc," while the ma.lority described it . 

 as "freakish and whimsical." 



Whatever the views of the critics, how- 

 ever, Mr. Granville Barker was fullj 

 justified In his production, for it proved 

 a remarkable attraction. 



Mr. Gordon Craig, the son of Miss El- 

 len Terry, who has been playfully called 

 "a crank" because Of his originality In 

 regard to stage scenery, has some re- 

 markable ideas as to the manner in 

 which Shakspeare should be produced. 



As an illustration of Mr. Craig's meth- 

 ods of Shakspearean production, it might 

 be mentioned that one of the models he 

 has made for Hamlet is Intended for the 

 scene before Ophelia's marriage. It 

 shows a pillared interior, with a shad- 

 owed foreground, and the yellow rertec- 

 tion of the sunshine in the background. 

 The effects of the yellows and gras's, 

 produced entirely by lighting from 

 above, without any pigment, furnished a 

 remarkable illustration of what may be 

 done by this method. 



Undoubtedly, however, the most re- 

 markable performance of "Macbeth" was 

 the production of that play at the old 

 haunted Abbey of St. Wandrille, in Nor- 

 mandy, the home of the great Belgian 

 author and dramatist, Maurice Maeter- 

 linck, and his wife, who, as Georgette 

 Le Blanc, gained world-wide fame as an 

 opera singer and actress. A large num- 

 ber of distinguished .guests were Invited, 

 and these moved from room to room as 

 the scenes were enacted, just as they 

 might have been in Macbeth's castle 



Maeterlinck also produced "The 'Mer- 

 chant of Venice" at the old Abbey, the 

 audience following the performers, as in 

 "Macbeth," in their various stages and 

 scenes throughout th«r courts, turrets, 

 embattlements, cloisters and corridors! 

 which gave the appropriate background 

 or setting of the play. 



Mention must also be made of the won- 

 derful productions at Stratford-on- Avon 

 of that well-known Shakspearean actor 

 Mr. F. R. Benson, who has been honored 

 with the freedom of Stratford in recog- 

 nition of his great work on behalf of the 

 Immortal William. 



